Day 7

            I sighed as I was forced into a light blue, short sleeved dress shirt and a navy blue skirt. I hated skirts with a passion but, of course, Jong Kook didn’t know that when he bought my uniform and registered me for school. Not that he knows much of anything about me, really. Along with the skirt were white frilled socks that hung around my ankles which just made me feel all sorts of Lolita but I tried to contain my open disgust for the uniform and just deal with it. That seemed to be my motto lately. Once the daze of being in a new place wore off – and it did, rather quickly, actually – I found my old cynical attitude seeping in and it was getting harder to restrain myself around Jong Kook.

            With a final groan at my appearance I walked out, slinging my backpack on my shoulder in the process. I groaned again as I saw Jong Kook’s back sitting at the table eating breakfast. I didn’t feel like conversing. It was too early – 7:00AM – and I don’t like to talk to him in general – too awkward; too stifling. Regrettably, Jong Kook did, in fact, have ears.

            “Oh, you’re up early,” he said calmly, not even looking back at me, I rolled my eyes and got a water bottle out of the fridge.

            “First day of school for me,” I said shortly, twisting the cap until I heard the snap of it opening and taking a quick sip. “Remember?” I added to myself under my breath. After all, we had gone out just yesterday to show me how to get there.

            “Ah…..right…..” He trailed off. I rolled my eyes again.

            “Mhmm,” I hummed in reply, my tone almost a sickly sweet. Taking a deep breath, I tried to get a hold on my mood.

            “Well…I hope your first day’s okay,” He said, picking up the plate he’d been eating off of and walking right past me to put the dish in the sink and then, with a light groan walked past me again towards his own room. My jaw clenched both times. Deciding just to pretend that hadn’t happened, I headed for the door, jammed on my shoes, and checked for my phone and bus card before leaving.

            School didn’t start until 8:00 but I wanted to get there early in order to introduce myself properly to my homeroom teacher – whom, from what I understood, would be an advisor of sorts. Pulling my skirt down in irritation, I sat down at the nearest bus stop waiting for the bus I needed. The middle school I was going to was where most of the kids in the area went and was coed – which I was thankful for. Most of my friends had been guys and I hoped that trend would continue.

            Once the bus came I swiped my bus card and got on, sitting in a seat that wasn’t occupied. Most of the people on the bus were older – only one or two wearing uniforms similar to my own. I stared out the window blankly and almost missed my stop if not for one of the kids I’d seen earlier tapping on my shoulder – for which I was extremely thankful. However, as I got off, I heard them whispering about me. “Is that her?” “Yeah…I think it was.” “Wahhhh she’s totally normal looking.” “Did you see her freckles?” “She has freckles?” “Yeah! And she was pretty dark, too – isn’t she supposed to be half white?” I tried to just shake it off. But it was annoying. The whole morning was annoying.

            Despite the constant stream of annoyances, I put on a smiling face before entering the school, only barely remembering to take my sneakers off and wear my indoor shoes – a pair of canvas shoes. Lucky for me, the teachers’ office was easy to find and I walked in confidently – a deceptively shy smile on my face. I bowed as I entered.

            “Hello?” I asked generally, knowing that at least one of the teachers would turn to address me. What I didn’t expect was the whole dozen of teachers in the room at the time to stand up and swarm me.

            “Omo!” One of the older female teachers exclaimed, “You’re Kim Jae Si, right?” similar questions were asked from the storm. I raised an eyebrow at the name the first woman called me and was about to respond with a correction but was stopped by a well-timed hand on the shoulder turning me away from the crowd and out into the hallway. When I turned to look at the person manhandling me, I felt a slight wave of fear and decided to correct my attitude. The man was formidable – over six feet – with a face like a bulldog and a head basically bigger than my shoulders that somehow looked proportional to his shoulders. He wasn’t buff, no, he was just big – especially compared to me. And he looked downright mean.

