THIRTY THREE.
REBOOT.The first thing Sofia says when she sees me is, “You look awful.”
“I was up late working,” I mutter. Students rush past us, excitedly chattering away with each other. Somehow, everyone’s cheerful mood is making me feel worse.
“Have you talked to Taehyung since you’ve been back?”
“Don’t talk about him.”
She looks at me, her eyebrows raised. “Did something happen?”
“He’s just an .”
“He’s always an . But you just seem...,”
Right at that moment, Taehyung, Yoongi, and Hoseok emerge from a classroom, talking quietly about something. When Yoongi and Hoseok see me, they momentarily pause, taken aback. Taehyung, however, coldly ignores me and continues walking. I grit my teeth, determinedly looking away from him as well.
“Hey, Sofia,” Yoongi coughs, nodding at her.
“Hey, Yoongi!” Sofia says in a chipper voice. The smile abruptly disappears from her face after the three of them move out of sight. “Jesus. I could feel the tension between you two.”
“I told you, it’s nothing. This is how it’s always been.”
“Well-,”
“Sofia.” I give her an intense look. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. After briefly appraising me, she responds, “Whatever.”
I tell Sofia that I have to go talk to my History teacher for extra credit, but round the corner and head to the lab instead. God, I’m in such a ty mood. It was such a mistake coming back to Windsong.
Suddenly, I become aware of faint coming from the janitor’s closet down the hall. My face contorts in disgust- what is wrong with people? Can’t they keep it in their pants for a few more hours till we go home?
I am about to hurry away as quickly as I can when I hear someone say, “I should probably take care of that, shouldn’t I?”
Jimin is standing behind me, a faint smirk on his face as he gazes at the broom closet. I struggle to keep an expression of disgust off my face.
“What?” I say warily.
“You know. As student council president, it’s my duty to tell them to get out of there.”
Something about the smug way Jimin is staring at me causes my skin to prickle in unease. “Uh... okay? You can if you want?”
His eyes slide off the door and on me.
“Sorry about Taehyung,” he says.
My eyes widen- does he know about the night of the Kims’ party?
Jimin slowly walks towards me, the eerie smile on his lips widening. “You must really hate him, right?”
“Uh...,” I bite my lip. “I guess.”
“It must be annoying having to live with him. Parties all the time, new girl over every week- hell, he started dating someone new today, didn’t he?”
A dull pang hits my heart. My voice is calm and even as I respond, “I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Jimin looks at the closet again. The noises from inside have grown softer.
And that’s when I realize what he’s implying.
“I have to go,” I say in a low voice, trying to hurry away as fast as I can, but Jimin grabs my arm.
“Don’t. It’s always awkward when I have to break up these couples by myself,” he says, giving me a puppy-dog-pout. Anger fills my insides- holy , he’s evil, he knows exactly the effect that seeing this will have on me. I can tell by the look on his face that he’s enjoying this so much- my fists clench by my side and I can only watch helplessly as he strolls to the closet door and knocks.
“Party’s over, you two,” he calls playfully. “Get out.”
My gaze is glued to the closet- I can’t look away. For a few seconds, Jimin and I are simply watching in anticipation.
And then the door opens.
My jaw drops.
A tousled-haired, hickey-covered Lucy steps out of the broom closet, her skirt hiked way too far up her legs. That’s not the most shocking part, though; the man who stumbles out of the closet behind her is what’s making my head turn upside down.
“What the ?” I say, staring back and forth between her and an annoyed Jungkook Jeon in astonishment.
“Hey,” Lucy says, not a trace of shame on her face.
“Luce- what-,”
“Sorry,” Jungkook says, equally as unperturbed as Lucy. He looks straight past me at Jimin. “We’ll take it somewhere else.”
I am too dumbfounded to say anything. Lucy simply gives me a low nod of the head and walks off with Jungkook like it’s nothing.
“What a coincidence, Lucy,” Jimin utters.
My body goes rigid.
It is as if the temperature in the room has been increased 20- no, 30 degrees. My skin is burning up- thick ash clogs up my throat, forcing me to take raspy breaths. What is most terrifying about the situation is the immediate fear that has so palpably filled the air.
My fingers unconsciously dart up to the amulet sitting around my neck. The only other time it didn’t work was with Taehyung after the imp incident.
Holy , Jimin must be livid.
