Recommended Song: Better Now, Post Malone
~Flashback, Sophomore Year, March 21st, 2016~
"Hey Jimin," she says cheerfully as she plops down next to the brown-haired boy who looks at her with a goofy smile. She's always seen Jimin as attractive, but, she's always found his smile, that made him look like an idiot sometimes, the best feature of his. She can't help but return the dumb smile, which rewards her with his eyes twinkling in amusement.
Right now they're at the back of the school, sitting at the corner of the building where the two vending machines are, and, right behind that corner of the building is where the dumpsters are. Great place for vending machines, right?
"You're still coming over today, right? My mom absolutely loves you, you'd be depriving her of her Jimin time," she says with a small laugh, which he immediately returns. "Of course I am, you know I wouldn't dare skip a free day to hang out with you," he replies, reaching up and ruffling her hair. "Not the hair!" she scoffs, practically jumping away from his touch which makes him double over in laughter. "Don't laugh at me!" she whines, which only has him laughing harder. She growls, then slaps his shoulder softly, which finally makes him stop.
"No but seriously, be at my house by six," she says, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. He pouts, "why can't I walk you home? You never want me to walk you home." Her eyes lightly twitch, but, she keeps her composure, her smile still shining bright on her face. "Because, you big goof, I have to go home and clean, I can't have a guest as important as you seeing my room as a mess!" He raises his eyebrows, his smile now turning into a smirk. "What do you mean by, 'as important as you', hm?" She scoffs and lightly slaps his shoulder again. "You're my best friend, of course I call you important. Especially to my parents, sometimes they forget how important you are to me." His smirk dissipates, and a soft smile replaces it. "I tell my parents how important you are to me as well," he whispers, eyes shining with admiration.
Her mind fills with questions, but, she only decides to ask one. "I've never seen your parents... do you ever think I will?" His smile falters, a frown replacing it. "Jimin... you never tell me about your parents is... i-is something wrong?" He shakes his head, "no it's just... they've had a tough life and normally don't like visitors." She slowly nods in understanding, but, deep down, she knows that he's lying to her. He looks down at his watch then shrugs, "my study hall period is over, I've got to go." The girl simply nods despite knowing that he just blatantly lied to her. "Okay, see you at six?" she asks, standing with him. His smile returns, and he quickly steps forward and hugs her. "See you at six," he whispers, pulling away and flashing her a wink before vanishing behind the corner, leaving her all alone. Park Jimin... why do you insist on lying to me?
~Present Day, Senior Year, April 16th, 2018~
"Seriously," she mutters to herself as she fumbles around her pockets for spare change. She looks at the two vending machines in front of her, one containing beverages and the other snacks. Very tempting, hence why she's here now, kicking and cursing at the machine that keeps getting stuck. She's lost almost five bucks to this machine, and that's only this year. If she counted her whole high school experience, the sum would be higher than her yearly salary. "God dammit!" she curses, giving the machine one last kick before letting out a huff of air.
High school, she thinks to herself as she looks around, realizing how far away she is from her class. Right now she's outside, the vending machines being behind the school, near the dumpsters and trash and all the pleasant things that need to be near vending machines of all things. She growls to herself, knowing that just behind the corner of the high school's wall, is where all the 'delinquents' hang out. Not literal delinquents, but, the entire school calls them that. But, she made a promise to her best friend to keep them in line, so, if she hears anything going on back there... she has to act.
She's about to walk away when she hears giggles and moans coming from around the corner of the building, which makes her kick her poor black converse into the grass and dirt before turning around and peeking around the corner. Of course, she mentally screams at the sight before her.
She walks forward, the group of two boys and two girls freezing and looking up at her, anger in their eyes. They're in front of a God-damn dumpster. Couldn't they have at least had the courtesy to not scare the staff and go to the bathrooms instead? Staff only cleans those things after school hours, meanwhile the dumpster is constantly visited by lunch ladies and other various staff members.
"Seriously Raven?" the first boy scoffs, but, she only steps closer, only stopping once she's right in front of them. She rolls her eyes, "seriously Jimin?" The accused-boy growls, but, Raven simply grabs the boys' ear and drags him away from the girl who he was leaving marks on. "Leave her alone. You too, Jungkook." She grabs the other boys' ear as well, dragging him away. "Why do you always ruin our fun?" Jimin whines, ripping his ear away from her grasp. Raven simply scowls at him. "I promised Tae that I'd make sure his brothers aren't doing anything foolish while he's not around. Using girls for your own fun then forgetting about them is apart of that foolishness. Seriously, grow the fuck up!" she growls, slapping his shoulder. He narrows his eyes, but she doesn't back up. "Okay ladies, time to get out of here. I'm sorry these two used you. They might have seemed really interested, but trust me... they're not."
