*

KIM JONGIN

*

Part II

“Vote for me as senior arts committee’s chair leader!”

“If you vote for me as leader of academic affairs, not only will I make sure that teachers treat you fairly, but no student will ever get bad grades again!” 

“If you don’t vote me for athletic affairs, you’ll be sorry!”

I nodded, halfheartedly, before walking right past at what felt like the millionth kid to have come up to me today. The day had started off great, but once all these students had come up to me, shoving their campaign signs right in my face, as if that would make me want to vote for them any more than the last student that was just up in my face, all I wanted to do was knock a ‘ho out.

The Academy was literally as busy and lively as it had been the very first day we’d arrived on campus; the campus looked like a giant carnival, really. All over campus, students  that were running for council committees had their own stands, decorative signs, and other bribing tools, in order to claim more votes than those they were up against.

Well, most students had to bribe their way to more votes, that is, except for Kris, of course. He didn’t have to bribe his way into earning any votes; he didn’t have to do anything, at all! Girls literally just threw their votes straight at him!

Voting had started on Friday, so that’s when the students started campaigning, doing whatever they could to bribe people of their vote. The campaigning had continued on into Saturday, and was still continuing on in full-swing today, as well.

Although I was slightly annoyed with all the students that had been up in my face today, I was at least impressed with the number of bribes I’d received from all the campaigning candidates. The students running for top spots within the committees, like chair leader, were going all out, handing out all kinds of free stuff to bribe voting students- and when I say “all out” I mean they were going all out.

Some of the richest students, like Kim Jonghyun, who was running for CIO Consultant, were giving out “giveaway” prizes for free plasma television sets; other candidates were giving away the latest smart phones, sound systems, blue-ray DVD players, and all kinds of stuff, just to earn votes.

To compete for votes, some other students decided to use their connections within the academy to form their very own service groups who in turn, strategically lured certain voters their way by promising to provide some kind of service to them.

For example, Krystal Jung, the blonde girl who has a huge crush on me, apparently came up with a “homework help hotline” which I thought was actually a brilliant strategy to earn votes. What made it even more brilliant was that the hotline wasn’t just for helping students with their homework; in fact, it wasn’t for helping students with their homework at all, but rather the hotline assigned school nerds to literally complete student’s homework assignments for them. The “homework help” name was just a cover-up so that teachers wouldn’t find out what the hotline was really for.

I’d originally had an oral English report due on Monday as part of the project Chanyeol and I were partnered together for, and I would’ve been working on it right now, but now, all thanks to the “homework help hotline”, I no longer had to worry about it.

Another campaigning student was fishing for votes by setting up his very own raffle, promising to give a big cash prize to students who voted for him; some other candidates went for the food route, and bribed their way to earning votes from students through their stomachs. That was actually my preferred voting bribe; I loved food.

I looked down at my hands, admiring all the goodies I’d received today from different campaigners who in turn were awarded with my promise to vote for them. I was currently munching on a blueberry muffin I’d received from-

“Kim Jongin!” the sound of a girl’s voice suddenly blared through my ears.

Following the sound of the voice, I whipped around, and found myself staring face-to-face with a cute, perky looking brunette girl with dipped green ends.

“Hey Mr. President,” she greeted me with a cheeky eye-smile. Her hands were placed behind her back and she was swaying her shoulders back and forth; she looked like a cute little school girl. “How are you?”

I know I’d already mentioned that this girl was cute, but she was really cute, and cute girls always put me in a good mood, so I greeted her back, coolly, while eying her down; most girls couldn’t resist my eyes.

As she and I slowly walked down a pathway, she engaged me in a little small talk. Her voice was soft, but also cute and cheerful, which put me in a better mood, but unfortunately the mood didn’t last for very long as it was soon replaced by one of discomfort all because she had started…to do…something…with…her eye…

What the heck is wrong with this chick’s eye? I wondered, weirded out by this girl’s eye that was squinting in some strange, twitchy manner. While narrowing my own eyes, I gaped at her squinting eye, trying to figure out just what she was doing with it.

From the looks of it, I guess she called herself trying to be y by giving me “the eye”. You know… the eye, or that look you give someone when you’re trying to be seductive. But really, it just looked like she had a bad eye twitch.

