Like most people in the world, Taehyeon likes to think he has common sense.
As long as he ties his shoelaces properly they won't come loose and trip him up: common sense. Screwing the cap securely onto a bottle of water means he won't tip water down himself when he picks up the bottle upside down: common sense. Wetting the toothbrush before and after squeezing out enough toothpaste will lead him to extra clean teeth: common sense. Or not. The jury is still out on that last one seeing as eight out of ten dentists have their lips sealed tightly over the wisdom regarding the best order of toothbrush preparation.
Whatever surveys of professionals indicate, common sense is common sense. Taehyeon has lots of common sense. He has enough to spare! His inordinate pride over something as basic as common sense only means that he is more wildly disappointed in himself when a lapse of judgement (a lapse which began around last winter and lasted up until last week) gets him caught.
Hoist by his own petard like a tragic antihero, the depths of Taehyeon's adolescent despair begin on a dreary Tuesday afternoon in Taehyeon's second year of high school. He is struggling to keep his eyes open whilst sharing his history textbook with Taeri for the third time in as many weeks. Taeri is usually the one dozing off for the last lesson of the day for reasons beyond Taehyeon but she has managed to catch a second wind of alertness after nearly falling right out of her chair.
In the back corner of the classroom, Taehyeon is staring past Taeri's pigtailed head at the sports fields through the window. A flutter of paper slices through the near-silent static of drizzle outside as Taeri turns the page. She giggles and slaps her hands over her mouth.
"Oh, so you like himbos?" Taeri chirps. Her little pink mouth is pointed with glee between her chubby cheeks and nobody should look so happy in the middle of a history lesson.
"What?"
There is no need for Taeri to whack her hand onto the textbook quite so hard, especially not when she is only doing it to point at a name scribbled in the margin of the page and surrounded by hearts. Ah, Taehyeon thinks, writing a name surrounded by hearts in stupid school books is a dead giveaway: common sense.
"My hamster did that," Taehyeon says. It's too late. He knows how ridiculous he sounds but he has already said it and Taeri is wheezing with laughter. All Taehyeon can do is slam his hand onto the incriminating doodle before the teacher arrives at the desk to glare at the two of them.
"Is there something more interesting than my class?"
"No," Taehyeon wheezes. "I swallowed a bee."
The teacher looks out of the window at the persistent precipitation and then back at Taehyeon. "A bee. Whilst it's raining."
"The window is closed," Taehyeon says. Taeri nudges him and he coughs pathetically. "It came from inside. I think it was in my bag."
The teacher sighs, apparently ready to give in to an excuse like that.
"Fine. Stop holding hands and go to the nurse's office."
Taehyeon knows very well that if he removes his hand from the book, the name written on the page will be visible for the entire world to see. Even if the teacher won't make fun of him for it, Kim Minjeong is sitting in the seat directly in front of him and smirking at him. She is a notorious serial secret spreader. For a year and a half, Taehyeon hasn't so much as hinted at preferred sandwich fillings in front of Minjeong. He isn't about to let all that effort go to waste and hand her one of his current big secrets on a platter decorated with deflated and misshapen hearts.
"I'm fine," Taehyeon says.
"No," the teacher says firmly. "If you choke or succumb to an unknown bee sting allergy, it will be my neck on the line. Go to the nurse. Do you need somebody to hold your hand or can you make your own way?"
Taehyeon can make his own way. He is perfectly fine, but he also doesn't need to see the nurse. The only thing Taehyeon can do to preserve his dignity is flap his textbook closed on Taeri's hand and bolt out of the classroom.
It would be more strange of Taehyeon to not pay a visit to the nurse despite the situation (being that he hasn't swallowed any sort of insect at all). Dragging his feet all the way, Taehyeon hops down the stairs to the second floor and shuffles to the nurse's office. When he arrives, the nurse is indisposed. It is about enough reason for Taehyeon to pack this whole school thing in and run away to the woods. Living off the land might be difficult to get used to at first but he will do whatever he must to escape all the embarrassing things that accompany civilisation.
"Just take a seat in the corner," Nurse Kim calls over her shoulder. "Someone here didn't think to use their renowned reflexes to dodge a hockey stick to the face."
Taehyeon can see very well that the nurse is busy with the sink. The water is practically exploding from the tap and splashing onto the counter and the wall. Taehyeon decides the safest place to look is Nurse Kim's back. Unfortunately there is someone else who practically demands attention, not that Taehyeon is trained in the art of ignoring this particular person.
"I'm so shy. Don't tell anyone you saw me like this. You can take the bed if you want. She's more bothered about cleaning blood out of my kit than tending to my poor nose."
"Thanks," Taehyeon says quietly. He has no intention of approaching the bed in the nurse's office whilst Lee Minjun is sitting on it, shirtless (beneath his windbreaker) and swinging his legs.
If Year 2 Class 4's Kim Minjeong is a known secret spreader, Year 3 Class 7's Lee Minjun is a known… well. Taehyeon doesn't quite know where to start. Lee Minjun is something of an extracurricular over-achiever. The only thing stopping him from being accepted at the best universities is the state of his grades, which is a pretty big obstacle to admission but if those stuffy universities were smart they would consider the hotness of applicants.
Minjun would be set for life. He is handsome and popular and on just about every sports team Jeonwon Metropolitan High School has going as well as filling up time in the school band, orchestra, choir, and drama club. Rumour has it that the only actual lessons on Minjun's timetable are P.E. and Music Theory. Rumour might be onto something considering how often Minjun's increasingly irritated parents are called into school to talk to his teachers.
Rumour is the source for the parent-teacher visits on the most part. Taehyeon has actually been witness to one meeting himself though. Not content to rest on his laurels and assume that paying attention in class and attending three study groups and an after school academy two nights each week will get him anywhere near the gates of his chosen university (which as of yet has not been chosen), Taehyeon has taken to sucking up to his teachers. Whilst being unctuous and unsubtle (as Mr Bang unkindly called it) Taehyeon overheard some discussion in the teachers' office about Minjun getting a minus number for a score on a recent test. It doesn't sound possible at all yet Taehyeon knows what he heard.
Knowing too much about Minjun's academic record obviously isn't the thing which makes Taehyeon wary of approaching. The thoughts sprouting barbed roots out of Taehyeon's feet and deep into the floor of the nurse's office are somewhere in the storey above Taehyeon's head.
Common sense would warn Taehyeon not to write the name of the school's It Boy and draw silly little hearts around it. Common sense would also warn Taehyeon not to fall for the school's It Boy too but it seems that common sense is in short supply these days.