The two girls nod their heads and immediately dash off, clearly embarrassed, which only leaves Raven, Jimin, and Jungkook behind the dumpster.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Jungkook asks, clearly not as annoyed as the older, shorter boy Raven is having a staring contest with. "Just wanted to get some snacks, but no, you guys had to ruin it as always," Raven scoffs, backing away from Jimin. Before she can leave, the boy grabs her wrist, turning her back to face him. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Jimin asks, but it comes out as more of a yell. Raven sighs in disappointment, simply ripping her wrist out of his grasp and backing up. "Exactly where you're going. Class."
Jimin laughs and shakes his head, running a hand through his brown locks. "Can you believe her, Kook?" Jimin asks the younger boy, who just shrugs. "Maybe we should..." he whispers, and Jimin just growls and shakes his head. "Have fun then, senior year means jack shit to me, it shouldn't for you either Rave." The girl just shrugs, looking down at her nails in boredom. "Well, my prince, am I allowed to go now? I need to go tell Taehyung to keep you under control! Christ we have three months of school left, can't you just wait?" Jimin just shakes his head, turning away from Raven. "One day, you'll see that Taehyung is as bad as the rest of us." She simply shrugs, "well, the only real bad ones are you and occasionally Jungkook." She turns to the youngest, sympathy flashing through her crystal-blue eyes. "Why?" Jungkook looks down, turning red. "I'm sorry Raven... I never wanted you to see me like that." She sighs, walking over to the boy and patting his shoulder, "it's okay, just don't follow in Jimin's footsteps, he isn't a good role model."
Jungkook nods and walks away, clearly going to class, and Raven is about to follow when Jimin clears his throat from behind her. She bites her tongue to prevent some remark she'll regret from slipping out, and instead she turns around to see Jimin simply standing there, his arms crossed over his chest defensively.
"What?" she spits. I hate this boy so damn much. Uses woman, drugs, alcohol, reckless driving... and he acts like all his brothers do it! I've never seen any of them do anything that he does! she rants to herself, gritting her teeth together as Jimin tries to form words. He finally gives up and instead growls, anger filling his eyes once again. "You're not my mother, so don't tell me what to do, final warning," Jimin retorts, and she simply rolls her eyes. "I'm glad I'm not your mother, I'd be the most unlucky mother in the world." He winces at that, but she simply turns and storms away. She's never been used by him before, she'd like to keep it that way. She's seen what it's done to her friends, most of her friends thought he truly cared about them... they were wrong. Oh, so so wrong.
Class. What many would consider to be the worst part of the day. For Raven, well... normally it was fine. It's high school, so there's eight periods a day, and right now, she's almost halfway through the day. She has no reason to complain. Her morning classes went well, and, right now, she's in her class before lunch, English. However, right now, she's hating every second of this. Sure, lunch is next, and she just got back from her study hall period (which she used to go to the vending machine, but that didn't go well), but... this is her only class with Jimin. Well, that and technically lunch but, she sits as far away from him as possible.
She mentally groans as the brown haired boy, who for some reason, chose to sit behind her at the beginning of the year, starts to kick her chair. He does whatever he can to annoy her, and she's tired of it. She keeps taking deep breathes, focusing on copying the notes on the board rather than the constant kicking going on behind her.
Right now the class is pretty noisy, seeing as the teacher left the room for whatever reason, probably for the bathroom but no one really cares enough to pay any attention to that. However, Raven stays quiet, and, surprisingly, Jimin is the same way. Normally he's laughing up a storm, smoking in class, or just in general looking for reasons to get in trouble.
He's finally leaving me alone? "Pssst, Raven?" Jimin whispers from behind her. She's not sure if she should growl or sigh. Spoke too soon. She chooses to sigh, but doesn't turn around. "What?" she asks, keeping her tone neutral but still focusing on her work. "Oh, you're actually doing the work?" he asks, a twinge of disappointment in his tone. She continues to let her hand travel over the page, cursive letters spilling out on the lined paper in front of her. "Of course, the quicker I get it done, the more time I have to myself," she answers. And, she's not wrong. Class is almost over, meaning, she'll be at lunch with her best friend soon. The quicker she gets these notes done, the quicker she can gather her books and just get ready to go.
