6



Don’t stare. Don’t look at him. If you don’t notice him walk on the bus maybe he won’t notice you. I stared at the ground, not listening to the stomps of his feet walk closer and closer to me. I really didn’t feel like dealing with him today, and the way he grabbed me by the arm yesterday left a mark on my wrist. I haven’t told Rinn, Soojin or Daesung. Especially not Daesung… And out of the blue, I sniffed the air. My nostrils were filled with cigarette smoke. I turned my head and I noticed Jiyong staring directly at me. He didn’t saw anything for a while and I’m kind of glad he didn’t. Maybe if I didn’t say anything, he would seem like I wasn’t bothered by him at all. All he did was stare and he turned back around, talking to Junhyung and Seungri.

The bus ride was silent and all four of us walked off the bus, walking towards the school. Daesung walked close to me and Soojin was on my left side. The walk there was silent. There wasn’t much to say. Especially now. Even though the look on Soojin’s face meant she wanted to ask me something. Once we walked inside, Daesung walked away from us and Soojin and Rinn surrounded me. “I didn’t know you and Daesung walked to the bus together…” Soojin asked.

“Yeah, we were going to ask you about what happened yesterday when he walked you home. You know…before Jiyong showed up,” Rinn added in. “Something…did happen right?”

“No! All we did was talk. He didn’t do anything.”

“Then what did you guys talk about?” Soojin asked, she stared at me, waiting for an answer. Both of them were.

“He asked me would I ever go out with him…”

“And you said…?”

“N-no…” They both groaned out of annoyance. Rinn placed her hand on her face. “What?! Its true! I wouldn’t go out with him. You already know who I like…”

“But it’s just--” Soojin stopped Rinn before she could say anything. “We’ll see you later Lynn…” The two walked off and I finally made it to my locker. Youngbae was standing there and he noticed me. He grinned and I grinned back.

Putting my things in my locker, I felt someone tap my shoulder and it was Youngbae. He looked more worried than he did a couple of seconds ago, which was weird. It kind of made me worried also. Why? I don’t know…sometimes I cared too much about people and how they felt. “Um, are you okay?” He asked me. I looked at him, puzzled. What? What does he mean am I okay? “Because I heard about the incident that happened in the café across the street yesterday. Is your face okay? Someone told me Jiyong smacked you in the face…”

And this is when all hell broke loose.

“W-what?! Who did you hear that from?! He never smacked me in the face!” He backed up slightly, putting his hands up trying to calm me down. “

“I don’t know! I forgot who told me! B-but if you didn’t get hit in the face I believe you!”

“I DID NOT get hit in the face! Who would make such a lie like that?!”

“Lynn! Calm down…” Youngbae said, wrapping an arm around me. I didn’t even notice the fact that he was. My mind was stuck on the lie that was made about me. “I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding--”

“How many people know about this?” Youngbae’s eyes traveled left to right, unsure about what to say.

“Umm…”


DING!!!

There was the bell for first period. I sighed and said, “Never mind, forget about it. It’s not nothing important anyways.” The look on Youngbae’s face turned to a frown and he followed me to class. We were already late. The whole walk there was in silence and the echoes of our steps made it even worse.

“Lynn,”  he began, looking at me. “Um, I’m sorry if you feel bad.” I knew I was blushing, but I didn’t know why. I was suppose to be annoyed, or even mad right now. Not like how I was feeling at the moment. “If I was there, it wouldn’t have even happened in the first place…”

We made it to our homeroom class and the moment we opened the door, the teacher yelled detention. So much of a second day I’m having. I wanted to just crawl under a rock and die because of all the stares and whispers that I got. “Is that Hwang Lynn?” , “She’s that girl Jiyong abused!” , “She probably deserved it because of what she said!” I sat in the back with Youngbae and she began teaching again. I immediately took out my things and began writing down the information on the board.

“…hey…” I looked over at Youngbae and he was staring at me. “want to sit at lunch together later on today?” I hesitated and finally said yes. He wasn’t causing any harm anyways. The only person that would probably cause harm would be Daesung.  He always did whenever Youngbae came into the picture. And I think I know why…



Three Months Ago

By the zelkova tree, by the lake. That was where I wanted to be. By Youngbae. But no, I was here by the Arts and Crafts center with Soojin, Rinn, and Daesung. I looked over, my hair in a tight ponytail and my t-shirt about ten times bigger than my body. My tennis shoes were stained with paint and dirt from the ground. I didn’t care though, all I wanted was to see Youngbae. Obviously he was hiding from the instructors. He told me before he left he was going to be by the big tree by the lake. I should’ve went with him.

“Lynn…” I quickly looked over at the person calling my name. It was Daesung.  The annoying boy who tried to get my attention all the time. “What are you looking at?”

“Obviously she’s looking at Youngbae!” Soojin said loudly, I elbowed her in the rib and she coughed slightly.

“You should just go over there. The bathroom is not that far away from Youngbae and you can just ask if you could go to the bathroom and sneak over there. They’ll let you go.”

“But what if they get suspicious?” I asked them. My two friends only shrugged their shoulders and they continued painting.

“What do you mean sneak over somewhere?! I don’t want my Lynn getting in trouble!” We all shushed him.

