Once they got to the hospital, they had to wait. Key was pacing around.
Jonghyun sighed. "Just calm down, Key. Minho's strong."
"But he's injured. What if he can't play soccer again? What if he can't walk again?"
Jonghyun grabbed Key and pulled him into his arms. "Just have faith in him."
Key clung to him and started crying. Jonghyun held him close as they waited for news on Minho.
The doctor came into the waiting room an hour later. "Choi Minho."
The coach stood up. "I'm his coach."
The doctor nodded. "Minho has a high impact injury to his ACL. He'll need surgery, but not till the swelling goes down."
"Can he still play soccer?" Key asked.
The doctor nodded. "He should make a full recovery at his age."
Jonghyun smiled. "That's good news. Thank you." He bowed.
Key and the coach bowed as well. The coach went to talk to the doctor about when he would be released and what to do.
Key hugged Jonghyun and kissed him again. Key blushed. "Sorry, I was excited."
Jonghyun looked at him. "Why do you keep kissing me?"
"It was on accident." Key blushed.
Jonghyun frowned. "Okay,"
Key yawned. It was getting pretty late.
Jonghyun smiled. "Let's take a nap while we wait for the coach."
Key nodded. They curled up on the couch. Jonghyun smiled. He closed his eyes and fell asleep. Key was fast asleep.
The boy came home late. He had stayed behind to study. His house was never quiet, so he went straight to his room, not wanting to hear his parents fight. He slumped on his bed and sighed. He hated the new school. His parents worked hard to get him into a good school, but he didn't care. He got up and put on music as he danced. That was all he cared about, his dancing. The boy danced until he fell asleep from exhaustion.
The next day, everyone was talking about Minho.
The boy just sat in his seat in the back, reading a book. "I don't understand why people like him." The boy mumbled to himself.
Jonghyun heard and went over to him, punching him. "You don't care about our friend getting hurt?! You bastard!"
The boy was shaking. "S-sorry,"
Jonghyun looked at his name tag. "You better be, Lee Taemin."
Key glared at Taemin, making the boy shake in fear. He looked at the ground. Key smirked and looked away. Jonghyun went back to his seat.
Taemin stayed quiet.
The rest of class, Key kept glaring over his shoulder at the boy. Taemin continued to look at his book, trying to ignore Key's glare.
"We should teach him a lesson." Jonghyun said.
Key nodded. After class, Key grabbed Taemin by his shirt and dragged him to an empty hall.
Taemin freaked out. "Let me go! I said I was sorry!"
"You shouldn't have said it at all." Key said.
Jonghyun grabbed him and started to punch Taemin. "You'll pay for what you said!"
Key joined in. After a few minutes passed of beating up the boy, Key and Jonghyun walked away.
Jonghyun laughed. "That'll show him."
Key smirked. "It's almost time for class to start. Let's hurry."
Jonghyun nodded. They ran to their class.
Taemin stayed behind. He curled up on the ground and cried. He didn't want to go to class anymore. Taemin heard crutches coming down the hall. Taemin freaked out. He tried to get up, but his body was in too much pain.
Minho noticed the boy. "Are you okay?"
Taemin freaked out. "S-stay away from me!"
"You're hurt. I'll take you to the nurse." Minho said.
Taemin was shaking. "No! Just leave me alone!"
Minho managed to get Taemin onto his back and hobble to the nurse's office. Taemin was scared and confused. He let Minho take him to the nurse.
Minho laid him on a bed and the nurse started to bandage him up. "What's your name? I don't think I've ever seen you before."
"L-Lee Taemin." Taemin stuttered.
"I'm Choi Minho." Minho smiled. "It's nice to meet you."
Taemin looked at the ground. "C-can you go now?"
Minho frowned. "What's wrong?"
Taemin didn't look at him. "Why are you being nice to me? I'm a poor kid."
"Oh, you're on a scholarship. That's cool. I heard you have to be really smart to get it." Minho said. "I'm not smart at all."
Taemin frowned. "I heard you're the top student who has the highest grade. It's always posted every semester and even though no one talks to me, I still hear about you. You're really popular."
"I study really hard. My parents expect a lot from me." Minho said. "They'll only let me play soccer if I get really good grades. Once I got a 90% on a test and they threatened to take me off the team."
Taemin looked at his hands. "At least your parents try. My parents never pay attention to me. My father hates me, and my mom wants me to have a good future. She expects too much from me. I got into this school because she begged me. I never thought I would." Taemin froze. "I-I'm sorry. I'm talking to much. I've only just met you."
"That's okay, we're friends now."
Taemin frowned. "Friends? I've never had one before."
"That's horrible." Minho frowned. "Well, you have one now."
Taemin smiled, then frowned. "No, we can't be friends."
"Why not?" Minho asked.
"Because, it's wrong. I can't be friends with you." Taemin got up, ignoring the pain. "I have to get to class."
"I can be friends with you. I don't care about popularity."
Taemin looked at Minho. "I'm sorry, but we can't. Thank you for helping me, goodbye." Taemin limped his way out.
Minho frowned and followed him. Taemin went to their first hour and went to the back. Before Minho could walk in, Jonghyun tripped Taemin.
"Oops," Jonghyun smirked.
The class laughed at Taemin as he gathered his books. Minho walked in and tried to help Taemin.
"Minho, you have to be careful." Key said, pulling him into a chair.
Jonghyun nodded. "Yeah, don't mind him."
Taemin got his stuff together and sat in his seat.
Minho frowned. Key hugged Minho. "I was so worried about you."
Jonghyun smiled. "We both were. Are you feeling okay today?"
"Yeah, I'm on pain meds." Minho said.
"That's good. You can't participate in PE." Jonghyun said.
"But we're playing soccer today."Minho pouted.
"You can't run with crutches." Jonghyun sighed. "Sorry, dude."
Minho groaned.
Jonghyun smiled. "It's okay. We'll still win."
Minho sighed.
PE came quickly and Minho was sat at the bleachers.
Taemin was a couple seats behind. A group of boys went up to him and sat next to him. Taemin ignored them, but the guys started to punch him. Taemin held back his tears as he didn't want to get noticed even more.
Minho noticed and turned around. "Hey! Stop it!"
Taemin froze. The boys stopped and all ran away.
Minho sat next to Taemin. "Are you okay?"
Taemin turned his back to him. "Just leave me alone." Taemin got up and left.
Minho frowned.
Jonghyun ran over to him. "Minho, you shouldn't get involved with him."
"Why?" Minho asked.
"Because he's poor. No one cares about him, so why should you? Focus on getting better." Jonghyun said.
"We're friends." Minho said.
"You can't be. He'll ruin your reputation." Jonghyun said. "He doesn't seem to want to be friends with you anyway."
"I don't care about being popular." Minho frowned.
"But he's stupid. Why should you care about him?" Jonghyun asked.
"He's not stupid. He's cool." Minho said. "I'm going to go to the library. If I can't play, I don't want to watch."
Jonghyun frowned. "Be careful."