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KIM JONGIN

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Part I

“Hello father,” I greeted my father as I entered his office. Or should I call you headmaster Kim? He usually got touchy about when I referred to him as “father” in public. He wanted everyone to believe that even though I was his son, that he treated me no different than my peers.

“You’re late,” he replied curtly. He didn’t look up at me when he spoke; he was too focused on the papers sprawled out in front of him.

My eyes glanced at the clock on the wall behind him. “No I’m not. You’re clock is five minutes too fast.”  I sat down across from him at his messy, littered glass table.

“I told you talking back doesn’t make you look smart, it just makes you look insolent. And you can not be both insolent and president of the school at the same time. ”

I rolled my eyes and leaned back in the chair. I was waiting for him to say something more to me since he was the one that called me to meet him in his office this morning, but a few minutes had passed and he still hadn‘t said anything.

“So, is this what you called me here for this morning?” I questioned, boredom clearly written all over my face. “So that I could watch you read papers? You know, I’m going be late for my first class because of this.”

“I want you to watch that little Minji girl,” he suddenly said. I frowned at when he called Minzy “that little Minji girl”. Why did the way he said her name not sit well with me on the inside?

“Okay.” I agreed even though I was slightly unsure. “What am I watching her for?”

“Weaknesses,” he said firmly. “Possible screw ups. Anything that can be used against her to get her out of her position as co-president.”

“What?” I asked in disbelief.

My father finally looked up at me obviously sensing the shock in my tone. “Well don’t look so innocent Jongin. You’re the one who called me practically whining about how much you hated the idea of having to work with a co-president in the first place. You wanted my help, and I’m giving it. I‘m putting together a plan that will either get her voted off from being student president or that will get her to resign.”

Okay, firstly, I don’t whine. And secondly, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I told my father that I wanted the role of president to myself. Sure it my have been a selfish gesture, but I still had a conscience. What did my father mean by “make her resign” and “get her voted off”? To me, it sounded more like he wanted to ruin Minzy’s reputation.

I hope that isn’t the case. I don’t dislike Minzy. We were still getting to know each other and I thought even if we weren’t co-presidents that she could still take another placement in the office and we could still remain friends or whatever.

“What plan exactly?” I asked.

“Your mother and I will discuss it with you later.”

“Mother?” I frowned. What’s she got to do with this? I knew my mother was interested in the girls’ school. She was part of the reason my dad agreed with contributing money to the schools going co-ed. But what did she have to do with this “plan” my father was talking about?

“I didn’t put all that money into this new academy only to watch it be ran by women that don’t know a single thing about running a prestigious academy.” My father started to ramble; his focus still on the papers he was currently scribbling on.

 “And that retched headmaster, Mrs. Jung. She insist that it’s a good idea to have you and that little Minji girl work together? How can I trust that little girl, especially from the advice of a woman that couldn’t even keep her own school open without my help. I tell you, that Mrs. Jung has another thing coming and what makes it even more perfect is that she won’t even see it coming.”

I arched a brow, feeling completely lost. “Uh… father?"

Whenever Mrs. Jung was around, my father put up his respectful façade and was nice to her, although inside, I’m sure he was less than thrilled to be working with her. I’d always known that my father never really liked Mrs. Jung. I didn’t exactly know why he didn’t like her, but he never failed to express his distaste for her when we were in private.

“Jongin, just keep a close eye on Minzy?” my father said, looking me square in the eyes. “Remember: keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.”

Minzy is my enemy now? Sure she got on my nerves a little bit with her obsessive behavior and over preparedness but I never thought of her as an enemy.

I was still sitting there thinking when my father looked up at me through his glasses.

“You should be going on to class now shouldn’t you?” he asked me.

“I’ll be late,” I said again. “I could use a note or something to give to my teacher.”

“You know I’m not supposed to be giving you special treatment,” my father said as he pulled out a piece of paper and started scribbling on it.

I smirked. Like that has ever stopped him before. This is the same man who is apparently coming up with some plan kick my co-president out of office to make me the only senior president of the school and now he wants to worry about special treatment?

