Mathematics
AUTHOR:letaengbutt




It was a normal Thursday morning, first period had just ended and the crowd in the halls were slowly starting to disperse. I was last out of the class as usual, my head hanging low and hoping that I would remain unseen. It wasn’t good for a nicknamed “nerd” like me to stand out, especially not in this torturous place called high school. My bag strap was cutting into my shoulder, rubbing blisters onto my skin as a walked alongside the walls, keeping out of everyone’s way. When I finally made it to my locker, I saw much to my relief, that the coast was clear. Setting my heavy bag down on the floor, I twirled the knob a couple of times and pulled the metal door open when the lock clicked. Swapping the books in my bag with those in my locker, I mentally went through my timetable for today and my stomach did an involuntary double take when I remembered that I had math today. With HER.

I couldn’t help it, the smile that crept onto my face at the thought of HER, and that cursed smile of mine still remained on my face as I slammed the locker door shut and finished arranging the books in my bag neatly. It must’ve been my stupid smile that had attracted her attention, that stick skinny, stuck up Miss-know-it-all. She had her arm wrapped around her girlfriend as they strutted down the hall, everyone immediately moving out of the way to make room for her procession. Her sidekicks - a black haired, tan and muscular looking girl, a girl who was shorter than I was, an unusually tall girl and another who was busy jamming out to her headphones followed behind her. I didn’t know their names, I didn’t want to, and neither would I actually be bothered to remember them if I did.

Their ring leader, the blonde bimbo with that cocky “I’m too cool for you” expression of hers suddenly stopped when she saw me, a nasty smirk playing across her pink lips. Dropping my gaze and quickly stuffing the remainder of my worksheets into my bag, I gulped when a shadow fell across me.

“Well well, if it isn’t the midget geek.”

I stared at the floor, knowing that if I just kept my mouth shut and head down, I’d get away with just a few punches and maybe a shove. I’d tried talking back last time, before I knew any better, and had ended up getting battered by that muscle head sidekick of hers. Running away didn’t help either, I wasn’t good at anything that was physical and the short girl in her gang was one of the fastest runners I’ve ever seen.

“What happened to you midget? Cat got your tongue? Or are you just too stupid to talk now.” The blonde, A.K.A, Jessica sneered and pushed my shoulder with her left palm.

“Jessi, don’t be mean, just leave the poor girl alone.”SHE said.

“We’re just having a little fun now aren’t we midget?”

I continued staring down, cursing and swearing at the top of my voice in my mind. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jessica smirk nastily before she ripped my glasses off my face, leaving me practically half blind. I couldn’t’ see past an arm’s length without them, and she probably knew that. Throwing my spectacles with unnecessary force into a corner, she bent down, picked up my neatly packed bag and while smiling at me in a sickeningly sweet way, emptied out my whole bag onto the floor. SHE stood next to Jessica all this while, occasionally tugging at her arm to stop her with a disapproving purse of her lips. Even with a little crease between her brows, HER pout still managed to send my heartbeats into a mad frenzy.

Kicking my bag away as she left, Jessica let out a laugh, although in my opinion it sounded more like a cackle than anything, and kissed HER neck. The other 4 sidekicks just followed behind her as they left, the muscular one making sure to step on my bag too as she left.

Why did I have to stare at HER the last time! Jessica had thought that I had been staring at her instead and had gotten “offended” that a “midget” like me was looking at her. Like I would even want to look at her venomous, vile-looking face….This had all happened during lunch a few terms back and the bullying had never ceased. I didn’t tell anyone, not my teachers, not my parents, though my sister had a pretty good idea what was going on. Yoona had seen me after school one day after a particularly nasty beat up session, and I was limping my way home. She didn’t mention anything to my parents, and I secretly thanked her for keeping mum. My parents already had enough to deal with as it was, besides, I could handle this myself.

Now, I d around blindly on the floor for my spectacles, until someone decided to be nice and pass them back to me. Thanking the person, a stranger whom I’ve never shared any classes with, I scurried back to my locker as the bell buzzed loudly and signalled for the start of second period. Hurriedly stuffing my worksheets and books back into my bag, I swung the strap over my shoulder and ran to class, barely making it in time.