“So Kai,” she smiled at me, still giving me that disturbingly creepy eye. “You’re voting me for Treasurer, right?”

I didn’t answer; I was too engrossed in staring at her twitching eye. It was really amusing to watch, actually. The longer she did it, the more uncomfortable it looked, and I actually had to bite down on my lip to keep myself from laughing at her attempt to be y.

But then, she glanced down at my hands, and within an instant, her smile vanished and both her eyes winced; she was now glaring at the blueberry muffin I was holding.

Her shoulders fell as a look of disappointment washed over her features.

“Oh,” she spoke, sullenly- a stark contrast to her overt bubbliness only a minute ago. “It looks like Kim Hyuna already got your vote.”

I glanced down at my once-bitten muffin, the same muffin that that one hot chick, Kim Hyuna, was passing out earlier. To be honest, the muffins were kind of nasty; the chick obviously didn’t know how to bake to save her life, but what she lacked in baking skills, she made up for in hotness, so I’d agreed to possibly vote for her.  

But now that I was looking at this cute girl standing in front of me (Hyuna may have been hot, but this girl was way cuter than her, especially now that she wasn’t giving me the creepy eye look anymore) I was starting to have second thoughts on who I was voting for.

I glanced down at the little button that was pinned to the corner of her shirt, near her left shoulder. It read: “Vote Joy for Treasurer!”

So her name is Joy, I mused. I remembered seeing her around on campus and in a few of my classes. Before today, she’d tried striking up a few conversations with me but I’d never really made much effort to really talk to her, besides muttering a simple “hey” or “hi” every now and again.

“Look Joy…” I started, getting ready to politely turn her down since I’d already promised Hyuna my vote, but the sight of her maneuvering something that was behind her back, had taken my attention.

The girl brought from behind her back at what appeared to be a gift basket but my eyes grew twice their normal size once I realized the gold that the basket she was holding actually contained.

Triple. Chocolate. Fudge. Muffins!

Sold! That was all the bribing I needed; she had my vote!

I chucked the blueberry muffin I was once holding, right behind me, not even bothering to look back to see which way it flew.

“You know what, Joy?” I said eying the muffins down, probably looking awfully similar to a carnivorous animal that’s eying a slab of juicy meat. “Hyuna really isn’t that great a choice for Treasurer. That girl can’t count, and she can’t bake. I was never going to vote for her.”

“Oh yay!” The girl chirped, jumping up and down in excitement, making the ends of her hair that were dyed green bounce against her chest, thus, distracting me for a quick second. She then proceeded to grab a wrapped muffin out of her basket, and handed it over to me, which I greedily accepted. “Remember a vote for Joy is a vote for happiness all year long!”

Yeah, yeah, I thought, not really giving a about the so-called happiness she’d bring to the school. I was only concerned with the happiness I would receive in my tummy once I took a bite of the muffin.

After handing over the muffin, she flashed me her bright smile before skipping off probably to bribe more voters with her basket of muffins.

I unwrapped the chocolate muffin, and grinned as I was greeted with the moist, dark fudge. Anybody that knew me knew of my intense love for chocolate. I possibly loved chocolate more than I liked fried chicken! And that was saying something.

Inhaling the chocolate aroma, I could already feel my mouth watering from the sweet smell hitting my nostrils- the smell was so delicious, it was like I could already taste the muffin in my mouth before I’d even taken a bite out of it.

I took a big bite out of the muffin that was about the size of my hand, and my eyes nearly rolled to the back of my head at the taste.

Oh my gosh! I exclaimed in my head, reveling in the multiple chocolate flavors dancing along the palate of my tongue. This was the best muffin ever!  

Within just the next few bites I had taken, the muffin was practically annihilated; I was actually pretty sad that I was down to my last bite.

Hm…  I pondered, now getting an idea. Maybe I could find Joy and trick her into giving me another muff-

“Dude!” a familiar voice shouted from behind me, tearing me away from my thoughts. Sehun suddenly appeared on my right side, and he let his hand land on my left shoulder. “Where’ve you been? The guys are waiting on you?” 

