Ch.1
Ch.1
Annual School Play! Sign your name and class below to audition!
Chenle sighed and looked longingly at the notice pinned on the board. It was loud and colourful, full of reds and yellows and greens so that no one could miss it. And truly, no one ever missed the notice, because in addition to the flyer, there would be an intercom announcement accompanied by a student messenger going from class to class to inform everyone of the event.
He held the straps of his school bag tightly and inspected the names listed beneath the sign-up sheet. No one he recognised. He put his bag down and rifled through it to find his pencil case, extracting a rather blunt pencil and lifting it to the paper. He would love to sign up, but he wasn't much cop at acting.
As he was about to write his name in a moment of impulse, a hand flew onto his shoulder and spun him around. "You're signing up for the school play?!" His friend exclaimed with a huge grin.
"N-no! I'm not!" He hid the pencil behind his back and stood straight, watching the smile fall from Jaemin's face. "I was just looking to see who was going to."
"In other words, you were looking to see if Jisung signed up," the pink-haired boy snickered and wiggled his eyebrows.
"Could you possibly say that any louder?" Chenle huffed but smiled anyway. True, he was wondering if Park Jisung was going to act. He always did. He was a fabulous actor.
"If you're suggesting, then I'll give it a shot. IN OTHER WORDS-"
"Shush!" He slapped Jaemin's back and picked up his school bag, slinging it over his shoulder and slipping the pencil into his pocket. "Let's just go."
They wandered away from the colourful notice board and the very visible notice about the play. The halls were busy enough as it was, but the line of girls waiting to sign up was constantly getting longer and consistently annoying the people trying to get past. The two friends had to brush past shoulders and barge through groups of chatting students in order to make it to the locker area. And why were the girls lining up? That would be because of the handsome boy walking in Chenle's direction.
"Try not to face-plant this time," Jaemin chuckled and slung his arm around Chenle's shoulder, referring to the incident last week when Jisung had walked past them and the Chinese boy hadn't looked ahead to see the school bag on the floor.
"Don't remind me," Chenle frowned and covered his face with his hands. "He probably knows me as the idiot who tripped over a bag."
"Or the idiot who nearly broke his nose."
"Jaem!"
"Hehe, sorry." The pink-haired boy smiled and relaxed the arm around his friend's shoulder.
They watched as the tall, handsome boy walked towards them. Well, "towards them" would be wishful thinking, when he was actually making his way to his friends, who were at the other end of the hall. He looked particularly stunning today, although Chenle would say that everyday. He hid his blushing face underneath the strands of orange hair clouding his vision. His hair might have looked too long to those around him, but for the Chinese boy, it was the perfect length to avoid making his red cheeks known.
"He looked at you."
"No he didn't."
"Haha, I guess you're right." Jaemin was always supportive of Chenle's crush on Park Jisung. He had been crushing on Jisung since he first met him, which was when the younger boy had walked into the wrong classroom and met a solitary Chenle, who was catching up on forgotten homework, and had directed him to the correct room. Sure, it was just a small, meaningless exchange of words, but it had set off a chain of years in which Chenle's feelings continued to grow. He had liked Jisung for three years already.
"I want the earth to swallow me whole."
Jaemin looked at him in confusion. "Why?"
"Because I nearly signed up for the stupid play. I'm no better than all those girls hoping to get the main role."
"But they haven't even told us what the play even is yet. Speaking of, I actually have a bet, and it includes that tall, devilishly good-looking guy. You in?"
"If it doesn't affect me in the way I'm imagining it would, so a temporary 'no' until you explain the bet to me."
Jaemin stopped walking and tugged him to the side of the hallway, where he placed his hands on his shoulders and smiled deviously. "I know you and I know you'll lose this bet, but I also know that you have too much pride to decline."
"You know me too well."
"So here it goes: before the end of the day, you're going to check if Jisung signed up for the play or not. I know you will, because you've done this every year. If you don't look, then we'll continue normally, but if you check to see if he wrote his name down, then you have to write your name too."
Chenle let his face fall and frowned. "You know that's difficult. I always look at the sign-up sheet."
"That's why I'm betting on it. I think you're a good actor, so I want you to sign up."
He sighed and nodded his head, as said earlier, he had too much pride to decline. Jaemin grinned from ear to ear and let his hands drop from Chenle's shoulder.
"Nice. It's on."
Chenle spent the day - with great difficulty - trying not to wander over to the notice board and peep at the names of the auditionees. He also spent his history class looking straight ahead at the person sitting directly in front of him, and it's pretty obvious who that person was. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off him.
Then, as expected, there was an announcement over the intercom. "Good afternoon, students. *crackle* The awaited time of *crackle* year is upon us *crackle*." And there were many more *crackle*s before the principal actually got to the point. "The school play." There was a large pause for effect, in which he expected the students to start chatting and mumbling about how fun it would be. There was none of that, because they were waiting for him to hurry the hell up and tell them what the play would be. "This year's *crackle* play will be 'Across the World' *crackle*."
The students sighed in relief and finally began to chat and converse about the upcoming play, completely ignoring the rest of the announcement.
"Jisung~" a girl called. "Are you auditioning?"
The kind, smart and extremely talented boy just smiled at her and tilted his head. "It's a secret."
Chenle could barely contain the urge to leap out of his chair, run down the hallway, and check the board to see if the name was written on it. He leaned his elbows on his desk and his head in his hands. "The real question is," the boy beside him began, "what the hell is 'Across the World'?"
Everyone went silent, because nobody knew. The principal had a habit of choosing old plays, which usually included a main couple (Jisung and some girl - which was why the opposite gender auditioned so enthusiastically every year).
The class finished smoothly with no homework, but Chenle just couldn't shake the longing to look at the board. He was on his way to the locker area, wanting to go home as soon as possible, and brushed past many people with their school bags and phones dialling parents to collect them. He kept his head down as he passed the notice board, catching the colourful flyer in the corner of his eye as he went. Jaemin would never know, right? If he just sneaked a small peak...
He looked left and right before creeping over to the board, eyes nervously darting down the sign-up page.
"Hello. Are you going to audition?" A familiar voice asked behind him.
He turned around in surprise to clap eyes on Park Jisung. His whole heart did a gigue and his cheeks turned as rosy as a rose in full bloom. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights - wide-eyed and lips slightly parted. "I-I-"
"He is," another familiar voice interrupted and Chenle felt an arm drape itself over his shoulder. "Because he lost a bet with me." Jaemin winked at him knowingly and looked at the tall boy. "Are you?"
Jisung chuckled lightly and nodded. Chenle's shaky hand held the pencil as he reached up to scribble his name on. It looked hideous from all the shaking and the bluntness of the led, but the name was there. He was officially an auditionee. Jisung wrote his name beneath and smiled at the duo. "I'll see you two at the auditions. See you soon." He picked up his bag and walked away, leaving Chenle to slump against the wall and hold his heart.
"He's so dreamy," he stuttered and glanced at Jaemin. "A-and friendly."
"Yes, he is. Now go and practice some different personas and get ready to win that audition!"
"What has you so fired up about this play?"
"Didn't you hear?" The older boy questioned and a huge smile spread across his face. "We looked up what 'Across the World' is in maths class. The principal thinks we're too close-minded or something, so he chose a homosexual romance."
"He what?!" The Chinese boy exclaimed and dropped his school bag, a loud thud echoing through the emptying hallway.
"The play will star two male leads and they'll fall in love. Seriously, what's so hard to understand?"
" Everything!"