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The rest of the day passed uneventfully, if you compared it to what happened earlier. I sat through History, English and Chemistry class quietly, taking notes down and carefully writing my answers down neatly. When the bell rang again for lunch period, I kept my books away with a sigh, and joined the crowd that led towards the cafeteria. It was packed as usual, and after getting my tray, I found an empty table outside in the sun and decided to eat there. Picking up my sandwich, I took a bite and stared out across the wide square. There were students of my age sprawled out across the fields and pavement, all chattering away with their own group of friends. Kids from the middle school next door to mine ran around the basketball court wildly, screaming as they chased and threw cups at each other.

Yoona came sauntering up to the table I was at and dropped her tray down opposite me. The middle school and high school shared the same facilities, and their lunch time was the same as mine was. Dropping her bag onto the floor, she waved to a few of her friends before sitting down and opening her own lunch bag too.

“Hi Unnie, how was today?”

“Hey sis, same old same old, go to class, get bullied, go back to class.”

“Hmm…. They’re still not leaving you alone huh?”

“Don’t think they ever will, I’m like their daily dose of fun.”

“You should really tell someone you know. Maybe the teachers could help you.”

“No Yoong, I’ve told you. The moment I tell the teachers, they’re just going to “talk to Jessica” and “tell her to stop”. I’ll just get another beating after that because she probably thought that the talk wasted her time or something.”

“Is that them there? The whole gang.”

Yoona gestured with her sandwich to a group of girls sitting out under the sun like everyone else, though people kept a 5 meter radius away from them. Jessica was lying down, her head on HER lap as SHE fed her. I felt a heart wrenching pull in my chest and I looked away, not wanting to see more.

“Yeah, that’s them.”

“You know you should go talk to her.”

“I’ve told you Yoong, Jess-“

“Not Jessica.”

“Then who?”

“The girl you keep staring and drooling at, the one who indirectly got you into all this trouble and the one who’s indirectly making your life hell. HER. Tiffany.”

I wasn’t expecting Yoona to tell me that, and my head snapped back to look at her in surprise when she mentioned that godly name. Tiffany. I stare, open-mouthed at Yoona before turning my head back to look at the group. Tiffany was seated cross-legged on the grass, her orangey coloured hair reflecting the sun and creating an angelic glow about her. She was wearing a white sundress today, and she managed to pull the simple look off effortlessly. Everything around her paled in comparison, especially Miss Blondey who just made everything she touched die. Tiffany was laughing at something that the headphones girl had just said, and her lips curved into the most amazing and gorgeous smile I’ve ever seen. Her eyes would disappear into a thin, curving line and the breeze running through her hair made her seem so flawless.

I was still staring dreamily at her, probably with my mouth open when her eyes suddenly locked with mine. Embarrassed, I quickly dropped my gaze and returned to my sandwich while Yoona kept prodding me with persuasions to start a conversation with Tiffany soon.

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Lunch passed, and Yoona had to return to her school, leaving me alone to myself again. There were 2 things about the period after lunch. 1, it was math, which meant Tiffany was in my class. 2, it was math, which also meant that Jessica was in my class. Even though we could choose where we wanted to sit, I could never pluck up enough courage to sit next to Tiffany. She was too intimidating, not in the scary way though, it was more of her being too perfect for me to sit next to. Rushing to class first, I spotted an empty seat in the corner and quickly dropped down onto it, waiting for the perfect girl and her far-from-perfect blonde leech to come in.

When about half the class had entered and taken their seats, I was starting to get bored until a loud cackle sounded from outside the door. Slouching down on my seat, I tried to watch discreetly as Tiffany and Jessica walked in. To my horror, and yet at the same time to my absolute delight, Tiffany turned down the first aisle and came walking towards me. I didn’t know what came over me, but I found myself digging through my bag, on the pretence of not noticing them head towards me. I kept up the random shuffling of my books until Tiffany sat down on the seat on my left, and Jessica on the seat to her left. Randomly choosing a book, I pulled it out and opened it on my lap, only to find that I had taken my Chemistry book by accident……

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Mrs Kim came storming in, her lips in a thin, barely seen straight line and her hair tied up in her usual neat bun. She was a strictly no nonsense teacher, and she believed that there were no stupid students, only lazy and bad attitude ones. Slamming the textbook down on the table, all the students jumped when she barked out her instructions.

