BaekHo

Ren and I sit next to each other, waiting for the gym teacher to come.

“What do you think we’re going to be doing?” I ask, my lips.

“I honestly don’t know what we’re going to do today but I hope it doesn’t involve group work” MinKi sighs, wiping her forehead.

“Yeah me too! I hope it’s something exciting and fun because I’m getting sick of playing dodge ball and badminton” I add, resting my hands on the bleachers behind me. We sit there quietly for the next 5 minutes or so before Mr. Kim and Ms.Shim come. As I’m thinking about why Ms.Shim came with coach, I’m pulled out of my thoughts by Mr. Kim’s loud booming voice.

"Yah! Dong Ho, no day dreaming allowed in my class" Mr. Kim yells, causing some students to look at me. 

I sit up straight and rest my hands on my lap. "Okay, Mrs. Shim you may now continue what you were saying" Mr. Kim walks back to his spot, allowing Ms. Shim to come forward.

 "Hi students, some of you may not know me but I know a few of you. I am a new English teacher, Ms. Shim." She bows.

 "Okay, Mr. Kim and I have come up with an idea of combining English and P.E."

"What type of idea is it?" I ask raising my hand.

"Let her finish first, Dong Ho" MinKi pulls down my hand.

"Okay so we were thinking about combining your gym hour and English hour to do this. You guys are going to be acting out the movie 'The king and the clown'. And we get to pick your groups, not you" She says, pulling out a piece of paper from a clipboard.

 "When I call out the groups, move to an area of the gym and begin planning. Okay here are the groups. Listen carefully because I won't repeat them. So here we go. Dong Ho, MinKi, JR, Angie, Minhyun, Hyun Woo, and Kang IL will be in one team. I suggest you guys moving now" Ms.Shim says, moving onto the next group.

 I look around the gym to find Hyun Woo and Kang IL already walking away, towards the left corner of the gym. I look over at MinKi before getting up.

 "Hey let's go" I give her a light push before walking off the bleachers, towards the group. As I'm walking, I can hear a pair of feet dragging behind. I turn around and see MinKi limping towards me with her head hung low. I reach out and grab her by the shoulders, making us walk together.

 "MinKi, it's going to be alright. I won't let the others bully you" I try assuring her by shaking her shoulders.

"Okay, I’m just so scared of what Angie and JR might do to me since I'm marked in their black book" She looks up at the ceiling as if to be searching for something. I let go of her and we walk towards Kang IL and Hyun Woo.

When we get there, we each greet each other and stand there waiting for the rest to arrive. I decide to sit on the floor since my legs hurt and I don't want to stand. I see MinKi facing the exit door, mumbling to herself.   I look at my fingers to pass time as we wait.

 "Ahhem" I look up to find Minhyun clearing his throat. Angie and JR are actually acting decent today by just holding each other’s hand.

 "MinKi, come here" Kang IL calls out. MinKi turns around, looking a bit lost.

"Ya! Get out of wonderland and come back to reality, we don't have all day" Hyun Woo says. MinKi nods before heading towards me. She sits close to me looking at the floor.

"Okay I have the character sheet. Let's vote for which characters we want to play ok?" Minhyun says, waving the paper in the air. "Okay, who wants to be one of the clowns?" Kang IL and Hyun Woo both raise their hands and Minhyun writes their name down. "Okay then who wants to be play Jang-saeng?"

I raise my hand and he writes my name down. "Okay the only spots left are the spots for King Yeonsan, Gong-gil, and Jang Nok-su the concubine”

 "I'll be Jang Nok-su" Angie raised her hand.

"And JR can be my Yeonsan” She says slowly in a seductive voice.

"No I don't want to be King Yeonsan.  That means I'll be stuck with the !" JR says, the look of utter disgust masking his face. I look over to see MinKi burying her head in between her folded arms.

"Hey watch your language.  Don't you ever call her that ever again!!" I look up to see Ms.Shim standing there with her clipboard and pen. Anger clearly in her eyes.

