Ch.2
To Whom it May Concern
There was nothing more awkward then having to walk into class late, no matter if it was only by five minutes. Jinki's breath heaved as he stood outside the door to his class, he attempted to slow the rapid beat of his heart from the exertion of running halfway across the school. He pulled the door open and stepped into the room, disturbing the already comfortable and consistent flow of classroom life. He felt a mass of eyes on him as he shuffled into the room, teacher looking away from the board to frown at him.
" Good to know you could join us on the first day, Mr. Lee." Her eyes bore into him.
He bowed fully, " I'm sorry, I lost my schedule and..."
She cut him off, " You're taking away from the other student's time by explaining, just take your seat."
He apologized once more, and she waved him off, before taking the only empty seat left in the whole classroom. He let loose a slow, quiet breath as he pulled out a notebook from his bag and pens. He honed in on the lecture, his past offense quickly forgotten by all including himself.
Lunch was Jinki's second favorite time of the day, aside from the final bell when he could go home and relax. He wound his way through the throngs of tables and chairs in the cafeteria until he made it outside. Jinki took a seat in the grass, flopping back to look at the lush white clouds that drifted overhead; the freshly cut grass tickled at his neck and he scratched at it absently. His lunch layed half forgotten by his side as he reached his arms overhead, stretching out stiff limbs from being seated for so long. Looking from his inverted position, he watched as friends walked around him upside down, finding their own little patch to sit and conversate until lunch was over. He frowned slightly, Jinki wasn't nessecarily unpopular, but he was never someone you would invite anywhere outside of school. He had friends in school, but that was about it. They only came to him on their time and he couldn't be bothered to fight harder to make more of an impact in their lives. After all, school was for learning, not friends, right?
" Are you going to just lay there all lunch and waste your food?" A mildly familiar voice called from somewhere above his head, Jinki twisted his neck toward the sound. The face was even less familiar then the voice from this angle, but it was hard to tell who someone was when you were looking up their nose. The person lowered to the ground next to Jinki and he flinched as the face came into focus a little to fast for him to process. He twisted around into a crossed legged position, mirroring the other.
Choi Minho sat before him, lunch bag cradled in his lap as he looked at Jinki. " Do you mind if I sit with you?"
' Well, you kind of already have.' Was his thought, but what came out, " No, go ahead. I don't mind." He shook his head, honey colored hair russling around his face. Jinki grabbed his own bag, emptying out the contents in a heap on the grass between them. Minho was a little more precise with his lunch retrieval, everything ending up right side up as he took it out, unlike Jinki who was flipping containers lids up.
They ate in silence, Jinki was starting to feel bad he couldn't be more accomodating to his lunch guest. " So, are you new here? I don't think I've ever seen you before."
Mid-bite, Minho lowered the sandwich, " Yeah, this is my first year here."
Jinki nodded, " What year are you?"
" Sophmore, what about you?"
" Senior, this is my last year." The excitement fluttered in him once more at that realization.
" That's got to be pretty exciting, not having to do this anymore. What are gonna do after you graduate?" Minho took the opportunity to take another bite as Jinki spoke.
" I'm not sure, something my parents want me to do I suppose." The fear intertwined it's way with the excitement once more as the words left him.
Minho frowned, " Well, what do you want to do? Haven't you even though about it at all?"
Jinki shooked his head, " Not really..."
Minho hummed in understanding, " Well, at least you've got a whole year to figure it out."
It was Jinki's turn, " Well, what about you? What do you want to do?"
" I think I'd like to play sports professionally, but I'm not sure. I, however, have far more time to figure it out then you do." He responded cheekily.
Jinki checked his watch, only a few more minutes before lunch was over. They were fairly far out in the field and should be heading back. He gathered his leftovers and shoved them back into the bag, Minho followed suite. The pair stood and headed back to the school, Minho trailing behind Jinki.
" Hold up a second, you have grass all over your back." Minho reached out a large hand and brushed it lightly over the expanse of Jinki's back. Jinki froze, an odd chill went through him as Minho touched over his lower back; his breath hitched and his limbs locked up. Minho patted him firmly on the shoulder when he was done, " There."
Jinki shook his head in attempt to clear the strange thought and walked on, Minho by his side.
_________
The first day done and over with, Jinki exhaled loudly and sat down onto the couch. He adjusted his loose clothing, shirt and sweats gripping over his limbs uncomfortably as he flipped through the channels. Nothing interesting was ever on after school, he wasn't one for teen dramas or talk shows. He stopped it on a music station and stood, heading to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Like every other teenager who just got off from school, he was starving. He grabbed a bag of chips and made his way back to the couch, flopping less then gracefully down onto it. He groaned in pain as he landed on his side, " What the world?"
