chapter 07.  Fox Boy

in front of her was sitting a beautiful boy,smiling calmly while dabing her forehead with a wet washcloth. he was wearing his shoulder length black hair in a messy bun,loose hair strings were falling around his neck.  his face reminded her of the fox that roamed the streets of her neighbourhood back in her hometown. "ahh,you are so pretty" she mumbled,stretching out her hand to touch his face but she couldn't reach it. the boy snickered,grabbing her stretched out  hand with his. "the nurse gave you some pain killers,little one. I guess you aren't used to strong medication" he laughed looking at her eyes getting bigger. Sulli looked around,she only noticed now that she was laying on a white bed in the schools infirmary she looked down on her shoulder ,she was wearing an arm sling  to support her injured arm. "ahh..pain killers are awesome..i can't feel a thing.." she said,honestly amazed,while inspecting her surroundings. the mysterious boy laughed again. 'i could hear him laugh all day!' Sulli thought to herself. their eyes met and Sulli could feel her face getting hotter. she looked back at her shoulder. "nnm..what-what happened? why are you-" the boy interrupted her  "ahh,nothing wild! Hwayoung just told me that somebody got locked into one of the storage rooms so I checked it out and found you" a cheeky smile covered his face "i guess that makes me your prince charming" Sulli's face turned beet red. "haha.just kidding,little one!" the boy laughed "it's sure fun to tease you" how did  he know Hwayoung..? he seemed older than them! Sulli had never seen him around the school before! Sulli opened to bombard the mysterious boy with questions,when the white curtian surrounding them got pulled to the side. the schools nurse appeared in front of them. she was a homely looking woman in her late 30s "ah,you woke up! that is great!" she walked over to Sulli with a warm but concerned smile on her face.   she bent over to cover Sulli's forehead with her hand "ahh,that's good. your fever has gone down!"
"looks like I'm not needed here anymore." the fox like boy gut up from the chair next to Sullis bed.he straightened his grey pullover "see you around,little one!" he said while smiling the beautfiul smile Sulli already had gotten addicted to . the nurse nodded a goodbye into his direction. 'no you can't go!' Sulli thought when he turned his back to them 'I still need your name!',she opened only to be interrupted by the schools nurse again "now,tell me how that happened,girl! that's quite the inury you got there!" the boy had left,closing the door softly behind him.  Sulli sighed,focusing her attention on the schools nurse "mm,I just - I crashed into a wall while practicing yesterday and then ..fell...again today. I'm really clumsy,hehe" Sulli laughed apologetic. she didn't dare to tell the truth. SmEnt had a reputation to uphold and she didn't want to be the cause of  nasty rumours. Sulli sat up straight,she still felt a bit dizzy but maybe she could still catch the boy in the hallway. "ohhh,no! don't even think about getting up! the medication I gave you was pretty strong,you need to stay here a little while longer!" she pushed Sulli back into the sheets. "also,I need your parents telephone number,they need to be informed about this asap!" Sulli sighed,there was now way of escpaing in her condition. she recited  her home number unwillingly. she really didn't want her mother to worry,she already had her hands full with Sulli's younger brother who was quite the troublemaker. "I will try reaching them,you rest here till I bring the phone over,I'm sure they will want to speak to you as well." the nurse turned around but Sulli got a hold of her white coat. "yes,sweety?" the nurse smiled gently at Sulli. "who" Sulli tried to sound as uninterested as possible "who was the boy that brought me here..?" the nurse got big eyes "oh,you don't know him? well,he doesn't come to school often,that's true! to be honest,I was quite suprised to see him carrying you here! I thought he was the type not to get involved into other peoples business!" the nurse noticed Sulli's confused look "haha,oh sorry,sweetheart! I'm quite the rambler!" she collected the washcloth the boy had used earlier " his name is Kim Heechul. are you sure you haven't heard of him before?" the nurse asked...oh,Sulli had heard of him. he was just as infamous as her. "I..I have.." Sulli replied.  the nurse noticed Sullis concerned look "rumours are made up by bored people with boring lifes. don't believe everything you hear,ok?" she patted Sulli's cheek and left to call Sulli's home.
