Monday, September 3, 2012

                Honestly, the curiosity about Kai was eating me alive. But I knew better than to just straight up ask him like last time…I blew my bangs up out of my face as I tried to think of some way that his past would come up. Since he’s already suspicious of me it would be sort of hard…

                “You alright?” L asked me.

                “Fine, just…tired,” I finally answered. “And we’re performing our first dance in class today so, yeah, I’m a little bit nervous.”

                “Ooh yeah you were talking about that at track,” L mused, nodding his head.

                “I’m freaking out, bro!” I exclaimed, screwing up my face. 

                L laughed. “Believe me, you’ll be fine.”

                “Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, turning back to our current work.

                “I’m gonna cry. I’m going to burst into tears. I’m so nervous I can’t even handle this…” Ahran chattered.

                “Me too. Now I wish we would have practiced it more,” I agreed. We were on our way to dance, and the fact that we’d be presenting our first ever project was finally sinking in. I think Ahran was just nervous because Junhyung would be watching…

                “Whoa…who are…?” Ahran gasped as we walked into class after changing, not even bothering to finish the question.

                “I…don’t even know…” I muttered as I glanced at our classroom full of unfamiliar faces. At the front of the room Junhyung and Kai were standing with two others; a girl and a guy. When they all shifted slightly to face the class, my jaw dropped open. “Ahran! That’s…my homeroom teacher,” I exclaimed, definitely recognizing Mr. Jang.

                “Oh my God he’s so hot…” she  bit her lip, still gazing at him.

                “Ahran! Please! Keep your hormones in check for two seconds!” I scolded playfully.

                She shrugged. “So…why is he here? And who is everyone?”

                “Beats me. You know?” I asked Chunji, who had just joined us.

                He nodded. “That guy teaches the other advanced dance in this slot. That’s Mr. Jang, I heard he graduated from Juliard early, so insane!, and he’s super talented, and really smart. And that’s the TA, Min.” He gestured to a petite girl with short, jet black hair and a round face.

                “Hm, so…why are they here again?”

                “Their classes are doing the same thing. I guess they decided to join classes for the performances. I dunno,” he shrugged.

                The bell rang, and so we all headed to the floor. Since no one was really in the right spots we all sat together.

                “Alright, class, settle down,” Junhyung called to the rambunctious group of kids. “To my students, this is Mr. Jang, and his TA Min. To Mr. Jang’s students, you can call me Junhyung, and this is my TA Kai. For these upcoming performances we’ve decided to group our classes together and so when your group goes, you’ll be performing for everyone here. Any questions?”

                “Who’s going first?” I called out.

                “We’ll be picking groups randomly. One from our class one from Mr. Jang’s. If nobody else has any questions…” he scanned the room quickly. “We’ll get started right away so we can get everyone in.” He picked up one CD from the group on the table, and flipped it over. “Our first group actually includes our TA, Kai, so would Hyemin, Chunji, and Ahran please come up here?”

                My mouth dropped open. I exchanged a pissed off glance with Ahran, who just looked innocently shocked. Chunji also looked like he wanted to kill someone. “Oof course,” I muttered sarcastically. “Well, let’s get this thing over with.” The three of us made our way to the front, where Kai was already standing. “Ready?” I asked quietly.

                Ahran gave a little squeak, and Chunji nodded, still looking upset at having to go first. Kai, however, gave a triumphant nod, and he was smirking. He looked so comfortable up at the front, not fazed by the order at all. “Start it,” he called once we were all in position.

                Junhyung nodded and pressed the button. Instantly, our loud, upbeat music blared through the speakers. When I heard it I relaxed slightly, and let my body take over. I knew what I was supposed to do, and I knew I could do it well. Once the song ended, we froze, and then dropped it after a few seconds. In which case my sullen expression came back and I blew the bangs out of my face, crossing my arms in front of me.

                The class erupted into applause, and Junhyung, Hyunseung, and Min all looked impressed. “Very good, guys,” Junhyung complimented. “Nice choreography, good use of space, and very high energy.”

                Min nodded and smiled warmly at us. “The choreography was really good, I’m impressed.”

                Hyunseung eyed us, a devilishly good looking smile on his face. “I have to say I’m impressed. Very mature style.” I thought his comment was a little…weird…but I didn’t question it. This guy was super smart, right? Usually super smart kids are kind of socially awkward…let’s be honest, his teaching in class was slightly awkward, too…I’m sure that was it…

                “Thank you,” I bowed to the three, as did my group, and then we headed back to the floor.

