Chapter Thirteen
Mysterious Friendship
I got ready for school and took my time. I'd decided I needed a break from the guys. The later I got there the better. Once I entered the gate, I kept my head down and tried to sneak into the building.
"ChaeYoung!" I heard L.Joe call.
I stopped and slowly turned around. I saw him by himself. Since there was no way to avoid him, I went over to him and tried to act like things were fine.
"Where were you yesterday? Chunji said you were with your mom."
"I was. She felt like she needed a day with her precious girl," I said acting like it was whatever.
But yesterday was great. I loved spending it with my mom.
"Well I was thinking of ditching and going to the amusement park. Did you want to come?"
Was he serious? There was no way. He liked me too?
L.Joe must of read my thoughts because he explained.
"Don't think I like you. Your cool but not my type. You got enough crap as it is to deal with. I just thought you could use a friend who won't try to hit on you."
"A few problems with that," I told him. "I don't have money. That's the main thing. I also may have told myself to ignore you guys for a while and find some non guy friends."
L.Joe nodded.
"I understand. You're sick of guys. But if you did decide to go, I'd pay. And then you just pay me back once you get the money."
I looked back at the building and thought about how much I didn't want to go and learn.
"I'll start ignoring you guys tomorrow," I said.
L.Joe and I left before we were spotted and we went to the amusement park. There was a discount on tickets because it was some sort of anniversary.
"I'll try to pay you back soon," I told L.Joe.
I was contemplating telling him about my mom not having a job. But I decided to forget about it for now and just have fun. We rode roller coasters until we felt like puking. Then we recovered with some arcade games. I won a dragon stuffed animal and he won nothing.
"Want the dragon?" I asked waving it in his face. "I know I won it but I'm nice enough to let you have it."
"Clearly you aren't that nice if your rubbing in my face that you beat me. You keep that stupid dragon."
I laughed at his sour attitude as we headed to get lunch.
"Today has been so great. Thank you for taking me away from Chunji and the others."
"I thought that Chunji was your boyfriend."
Hearing him call Chunji my boyfriend didn't give me the same feeling as before. Did I make up feelings for Chunji to?
"Between you and me, I think I'm going to end it," I told L.Joe.
"End it? Is it because of Ricky?"
I shook my head.
"I feel like I… made up my feelings."
I hated the idea of admitting it. Changjo wouldn't let me hear the end of it.
"Your secret is safe with me," he said.
"Besides we barely even dated. Breaking up with him shouldn't be that bad."
We finished lunch and went back to riding roller coasters over and over. We left before dinner came around and once I got home I noticed my mom wasn't even there. I found a note saying she was out looking for jobs.
"Looks like its just you and me," Changjo said.
He had a smirk on as he sauntered over in front of me. I rolled my eyes and made my way into the kitchen.
"What's with the stupid smirk?" I asked.
"You told L.Joe that you made up your feelings," Changjo said.
"I said that I might have."
"You keep telling yourself that."
I got myself dinner and Changjo told me Ricky was confused as to why I wasn't visiting.
"Then I guess I could visit him now. I mean, I will probably have to break it to Chunji tomorrow."
"So you admit that you made up those feelings?"
"No. I admit that any feelings I had for him, went away."
I finished my food then headed down to the hospital. Ricky was clearly bored. Seeing me, he smiled and had me sit in the chair by his bed.
"So, when do you get out of here?" I asked.
"I get my permanent cast tomorrow and then I go home later after that."
I nodded as I thought about my moms words. Was she right?
"So about… us," I started.
"Yeah?" he said.
He sounded hopeful making this harder for me.
"Well I thought I liked you," I said. "But I think that was just the rush of the night. Or something along those lines."
"So it's Chunji?"
"No," I said, shocking him. "I decided that single is the way to go."
We talked about him coming back to school and I told him that I would help him get around since he would be using crutches. After that, I decided to go back home. My mom was back and she was sitting in silence on the couch.
"How did the job hunt go?" I asked.
"Not good," she said. "But today was day one on the job hunt. I'll continue to look tomorrow."
"You'll find a job," I told her.
I went back to my room where Changjo was faking sleep on my bed.
"Up," I told him.
"Or you could join me," he said scooting over.
I rolled my eyes and pulled the blanket off. Changjo fell on the ground and I laughed at him.
"You'll regret the day you messed with a ghost," Changjo said.
He tackled me to the group and I let out a scream. My mom rushed to see if I was okay.
"I fell out of bed," I told her.
She eyed me funny before leaving. Changjo was rolling on the ground laughing. I sat up and kicked him in the leg. He was too busy laughing to be in pain. Then he surprised me by pinning me to the floor.
"Gotcha," he said.
"Alright. I get it. Now can you get off of me?"
Changjo for up and extended his hand out to help me. I ignored his kind gesture and got up myself.
"So is this school uniform the only thing you can wear?" I asked him.
"Yeah. It's what I last wore," he said. "But I could take my shirt off…"
I stopped him from lifting his shirt up.
"Don't," I said.
He started to laugh at me.
"So you don't want to see my abs?"
"Yeah right, like you have abs."
He tried to lift up his shirt again to prove he had abs. Again, I had to stop him.
"Don't lift your shirt up," I said. "And leave my room."
He left and I let out a sigh as I sat down on my bed. Changjo was right. I hated that. He knew I liked him. I didn't want to accept the fact though. I still refuse to accept it. Right now I'm merely acknowledging it.
Chapters 8-13 for deleted. I'm re-adding them. No new chapter until Monday though.
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