Ren

  During lunch, right after 5^thhour, I had no one to sit with. I got lunch and sat alone with my head down eating my food. It that my best friend, Maya just had to move to Singapore because of her father’s job. Maya had been my best friend since the 2^ndgrade and we had been made fun of together, but not as much as me. Maya was Japanese whose family moved to Korea when her father’s job transferred him. When we hit our teens, she started developing and became really attractive. All the guys used to hit on her and whenever she would get asked out, she would make an excuse saying that she had a boyfriend (Which was me!).

 The day couldn’t get worse. The minute the bell rang during 7^thhour, BaekHo strided in. 7^thhour was probably going to be my best subject because it was Math and I was really good in Math and I liked to be challenged. Mr. Yi was my Math teacher this year. Mr. Yi didn't mark BaekHo tardy since it was the first day of school and said that we were allowed to sit wherever we wanted. I decided to sit close to his desk and BaekHo came and sat right next to me. I looked around and surprisely there were no seats left. I sat there with my face down, listening to everything the teacher was saying. BaekHo sat there, grinning like an idiot. Why was he even smiling? I turned to look at what he was looking at. It was one of the girls sleeping and her seat mate was applying makeup on her. I didn’t see how that was funny so I just turned around and took out my notebook. I wrote down the homework that I had been assigned all because of stupid JR. it was his entire fault that my new Korean history teacher hated me. I sat there and listened. The bell finally rung and Mr. Yi told us to write down our favorite music and turned it in tomorrow. 8^thhour was study hall and I began writing my paper on manners. I kept looking at the clock and it was 4:38pm. One more hour till the day was over. Study hall was finally over and I looked at my schedule.  9^thhour was Gym! I have hated Gym since the 8^thgrade ever since the incident happened to me. I got to the Gym right away, expecting people there but no it was just the teacher.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be changing” he said calmly, coming towards me.

“I didn’t know that we had to bring our Gym clothes” I said, looking up at him. He was a new gym teacher.

“Where’s Mrs.Lim?” I asked, curious.

“She retired “He answred, wiping his forehead.

“Oh” I said, nodding my head in understanding.

“You need to bring your clothes tomorrow in order to participate in tomorrow’s activity. For now, I suggest you just sit there on the bleachers and wait” He instructed, walking away. I went and sat on the bleachers, watching him bring out the foam balls. I think we’re going to play dodge ball. While I sat there, kids started coming in already changed. They formed their own cliques and sat together, excluding me. Nu’est came in last as always, excluding Aron. They too didn’t changed. The girls tried  talking to them but they just ignored them and made their way to the back of the bleachers. I sat there, staring in awe. JR caught me staring at him and I quickly turned away. Our teacher’s name is Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim told the students who had changed that they were going to play dodge ball while he beckoned us to follow him. I got off the bleacher and followed the teacher to the exit door. We stood there, waiting for Nu’est to come. *What a dumb name for a gang* they finally came and I felt someone breathing behind me. I turned around to be staring in the face of none other than JR. the stupid jerk who got me in trouble. I quickly turned around to listen to the teacher.

“You guys are going to go to the library and sit there. Don’t cause any trouble” He said, as he signed a pass for each of us. I grabbed my pass the moment he held it out and began walking out the door. I fast walked, almost jogging to the 2^ndfloor where the library was located. Library, here I come.  As I was walking, I heard footsteps behind me. I just knew who it was and didn’t turn around. While making my way up the stairs, towards the 2^ndfloor, I saw Angie Joo. She's a Korean American who moved from California 4 years ago. She’s the witch of the school and she just happens to be JR’s girlfriend. They really deserved each other. She walked right pass me and squealed as soon as she saw her boyfriend. I quickly turned around to see Angie against the wall with JR getting his time in. BaekHo and Minhyun kept on walking. Minhyun caught me watching and smirked. I ignored the smirk and kept walking up the stairs. I reached the 2^ndfloor and turned to my right where the library was. I got in, give my pass to the librarian and sat at one of the tables at the back of the library. A minute later, JR walked in with his crew trailing behind. I layed my head on the table, not really expecting anything to happen. All of a sudden I heard the chair in front of my squeal over the floor. The sound was too close to me. I dragged my head up to come face to face with JR. OH! No not again. Why was he everywhere I go? For once in my life, I wanted peace but this guy just didn’t seem to want to leave me alone. I must have been cursed by the heavens for doing something bad in my last life that’s why I was stuck in a man’s body and I was always getting picked on. He sat down with his clan, Minhyun on my left and BaekHo on my right. I looked at JR and tried very hard not to look at the red blotch at his neck that would soon turn into a hickey.

