Clinging to Friendship

Chapter 6

I reached the detention room a little after the final school bell rang. Once I entered I saw Ji-Yeong in the corner of the room, reading. Beside him was an open chair, which I assumed was for me since the rest of the room was full. Some students were sleeping, others were talking to each other.

“Hey, Ji-Yeong!” I exclaimed. Ji-Yeong looked up from his book in surprise and waved at me, I didn’t blame him for the surprise. I’m pretty sure that was the happiest I had been to see him. He pointed to the board and I saw the words: No Talking. Ah. Well no matter, no one else was listening to that rule. I strode across the room and took my seat next to Ji-Yeong. After seating myself, I decided to poke him in the side. The teacher wasn’t in yet and everyone else in detention was making the best of it. It should be fine.

“Sorry again for getting you in trouble. It’s only your second day and now you’re stuck here.” I apologized, but he didn’t accept it.

“Really, it’s no problem. Besides, it takes two to have a conversation. It was both of our faults!” He said with a smile. Ji-Yeong closed his book and leaned against the palm of his hand. “Besides, I enjoyed talking with you when you weren’t being an ass. You actually made me feel a little better about my surgery,” Ji-Yeong mentioned softly. He said that last part quietly most likely so that the others wouldn’t hear him, and it would only be meant for me. I was about to reply to him when I was interrupted by the teacher finally coming into the room. He stopped by his desk and glared around the room.

“Why is everyone talking? Haven’t you looked at the board?” the teacher grabbed a yardstick from his desk and slammed it against the whiteboard, “No Talking. I shouldn’t have to say this again. If I hear another peep, you all will get another detention.” He rubbed his temples in distress, muttering under his breath about how kids never read anymore. He sat down at his desk, kicked his feet up and closed his eyes. I could see he really didn’t care about this job. It was kind of funny how much he didn’t care. I tried to muffle my laughter, but it was pretty much fruitless. The teacher opened his eyes and glared at me. “What?” I shook my head furiously.

“Nothing, sorry sir. I was just thinking about something funny that happened today,” I looked down at my desk, attempting to avoid his glare.

“It better have been nothing,” He huffed and returned to what I assume was his afternoon nap. I turned my gaze over to Ji-Yeong. You know, aesthetically speaking, he was seriously attractive. He was currently ignoring me, as he had gone back to his book. His dark bangs hung across his eyes and he would occasionally brush them aside so that he could see. I really wanted to brush them aside for him. He was reading intensely but I noticed that he would occasionally look at me from the corner of his eyes. My face flushed, though it was unnoticeable. Thank god for dark skin. I averted my eyes away from him and back down at my desk. Again.

“What’s up Kian? You were staring at me, do I have something on my face?” he asked me, finally looking away from his story. I just continued looking at my desk, acting like I was distracted by something, “Hey?” he waved his hand underneath my face, I snapped up acting surprised.

“Huh? Oh, was I? Sorry. I must have been staring out into space,” I said, lying through my teeth. Thankfully though, he didn’t seem to notice that I had been lying to him. He nodded and went back to his book.

~

It was about thirty minutes later when Ji-Yeong put his book down and stretched his arms up to the ceiling.

“Sorry for ignoring you, I just had to finish a couple of the chapters for this book,” he explained. I nodded and picked the book up from his desk, reading the title I saw that it read: The Iliad. What class did he have that had him read this?

“Hey, who’s making you read this book?” I asked, peeking over at the teacher to make sure he wasn’t about to wake up. He had fallen asleep a couple of minutes ago and had been snoring loudly in his chair. Ji-Yeong snatched his book back from me and set it back down on his desk.

“It’s for my classical lit class. They started reading it in like August, and I have so much to catch up on. But man, this is a slow book, it’s really really boring,” he sighed in exasperation, slumping against his desk, almost pushing the Iliad off of it and onto the ground. “Whoops,” he muttered, before grabbing the book so it wouldn’t fall off.

“Good luck with your reading. I’m sure that reading some old ass Greek book is definitely boring.”

“You have no idea. It’s awful. Like I can read English but this, this is ridiculous” I ripped the book out of his grasp and slid it across the floor. Then I took his hands and stood up, pulling him out of his seat as well. “W-what are you doing Kian?” Ji-Yeong hissed, his face was slightly red, I assumed it was because of how close we were standing, I steeled myself and pulled Ji-Yeong out of the detention room, just like I had thought, the teacher hadn’t cared enough to lock the door. “Hey… Wait! What are you doing, Kian?” He exclaimed. He was being too loud, so I shushed him and held his hand tighter in mine.

“Just be quiet. We still have like an hour and a half left so come on,” Ji-Yeong sighed but he stopped talking. I let go of his hand and after a little while, I checked on him to make sure he was still following me, which to my relief he still was.

“Could you at least tell me where we are going?”

“See I could tell you, but where’s the fun in that?” I smirked at him, which looked like it irritated him. I chuckled and continued on my way. It was kind of fun teasing him like this.

