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As Jeno rinsed his hands in the sink, looking into the long mirror in front of him while standing in the school's boys bathroom, he bit his lower lip.
He was halfway through the day, and halfway through the week. Luckily, he did a few extra shifts at his part time job and managed to pay for the water bills again. But how much longer could he continue to live like this?
Behind him, one of the cubicle doors opened, a familiar pinkette wandering out.
"Jeno," he murmured, walking over to the sink beside him. It was Jisung, as reserved as ever. One of the hardest people for Jeno to deal with, because he couldn't tell if the younger even liked him.
"Hey," the older murmured, grabbing a hand towel and drying his hands. Jisung continued to spread soap around his fingers, staring at them but not really. He always had a far away expression on, and Jeno wondered how Chenle even broke through to him in the first place.
The shorter was about to leave and escape the awkward atmosphere the other had created, but he was halted by Jisung's voice.
"Wait. I have something I was supposed to tell you."
Jeno paused, turning around and giving him a look saying 'go on'.
The pretty boy looked at him properly for once, not preoccupying himself with other things. "You're part of the events committee, aren't you?"
Jeno frowned, "Not that I'm aware."
"But your name was on the list."
Again, the older was slightly confused, never having signed anything apart from a sheet that was passed around at the beginning of the year requesting for permission to have photos of the students taken for the year book. Unless....
"I was tricked again, wasn't I?" He sighed. This was one of many happenings for him, such as the girls tricking him into going to a party, the boys signing him up for sports days, and others in general trying to include him in different things.
"Tricked?" Jisung enquired monotonously. He didn't really raise or lower his voice unless he really had to. Chenle once told the Jeno that he was a beautiful singer.
He would've loved to have that proven.
"Yeah, people are always forcing me to have fun when I don't have time...." the brunette sighed, waving it off dismissively. "Anyway, I'm part of the events committee it seems. What did you need to tell me?"
"Well, my year, the juniors, are in charge of the open night this year, where the parents get to see our progress. I'm sure you already know this since it was your year's turn last time."
Jeno nodded weakly, remembering that his mother couldn't make it last year since she was too weak. It was only a month before she died. He was getting to be a similar state....shakes, aches and nerves.
"I'm in change of what, then?"
Jisung pursed his perfect lips, seeming annoyed that he had to spell everything out for his senior. "Your committee have to prepare the hall, help with a few of the activities like the sports clubs and drama club and make sure us juniors don't screw up the posters."
That brief explanation was enough for the shorter to scoff, "Fuck that. I'm not spending time I don't have on all that work."
"You have to. And I don't think your exams will be effected by this if it's studying that you're-"
"No, it's not that. I have a job!"
The pink haired boy paused, looking taken aback. A new expression Jeno had never been introduced to on the stone cold junior's face. "But we aren't allowed jobs in high school."
"Oh piss off with that crap. I know already, but I can't afford.......I can't afford to quit." Jeno slowly started to realise he was revealing a lot of secrets he wouldn't usually speak of.
Jisung seemed to catch onto what he was saying, so he backed down and shook his head. "Let's drop that. If you aren't up for the committee, scratch your name off the list. I was only asked to tell you what you needed to do."
With that he began to walk out, brushing past Jeno without a word and disappearing through the door. Now alone, the brunette groaned, crouching down for a moment to relieve himself of the stomach ache he had.
He wasn't mentally capable at this time to put more stress on himself. Heck, he wasn't physically capable either. He gripped his torso tiredly, his ribs meeting his hands first.
"What am I doing?" He whispered hoarsely, feeling sick all of a sudden, cursing under his breath since all he had eaten lately was an empty roll the previous night.
He stood up once more to take one last glance at himself in the mirror. He sighed painfully, walking out as fast as he could and towards the massive billboards and notice boards near the entrance of the school.
He was tolerant of many things, mostly because he never had the energy to fight. But the amount of work Jisung had just described was not fair to him. It wasn't fair to anyone who didn't know people and needed help.
Once he reached the cork surfaced bulletin, searching over the posters and announcements quickly for the one on the separate committees and their members, he found what he was looking for.
The goddamn events committee.
He pulled out a pen from his bag, seeing his name about fifth on the list.
"I think the fuck not," he murmured to himself as he went to scratch it out. Unfortunately, he was stopped by someone falling into him from behind.
"Woah, watch out Haechan!" They hissed lightly, no real malice behind their tone. Jeno's stomach growled embarrassingly as he spun around to view the person too quickly for his body's liking.
"Jeez man, I'm sorry," the back haired male apologised. "My friend wasn't watching out, and I bumped into you....." he paused.
Jeno just frowned, never having seen this person before. "It's fine. I was just-"
"Signing your name?! That's great! I have loads of respect for committee members," he chirped. "I'm Renjun."
That was random, was all that passed through the younger's head. No place in that conversation required an introduction, and now there was one more person kicking Jeno into a job he didn't need and couldn't do.
"H-hi," he mumbled, looking at his name once more on the sheet and gritting his teeth.
Farewell freedom.....
"Can I just take that off you?" This Renjun person enquired. "I'm in the drama club, so I need to put my name down to help the juniors."
"Take what?"
"The pen?"
Haechan started snickering behind them, "Dude, you're so out of it. Are you high?"
"Oh my god, shut up," the oldest snapped, "You can't just say those things."
Jeno rolled his eyes, passing Renjun the pen and watching as he signed his name on a separate sheet for voluntary help.
"Thanks. I'll see you around.....?"
"Jeno," the brunette muttered, "I'm Jeno."
Haechan raised his brow, "Your the Jeno kid? I feel like I've heard stuff about you."
How wonderful. Now please leave me alone, he wanted to say. Instead he ended the conversation with, "Bye. I have class to get to."
He took off quickly, ignoring the slightly confused expressions the pair wore as he near sprinted away. Yes, it appeared that he was escaping two perfectly nice boys, but no, Jeno didn't care. He hadn't time, money, nor effort for proper friends.
Friends weren't supposed to require effort. He needed whatever energy he could muster each day for work, finding food and managing to get to sleep.
This was how things were, and would probably always be.
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