“I was already on my way to find you guys right before you showed up,” I told him. “So what’s up? What’s this big thing you and the guys are talking about that you want me to see?”

Using the arm that was wrapped around my shoulder, Sehun pulled me closer to him, so that our heads were right next to each other. Sehun was grinning naughtily at me which made me frown.

“What?” I hesitantly muttered, leaning back, feeling a bit unsure as to why he was giving me such a weird smile.

“Bro, I can’t explain it to you in words, exactly,” he told me, while pulling me back in close to him. He spoke in hushed tones like he was letting me in on some exclusive secret. “But…you just need to follow me. Trust me, you won’t regret it.”

I grunted, before eating the last chunk of my chocolate muffin. “Let me just finish this muffin really quick.”

“Oh, is that one of the triple chocolate fudge muffins that that girl Joy was giving out?” Sehun asked. I nodded. “They’re good, huh?” he continued.

“They’re way better than that Hyuna girl’s blueberry muffins,” I answered, finishing up the muffin.

“Yeah, Hyuna’s muffins are pretty nasty…” Sehun trailed off, while rubbing his chin, and looking off into the distance like he was thinking of something. 

“The girl’s baking skills ,” I added.

Sehun frowned at me before smirking. “Dude, I wasn’t talking about the muffins that she baked…”

Now it was my turn to frown at Sehun who was still grinning at me.

“Then what muffins were you talking about…” I stopped once Sehun’s smirk grew bigger until he was full-out grinning at me, with his signature naughty grin.

It suddenly hit me, Sehun somehow managed to bang Hyuna. 

However, the only response I received from Sehun were his eyebrows wiggling at me lewdly, before he nudged my shoulder forward, indicating that he wanted to get going. “Come on man. We gotta go before we miss everything.”

“Sehun!” I yelled after him, who was already speeding up ahead of me. He was just going to tease me with that little confession and then just leave? Oh no! I wasn’t letting the topic go that easily.

I sped up to catch up to him. “Sehun! Did you two really?” But he still wouldn’t answer; he just kept grinning.

Oh, I’ll get it out of him sooner or later.

* * *

As we got closer to where the guys were hanging out, I noticed something that was extremely odd. For some reason, there was a huge swarm of guys- my fellow senior classmates to be exact- pushing, shoving, and fighting with one another, all while trying to get to the front of what appeared to be a long line for something.

Or at least, it looked like it was supposed to be a line, but now looked like a cluttered heap of hyperactive young males, practically trying to burrow their way through one another just to get to the front.

The sound coming from the swarm of guys was thunderously loud; it sounded like a war zone!

Sehun and I made it over to the rest of the guys who were across the campus; they were all focused on the huge crowd themselves, staring across the huge pathway that divided the large crowd of wild males from them.

Chanyeol and Lu Han were both standing on top of a table, looking like they were trying to peer over the monstrous crowd in order to get a closer look at whatever was on the other side. Tao, Baekhyun, and one of my buddies, Lay, who hangs out with us sometimes, were all hanging around the table, looking just as enamored by the large crowd.

Well, except Baekyhun; he actually looked rather pissed off as he stood, leaning against the large tree that shaded the area, with his arms folded over his chest, and his face stern. He looked like he was trying to talk himself down from taking off and charging right through the rowdy crowd. 

“What’s going on over there?” I asked everyone, whose eyes were still glued to the mob. No one answered me, but Lu Han motioned me forward with his hand.

“Man, come check this out.”

“Is it a supermodel?” I asked, hopeful, making my way over to stand on the wooden table with Lu Han. “Is that what’s got the guys so riled up? Ooh! Is it Clara?”

“Even better,” he smiled, still focused on the crowd. Using his index finger, he pointed and said, “Look. Do you see that big sign up there?”

Looking up, I noticed this huge white sign with red bold-print lettering. On the sign read: “Kissing Booth”, and beneath it was this large pair of pink lips, showing the sign for a kiss. The sign was also decorated with little hearts, and little signs for hugs and kisses, it had “XOXO” written all over it, as well as the words “smooches” and “chu”. 

