invisible

Chapter Fourteen

Chaewon stared at the photo in her hands.

She saw two girls in the photo.

One of it was herself. Looking pretty as always, like a dressed up Barbie doll, standing next to a girl that was opposite of her, a fat, chubby girl with thick glasses and pigtails hair. A heavy pang strikes her in the heart.

She dropped the yearbook in her hand and it fell on the floor.

Chaewon gulped.

“It-It’s her…”

“Bu-But how did Hitomi have this photo?”

She glanced at Hitomi and gulped again.

Something happened to her during that summer.

“Is she?”

She shook her head, “No-No way…”

Tears were b in her eyes.

“No… It-It can’t be…”

Suddenly her feet felt weak, and she couldn’t even stand still. She tried to reach anything around her to support herself from falling. She held tight to the edges of the desk near her, but she can only held for so long. Soon she ended up sitting on the floor with the photo beside her.

She bit her lip as she was trying to hold back her tears but it was useless. Tears were already rolling down her cheeks and she was sobbing like a child.

“We-Were you the girl in the picture?”

“I-It was all because of me…”

7 years ago

A middle aged female teacher was standing in front of the classroom with a stack of papers in her hands. The whole classroom was giving their attention to the teacher, with serious look on their faces.

“Okay, so the results for your mid-year evaluation are out,” said their teacher, Madam Jung.

“The mark is based on your mid-term paper plus the project report that you’ve submitted last week,” she added with a stern look on her face.

Honda Hitomi can’t help but grin as she waited for her name to be called out. Her other classmates were nervous but she wasn’t. She was excited to find out the marks she obtained for her favorite subject, Biology. She was clasping her hands together and sat straight on her seat, getting ready to be called at any time.

Their teacher called out the names of other students in the class, one by one. Some of them were happy with their results while some were gloomy after knowing.

“Kim Chaewon,” called Madam Jung.

Hitomi and the others turned their heads to the girl who sits in the middle of the class. A girl stood up from her seat, while all eyes were fixed on her. There stood the captain of the school’s cheerleader squad, Chaewon. Her beauty stole the attention, with light brown hair that fell just below her shoulders. She was dressed luxuriously in designer clothes that others couldn’t afford. She made her way towards the teacher in front of the class with the sound of her steps filling the classroom.

She stopped when she was in front of her teacher, waiting for her result. She looked disinterested but forced a smile anyway.

“I never thought I’d be called this late, Madam Jung. I was usually first, from the back of course,” she said casually. She has never been interested in science subjects but her parents made her sit for it. She purposely failed all the papers so far to show her protest.

This time is no exception.

“Well there is a reason for that,” replied the teacher.

“You failed.”

Chaewon chuckled, “As expected.”

“But I’m going to make sure you pass,” added Madam Jung.

Chaewon raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean? I failed didn’t I? So let’s leave it at that so that I can drop this subject-

“No one ever fails in my class,” Madam Jung cuts in.

“I’m going to make sure you pass it too.”

“Bu-But teacher-

“I’ve talked to your parents and they have agreed to let you come to school during summer break next week.”

“Wh-Why should I go to school on summer break?! I already made plans-

“You must come to finish your project report. Your report carries 40% of the marks so if you submitted it to me by next week you will pass this subject.”

Chaewon was left speechless.

“To make it easy for you, I’ll assign someone to help you,” said the teacher, smiling.

“Honda Hitomi,” she called.

Hitomi was startled, as she didn’t expect to be called at such time. She awkwardly stood up from her chair and looked at her teacher. She could feel eyes were watching her so she pulled the hem of her uniform so that it will look proper. Her uniform felt a bit tight so she slightly held her breath to tuck in her stomach.

“Ye-Yes teacher?” she replied as she pushed the glasses that was falling from her nose.

“Hitomi, you got the highest marks.”

“Not only in this class, but the whole form,” added Madam Jung.

Hitomi’s lips crept up to a smile, couldn’t held back her happiness.

But it didn’t last long.

“That’s why I want you to assist Chaewon in completing her project report,” continued the teacher.

Hitomi was dumbfounded. Then she saw Chaewon glancing at her and their eyes met for a brief second. But Hitomi quickly looked away.

She was afraid she couldn’t contain the pounding in her heart.

**

Hitomi was early at the lab that Monday morning. It was the first day of summer break but she was at the school to help Chaewon with her report. She wore the best clothes she has in her wardrobe, the one that doesn’t make her look too plump. She also neatly tied her hair to a ponytail and let a few strands of hair fell on the left side of her face; her best profile. She had checked it repeatedly in the mirror to make sure she looked the prettiest she could.

She sat at one of the lab tables by the window, with a thick encyclopedia in front of her. She checked her watch and it was already half past nine in the morning. She glanced out of the window, to see if Chaewon was on her way, but there was no one walking towards the building. The only person she saw was the old school’s gardener who was busy t a tree. She looked away from the window and focused on her book. She flipped open the book to read a page as she was trying to keep herself occupied while waiting.

But she can’t help but glance at the window every now and then.

Minutes and hours had passed. Hitomi was still sitting at her seat, as she was reading to fight her closing eyelids. Suddenly the pictures in the book became blurry and the words were incomprehensible. Hitomi didn’t know when her head was resting on the thick book as if it was a fluffy pillow.

Suddenly, the door was flung open.

Hitomi was startled and sat up straight on her seat. She saw someone’s head jerking through the door and their eyes met. She gulped, it was Chaewon.

Chaewon scoffed and soon entered the lab reluctantly. She was wearing a pale blue top and a pair of hot pants that compliments her bare legs. She completed the look with slippers and sunglasses tucked on her top. She looked like she just came from the beach.

“Wow, you really come to assist me?” asked Chaewon as she was walking towards Hitomi.

Hitomi sat still on her seat, not saying anything. She was too nervous to reply anything. This would be the first time Chaewon initiated a conversation with her through the 2 years they were classmates.

Chaewon pulled a stool opposite from Hitomi and sat on it. The latter almost squealed of excitement.

Chaewon sighed, “Okay, look errr… what’s your name again?”

“Honda-”

“Okay Da, let’s make this easy for us both.”

“Th-That’s not my name…”

“You write the report for me and submit it under my name. Then we both can enjoy our school break. How that sounds?” asked Chaewon.

Hitomi creased her eyebrows and shook her head, “But that’s cheating…”

Chaewon rolled her eyes, “I’ll pay you for it.”

Hitomi shook her head again, “No. That’s even… worse than cheating.”

“Then you rather come here throughout school break and waste your time to help me do this report? You know I won’t even write a word,” said Chaewon, crossing her arms.

Chaewon was staring right at Hitomi, making the latter even more nervous. She avoided her gaze and stared at the floor.

“Do you really want to do this? You can come here every day with your books while I will be out there partying at the beach. Fine.”

Hitomi looked at Chaewon, shocked.

“But you have to finish your report by this week or… you’ll fail!”

Chaewon snorted, “You think I care about that?”

She got up from the stool and turned around to leave.

“Okay whatever. Bye. I’m already late to the beach trip,” she said as she made her way to the door, leaving Hitomi alone.

**

On the second day, Hitomi still come to the school lab despite what Chaewon said to her the day before. She had made a promise with their teacher to make Chaewon write the report within the week, and she is a person of her word. She sat at a stool and waited with her books, even