He handed me the note. “Just remember to keep your eyes and ears open whenever that little Minji girl is around.”

I rolled my eyes for the umpteenth time since I entered his office. “Father, her name is Minji, not ‘that little Minji girl’.”

He looked at me questioningly and I stared back at him uncomfortably before getting out of the chair.

“Well, I guess I’m off to class then,” I said and walked out.

  * * *

“Jongin you are so going to get your kicked when you show up to first period tomorrow!”

Frowning, I looked up from my tray of food and saw Chanyeol and Kris approaching my table. They both sat down with their own lunch trays filled to the brim with food.

“Oh really now?” I asked sarcastically. I didn’t believe them. Returning my attention back to my chicken drumstick, I took a large bite, then proceeded to speak with my mouth still full. “And just who’s supposed to be kicking my tomorrow?”

“Our English teacher,” Chanyeol simply replied. He smirked at me and then stole a few fries from my tray which earned him a scowl from me. He ignored it and continued. “Her name is Ms. Johnson and boy is she tough.”

“She’s foreign?” I asked, curious of the name that clearly wasn‘t Korean.

“Of course,” Kris answered this time. “She’s an advanced English teacher.”

“I swear, she may possibly be scarier than Mr. Kwon,” Chanyeol said. “By the end of class, she already had nearly half the class on her list.” He put air quotes around “list”.

“No,” I shook my head, disagreeing. “No one is scarier than Mr. Kwon.”

Even though I hadn’t met Ms. Johnson yet, I didn’t think there could possibly be a teacher out there that was scarier than Mr. Kwon. Back at Busan Academy, when we were just freshman, Mr. Kwon was our really strict P.E. coach. Now he was tough. He didn’t take absolutely any bull from students or just people in general. Plus, his staggering height was enough to scare the out of us when we were just little fourteen year olds.

He was one of the very few teachers that I had any actual respect for. I saw most teachers as controlling idiots, forcing respect out of their students. However, Mr. Kwon was just one of those teachers you just instantly respected, mainly because everyone was just so afraid of him.

“Well, I wouldn’t say she was scarier than Mr. Kwon,” Chanyeol said. “But she is definitely just as scary as him. Oh and you‘re on her list as well.”

I had no clue to what this “list” was that he kept referring to but I knew if she really was just as bad as Mr. Kwon, then both my friends were right. I was going to get my kicked tomorrow.

I was thinking of a way to avoid trouble with my new strict teacher when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Chanyeol sneaking more fries from my tray. I was slightly annoyed, but I had a lot of fries so I ignored it.

“Is she old?” I asked, trying to inquire more information about her.

“Ms. Johnson?” Chanyeol questioned. I nodded. “No, she seems like she’s in her mid to late twenties. She’s a brunette, and a good height. Actually she’s kind of hot, if only it weren’t for the permanent frown on her face.”

“You said her name was Ms. Johnson right?” I asked. “As in she’s single?”

Kris suddenly snorted uncontrollably while his mouth was still full of his burger, which caused him to almost choke on his food. After coughing a few times and getting his food down the right pipe, he questioned me. “Why do you need to know if she‘s single or not, Kai? What exactly are you planning to do if she is single?”

I smirked and took a bite out of my chicken ignoring the question.

“Oh my gosh!” Chanyeol’s eyes widened in realization. “You’re not going to try and charm her to get on her good side are you? Jongin a teacher? Really? That’d be the worst idea you’ve ever had and that’s saying something because you‘ve had some pretty bad ideas.”

“No, I’m not going to flirt with her or anything,” I rebuked. “But I was thinking I could get my father to talk to her. Then he can use his charms on her and hopefully, bail me out.”  

Kris eyed me from across the table, his eyes narrowing more by each passing second. “Lucky bastard. Using your dad to get you out of trouble just because he’s the headmaster.”

I shrugged, staring back at him with amused eyes and continued eating my chicken leg.

“Oh, and that little co-president of yours is going to kick your as well,” Chanyeol suddenly said. “I hope you have really good health care because you’re going to need it.”