“So how has our little lady boy been lately?” he asked. I did’t answer and sat there. This was the first time that they were actually sitting by me on their own without the teacher forcing them to.

“I see you’ve grown some of those things on your chest. What are you, A cup?” He asked, reaching to touch my chest. I sheltered my chest and he began laughing. Minhyun began laughing too but BaekHo just sat there.

“Besides why are you afraid. It’s not like those things are real anyways. Not like REAL women” he said, smirking. That hurt. Every time he was about to say something real cruel, he brought that word up ‘real’. I looked down; trying to hold back the tears but it came out anyways. I wipeed away the tears and that send JR and Minhyun into hysterical laughter. I felt a tap on the shoulder and looked up. Holding a tissue was BaekHo. He brought it forward and I gladly took it and wiped my face. *At least there’s one person who’s not as evil as JR and his little follower, Minhyun* Apart from Aron who just stands there and does not participate in JR’s evil deeds. They stopped laughing, panting for air. I sat there with my head hung low.

“Oh my! I forgot you’ve got feelings too” JR said, wiping his eyes. Was I really that fun to be picked on? I was just the perfect target since I never stood up for myself or reported on them. I don’t answer and sat there with my eyes down. I looked at my hands folded on my lap.

“JR, that’s enough” BaekHo said, giving a warning looking.

“Okay, we’re done” JR said, putting his hands up. They moved onto a different topic, talking about what they each did over the summer. JR went to France with his girlfriend. Minhyun went to Daegu to visit family while BaekHo stayed at home. JR talked about how he got to work in his father’s office and all that ‘fun’ stuff. Over the summer, I helped my mother sell fish in the market. I met a few of her market buddies and got to know of her regular customers. Whenever they passed by, they would comment on how pretty her daughter was and my mother will say yeah.

I got out my notebook and wrote down my favorite song.

U Hoo Hoo by Block B

I quickly closed my book and listened to them talk. BaekHo talks about how he went and visited his mother’s grave over the summer. Sad that his mother is goneL. As I am listening, JR all of a sudden stops and stares at me.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He asks me.

I look up at him and sit there before I answer.

“I was sitting here and you came and sat here. It’s not my problem you’re telling your business” I say quickly. I again put my head down, avoiding eye contact.

“Just drop it, JR. You’re just wasting your time” BaekHo said, as he got up. JR glared at me for a second before he too moved away.

“You got lucky this time” Minhyun said, also getting up. They got their passes and got out of the library. I sat there, stunned at what had just happened. What was JR’s problem? I’m just telling him to move. I take out my note book again and finish my assignment. The bell rings as I am writing the last paragraph for the 3^rdpage. I gather my stuff and walk downstairs, towards the office where the teachers usually are. I knock on the door to be greeted by Mr. Ki. He looks at me up and down before speaking.

“What are you doing here?” He asks. The last time I checked the door leading to the office was never closed.

“I’m here to see Ms. Shim” I reply, trying to peer in. Ms. Shim hears my name and walks to the door.

“Ren, come in” She says, opening the door farther. I walk in while Mr. Ki just stands there, watching.  Wonder what his problem is.

“Come sit” She says, pointing to her chair by her desk. The teacher’s lounge/office is basically like an office where the team leader (the principal) has his desk away from everyone and the teachers’ desks are close to each other in the center of the room. I sit on the cushy chair and wait.

“Linh, how do you know Minki?” Mr. Ki asks, coming closer.

“Oh Ren, she’s my neighbor and since I’m not so used to my new neighborhood, I and her are going home together until I get used to finding my way” She says, putting her lesson plans in her tote bag.