"Why don't you just... not do the work at all?" he inquires, clearly genuinely interested. She freezes, setting her led pencil down to turn around to face him. He indeed has genuine curiosity in his eyes, which makes her heart flutter with hope. This is the most calm I think I've ever seen him! She softly smiles, eyes filling with joy. "Well, I wouldn't, if I didn't have to. I want to go to a good college, get a degree..." she trails off, seeing as that's not really what she wants but, she has to go with it for now. "And if I don't do my work, my parents would disown me." He smirks, "I'm sure Tae would kick himself out of his house if it meant you have a place to stay." Though his tone sounds a little harsh, she still can't get over the hope that has sprung up inside her. "Maybe, but still, I don't want to disappoint my parents, they raised me to be better than that."
His eyes lightly twitch, and he frowns, his eyes losing his curiosity, and instead, anger flares in them, which makes Raven's heart shatter. "I think Tae likes you," he suddenly says, which makes Raven grit her teeth together. "He doesn't, I asked him, he would never lie to me." Jimin shrugs, "then you must have never been in love before..." She tilts her head, confused. "What do you mean?" His eyes meet hers, and, for a split second, Raven sees regret in his, but, he quickly returns to his angered and harsh self. "Love... it makes you a liar." She shrugs, "I guess I really haven't been in love before then."
"Makes sense..." She was about to turn around again, but his words make her snap her head towards him. "Excuse me?" He smirks, "I doubt anyone would want you. Poor Tae." Her poster falters, and she looks down. Love makes you a liar... yet how many times did you lie to me? "Yeah... me too," she softly says before turning back around.
She hears the familiar click of a lighter, and immediately smells the smoke. "Seriously Jimin?" she asks, covering her mouth and nose and turning back around. He blows out smoke in her direction, which makes her nose crunch up in disgust. "Take it outside or to the bathrooms, christ, don't you have any respect?" He lightly laughs, using two fingers to pull the cigarette out of his mouth. "Not for you," he simply says with a shrug, and she growls before turning around, this time, for good.
She places the tray down on her normal lunch table, taking her seat and immediately letting out a sigh. Long lessons, check... annoying teenagers... check... Jimin being obnoxious in class... check. She rubs her hand against her forehead, scheming to herself as to how to get Park Jimin to finally lay off of her. She's known him since freshman year, when she met Taehyungie, her current best friend. Jimin and her were actually quite good friends until junior year, when he started acting so strange... and now? Him and her are enemies... only ever brought together because of her promise to Tae.
The space next to her gets filled up by the boy she recognizes as Tae, and she smiles warmly as he waves at her, setting his tray down next to hers. "Hey Rave! I heard that you found Jimin and Jungkook earlier." She rolls her eyes and groans, letting her face bury itself in her hands. "Don't remind me, it's honestly a miracle Jimin showed up to class." He lightly laughs at that, placing a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, I'll get him under control." She nods, but, her heart sinks to her stomach. Every time he's tried to talk to Jimin about reforming... it hasn't gone well. What does she have to do or say to get the old Jimin back? The one who gave her goofy smiles, didn't care about his looks, only ever wanted to put his eyes on one girl. Raven.
She can't help but frown, her lips slightly quivering. "Good luck." She puts down her fork, her stomach too sick for food. "Raven... don't do this to yourself. He chose his own path, and, if he doesn't want to listen to us, then, he doesn't have to. He chose not to keep you in his life, which is his mistake. His biggest one, if I may say." She lets a smile pass her lips, and she looks up at Tae with admiration. "Thanks Tae... it's just hard sometimes... seeing what he is now compared to what he used to be... Christ, him and I were closer than you and me, Tae..."
She lets out a soft sigh, staring down at her food with a lost look on her face. Tae's arm wraps around her, which makes her softly smile as she looks up at him with gratitude. "It'll be okay, Raven... we'll save our little Jimin... none of us have given up on him." Her smile brightens, and she drops her voice to a whisper, "thank you Tae." She immediately leans forward, resting her head on his chest. Though he freezes for a second, he relaxes and wraps both of his arms around her back. "I'm sorry Rave," he whispers into her ear, and, for Raven, the rest of the day is a blur.
"Hey Tae..." Raven says with a huff before sitting down on his couch. She briefly looks at the clock mounted high-up on his living room's wall, and she lets out a sigh. It's already 6:30?
"Hey what happened? You were supposed to come at 6," Tae whines from behind her, and she snaps around to see the familiar black staircase behind her, with Tae slowly going down it. "I got lost, your house isn't exactly a walk across the street from mine, Tae Tae," she says with a small laugh. He shrugs, approaching the couch and plopping down next to her. "How was school for you?" She groans, falling face-first into the pillow next to her. "Don't remind me." He lets out a laugh, and she feels his hand rubbing her back comfortingly. I want to thank whoever I was in my past life for granting me a friend like Tae.
