(Warning: this chapter has drugs in this, so if you're very against that stuff and aren't okay with it, I'd just skip past this chapter. It is an important one, but I don't want you to be bothered by what is in this chapter.)
Flashback to Jumin's year of 8th grade. (Chenle's 7th grade year.)
Jumin's POV.
It was just another day at school. But I realized that there was a new boy. I think he's in seventh grade. But he's in a couple of my classes, and my lunch.
I grab my lunch and see the new boy. I walk over to him and smile. "Hi. I'm Jumin, are you new here?"
He looks up at me confused. "I-I don't speak very good Korean. I-I'm from China. Sorry."
"Oh okay. Uhm, can I sit next to you?" I hope he understands what I said.
He nods his head shyly and I sit on the chair next to him, we're at lunch, so it doesn't matter where I sit.
I know how to spell, write, and type in Chinese, so I take out my phone and type something in it. (a/n- I don't even know if knowing how to type and stuff in Chinese but not speak it is a thing but let's say I It is lmao)
"What's your name?"
He looks at me and smiles. He grabs my phone and types in it.
"My name is Chenle. I didn't know you speak Chinese."
"Oh, I don't speak it. I just know how to type and spell and that stuff."
He nods and smiles.
"I don't really have anyone else to talk to because I'm new, and there isn't any other Chinese people in my grade, at least I don't think so. Do you think I could have your number so I can have someone to talk to?"
I smile and put my number in his phone. We start texting back and fourth and get to know each other. He's a sweet boy. I think I'm gonna be good friends with him. I don't have any friends either, only a few people I kinda talk to, so this is kinda nice.
We go through the school day texting back and fourth in class. Surprisingly I didn't get my phone taken away. Neither did Chenle.
I asked him to meet me after school to see if we could hang out. He said it would work. Yay!
I see him and walk up to him and smile. I text him seeing where we should go. He says that he doesn't really know where anything is yet, so it's up to me. I ask him if he wants to walk to the ice cream shop down the road, he said yes.
-
We walk to the ice cream shop texting each other back and fourth. We talk about how our day went, and just other random things. We've only known each other for a few hours, but we're already pretty close I'd say.
We get to the ice cream shop and we get our ice cream. I order for him, and pay, just because I thought that it would be nice.
We continue texting back and fourth. He knows some Korean, but he saves studying that for at home, and his Korean class in school.
-
We go for a few months switching between texting, and speaking Korean together. It's actually pretty nice.
-
By the time it gets to the last few months of the year, he knows pretty good Korean, he's been working hard. So we don't text that much anymore. We hang out almost everyday after school. We're pretty close. We are like each other's only friends, so it makes sense.
-
One day at school we met a few of other people that decided to talk to us. They were really nice as well. So as time went on, we became close with them too. There were 6 of us in total.
The six of us are pretty much inseparable. Especially Chenle and I. There is this other girl that we are also really close with though too. Her name is Kimora. She's really funny and she's probably the closest girl-friend I've ever had.
-
Time went on until it was the last month or so of school. And things went downhill. Fast.
Chenle has been sick for about two weeks, and I haven't seen him the whole time he's been sick. So it's really weird for me.
-
Kim pulled me aside and told me something that made me very upset.
"Jumin!" She stopped me in the halls and pulled me aside.
"What's up?"
"It's Chenle. You know how he's been sick?"
"Yea..?" I said confused.
"He's lying! I just found out!"
"What's he doing?" I said shocked.
"You're gonna hate it." She sighed. "B-But you know how he hasn't been answering any of us?"
"Yea?"
"The reason he isn't, is because he doesn't want us to find out what he's really doing! Earlier today he butt-dialed me and I heard everything!"
"what?!"
"Jumin. You're gonna be really mad. Promise not to freak out?"
"I'll try."
"Okay, I got a chance to record I bit of it. So do you want to hear that first, or do you want to hear what it is first?"
"You tell me, then I'll hear it." I lean into her getting ready for whatever it is.
She sighs stressed and says it all in one breath."Chenlehasbeendoingdrugsanddrinking.He'sbeenignoringusbecausehesbeenlying.idontknowwhattodo!"
"What?!"
"I know!" She whips her phone out of her pocket and opens a recording. It's very faint but I hear it. It's Chenle. "Can you go out and get me my usual stuff?" And it's very faint, but I hear him talking about drugs and alcohol for sure.
I sit there shocked and in disbelief. "Oh my god."
-
I go through the rest of the day overthinking everything. He's Chenle. I don't see him doing this, but it's his voice I heard, and why else would he be ignoring us? I hate drugs more than anything else in the world. He knows that. Why would he do it?
-
Another few days goes by before Chenle comes back to school. I have first hour with him, and I'm not exited.
He comes up to me smiling. "Hey hey! Long time no see!"
I give him a look and turn away.
"Jumin? What's wrong? You okay?"