“Minzy? She wants to kick my too?” I inquired, raising a brow. I wonder what I did now? “Wow, I’m on a roll aren’t I?”

“So why did you stand her up on Sunday?” Kris asked me. “Why didn’t you just tell her you couldn’t make it to finish the speech?”

Previously, when they told me Minzy was going to kick my , I didn’t know why Minzy was pissed off at me, but something suddenly clicked in my head once Kris mentioned “Sunday”.

“,” I cursed, causing Chanyeol to chuckle and steal more fries.

 I knew I’d forgotten something, but I couldn‘t remember what. That’s right, I was supposed to meet up with Minzy to finish that stupid speech.

Damn!

I really didn’t think it mattered much but she’d made such a big deal about the speech we were supposed to give at the assembly that I had no choice but to give in. I didn’t want her upset with me. Especially not right now since we still have to work with one another until my dad tells me the plan to get her to resign from president. But since I didn’t meet her to discuss our speech, she was probably going to try and scalp me once we saw each other again.

“I didn’t stand her up,” I explained to my friends. “I told her we could meet up Sunday to discuss the speech over, but then Sunday was also our last day to plan the prank and I guess in the midst of everything, I just forgot.”

“Well if you give her that as an excuse, then she’ll definitely kick your ,” Chanyeol smirked.

“Nah, I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s not that hard to get on her good side.”

“What do you mean?” Kris asked. “She seems pretty hard to get close to.” I sighed.

“Minzy reminds me of a…,” I paused as I looked around for something to help me describe her. I then spotted a pack of Oreo cookies on Chanyeol‘s tray. Picking one up, I examined it. “Well, she reminds me of an Oreo cookie. Sure she puts up a tough exterior, but I’ll bet that on the inside, she has a really soft, sweet and creamy interior.” I then opened the cookie and the white cream, savoring its sweetness.

Kris and Chanyeol both stared at me in silence for a moment before they busted out in laughter.

“That wasn’t erted at all,” Chanyeol joked.

“So are you gonna go for it?” I asked Kris, ignoring Chanyeol.

“Go for what?”

“Minji.”

“Oh, trust me, he was going for it all right,” Chanyeol butted in. “And rather lamely, might I add. You should have seen him, he was all ‘I find you interesting’.” Chanyeol then enlarged his eyes, showing me a dazed look which I guess was supposed to be an imitation of Kris. He then started cracking up in laughter when an empty soda can collided with the side of his head, instantly making him shut up. His head snapped in Kris’s direction and he glared at him.

“Oh don’t act like you didn’t say it!” Chanyeol pouted.

Kris’s mouth turned up into a half smile. “I do find her interesting. But I wasn‘t looking at her all dazed like that.”

“That’s it?” I asked, rather disappointed in Kris’s flirting techniques. “That’s all you said to her? Kris you should have better game than that.”

“I’m working on it,” Kris said looking a little vexed. “Besides, I still have to get to know her more first. I don‘t even know if she likes me… yet. But I’m definitely interested.”

He then looked up at me. “You should put in a good word for me.”

I frowned at his request. Why me? “I found her for you. You’ve got to do the rest of the work yourself.”

“Yeah, but you’ll be working with her most of the time,” Kris said. “Just say something to make me look good. Well…make me look better.”

I smirked at him. Kris can be so conceited.  

“Hey, I’ve been thinking,” Kris started. “Don’t you guys think it's kind of messed up that we’re going to be playing the prank on them as well?”

Chanyeol and I both stared at one another before looking back at Kris, with blank expressions.

“No,” we both answered, simultaneously.

“Well, I just mean that Minji and her friends were really nice to us and now we’re pranking them too. It just seems kind of messed up.”

What was he getting at? He was just as excited for this prank as the rest of us when we were planning it yesterday.

“Are you going soft on us, Kris,” I teased. Chanyeol was smiling beside me, clearly amused.

Kris grimaced before he flipped his middle finger at me.

“Ah, speaking of the prank,” I said once I noticed Tao, Sehun, and Luhan all headed to our occupied table. “Here comes the prank masters themselves.”

“What’s up, guys?” Sehun asked sitting down on my right side with his own tray piled to the brim with food.

