Baby's Breath

**Chapter 19**

Chanyeol was dismissed from school the day before his leave. His special education teacher who was usually so forgiving and kind to Chanyeol handed him a pink note and patted him on the back, saying his future would be brighter if he went down a different path. Baekhyun thought it was ironic how an instructor of all people was saying this to a boy who loved studying. Where else would he have a bright future, if not for school? 

Baekhyun only saw Chanyeol twice in homeroom, then his special education class. He had to be at the office to explain why he had been absent for the last few days, even if the principal was not so pleased with whatever he had to say. He bit his tongue before he could say anything that could risk his expulsion as well, but why would he care at this point? School was a chore.

He slumped in his seat and gazed out of the window during math class, slept during history, then excused himself to the restroom during language arts, just so he could spend half an hour out of the classroom. When the teacher asked to see him after class, he brushed off her irritation with a hearty joke: "I had serious constipation."

Baekhyun sort of zoned out the whole time until the last bell rang and he was on his way to the grass field for the last practice before the tournament. His leg had healed considerably well, and all there was on his kneecap was just an unsightly bruise where a welt had been earlier. A little squirt of antibiotic spray fixed the sore joints, so he ran well for the first few practice matches until his leg started throbbing again.

He ignored it, although there was no mistaking the slight limp in his step when the coach gathered the players in the center of the field.

"Where's Sehun?" the coach asked.

Jongin wiped a towel through his sweaty, damp hair and jerked a thumb over his shoulder, grinning, "He's coming late. He had to go volunteer at the blood donations today."

"Say what? He's getting his blood drawn the day before the match? Ai!" 

Baekhyun jogged up to Jongin once the coach had finished reviewing tomorrow's drills for them for the hundredth time. "Blood donation? Since when was he into community service? Sehun probably doesn't even know what community service means." he teased, although his words were nothing short of facts.

"Oi, you really haven't been paying attention to new gossip these days, huh?" Jongin chuckled, "Sehun asked Luhan out again and he said yes. Now Sehun's trying to impress him by going to these volunteer events. I don't know what he's thinking, but Sehun won't listen to me, I think he's a... what do you call it, head over heels in love?"

Baekhyun nearly choked on his own saliva. After moping and sobbing all over the cafeteria table that day, Sehun had mustered up the courage to confess a second time? Now, he supposed the proverb "Rome wasn't built in a day" made a little more sense. "I'd call that whipped," Baekhyun snorted, and the two laughed some more as practice continued.

When the boys had finished soccer practice, Baekhyun found Chanyeol sitting where he usually sat on the bleachers, patiently waiting for him to say "let's go home" first. Baekhyun had assigned him some homework to do while sitting there, although the assignment itself was rather easy and required nothing more than for Chanyeol to write his own name a hundred times. It was repetitive and boring, but practice made progress.

On his way out, he saw Yifan pulling out a heavy bag from one of the long lockers. 

"Are you part of a sports team, too?" Baekhyun asked out of curiosity, deciding that it was harmless to treat him like a friend at school, since he wasn't endangering his secret identity any.