He continues asking me what's wrong. I try my best to ignore him but I can't. "It's you Chenle! You're the reason I'm so mad!"
"W-What?"
"You! You've been lying to me, to Kim, to everyone!"
"What?!"
"You've been doing drugs, drinking, and being stupid. Chenle I'm done." I'm so furious I could just about burst into tears.
I start to leave the classroom, not caring if I'll be marked absent. I just need to be away from him.
"Jumin Wait!" He yells running after me.
I continue trying to run away from him, but he catches up. He grabs my wrist. I turn around and start to cry.
"Why Chenle? How could you do this to me? You know I hate that stuff. You being my first real friend, I never ever, wanted you to turn into someone like that." Tears start streaming down my face.
"Jumin listen to me!" He pulls be closer to him and holds my shoulders to get my attention on him.
"What?!" I say angrily through sobs.
"Who told you that!?"
"Kim! And don't tell me it isn't true, she has proof. I can't believe you!"I yell.
"Jumin listen to me!" He raises his voice. I look at him angry and still crying.
"What! What could you possibly want to say to me now!?"
"I'm not doing drugs or anything Jumin! Kim is lying! I don't know what her proof was, but it's fake. I promise you. I wouldn't, couldn't ever do that to you. I've been sick. I don't even know how to get ahold of those things!"
"Chenle. She literally showed me a recording of your voice! How could I not believe her!" I say getting even more mad, he's lying straight to my face!
"Jumin listen to me!" He looks me in my eyes, full of tears. "What can I do to have you believe me? I promise you that I'm not doing drugs, drinking, or anything. Please, let me prove it."
I sit and think for a second, my eyes still full tears. "After school, I'm going to your house and I'm talking to your mother and seeing your room."
"Okay, just try not to freak my mom out, she doesn't know what's going on. Really, neither do I. But please, please, trust me. You know I wouldn't do that to you."
I sit there looking at him with disgust.
"Please Jumin. I can't lose you, you're my best friend."
I sigh and one more tear falls down my face. He wipes it away with the sleeve of his sweater, and looks at me with sad eyes.
"I really can't lose you Jumin. I don't want to. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be who I am, I wouldn't know as much Korean as I do now, I wouldn't have my other friends-" I cut him off.
"Chenle?" He looks at me. "Kim, I don't know wether to trust you or her, and I know everyone else believes her..Chenle, I think everyone is ma- done." I say meaning that out friend group is not friends with Chenle, or don't believe him and are really mad at him.
He looks down and sighs. "I knew it."
"Chenle." I lift his chin up and look him in the eyes. "You're my best friend, and if all this isn't real, you aren't doing drugs, then I promise you that if you lose them, I'll always be with you. I don't want to lose you either. But if you are, I-i don't know how close we'll be anymore. I can't deal with those things and you know that."
I see a small smile come across his face. And it hits me. He's telling the truth. He's smiling because he knows that I'm still his best friend. It's Kim who's lying.
"Chenle?" He looks up at me with a small amount of hope in his eyes.
"Yea?"
"That smile. You're telling the truth?" I smile with hope.
He smiles and it looks like his eyes water up just a tiny bit.
"Best friends?" I smile.
His face lights up with the biggest smile I think I've ever seen from him. He hugs me and lifts me up, full of happiness.
We both start laughing and he puts me down. "Wait. Kim told you that?"
My smile falls and turns into a frown. "Yea."
"W-What does that mean?"
"I-I don't know. She's Kim, she wouldn't do that."
Little did I know...
"Do you think someone told her or made her do it?"
"I don't know." I sigh. "We can figure this out later, we should get back to class."
"Okay." He sighs. "Promise me you won't trust her? If it makes you feel better you don't have to trust me either, I totally understand if you don't. I-I just don't want her to make you think something that's not true." He looks down as we walk back to class.
"I promise."
-
We get back into class and thankfully, the class is already working and focused with music in their ears. We look over to the teacher and she's giving us a look. Great.
I quick flash a look at Chenle as we walk over.
"Where were you two? Why are you late?" She must not have seen us before class even started, she won't say we skipped then.
I scratch the back of my neck. "We had some things that really had to be sorted out."
"And you couldn't have done that after class?" She crosses her arms.
"Not really, no." Chenle looked down.
"Well, the two of you aren't in the biggest trouble, but I'll have to give you detention after school today, as you were gone for quite a bit." She sighs.
Chenle and I nod our heads and walk back to our seats, we sit far away from the teacher, next to each other, so we could text and really figure things out.
I'm still on the fence wether I trust Kim, or Chenle. I want to trust the both of them, but I don't get why Kim would lie to us like that, and why is Chenle so calm about all of this?
A/N-And that's it for part ONE of this chapter, I didn't want to make it too long, so I decided to put it into more than one chapter lmao. Anyway I hope you're liking this book so far!
Question-Why do you think Kim is doing all this?