Last Chance

Right from the start, it seems like the universe is against him.

In previous years, Chanyeol has shared some classes, like music or pottery, with Baekhyun. No such luck this year. Absolutely none of their classes overlap, and neither do their lunches. Looking at the schedules, Chanyeol’s heart sinks. They won’t see each other at all.

That’s not the worst part.

Baekhyun doesn’t seem bothered by not having any classes with Chanyeol. In fact, he seems kind of happy. Happy to have the distance between the two of them.

Chanyeol begins to wonder if he’s a burden to Baekhyun. It seems like Baekhyun is avoiding him- he’s not answering his phone, and always has homework or some project when Chanyeol tries to make plans to meet up. On the rare occasions that the pair does hang out together, Baekhyun seems annoyed. Well, maybe that’s not the right word. Preoccupied. Distracted. Different.

The duo doesn’t hang out as much anymore.

It’s not for lack of effort. At least on Chanyeol’s part. He makes texts and calls to see if Baekhyun wants to do something. When Baekhyun doesn’t answer, Chanyeol tries seeing him at school, visiting him in homeroom. Baekhyun always rejects the his offers to hang out.

People begin to notice the pair doesn’t hang out anymore though, and rumors quickly spread about the pair.
“I heard that they got into a huge fight over the summer…” and “Isn’t it true that Baekhyun kissed Chanyeol’s summer fling and now Chanyeol’s angry with him? Typical Baekhyun...” are whispered all over the school. None of the rumors are true of course, but people still like to speculate.

The rumors get worse when Baekhyun starts to hang out with some of the rowdier kids in his grade- the really, really, popular ones. The kids who would rather get high and make out with each other behind the school’s bleachers than attend class. The “bad” kids. Only this time, the student body is starting to get things right. Like how it’s Baekhyun avoiding Chanyeol, Baekhyun breaking off the friendship, and how Chanyeol has tried to hang out with him.

It’s starting to make Chanyeol look very, very, very lame and desperate.

His mom is concerned.
“Where’s Baekhyun?” she asks one night during dinner. “I haven’t seen him around in a while.” Chanyeol can only shrug.
“He’s busy, I guess. Homework and all since it’s senior year.” But Chanyeol knows that’s a lie. Baekhyun’s been partying his way through his final year of school- it’s all over his instagram. In fact, everyone knows that Baekhyun’s been blowing off school, choosing to smoke with his new friends, Luhan, Taeyeon, Dara, Heechul, and Yixing, instead of attending classes.

It makes Chanyeol sad to see his friend trashing his future like that. But Baekhyun seems just as, if not more so, happy with his new friends as he was with Chanyeol. This truth is painful to admit, and it hurts to watch Baekhyun laugh at some horrible joke Yixing sprouts.

Finally Chanyeol realizes he can’t do it to himself anymore. This odd form of self-harm. Seeing Baekhyun smile, which used to light up his entire world, now shreds his heart into little pieces. He stops visiting Baekhyun’s homeroom in the morning, and stops texting him as well. It would appear his absence goes unnoticed by Baekhyun.

Notes

admittedly this chapter's a tad slow/ descriptive but the story's scene needed to be set to get the ball rolling so....

anyway hope everyone is having a lovely day! sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I had a little writer's block ^•^