              As we walked back, Ahran whispered to me; “Dude…you’re teacher’s comment made him seem like such a …”

                I laughed. “Still hot?”

                She bit her lip, thinking. After a short pause she answered me,” Yeah. Still hot.”

                The three of us sat and watched the rest of the groups go; most of them were really good. Once everyone had gone we still had about fifteen minutes left in class.

                 Mr. Jang walked to the front of the class. “We’re very impressed with all of your performances today. You’re a very talented group of kids. Since we’re done with performing, for the rest of class you guys can just talk amongst yourselves.” Although some kids instantly began talking, one girl from my class, surrounded by a lot of other girls, raised her hand.

                “Can we see you dance?”

                Mr. Jang looked surprised. “Uh…”

                Now, pretty much every girl from our class was insisting. “Please?! We’ve seen Junhyung-ssi dance, can we see you? Since you’re a teacher and all.”

                Mr. Jang sent a panicked look at Junhyung, who just smiled and shrugged. But when he turned back to the class, he had an easy smile on his face. “Of course. Any requests for music…?”

                “Dalmatian’s E.R.!” a girl called loudly.

                One of her giggling friends added, “You should probably be shirtless for that, though!”

                The class erupted into laughter, and Mr. Jang didn’t even look embarrassed. “Not today,” he said, winking at the class before he went to the computer to start some music. He ended up with a rap song with a strong melody. Before he began dancing he removed his jacket, to the catcalls of the girls. He smiled as he began to get into the beat. When he actually began to dance, I was shocked. His dancing was incredible, probably even better than Junhyung’s. He could be smooth and fluid, but at the same time powerful and charismatic. For freestyle, his moves were incredibly crisp and planned out. His style reminded me of something, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it…

                As applause erupted around me I realized I zoned out and he must have finished. I glanced up just in time to see him shoot his arm up in an ending pose. Without his jacket his sleeves crept up, and a gold watch glinted in the bright classroom. Hm, classy…I wonder what time it is…How much longer til the bell? Suddenly I realized the déjà vu I was experiencing. Holy…… Everything from the club the week after school started flooded back to me.

                “Please, I’d appreciate it if you kept your hands off mygirl. Are you alright, babe?”

                “You should watch out. Being at a club alone is like askingfor random s to come and annoy you.”

                “Let’s go dance. I’ll try’n prove to you that I’m a gentleman.”

                That confident smirk, those dance moves….I can’t believe I accidentally went clubbing with my teacher. Well...technically I went clubbing with my other teacher on purpose that night. But that was Junhyung! He’s my friend, my older brother, before anything else. And besides, I didn’t even spend time with Junhyung. With Mr. Jang I danced, we talked, I had a drink with him…Awh , I’m that ty girl getting it on with her teacher. I groaned and dropped my head into my hands.

                “You alright?” Ahran questioned, poking my forehead.

                “Um…tired?” I mumbled.

                “Ahh…Did you see Hyunseung’s dance? That tutting was insane! He’s so good…it totally looked choreographed. And Juliard!? That boy…”

                “Is a teacher!” I instantly snapped my head up. “And it’s weird to see him outside of school. It would be weird…would be. Ugh…what’s even that great about him?! I can do that! Plus he’s old!”

                Ahran gave me a weird look. “Uh…right…Myy bad…”

                “She’s right,” Chunji noted.”I don’t know why all those girls are all over him. It’s inappropriate, unprofessional, and just weird. He looks so comfortable with all those girls around him. Jeez, what a frikkin player.”

                “Oh, like you’re one to talk,” Ahran snapped at Chunji. “Practice what you preach, playboy. He’s only like…four years older than us.”

                “Yeah! That’s true! It’s—it’s only four years! That’s not a lot! Not a lot!” , I was using my panicked, high voice. What was wrong with me?!

                “Uh….right…” Ahran said slowly, giving me a “What is wrong with you?” look.

                “Hyemin?” Being so into our conversation, I jumped when I heard my name. And then when I saw Mr. Jang standing there, giving me a slight smile, my mouth dropped open and I instinctively let out a swear.