Connected to the large white sign, was another sign, but it was smaller, and hanging off the side. On it was a photograph of that one really pretty chick that I remembered choosing as a candidate for Secretary. She looked really angelic in the photo- her facial features were soft, her eyes were big and innocent, her long, brown shiny hair was cascading down her shoulders, and her peach lips were formed into the soft smile.

Then, right above her head was a message which gave me an idea of just what the kissing booth sign was for. The message read: “Vote Im Yoona for Secretary!”

“Whoa! Is this girl serious?” I wondered aloud, completely flabbergasted by the idea of one girl kissing all of those males. “Yoona is really going to kiss all those guys just so that she can win votes and be elected as secretary? That’s crazy!”

Chanyeol, who was standing on the table as well, but on the other side of Lu Han, shook his head. “It’s not just Yoona giving the kisses. Look closer… or look down.”

I narrowed my eyes, looking past all the senior guys, to try and get a look what or who they were crowding, and that’s when I noticed what looked to be a small group of girls behind the booth. Well, there were actually quite a few girls, but in comparison to the large mob of males surrounding them, it looked like only a tiny number of females.

The girls were all dressed up, uniformly, in these really cute little cheerleading outfits that would surely get any male’s senses tingling. The outfits consisted of white booty shorts, white midriff tank tops, white knee high boots, with navy blue, knee high socks, and little navy blue letterman’s jackets. Each jacket had a “Y” on it which I guess stood for Yoona’s name and on the back of each letterman jacket had a number in bold red.

“Is that Yoona, and all her friends?” I asked, still trying to make them out. “What do they call themselves again? Isn’t Girls Investigation or something like that?”

“It’s Girls Generation, Kai,” I heard Sehun’s jaded voice say from beneath me; he was sprawled out on the grass, underneath the huge tree that was shading our area. “How many times do I have to tell you?”

“So all her friends are giving out kisses just so they can help Yoona win the vote for Secretary?” I guessed, still not fully getting what was so important that they all had wanted me to see. “What’s so great about that?”

See, since it was Sunday, I’d originally planned to stay in my dorm room all day, and just pig out on junk food, and probably watch movies until all the voting was finally over. The ballots closed tonight, and so all the students running for student council were trying to do everything they could to earn those last minute votes just before the polls finally closed.

As I mentioned earlier, I was annoyed with all the students shoving their campaign signs in my face, trying to gain my vote; they’d been pining for my attention all weekend, and therefore, in order to avoid all the hassle from them, I thought I’d just stay in all day. But then, just as I’d gotten comfortable, and was about to start the movie marathon, I’d received a text message from both Lu Han and Sehun urging me to come out to see something “amazing”. Apparently, it was something they thought that I would “really like” and “wouldn’t regret”.

I’ll admit, the fact that Yoona had set up her very own kissing booth with her friends was intriguing, but I was not about to stand in that long line like some loser, waiting to get kissed by girls that had already had their lips attached to all the other guys ahead of me. Besides, I could make out all I wanted to at any time and I didn’t need the kissing booth to get it either.

“Dude, you’re not looking close enough,” Lu Han pressed on. Then, using both his hands, he placed them on either side of my head, and moved my head slightly to the right; he pointed straight at one of the girls. “Look directly at who my finger is pointing to. Tell me, does she look familiar to you?”

Following Lu Han’s finger, I squinted my eyes some more, and took in the sight of a familiar little red-headed girl…and that’s when I realized just what the guys were trying to show me.

No way! I marveled at the sight of my co-president wearing one of those little cute cheerleading outfits. My mouth fell open. That can’t be Minzy!

“I-Is t-that…uh…” I couldn’t even get the words out. Beside me, Lu Han started cracking up, obviously amused by my lack of ability to form coherent sentences.

“Yep, that’s Minzy,” he said, between laughs as he patted my shoulder. “I guess Yoona really wants to win the vote for secretary if she’s got all her friends out there helping her. She’s…blah, blah, blahhh….”

That’s really all I had heard the rest of the time Lu Han was speaking because I’d completely tuned him out as I stared at the bright, strawberry red-head girl bouncing around with the rest of the girls.

She looked so freakin’ hot…er…I mean…y?…no!…um…I mean…damn it!