“Oh okay, I never knew that you guys live so close together” He says, tapping the desk. *What does he want?*

“Yeah well we do. I’ll see you tomorrow, Tae-Hyun” Ms.Shim said as she grabbed her bag. We walked out in silence towards the Exit door. As we were walking towards the bus station, she stopped and looked at me.

“How was your first day?”

“It was good” I answer, not stopping. We finally get to the station and stand there at the platform, and wait.

“Is Mr.Ki one of your teachers?” She asks.

“Yeah he is, but I’m not sure he’s going to be my favorite teacher” I reply, looking out onto the road. I pull out my cell phone and look at the time. It’s 5:50. The bus must be coming by now since it arrives at 5:55pm.

“Why do you think so?”

“He spazzed out at me on the first day and gave me homework” I answer, trying not to get annoyed. I don’t really want to talk about Mr. Ki.

“Oh did the whole class get homework?”

“No just me because he said I disturbed his class and he’s making me write a 4 page essay on manners. It’s due tomorrow” I answer, looking out the road again. This time I see the bus coming.

“Get out your card. The bus is here” I instruct, getting out my card. The bus stops in front of us and we board. I walk to the back and sit at the last sit. Ms. Shim comes and places herself right next to me.

“Well that’s not fair” She says.

“Well I don’t care because I’m already done with the paper. How do you know Mr. Ki?” I ask, looking at her.

“I met him this morning. And he says that he hopes we become very good friends” She replies, smiling.

“Hey don’t call me Ms. Shim. It’s very uncomfortable for me. Just call me Linh, okay” She says.

“Okay, Linh” I say, smiling back.

“Is your name Ren or MinKi?”

“MinKi is my birth name but my mother calls me Ren. You can call me Ren”

“Oh cool, Ren” She says. I guess the conversation was over since she didn’t say anything again. I looked out the whole ride back, memorized by how tall the buildings stood. We sit there until the bus arrives. I get up first before Linh gets up. I get off the bus and wait for Linh to come down. When she gets off, we begin our walk towards the neighborhood in which we live in.

“Who’s JR?”

“JR’s just a classmate”

“Well that’s not how Tae-Hyun described it. He said that JR bullies you” She says, stopping. I too stop to hear what she has to say. So Mr.Ki isn’t that bad and he actually knew about what JR had done to me.

“JR doesn’t bully me” I say, looking down.

“Ah Hu. Sure he doesn’t” She says, nodding her head and looking at me.

“I’m serious. I’m not being bullied” I answer, looking at her. I look at her eyes to show that I’m not lying even though I am.

“Okay, I believe you” She says, walking again.

“Well if you need any help, I’ll be more than glad to help you” She says.

“Okay”

I pick up my pace to match hers.

“So where did you live in America” I ask, curious.

“I lived in L.A better known as Los Angeles (The Angeles) and I later moved to Seattle for college”

“Oh that’s very nice”

“Yeah it was until I moved to Seattle for college. It’s always raining there and I’m always singing my little song ‘rain rain go away, that’s what all my haters say’” She says, smiling. I start laughing also, by her little song.

“That’s a very interesting song” I say, hiking up my skirt.

“The skirts that you guys have to wear are way too short” She says, looking at me.

“Yeah I know” I say as we get closer to our apartment complex.

“Which floor do you live in?” I ask.

“Oh I live 3 doors away from you and your mother” She replies as we make our way inside the building. We get in the elevator and I click the button for the 6^thfloor.

“So….. How long have you known that JR guy?” She asks.

“I’ve known him since the 1st grade but we’re not friends though” I answer, getting out of the elevator when it reached the 6^thfloor.

“Oh okay. I don’t think you should befriend him because it seems like he’s a very bad child” She says. I take out our house key and approach the door.

“Hey can I come over and eat dinner with you?” Linh asked, as she got out her house key.