                “! I mean…! I mean…God what do you want?” I snapped. I was honestly never like this. I was a good liar, and I could spin a tale whenever I needed one, as fast as I needed it. And now I was losing it over one dance with some guy who taught me math. Beside me, Chunji and Ahran were laughing. They obviously did not understand the crisis I was going through…

                Mr. Jang let out a small, breathy laugh. “I just wanted to talk to you about your dance.”

                I glanced at Chunji and Ahran, who shrugged. “Uh…sure,” I mumbled, following him to the side of the classroom. As we walked I noticed dozens of female eyes on us.

                He must have picked up on them, too. “Mm…let’s go to a practice room, for some privacy…” he said, leading me into one of the rooms.

                Privacy was the last thing I wanted… “Uh…sure…”

                “You can calm down,” he told me with a smile. “It’s just your rubric and grade. I tried to show it to Kai, but he instructed me to you. We’re just giving them to the leaders.”

                “Uh…sure…”

                “You guys did very well…” then he went on to talk about the grade he gave us and how Junhyung had given us a separate grade and la-dee-dah, not like I gave a … He kept on talking for a few more minutes, and then he finally said something that got me to listen. “You know, I didn’t even know they let high school kids into clubs…” he mentioned, and when I glanced up at him in surprise he was smirking.

                “And I didn’t know teachers went clubbing,” I responded sullenly.

                “Shockingly, teachers are actually real people,” he smiled.

                I laughed slightly and rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I’m not an idiot. But they’re not supposed to run into their students at a club.”

                “They’re not my students outside of school,” he replied with a smirk. God he was good looking…no! Stop! Bad Hyemin, baaad Hyemin… “Anyways, call me Hyunseung, and that night at the club I was going to ask for your number…looks like I didn’t have to get it there.”

                “...Are…” I began, but then I cut off.

                Hyunseung looked at me expectantly. “Yess..?”

                “Uh…nevermind…”

                “No, say it.”

                “Are you like a ? Cause we’re at school right now…So…student,” I finished, pointing at myself. Hyunseung’s mouth dropped open. I’m guessing he was expecting me to compliment him and fall all over him or something.

              He shook his head and laughed. “No…no I’m not. I’m actually quite the gentlemen…if you remember. But anyways,” he picked up my grade and handed it to me. “You’re performance was good, but I still advise practice. Say, Club Infinite, this Friday, around 10? I hear the crowd there is a fantastic teacher,” he whispered to me as he exited the classroom.

                His breath left shivers on my neck, and I just stood there for a few seconds after he left. I had initially freaked out. But that was just the suddenness and surprise of it all. If you think about it, he was only four years older than me. It’d just be like going to the club with Yongguk or Key. And it’s not like we were in a ual relationship or anything…just friends. Juust friends…I sighed deeply and exited the practice room. Hyunseung…no! Mr. Jang was talking to other students about their grades. I was about to go back to Chunji and Ahran but a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me aside.

                “What was all that about?” Junhyung asked me quietly.

                “Eh?”

                “You and Hyun—Mr. Jang going into a practice room? All the other grade talks have lasted about half as long as yours did…” Something flickered in Junhyung’s eye. It wasn’t really anger, but he did look confused and urgent.

                “Oh…I dunno…probably just ‘cause we had a leader in our group,” I told him. I decided it would be best if he didn’t know for now. Not until I knew what was going on between Mr. Jang and I.

                He frowned, but let me go. “Alright…well…class is almost over.”

                “Mmkay,” I nodded, and then found Ahran, who was leaving to go change.

                “Hey,” L greeted as I walked onto the track. “How was your dance? I head your class and the class Jang teaches combined…?”

                I nodded. “It was…alright. We went first, which , but we got good marks. And yeah, the girls were practically pissing their pants with all the eye candy.”

                L laughed. “They’d probably explode if I was in there with them…”

                “Oh don’t flatter yourself,” I laughed, lightly pushing L.

                L grinned good naturedly. “First meet this Friday.”

                “Ahhh…shoot me now. Coach wants me to run the mile. I don’t want to run the mile…” I groaned.

                “You’re hella good at it. Just it up and win us some trophies, okay?”

                “Me? Win? Good joke. What about you? I’ve seen you run hurdles.”

                “Mehh…” L muttered. I was going to protest, but Coach came out, and instantly had us working our asses off.