"This is the tenth class you've skipped this week."

Actually, it's the twelfth, but whatever. Yoongi couldn't even take the principal seriously. Why should he? The dumb man couldn't even keep track of Yoongi's skipped classes.

"I'm not even going to bother assigning you another detention because you never show up." The principal sighed as he grabbed a slip of paper and held it out to Yoongi."Give this to Mrs. Choi in the drama class. It has the details of your punishment."

Now Yoongi was confused."My punishment? In the drama class?"

This brought a slight smirk to the principal's expression. He was definitely feeling the control he had over students like Yoongi."Yes, Min. Your punishment will be in the drama class. Starting today, You're going to be there for every rehearsal to prepare for the upcoming play. Mrs. Choi will give you a task, and you must do it. If you fail to comply or do anything to sabotage the play, you'll be expelled. Are we clear?"

No matter how much Yoongi wanted to protest, he could see in the principal's face that it would be pointless. Nothing he could say would get him out of this."Fine, whatever." This is going to be a nightmare.

---

That was how Yoongi found himself with the task of handling the spotlights. He was a backstage aid, a stage hand, a helper, the light guy, whatever anyone chose to call him. He didn't care. He just couldn't let himself get expelled. As much as he skipped classes, he knew better than to let himself get expelled. That would be terrible.

So here he was, adjusting the lights. He had been shown how they work, so he knew how to use them now. It was his duty to make sure the different spotlights were shining on the correct people. It was a little confusing at first, but he was getting the hang of it. After all, there were three different spotlights. They were different sizes, meant to be shone on different roles and sometimes used to illuminate important objects or areas of the stage.

As Yoongi got better and better at manning the lights, rehearsals started getting boring. Well, it was already boring for Yoongi, but now it was even more boring since he could manage the lights correctly and not worry about doing it wrong. Mrs. Choi was no longer constantly telling him that he was too slow at adjusting the lights or shining the wrong light on the wrong person.

Yoongi did his best to do this well. Not because he wanted to do a good job in the drama class. That wasn't it at all. He just hated having attention on him. Whenever Mrs. Choi scolded anyone or told them they were doing something wrong, she did it in front of the whole class. She would say that it was a learning opportunity for everyone. Yoongi hated that. Having the judging eyes of other students on him was the worst. He dealt with that too much.

---

Did this punishment stop Yoongi from skipping his classes? Yes, for now. He really hated attending certain classes. He didn't mind the subjects. He didn't even mind doing the work. Yoongi's issue was with other students.

Their judging eyes bore holes into his mind and stability. Their giggles and laughs gave him anxiety and made him feel sick. Every wad of paper, pencil, or pen thrown at him whenever the teacher wasn't looking bruised his self-esteem.

Yoongi knew that skipping the classes with those particular students wasn't the right way to fix this problem, but he didn't know what else to do. He'd told the teachers about the bullying. He'd told the principal. They were of no help.

"Have you tried becoming their friend?"

"Just ignore them."

"Could you have done something to make them dislike you?"

"Maybe you just need to talk it out with them."

They were useless. They didn't want to handle the bullying. They would rather pretend it wasn't happening and treat Yoongi as if it was his own fault.

Did Yoongi tell his parents? Definitely not. He couldn't. If he told his parents, he knew how they would react, and he couldn't handle that.

So here Yoongi sat again, in his assigned seat for chemistry. He tried his best to just ignore the students around him, but it wasn't possible. They were giggling. They were giggling at him. He knew they were. Soon enough, a wad of paper hit his shoulder.

He shouldn't have looked in the direction from which it came, but he did. And as soon as he did, a pencil hit his cheek. Yoongi's hand immediately flew up to his cheek. It hurt. After touching the spot for a couple seconds, he looked at his hand and saw a tiny bit of blood. The pencil must have been freshly sharpened. He hated this so much. He needed to escape. He didn't feel safe here.

Not even bothering to raise his hand and get the teacher's permission, Yoongi stood and rushed out of the classroom, the laughs of other students ringing in his ears. He heard the teacher call after him just twice before telling the other students to pay attention to the lesson.

