—
"We'll go with you," Jaebum said, once class was over and they had all gathered back at Mark and Jinyoung's dorm room. "It'll be safer that way."
"Alright." Mark says, standing up. "You sure you want to go to this party, Jinyoungie? I'll gladly stay here with you."
"No, we need to go," Jinyoung says, "To find out more information."
"Okay. You stay by my side and don't leave, no matter what. Understood?" Mark says, looking at Jinyoung. The other nods, smiling softly.
"You don't have to worry, Markie. I won't."
Mark nods, and starts to change clothes.
;
An hour or so later, they were all dressed fairly nicely and headed out of the dorm. The party was being held in Jiah's dorm, which was huge. She was one of the lucky people who got a big room and didn't have a roommate.
They walked into the room, music already pounding loudly through the dorm and many people already arrived. Mark recognized the majority of them; they were football players that he used to be friends with, cheerleaders, and popular students.
The four walked in together, looking around. Jiah runs up to them, smiling and putting her hands on Mark's shoulders.
"Markie! You made it. And you..." She scoffs, "Brought your friends. Great."
Jaebum rolls his eyes, grabbing Youngjae's hand to keep his cool.
"You look so sexy, Markie." Jiah says, giving a soft smile and biting her lip.
"Um..." Mark says, glancing over to Jinyoung. He didn't seem pleased.
Jiah sighs, walking back over to her friends in her outrageously tall heels.
The party trudges on, not really much happening besides lots of drinking and dancing. More specifically, grinding. It was pretty gross.
But all of the sudden, one by one, popular kids started to laugh and point. From where Mark and the other three were standing, they couldn't see what they were pointing at.
"Fucking queer!" One yelled, laughing and throwing his red solo cup and whatever, or should I say whomever, was being pointed at.
Laughter erupted from the group people, their cups being thrown too, even if they were full of alcohol.
Mark, Youngjae, Jaebum, and Jinyoung exchanged glances, not realizing what was going on just yet. It sounded like typical talk that was thrown to Mark and Jinyoung, but no one was paying attention to them.
But that's when they saw a figure run out of the room, drenched in alcohol. Tears ran down his cheeks and he ran into the bathroom down the hallway. Mark felt a wave of déjà vu hit him.
"No way," Jaebum says, walking closer to Jinyoung and Mark. "That was Jackson Wang."
"What?" Mark says, peering into the hallway.
"Yep. At least, that's who i think I saw."
"You don't think..." Jinyoung says, "He's gay? then why did he ridicule Mark so bad, and tell the entire school?"
"I dunno." Jaebum says, "Maybe we should go talk to him."
"Talk to him?!" Jinyoung says, rage in his voice. "He ruined our lives! No way in hell."
"Jinyoung..." Mark says, looking at him.
Jinyoung sighs, "Fine... But i'm not happy about it."
The four venture into the hallway, following the trail of alcohol to the bathroom. Once they opened the door, they could hear loud sobbing from one of the stalls.
"Jackson?" Mark says, and the sobbing abruptly stops.
"P-Please... Don't throw anything else at me..." He mumbles, and you could hear the pain in his voice.
"We're not gonna hurt you," Jaebum says, sighing. "We wanna talk to you."
"Mark...?" Jackson says, sniffling heavily.
"Yeah. It's me."
"I-I'm so sorry..." Jackson says, breaking down and crying again. "For causing all this to you... I was such an idiot... And I only did it because i was repressing my own sexuality... I-I'm so fucking sorry!..."
Mark sighs, "It's okay... I know how it feels. I repressed for so long... But i promise, Jackson, it'll get better. When one door closes another one opens."
"T-Thank you..." Jackson says, crying softly. "I-I just feel so stupid... Putting you through all this... and now it's coming back to hit me... I deserve it."
"No, Jackson..." Mark says, "You don't. It's okay. Please come out here and give me a hug."
"You mean it...?"
"Of course I do."
Jackson unlocks the stall door, slowing peering his head out. His eyes were red, swollen, and puffy. His clothes were still pretty wet, his hair sticking to his forehead. He looked so lost. Mark opened his arms, pulling him into a hug. Jackson started crying again against Mark's chest.
"You're doing the right thing, hyung." Youngjae says, smiling softly.
Jackson pulls off the hug, looking at Jinyoung.
"Jinyoungie, i'm so sorry! I should have listened to you when you told me not to tell... I betrayed you... I feel so terrible..."
Jinyoung sighs, "It's okay. Just don't do something that stupid again." Jackson nods.
"I have a question," Jaebum says, leaning against the bathroom wall. "If you feel so bad about all this, why were you involved with Soohyun and Andrew?"
Jackson shakes his head, "They f-forced me too. They said they wouldn't be friends with me anymore if I didn't... I-I just didn't want to not have friends and be lonely... That's my biggest fear..."
Mark lays a hand on his shoulder, "Well, you just lost those friends, and probably a lot more. But guess what? you gained four friends." He says, pointing to Jinyoung, himself, Jaebum, and Youngjae.
"R-Really? Even after all I've done to you..."
"Everyone makes mistakes. Now come on, let's all go back to my dorm watch a movie, yeah?" Mark says.
Jackson smiles softly, wiping his swollen eyes and walking with them to the dorm.
—
a/n: i told y'all i wasn't just gonna leave jackson as a snake smh
sorry i haven't updated recently, but this chapter is kinda long so yay
i hope you enjoyed!
please vote / comment, i really appreciate it!
thanks, ilysm~
-author em