Kim Heechul was known all over school as "dangerous" loner. Sulli had never seen him up until now because he barely came to school. that was also the reason he was older than most of SmEnt's students,he got held back 2 times already because of lacking lesson participation. Sulli would hear Jiyeon and Qri gossip about him on a daily basis. he was good looking,charming and full of talent. he had all it took to be one of the star students,yet he decided to seclude himself from the school and it's students as much as possible. after a while ,rumours had spread about him dealing drugs and one day he had  beaten up one of his fellow students. why noboy knew,both kept their mouths shut. Hongki,also one of the star students,thanks to his charisma and strong voice,was the only one not afraid to go near him ,and the few times Heechul actually came to school they seemed inseparable. Sulli bit her lip,he wasn't the type anyone should get involved with but ..the rumours spreading about her were all nothing but lies,shouldn't she give him the benefit of the doubt? before she could come to a decision the school nurse appeared in fornt of her bed again.
"your mother" she said,dangling the portable phone in front of Sulli's face. Sulli grabbed it ,trying to sound cheerful she said
 "ummaaaa~,how are you?"
"that doesn't matter right now! how are you,my child?" her voice sounded higher than usual.
Sulli knew excatly how her mother looked right now.grabbing the phone with both hands she would press the phone as close to her ear as possible. at least,that's how her mother always looked when the school called because her brother had failed another test.
"haha,I'm fine,umma! no need to worry! my classmates get injured all the time,they really push us to give our best here! I'm suprised I didn't land in the infirmary sooner! hehe" that wasn't a lie,Sulli thought. I'm not lying to her,I'm just not telling her everything.
"oh,oh...  is that so?" Sulli could hear her mother breathe a sigh of relief. "should I talk to someone,hun? do you want me to tell them to go easy on you? you are still new,after all!"
Sulli shuddered. her classmates would surely not be happy about that. "haha,oh umma! half a year isn't 'new'! tell me ,how are things at home?" she said,trying to change the topic.
a few seconds of silence passed "umma? are you still there?hello?"
"oh..yes my child! I'm sorry" she could hear her mothers voice shaking.
"umma? umma,what's wrong! did something happen?" Sulli now grabbed the phone with both hands herself "is brother alright?"
"oh,yes your brother is fine! it's just ...say,Sulli...you are happy at your new school right? it's lots of fun,right?"
Sulli paused for a second. her mother seemed to be clearly concerned about something ..."yes,very happy." she replied. she didn't want to upset her mother....yet.
that's good! very good! listen...I don't want you to worry but...your father got layed off and..please,don't worry! your principle's secretary said they would be willing to give you a full scholarship! isn't that great,hun? a great school you are going to!"
"no,umma! umma!" Sulli panicked,if her mother was telling her about this it had to be serious "umma,I will come home! i can get a job! I will help you and appa out! let me come home!"
"no." her mother's voice had stopped shaking "child,SmEnt offers the best education,you will surely get a great job once you graduated this school. I settled everythig with your principle's secretary,there is no way I will let you give up your life only because we ..." she paused ".. are struggling right now."
her mother was a strong woman. she never told her kids about financial problems of any kind. Sulli  knew it had to be serious once she heard her mothers voice starting to shake.
"umma. i have to go." Sulli said in a firm voice. she threw the phone on the bed,and began putting on her sport shoes.  the schools nurse,who had heard bits of the conversation,tried to stop Sulli  " I still need to check up on you properly,what are you doing"  Sulli pushed her to the side,and with only one goal  in her mind,she stormed out of the infirmary.

the principals office.

author's note: haha,at first I worried that the story progressed too slow and now I'm worried it's progressing too fast! but there's so much left to write,we are really only at the beginning still! oi,oi,oi... yay for heechul! at first i planned to make him into the schools nurse,since he's so much older than Sulli but I just stole some years from him and made him a student with a ~complicated backstory~ instead :9 watch out Taeminnie!