Did the teacher come after him? No. Why would she? That woman didn't care about him. She, like other school staff, didn't want to admit that bullying happened at this school. They all wanted to pretend that this school was too high-class for such a thing.

For what felt like the millionth time, Yoongi found himself sitting atop the toilet in the last stall of the boys restroom. He was sitting on the tank with his feet on the seat, not wanting to be noticed. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to be in this school. He just wanted to be alone. But he knew that being alone wouldn't fix all his problems either. Why couldn't he have just one friend?

---

"The play is coming just right around the corner." Mrs. Choi was visibly excited about this play, as were her drama students. They had all worked so hard for this."Today, we'll be doing rehearsal in costumes. If your costume restricts your movements too much, doesn't fit properly, or has any other issue, let me know at the end of rehearsal. All issues will be attended to as soon as possible." Her gaze soon fell to Yoongi and the other backstage aids."All aids should wear black for the play. This is to ensure no attention is drawn to you. Aids are not supposed to be noticed. We want the audience to only focus on those with stage roles."

Wear black. Don't be noticed. Yoongi was perfectly fine with that. Most of his wardrobe was black, and he preferred to not be noticed anyway. Being noticed was the worst.

As most students wandered off to get their costumes and change, Yoongi just wanted to climb up to the light rafters. It was actually becoming one of his favorite areas. He could be alone up there. A lot of students were afraid of heights, but he wasn't, which was how Mrs. Choi decided to give him that task.

The only thing keeping him from going up to the rafters right now was the fact that everyone was putting on their costumes. He wanted to see them. Yoongi wouldn't be able to see the costumes as well from up high. The costumes probably suck. He had seen the costumes that were used for a play at his previous school, and they had been cheap and ugly. He didn't expect much here either.

Oh boy, he was wrong.

Yoongi had been unprepared for how the costumes would look. Perhaps he should have known that they would look nice. After all, this was a high-class school, unlike his previous school.

The students soon returned in their costumes. Yoongi was in awe. The costumes were stunning, magnificent. If Yoongi had seen these costumes beforehand, he would have never guessed that they were for a high school play. He would have thought they were for a large production with a massive budget. Maybe he still needed to get used to how nice things were at this school.

"Holy shit..." Just when Yoongi thought he'd seen the best of the costumes, the most impressive one came into his line of sight. Not only was the costume impressive, but the student wearing it was very handsome. Yoongi didn't know this student's name; he'd never bothered to learn it. Actually, Yoongi barely knew anyone's names. He always kept to himself and didn't bother to learn the names of students who would probably rather bully him than get to know him.

It didn't even register in Yoongi's mind that he wasn't the only person staring at this handsome boy in a marvelous prince costume. Yoongi could only vaguely recall this boy's role, a heroic prince, the lead. His mind was too clouded to gather more information than that at the moment.

Very fitting to the role he was playing, the boy in the prince costume winked directly at Yoongi before sending a flying kiss right at him.

"What the shit?!" Yoongi had blurted that without thinking. It was just an instant reaction to the dashingly-handsome boy doing such a flirty thing in his direction. With utter embarrassment as other drama students began to laugh at his reaction, Yoongi scurried out of the room and down the hall. He needed his quiet spot in the restroom. Everyone was laughing at him because of that reaction. How could he go back in there now?

Standing behind with a charming smile on his lips was the student in the princely role, Seokjin. Though he was still smiling, he truly felt bad. He hadn't meant to embarrass the quiet student or cause others to laugh at him. He'd only meant to be playful in his role. That student would need to come back soon to work the lights for rehearsal, right? Seokjin would find a chance to apologize to him after rehearsal.

Yoongi felt so stupid as he locked himself in the last stall of the same boys restroom he always used. He had begun to feel safe in the drama class. He'd had no issues there, aside from Mrs. Choi's way of scolding any student in front of everyone else. He liked being there. He liked being up on the light rafters. He liked watching the rehearsals. Why did he let himself get comfortable there?

