"Can you please just say yes?" Jackson asked 

Yejin was curious as to why he wouldn't leave her alone. She was more curious as to why he walked up to her in the first place. The girl liked to be by herself and tried her best to avoid talking to people at school. She was known by the kids in her class as the odd mute girl, so why the boy who played sports and cheered the loudest at games he wasn't participating in wanted to go on a date was beyond her. It was probably just a joke. Funny or not, Yejin was not having it. 

"No. Will you please go away?" she asked, not raising her eyes from her notebook she spent the past half hour doodling in. He didn't move away from her desk, but she paid no attention to him. She wasn't drawing anything in particular, just letting her right hand hold her pen as it sprawled random shapes in the margins of her messy notes. The notebook was lifted off of her desk and she finally looked up. Jackson held it up in the air above her grasp, taunting her as if they were in primary school. 

"Why not? I can buy you ice cream and that can be it. Am I really that awful that you don't want to spend time with me?" he asked, dramatic with the way he pronounced 'awful' as if it physically hurt him to say it. Yejin looked at him, this being the first time she's ever been so close. He was pretty attractive, with short black hair he often held back with a snapback, and full pink lips that any girl would love to feel on their own. But she knew he wasn't above playing mean tricks. This hadn't been the first time a cute boy has asked her out as a joke. She wouldn't fall for it. The girl looked Jackson dead in the eye and did her best to wipe any emotion off her face. 

"Yes, you are that awful. Put down my notebook and leave me alone," she said, not letting herself look away from his gaze that was growing colder. Yejin forgot that she was sitting in her classroom, but when she heard people whisper after she spoke, the girl remembered her reputation and how others thought of her.  

"I can't believe her got her to talk," one girl a few rows ahead of them who had turned around in her seat said. 

"I've been in the same class as her for three years and never heard her voice," a boy a couple seats to the right said. 

"She's feisty, I like it," another guy said from across the room. Whispers carried on as Jackson and Yejin held their ground in a staring contest. The group of boys Jackson always stuck around with were in some seats by the doorway, laughing their heads off. Out of Jackson's group that consisted of six other boys, only two were in Yejin's class. Those two were Mr. Wang himself and his stupid dinosaur looking friend Jaebum. That's part of the reason that tipped Yejin off so fast. Why else would his entire group have came all the way from their own classes into her room? To watch Jackson of course. 

"Fine," Jackson said as he lowered the book down, about to lay it back onto the desk. This is when Yejin broke the eye contact and let out a breath she had been holding in. She looked at her desk to not find her notes but instead heard footsteps moving further away. The girl looked up and saw Jackson walk over to the trash and drop the spiral bound pages into the bin. No one said anything at this but turned towards the front of the room as their history teacher walked in. Yejin sat still in her seat before reaching over to her bag and pulled out a few clean sheets of paper. The teacher greeted the class and the girl carried on as if nothing happened, making sure to keep focused on lesson and not at the boy who spent the class giving her death stares.  

After history there was math and finally school let out. Yejin never joined any clubs or sports or had any reason to stay behind. Even if she was assigned to clean the classroom, she always skipped and went straight home. Today was no exception. The girl packed up her bag while everyone else buzzed about their plans and clubs and whatever else they said that she often ignored. She stood up from her seat pretending not to hear anything as she walked towards the door. 

"J