~

It didn’t take long before we made it to my favorite spot. It was the school’s auditorium. It was one of the schools’ proudest achievements but surprisingly they barely used it. Like now, there was no event to practice for, so it was completely empty.

“Kian, are you sure we can be in here?” Ji-Yeong whispered. He was crouched down, probably thinking that we would get caught at any point.

“Oh, absolutely not,” I said with a laugh when I noticed Ji-Yeong’s expression. He looked shocked over the fact that I was technically breaking and entering into the auditorium, oh well. He’ll understand why I came in here soon enough.

I made sure that no one was inside before I actually walked inside. I headed over to the backstage area, beckoning Ji-Yeong to follow after me. He looked left and right before he came into the auditorium with me. We made our way over to some stairs that led to the thingy that hung above the stage. I wasn’t sure what it was called, and it’s not like I was going to look it up. I didn’t care enough about what it was.

I climbed up the stairs and made my way onto the walkway that hung precariously over the audience. I climbed over the railway and walked out onto the grid that carried all of the lights.

“Um… Kian, are you sure that this is safe? This seems really dangerous,” Ji-Yeong asked me, the fear was apparent on his face. His eyes were wide, and I could see that he was breathing hard. He was also white knuckling the railing that separated the walkway from the actual grid part that I was currently sitting on.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry, I promise you it’s really safe. I’ve been doing this for years,” I said, standing up so that I could help him across. He reached over, grabbed my hand tightly as if he was about to die and climbed over the railing. Ji-Yeong yelped as he started to fall onto the grid. I grabbed onto him before he could fall, and I held him close against me. His heart was pounding, his breathing was hard. Ji-Yeong looked up at me, his pupils blown wide in fear.

“A-are you ok Ji-Yeong?” I questioned him, giving him a quick look over. I really hoped I didn’t just scare him away from this or injure him.

He took a deep breath of air, trying to calm himself before he spoke.

“Yeah, I’m good… You can let go of me now,” I finally realized just how tightly I was clutching him against my chest. I released him and sat back down at my spot on the grid, patting the spot beside me. Wow, that was embarrassing… He had felt so nice when I held him close, and despite my letting go of him, it felt like I could still feel him on me. Ji-Yeong settled beside me and looked through the slots of the grid. “We are really high up…”

“Yep. We really are,” I said, looking through the slots as well, “That’s why it’s one of my favorite places. It’s always warm up here and it kind of feels like I’m floating. Sometimes, I bring a blanket with me and I hide up here during my study hall so that way I can sleep. It’s really peaceful here,” I explained to him. This really was my favorite spot, I don’t think I even showed this place to Layne. He knew that I always went somewhere during study hall, but he didn’t know the specifics of it. Layne was my best friend in the world and I haven’t ever brought him here.

Why did I bring Ji-Yeong here? What about him made me want to show him this place? I must be going crazy. If my dad could hear my thoughts on Ji-Yeong… I couldn’t finish that thought. I already knew what would happen, and it wouldn’t be good. If my dad found out about my confusion he would most definitely kick me out of his house. I don’t know what I would do if my dad found out I was having these thoughts about another boy.

If I ended up getting kicked out, I wouldn’t be able to go to Layne’s family. They wouldn’t be able to afford another mouth to feed their parents were already putting so much money into this private school. And I’m fairly sure that his mom and dad both have two jobs just to afford it. Maybe, if I ever got kicked out of my house Ji-Yeong would be nice enough to take me in.

“Hey, Ji-Yeong,” he hummed at me, “What’s your family like?” It was a sudden question and after how he was about his brother I’d be surprised if he even answered it.

“My family?” He pursed his lips, and I assumed he was thinking about what to say, “Well, my family is like every other family, I guess. They’re pretty normal, there’s not much to say about them.” Well, I guess that’s all I should’ve been expecting, even if we were comfortable together, it’s not like we really knew each other. We’ve only been friends for like a day, and I was a d**k to him for most of that. I wouldn’t even tell Layne personal family stuff if I’d known him for a day.

~

We didn’t really talk much for the rest of the hour that we were in there. Occasionally I would tease him, and he would tease me back, talk about our favorite subject; his was English, mine was Chemistry. I also asked him more about his track and field days and he asked me if I had done any sports (I haven’t). But most of the hour we spent in comfortable silence. It kind of felt, for me at least, that we didn’t need to talk to one another to enjoy each other’s presence. It was a really nice hour, but it ended way too soon.

“We should probably head back now. That teacher might be waking up soon, and I’d rather not get in trouble again,” Ji-Yeong said, after checking his phone. I huffed and slowly stood up. I really didn’t want our time to end just yet. I climbed over the railway first, so I could watch as Ji-Yeong climbed over it, just in case he tripped again, but fortunately and unfortunately, he didn’t.

The two of us made our way down from the grid and out of the auditorium, heading back for the detention room, where our teacher was waiting, hopefully, still asleep, to dismiss us when the time came.