Thoughts of running out of the school and finding somewhere to hide until it was time for him to return home flooded Yoongi's mind, but he knew he couldn't do that. He could hear the principal's words ringing in his ears. He had to attend every rehearsal. If he didn't, he'd be expelled. He had to go back to the drama class.

After taking numerous deep breaths in a failed attempt to calm his nerves, Yoongi exited the stall and left the restroom. His hands were shaking, and his wobbly knees made it more difficult to walk straight. He hated his anxiety so much.

When Yoongi returned to the drama class, he could feel everyone's eyes on him as he went directly to the ladder that led up to the rafters. He barely heard Mrs. Choi call his name, but he didn't even look at her until he got up to the rafters, a safe distance. Looking down at the teacher, he was relieved to see that she wasn't trying to get his attention anymore. It seemed that her attention was grabbed by another student, the prince, after she'd called his name once.

Yoongi didn't know how much more of this he could take. Sure, it was just one incident that caused everyone to laugh at him, but Yoongi felt like his safe space was gone. He'd felt safe here until everyone laughed at him. Stupid prince.

Now that Yoongi was back, everyone got to their places. He had caused rehearsal to be delayed, but there was still enough time to get through it. And so rehearsal began.

---

"Yoongi, I know you know how to do this right." Mrs. Choi sighed with disappointment."You've been doing so well, but you messed up quite a bit today. The play is only a week away. We need this to be perfect. There will be no room for error during the real thing. Do you understand?"

Hanging his head low as he was scolded in front of the other students, Yoongi nodded. He dared not speak up. He was so nervous that he couldn't trust his own voice to not crack, come out weak, or involuntarily stammer.

"He couldn't focus because of Seokjin-oppa," a girl said with a giggle.

At that, Seokjin himself spoke up."It's not his fault. I made him nervous before rehearsal. I goofed off, so it's my fault. I'm sure he'll do a flawless job during the play."

Hearing that Yoongi had only been made nervous today, Mrs. Choi eased up on the scolding."Alright. Do your best to focus next time, Yoongi. Distractions happen, but we can't let those distractions effect our tasks." After seeing Yoongi nod again, the drama teacher smiled."Okay, everyone, change out of your costumes and be sure to tell me any issues before you leave. We only have a week before the play, so any costume issues will need to be fixed as soon as possible."

"Hey, Yoongi."

The casual call of his name took Yoongi by surprise. He hadn't thought anyone in this class even knew his name, though he supposed it could be learned by listening to Mrs. Choi scold him. Glancing around to find who called for him, he almost panicked when he saw the handsome prince walking right toward him. Don't talk to me in that costume. He didn't think he could handle it.

"Will you wait around while I change out of this?" Seokjin asked simply."I want to talk to you."

You want to talk? To me? Yoongi didn't know how to respond. He supposed he could wait. He didn't really have anywhere but home to go after this anyway since drama was the last class of the day. He used to have study hall as his last class before receiving this punishment.

Seeing that he wasn't getting an audible answer from Yoongi, Seokjin found it hard to be hopeful that the boy would wait around for him."Please wait. I'll be ready soon." With that said, he rushed away to get changed, not wanting Yoongi to leave if he took too long.

Yoongi didn't even know why he stayed. Why was he waiting around for the boy who took away his safe space? Why wasn't he just going home to sit in his room and block out the world?

A few students chuckled as they walked past Yoongi on their way out, and that brought forward his anxiety a bit, but it was a relief when most students actually didn't pay attention to him as they left. When Seokjin came back to him in his regular clothes, Yoongi saw that the costume didn't actually make Seokjin look like a prince. No, Seokjin made the costume look princely. The boy already looked like a prince on his own.

"Hey, thanks for waiting." Seokjin had been hoping Yoongi would wait, but he hadn't actually expected him to do so."Do your parents pick you up or do you walk home?"

"Uh, I walk." Yoongi mentally cursed his voice for coming out so weak.

This was a sound Seokjin had not expected."Your voice is so deep," he commented with a smile."I didn't expect that. Cool." He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants, completely casual."I'll walk you home so we can talk on the way."