"It was awful, Jimin was annoyi-" "What about me, princess?" the little shit's voice says from the top of the staircase. Raven snaps her head up, eyes immediately falling on Jimin's form as he descends down the stairs. "I wasn't told she was coming over," he continues as his feet hit the ground. "Jimin... please go back to your room." Her eyes snap wide open. His room?! "Wait, he's living here?" Raven growls out, looking between Tae and Jimin.
Tae lets out a sigh. "No, he's not, all six of my friends have a spot here. We each can share a bedroom. There's one for me, and two more for the other six to split, with three beds in each room," Tae softly explains, shifting closer to her. "So... why is Jimin here now?" Raven asks, which makes the accused boy scoff. "I'm right here, you could ask me instead." Raven looks down, folding her hands in her lap. "I don't think talking to you is a good idea," she whispers, her eyes stinging with tears at the memories that flash through her head. What happened to the kind and sweet tenth-grade Jimin?
"Why not?" Raven's eyes slightly widen, realizing that he heard her whisper, but, she simply shifts awkwardly closer to Tae, who wraps an arm around her shoulder defensively. "I think you should let Raven and I just hang out in peace, Jimin," Tae says, which Jimin shrugs at. "Whatever, I'm going out with some friends." Tae winces at his tone, which causes Raven's heart to pound as she confronts the boy. "W-Where are you going?" she asks, keeping any possible anger out of her tone. He freezes, looking at her in curiosity. "Why would you care?" Raven looks down again, "just wondering."
She peeks up to see his expression harden. "Well, if you have to know, we're going movie hopping and going to our favorite alley behind the cinema afterwards. I probably won't be back til' early morning." Raven snaps fully-up at his words, concern filling her eyes. "It's Monday, we have school tomorrow." Tae lightly tugs on her arm, as if trying to get her to back down, but she doesn't, she simply continues to lean forward, trying to see through the brown-haired man in front of her. He looks at her in confusion, "and?" He doesn't wait for a response, seeing as his eyes light up in both understanding and amusement as he smirks, inching closer to the couch. "Oh... I see... you're one of those kind of girls," he spits, which makes her jump back in shock. "Don't know how to have fun... thinks school is oh so important, thinks trying new things is ridiculous..." he pauses, smirking and staring right into her eyes. "No wonder why I never did you."
Raven immediately hisses back at him, "I didn't know trying new things meant trying drugs and alcohol when underage, which, if you gave a damn about school, you'd realize are extremely bad for your health!" He laughs, "you sound like a little goodie two shoes." She grits her teeth together, glaring down the man in front of her. "Do you ever regret it?" "Hey, Raven... come on," Tae coos from besides her. "No! I'm tired of this bullshit!" Raven claims, jumping off of the couch and out of Tae's embrace. "I'm tired of him!" She throws her hands up in anger, glaring at the boy in front of her, who just stares at her with a blank expression. "You left me for stupid drugs and alcohol! You had friends who loved you, but no, you just had to be cooler, right? Cause committing crimes is a fantastic thing to do. I can't wait for the day when you're behind bars, realizing that I was right about something for once in my life!"
She can feel Tae's shocked eyes resting on her, but, she only pays attention to Jimin, who seems unaffected by her words. His smirk has fallen, so there's that, but, he just shrugs and walks towards the front door. "Don't," Raven pleads, which makes him stop in his tracks and turn back to face her. "Why?" Her mind fumbles over that one-worded question. She doesn't quite know herself. She hasn't spoken to this boy for two years. Well, no peaceful conversations, at least. It's always been her trying to turn him away from everything he's turned to. Her heart hurts at the fact that he just walked out of her life. No explanation, he just left her. Just like that. Chose to get high with other pot-heads rather than spend time with his true friends.
When she just stands there, no words coming out of her mouth, he shrugs and takes off, leaving as fast as he came and slamming the door behind him. "You know... I think that was the first time anyone was able to wipe that stupid smirk off of his face," Tae says from behind her. She turns her head, eyes meeting his, and she frowns. "What does that mean?" He softly smiles, eyes glistening with hope. "It means that we have a chance. A better chance than we ever had, and the answer was something we haven't tried yet." She simply stands there, confusion settling in her eyes. "W-What would that be?" Tae's eyes glisten with amusement before he stands, making his way over to the girl and taking her hand in his. "You Raven..." He pauses to flash a smile. "You're the answer, you always have been."
A/N: Welcome to my rather-new story. Seven chapters are done and up on Quotev and ao3, my username on ao3 is Jiminies_Jam and on Quotev mine is Raven1497. I hope you enjoy the story!