Lucy and Jungkook seem utterly unfazed. I resist the urge to gawk at them- how can they not be affected by this?
“What?” Lucy coldly asks Jimin.
“You haven’t been doing any of your student council duties since the semester started. Are you aware-,”
“Have you checked your desk?” Lucy asks smoothly.
The heat intensifies. I swallow, attempting to alleviate some of the dryness of my parched throat.
“No. Why?” Jimin says curtly.
“You’ll find my resignation letter on it.” My jaw drops as Lucy turns away from us. “Let’s go,” she tells Jungkook.
My mind is spinning at a million miles an hour. What the hell just happened?
As soon as Lucy and Jungkook disappear from sight, Jimin pins me up against the wall, his elbow at my neck. My eyes widen; I have never seen calm, happy-go-lucky Jimin act so aggressive. My body is shaking as he stares down at me with a totally blank expression, his characteristic half-smile gone.
“What did you tell her?” he asks me in a deathly low voice.
The heat intensifies to almost unbearable levels. I glare at him, rasping out, “Nothing.”
“Bull.”
“Get off.”
Something is building up in the pit of my stomach, tugging at my gut. I stare up at Jimin’s frosty brown eyes, resentment and fear and anger rising in me-
And then the hallway explodes in a torrent of water.
“What-,” Jimin mutters, loosening his grip on me and looking up at the ceiling. I take the opportunity to shove him off me. The sprinklers are gushing down water.
“Stay away from us,” I snarl. The bell rings, and students pour out of their classrooms, flooding the hallway. Cries of, “What the ?” and “The sprinklers are broken!” fill the air. I can feel his eyes on me as I shove through the crowds, determinedly not looking back at him.
Joo: guys, we need to talk.
None of my friends knows what’s going on.
Sofia and Jin text us a few times over the course of the next few weeks, freaking out that Lucy’s at a party or hangout of theirs. Apparently, Lucy’s involvement with Jungkook somehow caused her to join the inner popular clique.
“I think they’re just buddies?” Jin muses one day. “But I haven’t seen them hook up.”
I crease my eyebrows. “I mean, they were making out in a janitor’s closet.”
“That just seemed like a one-time thing though. Regardless, she’s... in our group now. I mean, it’s okay, I guess. Sofia and I are friends with her, and Laila’s taking a really strange liking to her.”
“It’s worth it to see the look on Jimin’s face,” Sofia snorts. “He’s so obviously pissed by her being a part of the group- everyone can tell. She just doesn’t care, though.”
“It’s so weird,” Jin says. “I’ve known Jimin my whole life. He’s always been so nice and funny and cool. The few times he got mad, he wasn’t really mad- he just calmly told off whoever pissed him off. But this? This is completely different.”
“Does he do that thing where he makes the air around him super hot?” I ask.
Sofia’s eyes widen in realization. “Wait- that’s him? I thought it was just me!”
“Yeah, no. That’s him.”
Jin nods. “I’ve felt it, too. This is the first time I’ve felt anything remotely like that from Jimin.” A wry smile curves his lips; the humor doesn’t reach his eyes, though. “I guess I don’t really know my own friend.”
Hours seem to slip by as I design magical objects in my bedroom. The sun sinks and the moon rises, casting a faint glow through my windows.
God, I want to do this for the rest of my life, I think, flipping through an Advanced Chem textbook to try and figure out the result of a reaction between hydrochloric acid and hexaaquacobalt. There literally is nothing that makes me happier.
My phone rings on my bedstand. I ignore it, continuing to read. It rings again. I roll my eyes and ignore it once more.
And then it keeps ringing over and over again.
“What?” I snap, finally picking up.
“Joo,” Tom pants. “It’s Lucy. I- we don’t know where she is- we just lost her-,”
“Wait, what?” I say, scrambling up from my bed. “Slow down- where are you right now? What do you mean, you lost her?”
“We’re at a party at Jimin’s place- Lucy was here, too, and then Jin called me and said he couldn’t sense Lucy’s presence anymore, so I rushed over- Sofia and Jin have been looking for her but they can’t find her. I’m going to call Dev-,”
“Holy ,” I breathe. I hastily pull on a sweatshirt and a pair of combat boots. “Send me Jimin’s address. I’ll be there soon.”
“Holy , I can’t believe this is happening-,”
“Tom, it’s fine,” I say, forcing my voice not to shake. “We’re going to find her.”
Comments