Chapter 8 (1/1)

Several hours later the groups had come up with a basic outline for what they wanted to do for the projects, and some people had been given "assignments" to learn about the topic they would be working with. Once the Agnitio students had left the boys that remained continued to lounge about the apartment. "I hope they realize that there is no way I'm going to read those fairy tales." Tao muttered grumpily, still bitter about the project. The other boys ignored him, but Kyung Mi frowned at him. “You should read them Tao, this isn't like the other projects where it was just us, other people are relying on you. “ “They're not people I care about though, so it doesn't really matter.” Her disapproving look only intensified at his response. “Please read it Tao, it shouldn't matter whether or not you like them. “ “Would you read it to me?” He asked instead, wiggling his eyebrows comically with a smirk on his face. The others rolled their eyes, but Kyung Mi looked determined. “If that's what it takes.” Seeing how serious she was about it made all of the playfulness drop from his face. “Ugh, fine, if it means that much to you I'll read the stupid fairytales!” She shot him a breathtaking smile before turning to the other boys in that group, ignoring Tao’s mumble of “I swear it's some kind of dark sorcery.” “You all will be reading the stories as well, right?” Her question was more of a demand than a request but the boys didn't mind, most of them didn't at least. “Why are you so worried about this project anyways?” “Because, those other boys care about their grades even if you don’t and we don’t have any right to ruin things for them. Besides, it wouldn’t kill us to actually do something for one project.” “Hmph, I hate the fact that you always have logic to support your decisions.” She simply grinned in response, knowing that she had won. However, a moment later she became more serious. “Hey guys, I was thinking.” Several of them made hums or grunts to let her know they were listening. “What if we went to college?” A silence took over the group as they took in what she had said. They had agreed long ago that whatever they did they would do together and at that time they had decided to just skip college seeing as they probably wouldn’t be able to afford it anyways and none of them were too eager to apply for a loan. “Isn’t it a little too late to start trying now?” Luhan asked, seriously considering the possibilities. “I mean, I know we aren’t seniors or anything, but it’s still pretty late in our high school careers to suddenly start trying.” “I know, but we have the opportunity to take advantage of attending one of the best high schools in the country, if there’s a time to start trying it would be now. And it’s not like we were failing before, we had passing grades. I think it might work out if we play our cards right.” They all considered what she had said, still sceptical about the idea. Seeing this she tried one more time to convince them before giving up. “Don’t you guys want to do something more than work some awful job that makes us miserable in order to barely be able to afford food and a cheap place to stay?” “You know you’ll actually have to attend classes in order to do this right? How do you plan on managing that?” Chen brought up one of the original reasons behind their decision. Taking a deep breath she prepared to tell them the plan she had come up with that even she didn’t like. “Well I thought that I could quit my job.” Their eyes widened in shock, that was the last thing they expected to hear her say. “Are you out of your mind!? How are you going to pay for your apartment, or food, or anything else you might need?” The worst part of her plan had yet to be revealed, she cringed just thinking about their reactions. “Well I thought that I might work on the weekends… “ They looked at her suspiciously. “We all know that that wouldn't be enough money for you to live on. What's the other part of your plan?” Hearing Luhan’s question she felt herself panic, suddenly regretting her decision to bring it up. “Kyung Mi, what are you planning?” Kris asked, a dangerous edge to his voice. “Well I figured I could use some of the money in my parent's account. “ When her parents had left they had also left her a decent sum of money that she could use. It wasn’t an exceptionally large amount, but they had added more to it every three months since they had left, clearly not realizing that she had refused to use it. They hadn’t exactly been on great terms when they had left, so Kyung Mi had felt uncomfortable with the idea of using their money. The others knew about this and had supported her decision despite the fact that it had made her life more difficult. The boys stilled at her words, glancing at each other unsurely before looking to the girl once more. After a brief moment of silence it was Xiumin that spoke up. “Are you sure about that Mimi? You’re the one that didn’t want to use it in the first place. Are you not upset with them anymore?” They were all curious to hear her answer. “Being completely honest I’m still not totally comfortable with it and part of me is still furious about what happened. But the other part of me feels like if they hadn’t left shortly after that we would have reconciled by now and knows that this is the right choice. I think the distance and lack of contact really made it worse.” They all nodded in understanding, taking a moment to process everything. “Well if you’re okay with it I don’t really have any other legitimate arguments against the plan except for my own laziness.” Chen broke the silence, letting Kyung Mi know that he was onboard with the plan. Eventually everyone agreed to the plan, agreeing to apply themselves to the lessons more. “I guess we’ll be going to the library tomorrow then.” “Huh? Why?” She laughed at Tao’s confused face. “We need to get you a copy of those fairytales.” He groaned, eliciting a chuckle from everyone else.

“I’ve changed my mind, this plan is the worst.” Wow, it's been awhile... I'll try my best to update again soon as long as tomorrow's appointment goes well! Sorry for any mistakes and I hope you enjoyed your winter holidays!