“Nothing, we were just talking about the prank,” Chanyeol said.

“AH!” Sehun exclaimed, like he finally remembered something. He looked over at Luhan from across the table. “Luhan, show them the stuff.”  He pointed to Luhan’s backpack.

Luhan went rummaging through his bag looking for the “stuff” Sehun was referring to. I watched him as he then pulled out two large see-through orange bottles and placed them in the center of the table.

I picked up a bottle, eyeing it curiously.

“Generlac solution,” I read aloud from the label. “What is this? I thought we agreed to use Dirurex or something?”

“No,” Luhan said shaking his head. He was smiling like he was trying to refrain from busting out in laughter. “This stuff is way better. Trust me.”

“Why?” Kris questioned. “What’s it do?”

Luhan nodded at Sehun to explain.

“It’s actually my dad’s medicine,” Sehun explained. “Luhan had to drive me all the way back home just to get it. It’s this really strong medicine my dad uses whenever he gets… irregular.”

“Irregular?” I asked, trying not to laugh myself. “You mean constipated?”

Sehun nodded. “Tao and I were looking up information on what Generlac does, and its side effects and everything. We knew it was the perfect thing to use for the prank. Tao, you still have the papers we printed, right?”

“Yeah, I’ve got them right here,” Tao nodded, already pulling them out of a folder. “Alright you guys, listen closely and you’ll understand why this stuff is so great.”

Tao began reading from the papers of information he printed off the web.

Apparently, the two bottles of liquid was a medicine called "Generlac" which is used for the treatment of chronic constipation. It’s made of sugar molecules that gets broken down in the gut. It is a natural, clear liquid and is completely safe as it does not cause any serious side effects. It takes anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to work and because the liquid is sweet, its taste can be masked by mixing it into any drink like tea, juice, coffee or sodas.

“So now you see why it’s perfect to mix in the drinks at the assembly,” Tao explained. “But that’s not even the best part. It says, ‘if a person consumes excessive amounts of Generlac, it can lead to an uncontrollable, and explosively violent diarrhea’.”

It all happened in a split second. One moment we were all composed, listening to the information and the next we were litterally hunched over busting out in laughter. Chanyeol’s soda can had dropped out of his grasp as he spit out his drink from laughing so hard. It was kind of gross because it went everywhere, and unfortunately, Luhan and Kris were in the “wet zone”. Still, it was pretty funny and we were laughing for a good five minutes before calming down.

“Wait, I’m not finished yet,” Tao said, and continued to read the information. “People who take Generlac at this level of dosage generally end up wearing an adult diaper because the diarrhea can occur swiftly and without much warning.”  

The words “adult diapers” was all it took to get us erupting in laughter again. Tao continued to read the last bit of the information to us.

“Until the intestinal contents are emptied, the fermentation process causes bloating, abdominal cramping, gas, and noisy flatulence that can barely be retained and often leads to a panicky effort to reach the toilet facilities.”

“So basically, this stuff,” I said picking up the bottle again. “Is going to give the girls uncontrollable, explosive diarrhea?” 

Luhan nodded. “Perfect right.”

“More like freakin genius,” Chanyeol said, still laughing.

I think we all laughed for another good five minutes before suddenly I noticed the guys around me go completely silent. Was there something I missed?

They were all looking up at something behind me. My head snapped around to see what it was.

.

“Oh, hey Minzy,” I greeted her casually, using her nickname. She was staring at me intensely before looking around the table at my friends. She smiled politely at them, but when she looked back at me, her face was completely void of all generosity.

“Kai,” she used my nickname as well, but her tone was dead serious. “We need to talk.”

She wasn’t asking to talk; in other words there was no room for refusing.

I nodded and looked back at the guys.

“We’ll continue this discussion later,” I said, as I stood up and picked up my stuff.

Luhan nodded. “Yeah, go ahead. We’ll already have the plan in motion.”

I nodded and turned to my co-president who was looking between me and my friends suspiciously.

“What plan?” she asked as we walked away from the table.

I shook my head, smirking. “Don't worry. It’s not important.”

* * *