Mei was standing in line at a morning assembly like every other student, listing as the headmaster droned on for what felt like hours. She was looking around examining the other students, trying to pick out the threats. She watched a bright blonde guy as he yawned and whispered to a friend, clearly not caring about any of the teachers calling him out.
'He seems confidant, could be a potential asshole' Mei sighed and continued scanning when she locked eyes with Big Ben, who gave her an enthusiastic wave before mouthing a question.
'Have you seen GoGo?'
Mei read his lips before shaking her head. 'Not this morning, no' she responded.
Ben looked dejected and faced the front again. The assembly dismissed and she found Gerard before filing back in and heading to class.
"Well, that sucked." Mei huffed, falling into step with Gerard.
"You can say that again."
"I have to go to a meeting with that old fart soon, to 'describe my time so far at this wonderful establishment'" She rolled her eyes, "Establishment my ass."
Gerard laughed as the pair took their seats and class began.
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Gerard was on his way to the snack bar to grab him and Mei something when he overheard a particularly interesting conversation. He pulled out his phone and pretended to answer a call.
"Yo yesterday was crazy"
"You gotta wonder why Jimmy was even there, I mean the pool hall is clearly Eunjang territory."
"Yeah I mean Yoosun High isn't even that close. Poor Alex though. He'd be dead meat if Mei hadn't shown up."
"Do you think Alex will be alright?"
"Yeah he should be, didn't Mei take care of his wounds?"
"Oh yeah, that lucky bastard keke."
Gerard "hung up" the phone before quickly heading back to class. Without the promised snacks.
He opened the class door and walked up to their desks.
"Oh finally, you're back, I'm starved." Mei began before realizing that one, Gerard wasn't sitting down, and two he didn't have anything.
"What happened yesterday?"
"Mmh what do you mean?"
"You know what I mean, Mei. What happened?"
"Let's talk about this somewhere else." Mei quickly got up, grabbed his wrist, and led him out of the classroom, walking right past the teacher who didn't even notice and if he did, he didn't care. She led him to the end of the hall.
"Explain." He said before she could say anything.
"You had something to do, so I hung out with the boys. No need to get jealous or anything." She teased, but Gerard didn't budge.
"Mei" His voice warned.
"Kay fine you got me, Ben ditched so it was just Alex and some of the guy's from their class." She continued hiding the answer he wanted.
"Mei I know Jimmy Bae was at the pool hall, I know something happened, so I'm asking you now."
Mei sighed, "listen, I made GoGo a promise I wouldn't say anything, so if I tell you, you can't tell Big Ben?"
"He has a right to know, he's been asking about Alex all day." Gerard tried to reason with her.
"I made a promise, a pinky promise actually. I take those very seriously. So either you promise not to tell Ben, or I walk away now." Mei crossed her arms, showing she wasn't compromising.
Gerard sighed, "Fine I won't tell Big Ben, just please tell me."
Mei began to explain yesterday's events at the pool hall. Gerard interjected a couple of times but stopped when Mei glared at him.
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Mei, Gerard, and Ben were up on the roof. Mei was spinning in her office chair reading "Two Piece: the fanfiction where everything is the same except Ace doesn't die", Gerard was leaning back in his own chair and Ben was calling Alex, for like the 15th time of the day. But this time, he got an answer.
Ben and Alex had a very animated conversation, and when the call ended Ben turned to us with a dumb smile.
"Stupid Alex. This kid did always have a shy side..." He said cheerily.
Me and Gerard side-eyed each other as Ben looked out over the rooftop rail, he looked like he was examining the most beautiful view when in reality it was raining, drippy and almost grey.
Each of them was in their own little world, Gerard Jin seemed to be preoccupied with big and small concerns, while Big Ben was preoccupied with coming up with ideas on things to do when Alex got back to school. Mei was just trying to figure out how Alex's wounds were gonna be healed by Monday.
But all three were wildly unaware of the shocking scene that was happening beneath them in a certain class 5.
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A couple of days later, the same three made their way to the pool hall. Mei stopped at the same convenience store to get two iced coffees (one for her, one for Kaya), leaving the two boys to head up to the pool hall on their own.