Despite my eyes being solely focused on Minji’s little frame across the field, I could still see from out of the corner of my eye, and what I noticed was that Lu Han was standing there, grinning at me; I had an idea of why, but I didn’t feel like addressing it, because I was sure of what would come next if I did.

Lu Han slowly started leaning his head next to mine, and he began whispering in my ear.

“She looks really good in that little outfit, doesn’t she?” he asked in hushed tones. I on my teeth as I continued to gaze at my co-president hopping around in her little outfit.

Tight! I mused, frustrated, my eyes scanning up and down the cheerleading outfit hugging her little body. Even from across the field, I could clearly see just how tight those shorts were. Those things should be illegal.

“I didn’t know she was hiding a body like that underneath her school uniform,” Lu Han added, further prodding my emotions. “And that ! Just imagine.”

My teeth jutted out to bite down deep into my bottom lip as I admired the girl’s assets. Oh, I was imagining something alright!    

Although Lu Han was only speaking loud enough for only the both of us to hear, Sehun must’ve heard Lu Han’s comments too, because he suddenly got up from his position of the grass, and added, “Oh I can definitely imagine that !”

I don’t know why, but this comment actually bothered me way more than any of Lu Han’s earlier remarks. Maybe it was the way Sehun had said it in such a lewd manner, with his eyebrows wiggling like some erted freak; or maybe it was the way he was currently staring at her now from the other end of the table- my mind could only wonder the kinds of things he was imagining about my co-president ever since he said that little lecherous comment.

“Sehun,” I called him, seriously, staring him down from my end of the table. Sehun looked up at me from the opposite end of the table, and nodded. I held his gaze for a minute, a tense staring contest now on display for everyone around us to witness, before finally saying, “Don’t make come over there and smack the sh*t out of you.”

Lu Han busted out laughing, along with Chanyeol who stood on the right side of him; those two standing between Sehun and I were the only things that was actually keeping me from going over there and really doing it. Both Sehun’s hands now shot up in the air in an “I am innocent” kind of manner.

“Sorry bro,” he quickly apologized, before adding something which got me thinking. “But I really don’t see why you’re getting so mad about what I said. It’s not like she’s yours. As far as I know, Minji is a single woman.”

“Even though Kris is clearly trying to change that,” Chanyeol now added, sniggering with Lu Han.

“Yeah, well, she’s my co-president,” I harshly quipped, through gritted teeth, shutting everybody up.

Everyone at the table stayed silent until Lu Han finally said, “And?”

I side-glanced him, furrowing my brow wondering what he meant. “And what?”

“What does you and her being co-presidents have to do with anything?” Lu Han probed, smirking at me like he knew something I didn’t. “That still doesn’t change the fact that she’s single.”

“Not for long if Kris can help it,” Chanyeol cackled again, this time Sehun joining him, as they both messed around, talking about how in love Kris was with my co-president.

Okay, now they were starting to make me mad.

“Chanyeol shut the hell up!” I suddenly exploded. “I don’t want to hear about Kris’ girly anymore.”

Unfortunately, this didn’t threaten either of them; they just started laughing more like what I said was the most hilarious thing ever.

I turned my attention back to my co-president, who was now dilly-dallying around along with the rest of the girls. The girls all looked really amused by the hoard of guys trying to get at them; they were lucky that they had that booth enclosed around them, thus, keeping the guys out, or else they would’ve been stampeded over all ready.

“So… does this mean that Minji is going to be kissing guys too, or what?” I asked, not really feeling the idea of Minji making out with a bunch of my friends, and classmates.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Lu Han said, shrugging. “I haven’t gone over there yet to-”

I didn’t catch the rest of what he said because I was too busy darting off across campus, heading over to the little kissing booth myself.  

* * *

Hey y'all! This actually isn't like what I'd intended to happen in this chapter; something else was supposed to happen, but it didn't work out. I bet some of you are wondering why Minji is hanging out with Girls Generation, huh? It'll all be explained soon, don't worry!  I'll try for next chapter!

By the way, you know Girls Generation's Japanese video for Oh!, well imagine Minji in one of these little outfits ~~>

Now you can understand why Kai practically almost had a nosebleed from seeing Minji in one of these things. ㅋㅋㅋ...