            “So you’re what the schools been stirred up about since last week?” He asked, his tone low and emanating from the middle of his chest. I started to form a response, my mouth beginning to shape a word but he was quicker to speak, “It was rhetorical,” The man clarified, eyes glaring and face scowling. “Kim Jae Si,” He said, “Kim Jong Kook’s secret daughter – really have a reputation for yourself all ready, kid.” I winced at the way he dropped on each syllable. His mockery not going unnoticed. Yet, a question was burning inside me – it was the second time I’d heard that name today ‘Kim Jae Si’ pronounced like ‘Jay She,’ close enough to Jessi but what bothered me more was the Kim. Had my name somehow been changed? Thick fingers came to snap in front of me, “I see we’re going to have some problems this year,” The man said derisively while straightening his tie that functioned more like a boa constrictor than anything else. He sighed and adjusted his pants onto his waist, looking up and down and snorting. “All right, well, let’s at least try to get along this year – my name is Song Jeong Chul and I’m your homeroom as well as Math teacher.”

            I died standing in my canvas shoes as he told me that. I hadn’t even had time to realize my worst nightmare before it happened and was slapping me in the face with reality. Despite the shock, I made myself bow and introduce myself.

            “Yeah Seonsaengnim, let’s get along,” I said politely, staring down at my shoes for a good two seconds before straightening. He clapped one of his large, club-like hands onto my shoulder again and steered me away from the teachers’ office. I was uncomfortable with the contact for obvious reasons but anyone we passed as he steered me this way and that – talking gruffly all the while all though I was having trouble paying attention for obvious reasons – didn’t seem to have a problem with the contact. Unfortunately for me it was apparently common for there not to be much of a physical barrier between students and teachers as there was in the States.

            After finishing what was apparently a tour, we were in front of a classroom and I was pushed into the metaphorical lion’s den. The tour had been long enough for most everyone in the class to arrive at school – 7:55 – and when I was pushed inside every head snapped my way with varying levels of judgements in their eyes. I set my shoulders in a familiar fashion and stood slightly crooked – leaning on one leg and aiming a critical eye at my peers. A group of girls in the back sneered and chatted to themselves.

            Mr. Song passed behind me and set his stuff down with a thud, pretty much ending whatever chatter was going on.

            “Who’s got an empty chair next to them?” He asked to the open air, continuing to unpack his stuff. Three kids stood up – two boys and one girl (who was the most reluctant). Mr. Song eyed them critically and then motioned towards one of the boys pointing for me to go sit by him. I rolled my eyes when my back was clearly turned towards him and sat down next to the appointed boy who offered me a grin which I returned – all though tentatively. I was thankful that I wasn’t forced to introduce myself – there was still the problem of what exactly everyone thought my name was.

            I zoned out at as the bull-like man talked for a good fifteen minutes until; entertaining myself by poking my index finger with the tip of a pencil from my bag. When the giant left there was a collective sigh – the oppressive weight of his presence removed.

            A hand reached into my view and I looked at the boy next to me, smirking lightly and taking his hand.

            “Nice to meet you,” I greeted, “My name’s Jessi.”

            “Nice to meet you Jessi,” He said with a flourish – obviously the eccentric type, “People call me Dino.” He grinned, eyes wrinkling.

            “Why?” I asked

            “I’m training to be an idol and that’s the name they gave me,” He grinned again and I rolled my eyes in amusement.

            “Wah…that must be exciting,” I commented, and I meant it – it was strange that someone my age was already working towards his dream.

            “Yep…” He trailed off as the first period teacher walked in and almost immediately became stone cold. I wondered if his cheerfulness was the act or if the cold that was emanating from him was his actual personality. It was strange to see someone change so quickly but I stored the question for another time and got my pencil and notebook out – ready to take notes.

            By the time lunch came around my hand was aching – Korean school was no joke. I also found out that Korean School Lunches are nothing to laugh at either – I wasn’t sure what I was eating but it was delicious and Dino had taken it upon himself to show me around – which I was thankful for because I totally picked up nothing when Mr. Song had tried to show me around.

            “So that’s the rec field and the gym,” He said, pointing outside and then to a building separate from the school building itself.

            “Do we take P.E?” I asked with a frown, he raised an eyebrow at me and nodded – my mouth formed an ‘o.’ “I’m guessing I have to get a uniform for that,” I said and he nodded in the affirmative.

            “We don’t do P.E. in that gym though, that gym is for our sports teams – we have a gym for P.E. inside the main building,” He clarified. I nodded, curiosity already clicking in my head.  Maybe they had a Judo team? I didn’t bother asking though as we had already moved on to the nurse’s office.

