Chapter 24 - First Tutor

The next morning the hottest topic at school was Baekhyun’s breakup. I could barely conceal my disgust, it seemed that the only thing teenagers valued nowadays was frivolous gossip. Gross.

I ducked into the bathroom to momentarily escape the whispering, and there, I heard very distinct sobs coming from one of the stalls in the corner.

Oh god. Oh no.

“Gayoung?” I ventured.

“Go away!”

Yup. It was her.

“It’s me, Myunghee.”

“Oh.”

I sighed. Poor girl. The most unfortunate thing had befallen her, she had feelings for Byun Baekhyun.

“Hey, move over, I’m coming in.”

I shimmied under the stall with very little elegance, dirtying my white blouse in the process. Gayoung made a tearful chortle.

“Wanna talk about it?”

Gayoung wiped at her tears. She was a mess. Her eyeliner left grotesque black streaks down her cheeks.

“Well...Baekhyun dumped me. Over text.”

“He’s an ,” I declared. It was true.

She laughed shakily.

“Yeah, you’re right. He’s so insensitive! He said he broke up with me because he never liked me in the first place.”

“That boy has no tact.”

“I know! And he’s supposed to be charismatic!”

We shared a chuckle.

“But,” Gayoung confessed, “I’m most upset about all these people gossiping about it. I’m so embarrassed. I get stared at everywhere I go, it’s horrible.”

“Ugh, I know. Teenagers these days, I tell you. Ridiculous!”

Gayoung giggled.

“You sound like an old woman!”

I smiled.

“To be honest, I am.”

We both laughed again, with Baekhyun far, far from our minds.

//

“Miss Moon, can I speak with you?”

It was Professor Chang.

“Uh, sure.”

I gathered my books and approached her. Biology was the last class of the day.

“I want you to receive one month of tutoring, once a week, from Byun Baekhyun.”

I was livid.

“What?”

“You heard me. You’ve failed a major test, Myunghee, it’s school policy to assign you one month of tutoring!”
 

“But Professor Chang! It was a one time thing, I swear to it! I’ll never fail again!”
 

Professor Chang was firm.

“You will have him tutor you. You begin today, right now, in this classroom. End of discussion.”

I groaned in protest just as Baekhyun walked into class, a mischievous and victorious glint in his eye.

“Well, well, well, Miss 64%.”

“You!” I cried, “how could you dump someone over text?”

“I never liked her. I didn’t want her to cry in front of me.”

I opened my mouth and closed it again. The nerve he possessed!

“One thing before I leave,” Professor Chang said, “would you mind returning the sophomore textbooks to the utility closet down the hall, after you're finished the tutoring session? My classes just finished their semester and I have no more sophomore science classes to teach this year.”

“Sure,” Baekhyun and I said in unison.

She left right after, locking the door so that when we closed it it would be locked. Baekhyun spent an hour tutoring me on stuff I already knew. We grabbed a few textbooks and began shipping them into the small utility closet. We had just finished the last load when I stepped backward and knocked the door closed.

When I tried to open it again, it was locked.