“Well, good afternoon class. Would anyone like to tell me why I’m in such a foul mood today?” She seethed.

“No volunteers?” She asked as she scanned the deadly silent class.

“How about you Taeyeon?”

The whole class turned to stare at me and I felt my face turn an unsightly shade of red.

“Um….. um…… we didn’t do so well in our class test?”

“Brilliant! My top math student, always so smart.” Mrs Kim said fondly and nodded.

“Apparently, you clowns, apart from Taeyeon there, somehow couldn’t understand the meaning of a TEST and you fools all failed miserably. Taeyeon, congratulations, you topped the class and got full marks again. Well done.”

My hand twitched, and I closed my eyes, wishing desperately that she would stop singling me out. I was glad that I had done well again, but her giving me all the praises and insulting the rest of the class wasn’t doing anything to help my already in-the-dumps social status. Some of the people in the class looked ready to kill me, others looked at in me admiration. It didn’t matter to me, because out of the corner of my eyes, I could feel Tiffany staring at me. Tiffany, the goddess, was staring at me. ME. I think I’m going to have a meltdown…

“Listen up, since you’re all so hopeless at maths. I’m pairing you up for the rest of the term, and I WANT TO SEE RESULTS PEOPLE. IMPROVEMENT. When I read out your names, move your tables together and get started on corrections. Your papers were all so atrociously done, I had to prevent myself from shredding them up.”

Mrs Kim passed the stack of papers out to the people sitting in front and they started to pass out the papers. When I got mine, I hastily flipped the paper over so that the front was facing down. No need to rub it in others faces what I got when the teacher had so blatantly and embarrassingly favoured me. While waiting for the others to get their papers, a prayed and prayed that Jessica wouldn’t be my partner. I’d very much rather teach a hamster how to do cartwheels. In fact, I’m quite sure that teaching a hamster how to do handstands would be easier than teaching Jessica math…..

“Alright, I’m only saying this once so listen up. Nicole, Hara. Eunjung, Hyomin. Taeyeon, I’m pairing with our weakest student in class, I have no choice…..”

I stared in horror when she mentioned ‘weakest student’. That wasn’t Jessica was it? Oh dear god, please let it not be that bimbo…

“You’re with Tiffany.”

My eyes widened in disbelief when I heard her and I stood up. Mrs Kim looked at me, her eyebrows raised.

“Any problem with that Taeyeon?”

“Who did you say I was partnered up with?” I stuttered, my brain refusing to believe it.

“Tiffany, you’re with Tiffany. She scored the lowest for this test.” Mrs Kim replied and shot a glare at Tiffany who shrank back in her seat.

Nodding, I sat back down. I was dying to turn my head around and prance around Tiffany’s seat in circles, but I grabbed onto the sides of my table to control myself. No way was I going to embarrass myself in front of her like that…..

“Tiffany’s my partner.” A nasal and annoying voice sounded from my left.

Mrs Kim stared coldly at Jessica, daring her to make one more comment.

“You, Jessica, will be with Gyuri. Tiffany is Taeyeon’s partner. Swap partners, give Taeyeon hell, and I’ll make sure you don’t graduate this year. Now SIT. BACK. DOWN.”

I think I could give Mrs Kim a kiss right now. She just slapped Jessica right back in her face with her ‘I’m the boss’ attitude, something I’ve wanted to do since forever. What made it even better though, was the fact that she had paired Jessica up with Gyuri, the class and most probably school’s vainest girl. She could stare in the mirror the whole day and not get bored. Putting a blonde bimbo and the school’s vain pot together….. now that could get interesting.

“What are you waiting for? Christmas? Move now before I regret not persuading the principal to retain the whole lot of you.”

Tiffany picked up her bag and started to move her chair towards mine. My mind was in shock and I just sat there as still as stone, not knowing what to do. I had my eyes wide open, my hands placed firml