            “This is pretty self-explanatory – if you feel like or just want to get out of class just come here,” I laughed at his rough language and he smirked, eyes wrinkling. As the lunch period drew to a close I found my mood much improved from that morning mostly due to Dino’s interference. It was nice to have someone my own age to talk to even if he is an absolute stranger – a common theme in my life at the moment.

            Not even the pictures people were taking of me upset me that much. Okay, I was bothered slightly but Dino seemed to take it in stride (it was part of his future profession, after all) and that made it easier to deal with.

            Unfortunately, my roller coaster-like mood was ruined by Mr. Song heavy stomping his way into the class one minute before the sixth period began. At least, it seemed like he was stomping – in all honesty, he was probably walking like a normal human being. He’s just THAT big. Lumbering. Lumbering is a good word for the hard sway of each foot thundering onto the floor. Yeah. Mr. Song was the probably the reason any “lumbererererers” exist – the original lumberer. Yeah.

            And he was standing right in front of me and I had to look practically to the ceiling to meet his eyes – which I didn’t want to do but knew I had to do. Like most things in life.

            “Too good for this school already Miss Kim?” He asked with a dangerous tilt to his voice and a twitch of the left eyebrow. I shook my head.

            “No sir,” Was pretty much the only response there was to give – I actually had no idea what was going on.

            “Then answer the question,” He replied testily, turning to walk away, I gulped and looked at the board seeing a relatively simple problem. Luckily, I’ve always been decent at Math. Quickly doing the calculation in my head, I opened my mouth to speak but just I was about to say the answer,

            “Son Chaeyoung-ssi,” He interrupted, his voice loud and yet quiet, and then pointed to the question I had just been about to answer. I deflated slightly, wanting to prove I wasn’t a complete waste of space to the bulky man for whatever unknown reason. I slouched in my seat, looked briefly at a barely awake Dino, and zoned out again. My seat was next to hallway window so it was very easy to get lost in people watching. I barely noticed when the next class began and by the time the break came around I was asleep and a hand was prodding me awake. I wiped the drool from my face nonchalantly and rubbed my eyes to look at the person that woke me up. Who, what a surprise, was a stranger. Not a complete one, though, if I was not mistaken she was the Son Chaeyoung that had to answer the question instead of me.

Note:

She was not mistaken

            She was pretty, I noticed, with a button-like nose and slim face and large eyes, but she was also a chubbier girl and I knew that could be hard for people. I bowed in greeting to her, grinning slightly but still waking up. She returned the with a sort of nod.

            “Sorry I woke you up, I just wanted to say hello and tell you that Bulldog is like that and not to mind him – he’s just grumpy,” The way she spoke was straight forward and blunt as well as casual and I liked that. I had unofficially officially dubbed her as an interesting person ot be friends with. I was also satisfied that Mr. Song’s nickname was bulldog.

            “Yeah, I figured,” I paused, “He seems like a mean bastard,” I said with a roll of my eyes,” Chaeyoung nodded and clapped in agreement, open in a silent laugh and I laughed at her expression – she really was a cute girl.

            “Well, that’s all I really wanted to say…” She trailed off and I nodded in understanding as she left, walking to the other side of the room and sitting by herself. I winced for her, understanding the feeling of being surrounded by a room of potential friends and having no one.

Note:

Jessi decided to make a friend

A/N: Because this is a personal project, I am experimenting with styles and characters so if it seems like Jessi is totally insane it's because I am (: 

Also, I originally intended to make this longer but I wanted to post today to keep consistent with a Monday posting so there will likely be a part 2 to Day 7 and Day ? (haven't decided yet) next Monday. Hope everyone has a great week!

(P.S. I'm trying to be consistent as far as the ages of people in the real world but I am dropping people into places as I see fit - such as Seventeen's Dino whom I don't really know TOO much about but fits the age range I needed - so, if you know anymore about him please let me know! Also, I know Twice's Son Chaeyoung wasn't ever chubby but let's pretend and let her turn into the beautiful butterfly she is today ^.^ - I'm such an unnie fan and it's sad >.>)