Chapter Fifteen
Mysterious Friendship
I visited Changjo in the hospital while the ghost of him checked up on Ricky and others. I talked about things Changjo and I had done, hoping this would help him to remember me once he woke up.
When dinner came, I went on home where my mom was finishing up dinner.
"How was the job hunt?" I asked.
"Not so good. However, I do have some good news. We can move back to live with grandma and grandpa."
My mom was happy until she saw the look of shock on my face.
"Move?" I asked.
"Yes. Isn't this great? We really moved because of my job anyway. And it's only been two weeks."
Except that so much has happened in this amount of time. I didn't want to move. I ran to my room and shut the door behind me. I slid down it and Changjo appeared in front of me.
"Tell her no," he said.
"I don't think I can stay," I told him.
"You will," he said holding my face in his hands. "Even if you have to stay with Ricky. You can't leave. Your my- I- we're friends."
I smiled at him and placed my hand over his. My mom knocked on the door and I got up before she opened it. Changjo moved to my bed and I stood in the middle of my room as my mom entered.
"Do you not want to move back?" she asked me.
I nodded and sat next to Changjo on the bed.
"I like it here," I said.
"In that case, I'll keep looking for a job. And until I find one I can borrow some money from your grandparents."
I joined my mom for dinner and Changjo sat at the table as well making comments. It was becoming easier to pretend he wasn't there.
After dinner, Changjo and I went back to my room.
"We should go swimming," Changjo suggested.
I looked at him like he was crazy.
"How are we supposed to go swimming? You can only wear your uniform and I don't own a pool."
"I'm a ghost. Getting my uniform wet won't be the end of the world. And you don't own a pool, but I do."
Even though Changjo assured me it wouldn't be trespassing since it was his house, I still said no. How would I explain myself if his parents saw me?
"I'll pick a day where they will be out," Changjo told me.
But that didn't convince me.
When Ricky came back to school, he was surrounded by girls who were trying to do anything they could for him. They were offering to carry his books and his bag and they were opening doors for him. The whole thing was crazy. At lunch he sat at a different table because of all the girls. I thought I would join him so I wouldn't have to sit with the guys- mainly Chunji. But when I arrived to the table his little group of helpers thought otherwise.
"This table is taken," one girl who was cuddling Ricky's arm said.
"ChaeYoung! Come join us," Ricky said.
He looked like another second alone with these girls and he would go insane.
"But where would she sit?" the same girl asked.
"Across from me," Ricky said.
Whoever the girl was that was across from him wasn't happy to scoot down and make room for me.
"So where is your food?" Ricky asked.
I didn't have the heart to ask my mom for lunch money this morning so I figured I just wouldn't by any lunch.
"I forgot my money at home," I told him.
He held out his apple to me as he smiled at me. I took the apple and thanked him.
"Why does she get your apple?" a girl whined.
"She's my friend," Ricky said.
I silently ate my apple while these girls fawned over Ricky. It was weird to watch. It was like they thought Ricky was some amazing person. Really, he was just Ricky.
"Can I walk you home?" the one girl cuddling his arm asked.
"The thing is… ChaeYoung is walking me home. So that can't work."
"I'm not…"
I stopped when I saw Ricky's face pleading me to say yes.
"Yeah. We're walking to his house together."
After lunch, I let the girls help Ricky to his next class and I waited until the cafeteria cleared.
"You aren't planning on ditching again, are you?" Changjo asked.
"No, I'm just waiting for the craziness to clear," I told him.
I headed to my class and once the school day was over I met up with Ricky.
"Did you want to stay for a while?" Ricky asked as we reached his house.
"Sure," I said.
We did our homework and he told me about his little group of helpers.
"They mean well," he told me, "but they won't let me lift a finger. I can barely breathe."
"So you don't love all the attention?"
"No. These girls, they barely noticed me before I broke my leg. Now they all the sudden love me."
Ricky moved his homework aside and I noticed he was looking down.
"Ricky, are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "I have a question though. When you said you wanted to be single, did that mean that we were never going to happen? As in, later on we won't even have a chance?"
I gave Ricky a sad smile as I closed my textbook.
"I'm sorry but I don't think we could happen. When we kissed, it was good. But I'm pretty sure that, like I said, it was just the rush of the night."
"That's what I wanted to ask, actually. I think we should kiss again. That way you could see that it wasn't just the rush. I believe we have something."
"Ricky, I don't think that's a good idea. All this is going to do is leave you hurt."
Ricky reached out for my hand but I pulled away. I started to collect my book and put them in my bag.
"Don't go," Ricky said.
"I think maybe you need some time to get over me," I told him.
I got up and made my way to door of his room when I heard him fall over. Turning back around I hurried to help him off the ground and back in his seat.
"Gotta be careful," I told him.
He grabbed my hand before I could go and I realized now that he fell on purpose.
"You may not know it right now, but we have something. I'm sure of it."
"You don't have anything!" I heard Changjo say from behind me.
"Ricky, I can't…"
I stopped when he kissed my forehead.
"I'm going to go," I told him.
This time I left without him falling out of his chair or trying to come after me. Changjo showed up soon enough ranting about how unbelievable Ricky was.
"He'll get over me," I told Changjo.
"But who knows how long that is going to take."
I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do tomorrow at school. Eating with Ricky was a no. I couldn't eat with Chunji yet. So does that mean I'm back to eating by myself?
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guise! I start my senior year on Monday!! :o I'll do my best with updating! I promise!
Chapters 8-13 for deleted. I'm re-adding them. No new chapter until Monday though.
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