[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

The School Cult

Standing on stages when there's an audience is stressful. Standing on a stage with people you never talk to and having to smile without looking awkward is even more stressful. And it's just plain embarrassing when you've got twenty-nine people in the audience for just you and twenty-three of them don't want to shut up despite it being a serious ceremony.

That's what Jungwoo was currently learning.

His school participated in a club called National Honor Society. To even be looked at for acceptance, you had to have "an accumulative average of 90 or above." A fancy way of saying that a very small percentage of the school was even considered, and you had to be in tenth grade or higher.

On top of that, you had to get four letters of recommendation, two from teachers and two from community members that were adults and not family members, and you had to list all of your activities you've participated in on top of writing an essay on why you wanted to get in.

So when Jungwoo was in the selection for being considered, he asked Mr. Suh, Taeyong, and his two favorite teachers to write letters for him. His list of activities was skimpy, but he was able to put cafe work, cat sitting and babysitting on there. As long as no one asked, it would work. The hard part was the essay.

Instead of kissing butt for two pages, Jungwoo wrote his essay on rice. Not exactly what they would be looking for, but he had a really nice analogy.

In short, actually being selected for the National Honor Society was not something he expected. At all. Hence why he was now standing on a stage in shock, trying to pay attention to what the guest speaker was saying.

His mind eventually drifted to how this was basically the school cult, especially since this was called an induction ceremony. The way it worked was everyone who was considered for being selected was put in the auditorium after school, and past members went into the audience to grab the students that had already been selected. Then you go out to the hallway and the members stabs you with a flower (not literally, of course, they're pinning one to your shirt), and then when you end up on stage your family is in the audience all smiley and taking pictures.

Jungwoo's family consisted of the basement cult, Mr. and Mrs. Suh, the grandparents, Taeyong's Dad, Taeil's Mom, and Jaemin's Mom. The goats were going to be there, but rules didn't allow for that.

He wasn't sure when it happened, but at some point he was off the stage with a certificate and pin in his hands, walking towards the half of the auditorium that had come to support him.

"You did it!"

Mrs. Suh had been the first to hug him, but that didn't last long because grandma pushed her away, saying she had waited long enough to hug her grandson.

"We're so proud of you, honey."

And that's when Jungwoo broke down crying. The stage was stressful, he was tired, and my gosh were they all embarrassing.

"Great job, Mom, now you made him cry."

"I wrote an essay on rice." Jungwoo choked out, laughing as he continued crying.

"It was a beautiful essay." Taeil commented, putting a hand on Jungwoo's back as he buried himself into grandma.

"Why you crying, kiddo?" Jaehyun asked.

"You guys are so embarrassing and I hate that stage."

"You looked hot up there! What was I supposed to do? Not point it out?" Haechan questioned, not even thinking about apologizing for his honest comment.

"Yes! You're supposed to be quiet and smiley and polite-"

"Sounds boring."

"Yeah, have you met us?" Jaemin gave him a lopsided smile.

"Let's get you home. Johnny and Kun made some treats, and we'll celebrate however you want." Mrs. Suh offered, Jungwoo finally letting go of grandma as he nodded. At this point he was pretty sure he wanted a nap.

Everyone took turns hugging Jungwoo the whole way back to the cafe and for the rest of the night. Johnny and Kun had made a lot more than "some treats," the tables of the cafe already set up with napkins, drinks, and all of Jungwoo's favorites.

"They knew you'd be the last one to get in, so they went a little overboard." WinWin whispered, earning himself a playful smack on the arm.

Jungwoo's certificate was hung up on the cafe fridge next to Haechan's Snow White Paper and the drawing Ten had done to get him kicked out, ready to be shown off to the customers.

At one point in the night, grandpa pulled out his guitar and started playing some songs, occasionally switching off with Taeil, Mark or Xiaojun. If you didn't count the game of twenty-four person twister (Mrs. Suh had joined in, of course), it was a chill night. One Jungwoo spent almost the whole time chilling in a corner cuddling Jisung and sipping hot cocoa.