"Ms.Shim I'm straight and I like girls not guys. I want to change with someone. I don't want to work with MinKi" I watch as JR tires to argue his way out.

 "I don't care what your ual preference is, JR. I don’t care if you don't like MinKi or not but you are going to treat her with the respect that she deserves. You're going to do it and if you don't want to, I suggest forfeiting your grade right now. I'll be sitting on the bleachers when you're ready to give me your answer” she says, turning her attention toward the rest of us.

"Okay I suggest watching the movie to at least get an understanding of what your character is like. Like I told the other groups, we'll be meeting again this Thursday, which gives you about 2 days to watch the movie. With that said, I wish you all good luck" She smiles and leaves, walking towards the bleachers.

 "I can't believe that you're stuck with MinKi. I'm so sorry, JR" Angie says in a baby voice, kissing JR on the cheek. I grab MinKi's hand and squeeze it, reassuring her.

"I'll be right back" She lets go of my hand and gets up. We all watch her as she walks towards where Ms. Shim and Mr. Kim are sitting.

"What is he doing?" Minhyun asks, sitting on the ground.

"I don't know nor do I care" JR says, looking away. I watch as MinKi talks to Ms.Shim, making hand gestures. After a while she turns around and begins hobbling back with her head hung low. I get up from where I'm sitting and approach her.

“What were you discussing with Ms.Shim?” I help her sit on the ground, making sure not to cause pain.

“I was just wondering if I could quit this play we’re doing and do something else. And she said no, saying that my grade depends on it” She arranges her bangs using the tips of her fingers while gazing at the exit door. I nod my head and sit next to her, unaware of what the others are doing.

“So is there something going on between you and Chunji?” I jab her, trying to get her attention. She turns around ,her blink face.

“No nothing that involves YOU!”

“Then why did I see him giving you a kiss on your cheek?” I shake my head, making sure that I actually saw that this morning.

“Okay, Chunji and I are dating. We started yesterday but we haven’t gone out on an official date yet”

“Oh that’s cool. Now it’s just the 2 single stooges, Duck-Won and I” I let out a snicker, feeling a bit like a fool. MinKi finally has someone who truly likes her for who she is.

“MinKi is dating Chunji? As in Chunji, the really really popular Chunji?” I hear Angie shriek. I turn around to find her standing feet away from us with the rest of the group staring at MinKi. I turn my attention back to MinKi, who’s now sitting up straight, her body tense.

“Yeah she is. Why is it your business, Angie? Besides you already have a boyfriend, don't you?” I utter to her, looking at her in the eyes. She huffs and turns away, dragging JR with her. I pull MinKi close to me and rest her head on my shoulder.

“Don’t worry, okay?” I tell her, fixing her bangs. We sit like that until class is over. We walk to the boys’ locker and change. MinKi in the restroom. Everyone leaves, leaving me parked out on one of the benches next to the restrooms.

“Hey, I’m ready!” I get up and stand there in awe at how pretty MinKi looks just wearing a white off-shoulder long top, black skinny pants, and a black bowler hat with her hair down.

“What? Do I have a stain on my shirt?” She asks, looking at down at the hems of her shirt.

“No, it’s just that you look really good today. Why aren’t you wearing your school uniform?” I open the exit door and hold it open for MinKi. She comes out, fixing her backpack strap.

“Well, I don’t want to stop home when I can just bring some changing clothes with me and I want to spend some time with Chunji and get to know him a little bit more. That’s all” she walk towards the entrance of the school where Duck-Won and Chunji are standing there, talking. Minki limps to Chunji giving him a hug before leaving with him.

“Dude, we need to get ourselves some girls!” Duck-Won says as we walk away from the school building, towards the direction of my house.

“Agreed, Duck-Won. We need to make our move on the girls before they’re all taken” I let out a laugh, looking up at the sky.