To be honest, Minho never liked the school uniform until he saw Thomas wearing it on Thursday morning.
"Shucking tie," Minho grumbled as he tried to tie it in the tiny mirror in his locker. Newt rolled his eyes and tried to tie it for his friend, only to have Minho push his hands away. "I got it shuckface."
"How can you see anything in that tiny thing?" Newt asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Minho ignored him and struggled to do a neat tie, ending up with a crooked knot and uneven ends. "Shucking hate these new uniforms," he growled as he tried to fix the ends. "Whose fault is it again?"
"Chuck's," Newt reminded him as he scanned the hallways.
They used to be able to wear almost anything they wanted until Chuck came along. He had been the last new kid they had gotten in a while. It was during his first week that he had gotten his pants yanked down by an older boy who was always bullying the weak ones. Chuck nearly lost his underwear when his pants got yanked down but he managed to hang onto them in the front, exposing only his backside to the entire school. After everyone had laughed at him, Chuck swore revenge on the guy, which happened a few days later when Chuck took the Art teacher's X-acto knife to the older guy's pants and cut out the zipper and pockets. The pranks went back and forth for a couple more days until Principal Paige called both boys into her office and declared that she was implementing a uniform policy in a few weeks. Soon, everyone was wearing the same crisp white button down, blazer jacket with the school's logo on the pocket, some form of a tie, and either pants for the boys or a knee length skirt for the girls. Almost everyone blamed Chuck for the uniform policy and they ignored him for a couple weeks, with the exception of Alby, Gally, and Ben who argued that it was easier to get ready in the morning by putting on the same thing every day. Newt had been neutral about the uniform policy – he agreed with Alby that it was easier to just put on the uniform and get out the door sooner but he admitted that he missed wearing trainers and jeans to school.
Minho cursed under his breath as he slammed the locker door shut, which caught the attention of Gally, who happened to be the school Hall Monitor. Accompanied by his cronies, Gally strode over to the pair in three steps.
"Did I just hear language in the hallways?" Gally asked as he drew himself up. He fished his notepad out of his pocket and clicked the top of a pen.
"He…smashed his fist into the locker door when he tried to open it more," Newt lied as he met Gally's eyes.
Minho straightened up and nodded, going along with Newt's fib.
Gally scanned both of them with a critical look and his eyes fell on Minho's crooked tie and untucked shirt. He pointed at Minho's disheveled appearance with his pen before scribbling it down. "Tie is askew, shirt is untucked…"
Minho opened his mouth to say something when he saw someone out of the corner of his eye approaching them. He hoped it wasn't the principal coming over to observe but instead of seeing Principal Paige's white blonde hair, he saw a boy about his age walking up to the group.
"You aren't a tie guy, are you?" the boy asked Minho as he approached them.
All he could do was stare at the boy standing in front of him, with mahogany brown hair and a sprinkle of moles across his pale skin. He was wearing the school uniform, with the exception of a bow tie in place of the traditional necktie. Shuck, Minho thought as he stared at the boy. He looks…dapper in that uniform. Where the shuck did this shank come from?
Gally scanned the boy who joined them and flipped his notebook to a new page. "Ah, already breaking the rules Greenie? The Student Handbook states that…"
The boy stepped closer to Minho and began redoing the messy knot in Minho's tie. Minho felt his cheeks get warm and the warmth spread throughout his body as he watched the boy retie his tie with a neater knot.
"…You should have received a traditional tie with your welcome kit, correct?" Gally concluded as he looked up from writing in his notebook. "Hey! Did you hear anything I just said Greenie?"
"Thomas," the boy said as he finished fixing Minho's tie. He turned to face Gally and he adjusted his bag strap higher on his shoulder. "The Handbook says that the uniform may consist of either a traditional necktie or a bow tie, whichever the student prefers, provided it is tied neatly."
Gally's mouth dropped open and he took a few steps back, his ears turning red. He gaped at the new kid for a few moments while Minho snickered, clapping a hand on the Greenie's shoulder.
"Nice going Greenie," Minho said as he cast a glance at the other boy, a smile spreading across his face.
Thomas looked over at Minho and shot him a smile, followed by a wink.
"We-well you're not allowed to talk back to uh, to uh, the Hall Monitor about the Student Handbook!" Gally sputtered as he fished out a pad of Detention slips. His pen scratched across the page quickly with fervor and he ripped the top page off, handing it to Thomas.
"That's for being disrespectful to your Hall Monitor," Gally announced before he began writing a second one. The second one was shoved into Minho's hand and Gally pointed to him. "And, and yours is for your sloppy appearance and insolence towards the Hall Monitor. Detention is at 5:15 PM sharp – don't be late." He stuffed the Detention slips into his pocket and strode off towards the principal's office, his cronies running to catch up with him.
Thomas sighed as he put the Detention slip into his bag and Minho rolled his eyes as he crumpled his up and threw it into the bottom of his backpack.
"Nice going shanks," Newt said as he clapped a hand on their shoulders.
Minho shrugged before extending a hand out to the Greenie. "Thomas, right?"
Thomas took his hand and shook it. "Yeah…um what's your name?"
"Minho," Minho said as he let go. "This is Newt by the way."
Newt shook hands with the Greenie before nodding in the direction of their homeroom. "Better get a move on before Gally comes back with more slips, good that?"
"Eh, it won't be so bad," Minho said as he stretched his arms out, throwing Thomas a wink as they walked to class.
"Nah probably not," Thomas replied as he followed behind them.