When they entered they greeted the pretty worker, Kaya, and got their table. Before they walked away though she asked, "Oh... right. Is your friend with the undercut, is he okay? It looked pretty bad when Mei, she's your friend too right? stepped in. It was pretty scary." She said looking at the two boys, one looked completely crushed and confused the other was just concerned for his red-haired friend.
Ben clenched his fist, and forced a smile, "He's doing fine now, thanks for asking." Before bowing slightly and walking to their table followed by Gerard. "So Mei knew this entire time what was going on huh?" Ben asked, not really looking for an answer.
The bell rang announcing Mei's arrival and she headed to her friend's table after greeting Kaya and handing her an iced coffee.
"Oh, you guys waited! How nice!" She beamed but stopped when she noticed Ben's look and Gerard shaking his head in warning.
"You knew why Alex wasn't at school this week. What happened? Why didn't you say anything?" Ben asked clearly hurt.
Mei looked down, "I promised him I wouldn't." Ben opened his mouth but was cut off, "Don't ask me what happened, I said I wouldn't say anything so I won't. Just ask him tomorrow when he comes back. Please." She looked up, locking eyes with Ben, clearly pleading that he wouldn't push the matter.
Ben just nodded, and Mei walked back out the way she came. It was pretty clear their pool game was being postponed.
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"Yo Mei" Gerard said getting the girl's attention.
"Hmm?" She hummed looking up at her seatmate.
"Ben texted, he's asking us to come to the roof, Alex is coming too." He said, Mei nodded and got up.
The pair headed to the roof. They opened the door and Gerard leaned up against a pole while Mei sat with her back against the wall of the building. They all nodded in greeting when the door opened and Alex joined them.
"Ben, what was it you wanted to talk about?" He asked before Gerard stood straight scaring Alex, "Oh God holy shit! Gerard Jin? Why are you here?" He turned and saw Mei too but before he could comment Ben spoke.
"It was Jimmy Bae wasn't it." Ben said, his voice surprisingly neutral.
"Huuuh??" Alex exclaimed.
"It wasn't Mei or the boys. I asked her, but she said she promised you she wouldn't say anything so she made me wait 'till you came back. But I heard it from the part-timer at the pool hall yesterday." Ben gritted and held his arm. "Alex. I know that you tried to hide this because you were worried about me."
Alex look worried, "Ben..."
Big Ben kept going, "But, that maniac Jimmy Bae is biting and yanking at an old scar." He completely crushed the can he was holding. "I can't stand it anymore. The union or whatever the fuck it's called, I can't just keep looking over my shoulder for the next three years worrying about them."
Mei tensed at the mention of the Union but it went unnoticed.
Gerard smirked, "What gives? Last time we clashed, it looked like yoosun was all bark, no bite."
Alex paused, Mei knew it was a sensitive topic so she stood up and placed a comforting hand on GoGo's shoulder. "Jimmy Bae's a little different. He's only been manageable because we've had Ben." He glanced at Mei, a silent 'till now' transferred between the two.
"I thought he said he would come to see me himself, right?" Ben clenched his jaw, "Then I guess I should get ready for that."
It was quiet on the roof for a while, before Gerard spoke up, "We should probably head back to class." He looked at Mei.
Mei gestured to Gerard and Alex, "You two go on ahead, me and Ben will catch up."
The pair nodded before heading back down to their respective classes.
Ben looked at Mei, "Hey, I don't know what happened with you and GoGo and this Jimmy Bae, and I won't ask." She sighed. "He seems like a real bitch anyway." They chuckled and Ben nodded. "But I want you to know, that no matter what goes down, I'll be there, you can bet your ass on it." she smirked looking up at him. Ben smiled before opening his arms, Mei walked into the embrace.
"Thanks Mei" he whispered before pulling away, "and hey, you've gotta be pretty badass to show Jimmy up like that." Mei's eyes widened in surprise.
"Wait how'd you know?!"
He laughed, "I asked Graham for the details, he thought I already knew the gist of what happened so he was excited to share."
Mei laughed, "Of course."
Ben patted her head twice, "You kept your promise to GoGo though, pretty good friend if ya ask me, too bad the promise was to keep information from me." He laughed, "But hey a promise is a promise, I respect it."
He walked past Mei and headed down, Mei followed soon after.
They had no clue what was going to be waiting for them when the bell rang though.
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Hey guys! The Eunjang vs Yoosun battle is next chapter!