Taehyung was back at school. And he seemed different.

Parts of a silver necklace sparkled under his old shirt. Jungkook had never seen it before.

"What's that?" he asked him, waiting near the lockers they started using this year after getting into 7th grade.

"I got it as a trophy for spending a week sick in lockdown. I saw the drummer of Green Day using a similar one." Taehyung grabbed it from under his shirt and showed it to Jungkook. It had a silver skull with green holes as eyes. "Mom wasn't happy. I almost lost it when she asked for it, but I left before that happened."

Jungkook saw his friend smiling so big, so proud of not giving into his mother's strictness, completely oblivious to other kids' whispers in the hallway, that he realized Taehyung was definitely not aware of any rumor going around. The fact that Jungkook had to be the one telling him in person stressed him out.

"I heard this thing," he started, looking around and then at Taehyung again. "Dowoon said you took something from him."

"Me?" Taehyung asked, wincing slightly while opening his locker. "But I've been at home, sick."

"Hey!" someone yelled from the other end of the hall. Jungkook saw Dowoon with Hyejin and two other kids approaching them. Once there, Dowoon pointed at Taehyung with his forefinger. "You stole my money!"

One kid that was following Dowoon hissed, "Thief!"

Taehyung turned his face to Dowoon in surprise, leaving his locker open. "No, I didn't." He looked at Jungkook with a hint of a frown.

Dowoon caught his attention by saying, "Yeah, you did. Hyejin told me she saw you."

Hyejin gasped and put a hand over her mouth. "I told you I saw him getting inside the classroom when I was leaving, not that I saw him stealing from you."

"Well?" Dowoon said, stretching out the word. His shrill voice didn't match his boyish face. He was the one who looked older than fourteen compared to all the other classmates, which gave him leverage to torment others. "He was the last one at school and then my money was gone. I left it under my seat."

"Why did you? It's not even your money, it's the class money. You should have been more careful," Hyejin said, confronting Dowoon while standing straight with her hands on her hips. Jungkook took a step back, not really wanting to be part of this.

"No one offered to take it, and I forgot! Taehyung was always looking at it, and he's the one who needs it the most." Dowoon turned to Taehyung. "I saw you every time you wanted to take it. You stole it!"

"I didn't steal shit," Taehyung spat, winning some whispers from other kids that were gathering around to watch the scene. It was weird hearing someone say a swearword out loud, especially on school grounds. Jungkook was the most surprised one, never hearing Taehyung using 'shit' like that without a mocking edge to it. He sounded pissed.

Dowoon got in Taehyung's space, using his bigger body to corner him against the lockers. "You are lying."

Jungkook saw Taehyung's eyes darkened, his neck turning red.

"I'm not a thief." Taehyung swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing, his jaw completely tense. "And I don't need the money."

Dowoon laughed, high-pitched and sarcastic. "Your mom does."

Jungkook took a step forward, wanting to punch Dowoon's face, but he clenched his fists and thought twice about it. Dowoon was taller and intimidating, and Jungkook knew how far he could go. He had even seen him messing with older kids once. Starting a fight right now with him would be a bad idea.

"Stop it," Hyejin said, grabbing Dowoon's right arm and pulling him to her. "If he says he didn't steal it, then he didn't."

"I didn't."

Jungkook wished he had Hyejin's personality. He could defend his friend in times like these, just like Taehyung used to do when Jungkook arrived in Gwangju as the new kid. Instead, Jungkook was being a coward.

"You owe us, and I'll make sure you pay us back," Dowoon said with his chin up before leaving.

The bell rang. Hyejin looked at Taehyung with apologies in her round eyes before walking to class.

Jungkook breathed out, caressing his right palm and feeling the stress leaving his chest with the air he'd been holding. "He's a jerk."

"I didn't take the money," Taehyung said, voice strong like how his mother sounded sometimes.

Jungkook watched him in silence, noticing the pink on his cheeks fading. The necklace sparkled with the sun filtering through the windows, looking shiny and new. Taehyung caught him staring.

"This was a gift," he blurted, with a hand over the chain, suddenly defensive. "My mom…"

"How did you get it?" Jungkook asked before he could swallow the words instead. Curiosity strongly tugged at his throat, because it was weird. How new and shiny the chain looked, different from all the things Taehyung had worn before. But it couldn't be true, right? Taehyung wasn't that person. At all.

"My grandma gave me the money. I told her to use it for her, because I didn't want it. But she refused, and I—" Taehyung stopped talking, glaring at Jungkook before muttering something under his breath. He closed his locker and walked to class.

Jungkook caught up with him at a fast pace. "Wait, you don't need to explain. I was curious. I know you didn't steal anything."

"Yeah, thank you for helping me with that and Dowoon back there."

The words froze Jungkook right outside the classroom, everyone inside except for the teacher. He saw Taehyung choosing a different seat near the window, hiding his necklace under his clothes and burying his face in his arms.

It was easy for Jungkook to give space to people, to not beg for their attention. So he walked over to his regular seat—far away from his friend for the first time after he'd gotten late once and someone had already taken his chair—and didn't glance at Taehyung's desk during the entire class, not even once.