“Hush! Are you crazy?! You’re going to get her in trouble if you keep on yelling!” Soojin snapped. He frowned and  looked down at his project. I looked back over and then I finally raised my hand. I couldn’t just stay like this for the rest of the hour, I would go crazy. When the instructor came over and asked me what I needed, I asked if I could go to the restroom. Of course she replied yes quickly and scooted me faster out of the area. I guess she thought it was for another reason.

I continued walking down the long dirt path that traveled near the beautiful tree and saw that I was getting closer and closer to Youngbae. I didn’t want him to know I was there so I was quiet, and I crept up behind the tree just watching him lay on the other side. He began singing a small tune and I listened for a while, blushing. Leaning forward against the tree, my shoe stepped  on a branch and I jerked back. Youngbae jumped and turned around. His eyes gazed into mine and I looked down, embarrassed.

“How long have you been there?” He asked. I walked from behind the tree and sat down next to him. The meadow out beside the lake was bright and insects were flying around. It was like the sun was shining directly in his face and his eyes glistened. I didn’t know what to say, I froze for a little bit. “Uh, Lynn?”

“Um, I-I’ve been here for not long. I just got here actually. When you began to sing…”

“You heard me sing?” I nodded. “Oh. Glad I stopped.”

“No! It was very good! I liked it.” Youngbae smiled softly at me and I smiled back. “I sneaked out of Arts and Crafts to be here y’know.” He grinned and wrapped and arm around me. I blushed slightly.

“I’m glad you did. At least we could spend the last days together doing wild stuff. Even though this is very far from wild.” He chuckled to himself and he looked out towards the lake. He saw the Arts and Crafts cabin from the distance and looked back at me. “Hey Lynn…”

“Hmm?” I had already rested my head on his shoulder.

“I think I’m moving to America…” I quickly raised it up and stared at him. “I’m moving for like  education purposes and my whole family was going to start a new life there…I don’t like it though. I don’t even know how to speak their language.”

“Why now?” I ask. My nerves were jumpy and I grab his hand. “Right when we start to become good friends?”

“I don’t know and I hate that I have to leave too…I’ll miss all my friends here. Even you Lynn.” He looked deep into my eyes. “I’ll miss you too.”  I blushed and looked away. I didn’t want him to see my face like this. It was too embarrassing. “Lynn…” He whispered. He lifted my head and  he pressed his lips against mine. I pulled back quickly surprised slightly. Youngbae chuckled and saw my reddened face. “Do you blush a lot?”

“Umm…n-no.” Youngbae shook his head and he looked back at the cabin. He saw a line forming outside. I looked in the same direction.

“I think we should head back. We could get in trouble if we stay here too long…”

My mind wasn’t even in reality at the moment. All I thought about was that kiss and how he was--



“Ms. Hwang!!”

“Huh?!” I yelled. I turned and saw the whole class staring at me again. Youngbae looked at me and I sunk low in my seat. “Oh…I’m sorry Mrs. Choi.” I sat back up and paid more attention to her. She slowly turned around and she continued teaching. I sighed and clicked my pen. I knew this day was going to be a long one.

After the class period ended, Youngbae caught up to me. I really wanted to ask him why he never left to live in America but then again I didn’t want to ask about his personal life. It really wasn’t any of my business anyway. He looked worried for me, like there was something wrong with me. “Hey are you okay? You were totally spacing out in homeroom. What were you thinking about?”

“N-nothing. It wasn’t important.” Except only it was important.To me.

“Oh…okay.” We both collected our things for Science class. I grabbed my notebook and my textbook for that class and reached for something else until a pair of hands blocked my view. I grinned softly and laid them down.

“Guess who.” The person said. I could tell by the voice and I tried to turn around but he stopped me with his other hand. I was surprised by his strength. I groaned and he laughed. “C’mon,  guess who. Even though you probably already know who it is.”

“Ducky?” He unblocked my view and I slammed my locker, turning around. He pouted.

“It’s Daesung if you must know…” He grinned and wrapped an arm around me. I saw Youngbae staring at me and then me and Daesung walked off. Youngbae looked troubled though… “How was homeroom?” He  asked me. I snapped back into reality and smiled nervously.

“Oh, um, great. It was boring though.”

“I’m not surprised. It’s boring in my homeroom too. Maybe Science class is going to be different…” As we both walked down the hallway of the school, several people looked at both of us. They whispered and they pointed rudely. I snorted and continued walking. What are they talking about? Me? Daesung? Both of us? I hope they aren’t talking about the café incident…  I felt a bit uncomfortable to be honest. The statement that Youngbae made earlier before class still had me dumbfounded. “Lynn? Are you okay? You’re spacing out…”

“O-oh! Sorry. I’ve been doing that all morning…”

“Is there something wrong?”

“No….it’s nothing really. I’m just having a bad day.” We were almost close to the Science room when everything in my mind just blurted out. “Daesung do you think that everyone staring at us is talking about the café incident? I hope not, really I hope not. And Youngbae is going to sit with us at lunch later on and I thought you’d be okay with it. Are you sure you--”

“Whoa, whoa slow down. I can barely understand what you’re saying…and you lost me at Youngbae.”

“He’s going to eat lunch with us. Is that okay?” I saw the discomfort in his face and he only shrugged.

“Yeah I guess….” Daesung opened the door to science class and we both walked inside. A lot of people were already in class and sitting down. I just wanted the awkwardness between me and Daesung to go away at the moment. Because right now, I already know he doesn’t want to have anything to do with me…