As much as Yoongi didn't want this very attractive boy to see where he lived, he didn't have the guts to reject him."Okay." So they left together. It was quiet between them as they walked through the school halls. Yoongi felt like a stain on Seokjin's spotless shirt whenever the taller boy gave a farewell to his many friends in the halls.

A few people asked Seokjin to hang with them, but he turned them down politely to remain with Yoongi. He needed to speak to Yoongi and apologize for embarrassing him, but he had to do it outside of school. After all, it was very easy to see that Yoongi was uncomfortable in the crowded halls. Once they got out of the school, Seokjin let Yoongi lead the way. Not wanting the shorter boy to be uncomfortable, he waited until they were away from school property before he finally spoke up again."Yoongi, I didn't mean to embarrass you before rehearsal. I'm sorry for that."

Yoongi stopped in his tracks. They hadn't even gotten far, and this boy already broke Yoongi's brain. An apology was the last thing he expected to hear."You're sorry?"

"Yeah." Seokjin stood right by Yoongi's side, doing his best to focus on apologizing and not admiring the boy's short stature."I didn't know you'd react that way. Since you're always so quiet, I just wanted to be playful. I wanted to get you involved." A smile spread across his lips."I wanted to help you feel included."

He just wanted me to feel included? That struck a cord in Yoongi. No one at this school had ever tried to include him before. Everyone either left him alone or bullied him. He didn't really fit in at that school anyway. It was obvious.

"I've noticed that you never talk to anyone. Do you not have any friends in the drama class?" Yoongi's facial expression and closed-off body language told Seokjin more than just a simple answer to that question."You don't have any friends, do you?" That was painful to see. Everyone needs friends. He knew it must be hard to be all alone."Can I be your friend?"

"Why do you want to be my friend?" Yoongi didn't understand."I'm the poor kid in a school for rich kids. Everyone looks down on me."

Seokjin relaxed his shoulders and couldn't help but feel sad."I know a lot of the kids at our school aren't friendly toward anyone they view as beneath them. They've grown up in wealthy families and never had to work for anything themselves. They don't understand. Your family must have it rough."

Yoongi shook his head."My parents sacrificed a lot to get me into this school. You have no idea how much I want to go back to my old school, but they want me to go here. They want me to have better education than my old school can provide." He didn't know why he was admitting all of this, but something about Seokjin felt safe."I started skipping classes, you know, because of assholes. Being in the drama class is my punishment. I have to do it, or I'll be expelled, and I can't do that. Not after everything my parents did to get me into this school. And I know they'd pull me out of this school if I told them about the bullying, but I can't let them do that. It would be a waste of everything they did to get me here."

"Well, I'll be your friend." Now Seokjin's mind was made up."I can't make all the bullying stop or force people to accept you, but you won't be alone anymore." Noticing something, he reached out and lightly touched Yoongi's cheek."You have a tiny cut on your cheek. What happened?" It had gone unnoticed until now because this was his first time paying such close attention to the shorter boy.

"One of the assholes threw a pencil at me." Yoongi averted his gaze, unable to look at Seokjin as the handsome boy was touching his cheek like this. His face felt hot just from this.

That brought a frown to Seokjin's face."That's it. I'm going to tell all my friends to keep an eye on you. We can't stop everything from happening, but they'll step in if they see someone bothering you." Seokjin decided right here and now to take Yoongi under his wing."Yoongi Protection Squad." It pleased him when the cute boy cracked a tiny smile at that."In all seriousness, my friends and I will look out for you. I promise. You can come to us with any problems, bullies or even homework, and we'll help you the best we can."

"Thank you." This felt too good to be true, but Yoongi really wanted it to be real. He wanted friends. He wanted the bullying to be stopped or at least lessened.

With a smile, Seokjin held a hand out to Yoongi."Now let's go to your house. We can hang out and chat and do our homework together." He was very happy when Yoongi accepted his hand, though the cute boy was clearly shy about it. As they resumed walking together, Seokjin knew that he was going to do anything he possibly could to help Yoongi feel safe and welcome at school.