Jinki deposited the chips on the coffee table in front of him and sat up. He lifted his shirt at the side, looking at the skin there, a light bruise peaked out over the edge of his pants. He stood and lowered his sweats past his hip, revealing a nasty bruise he'd aquired earlier. For someone who got injured rather frequently he couldn't figure out for the life of him how he bruised so easily. He poked at the spot and hissed as he made contact, yeah this one was going to last a while. " Whatever, I guess..."
He dropped back down onto the couch more carefully this time, grabbing up the chips. He tugged at the sides of it and the seal broke, processed cheese powder filled his nostrils. As he reached inside Minho drifted across his thoughts. Jinki was surprised when Minho had told him he was only a sophmore, he looked older, but yet somehow still looked like a kid. He rubbed at the bruise absently, munching on another chip.
Then came the thought of Minho's hand, the way they brushed over his back; Jinki remembered the feeling and shivered once again. Why was he thinking like this? It was throwing him off completely. It wasn't a big deal, Minho was just being kind and brushing off the grass, nothing to really dwell on. Yet all the same, it made his head spin like when Minho brushed those long fingers over his lower back.
He stood, shaking his head harder then necessary and held onto the edge of the couch, waiting for his brain to stop rattling around in his skull. He had to get his mind off Minho, it was weirding him out too much. He jogged up the steps to his room, trying to force thoughts Minho back into the recesses of his brain he couldn't remember. Getting to work on early studying would help him focus on something else for a while.
Jinki sat at his desk skimming over his old, worn textbook. His body felt heavy as he tried to concentrate on the words, ending up reading the same line over and over. He felt his eyes slip closed and he slumped over the musty book face down.
_______
Someone was shaking him awake, " Jinki? Time to get up darling, dinner's ready."
He rose slowly from the book, wiping drool from the corner of his mouth. He rubbed at the side of his tingling cheek, feeling the horizonal dent that lay there where it'd been pressed into the top edge of the book. Jinki turned in the computer chair to see his mother standing behind him, shaking her head a bit at his sleepy state.
" I'll be right down." His voice was rough with sleep.
She nodded taking her leave from the room; Jinki stretched, leaning the chair back until it pushed at the edge of his desk. He yawned and stood, shaking legs finding it hard to support him. He took a tentative step forward trying to get his barings, his socks slid on the hardwood floor as he made a beeline for the restroom.
Slightly more awake, Jinki shuffled down the steps and took a seat at the dinner table, full plate already awaiting him. His mother and father sat across from him, plates untouched in their wait for their son.
" How was your first day back?" His father asked, waving a hand to signal the start of the meal.
" It was the same as it always is, nothing exciting or new." He said between bites.
" Well, what did your friends do over break? I imagine you had time to catch up with them a little today." His mother asked, she was always so worrried about his nonexistant social life.
He shook his head, " I don't know, I didn't even see any of them today. I guess our schedules don't match up well this year."
" Well, that's a shame..."
His father however was much more about his academic life then anything, " Well, what about your classes? Did everything go smoothly?"
Jinki thought of his collision with Minho this morning, " It was a bit rough with my first class, but everything else went ok."
" What happened?"
" I lost my schedule when I first got to school, I had to find it again before class...So, I was a few minutes late." He waited for his father's typical response.
He sighed at his son's unfortunate luck, " How late?"
" Only about five minutes, I had help finding it so it wasn't to bad."
His mother chimed in, " From who? Did you make a new friend?"
Jinki laughed, " Someone I collided with in the hall when I was looking for my schedule. He's a Sophmore named Choi Minho."
" Collided with?" His father questioned.
" Yeah...I wasn't really paying much attention to anything except finding my schedule and we kind of ran into each other."
" He sounds like a nice boy, especially since he risked being late himself to help you. Do you like him?" Her last statement threw Jinki off once again.
" What?" He choked on the bite his was in the middle of swallowing.
" Do you think he's someone you would want to be friends with?" She was clueless to what she'd induced in her son, Jinki himself not even sure why he'd reacted that way.
" He's fine, I guess...I've only talked to him a couple of times."
" I hope you two can become good friends, it's your last year after all. You should have a little fun before it's all said and done." She looked lost in the thought of her son's would be friendship she'd created in her own mind.
" But don't forget about your studies, your last year is the most important. You know that..." His father reminded.
" Oh for goodness sake, let him live a little. All he does is study, even in the summer."
Jinki shook his head, it was the same every year. His father, all about education and excelling, would go head to head with his mother, the social butterfly, over how their son should spend his school days. Maybe this year he would go for what his mother wanted, just this once.
Comments