“Sure if you want. Mr. Yi is coming also” I say, before entering the house. I take off my shoes and walk up stairs. I change out of my uniform and throw on an old grey shorts, grey t-shirt and house slippers. I tie my hair into a pony and clip my bangs up with an alligator clipper. After I’m done, I got downstairs and take a peek inside the fridge. I see short ribs in a clear plastic container, sitting in herbal juice. And right next to it is Kimchi, sticky rice and some seaweed soup. I set the table first and I make sure to set up a place for Mom because she might come any moment. I get out the electric grill and plug it in.

Ding Dong

“I’m coming” I say, walking towards the door. I open the door and there is Mr.Yi and Linh.

“What’s for dinner, Ren?” Mr.Yi asks, coming inside.

“Kalbi and side dishes” I answer, leaving the door opened. I walk towards the fridge and take out the container holding the short ribs. I turn to find Mr.Yi and Linh behind me. 

“What would you like us to do?” Mr.Yi asks.

“Warm the rice and seaweed soup” I instruct as I make my way towards the table where the grill is set. I set the container on the table and go get tongs. I sit at the table, waiting for them to bring the remaining things. Linh comes in second, holding a pot of steamy hot seaweed soup. We sat there waiting until Mr.Yi brought the Kimchi and rice.

“Okay, let’s eat” I commanded scooping some rice into my bowl.

“Mr.Yi how was your day?” I ask, putting some Kimchi into my mouth.

“My day was very good; I got to meet some brand new faces and the old ones” He said, grabbing some Kimchi with his chopsticks.

“That’s good” I said, taking a sip of the soup.

“Delicious” Linh said as she the spoon.

“Where’s your mother?” He asked.

“She’s working, she’ll be home late but I don’t know when” I said

“Oh okay” He says, taking some Kalbi off the grill. We sat there in silence, eating our food. All of a sudden, I heard the front door rattle I guess I wasn’t the only one startled by the noise because as soon as I had looked up, Linh and Mr. Yi had looked up also.

“I’ll open the door” Mr. Yi said, getting up. We watch him as he walks off towards the door. He slowly turns the lock to unlock it and twists the door opened. I calm down, seeing the person standing there. That person happens to be my mother, standing there with her key in hand and a heavy load of black plastic bags. She’s dressed in baggy pants, a turtle neck sweater, falling-part old shoes and a hair net. I quickly get up and rush to her.

“Mom, welcome home” I say, grabbing some of the plastic bags from her. I hear dishes clinking to each other as I walk towards the kitchen. Following behind is Mr. Yi with the rest. I set them down by the stove and walk back to the living room.

“Aigoo Aigoo….. Today was such a difficult day” My mother says, while bending her upper body to touch the floor. She looks up, looking around her surroundings.

“Mom, I’ll give you my special “Pain go away” massage” I say, placing myself at the table.

“Thank you” She says smiling. She takes her seat at the table while Mr. Yi walks out of the kitchen. He takes his place and picks up his chop sticks.

“Hi Ms. Shim” My mother says, sending Linh a warm smile.

“Hi Ms. Choi” Linh says, slightly bowing her head.

“How was your first say?” Mother asks.

“It was good. I got to meet some very interesting students today”

“That’s very nice” My mother says as she scoops some rice into her bowl.

“Seong il how was your day?” She asks Mr. Yi.

“It was very good, better than what I had expected” He says, smiling.

“Mom, how was your day today?” I ask worried. She’s been complaining about her back lately.

“It was good until a customer came along. She kept on asking for red mackerels and I told her that I wasn’t going to get them until tomorrow and she threw a fit in front of everyone. After complaining about how unjust my services were, she threw some of my fishes onto the ground” She answers setting her spoon down. She leans her head into her opened hands.

“Mom, who was it?” I ask, ready to go on an attack.

“It was no one important” She says looking up again. She picks up her spoon and begins eating while I look at her. She’s really bad at lying but I on the other hand have grown to be a professional lair over the years. I pick up my chop sticks and once again begin eating.

“Linh, do you know Tae-Hyun?” Mr. Yi asks. I look up, hearing Mr. Ki’s name. My mother also looks up.

“Not personally. I just met him today. Why?” She answers.

“Oh okay because he was asking if you got home safely and I was just checking that’s all” He answers.

“Ren, did you have a good day today?” Mother asks. I was kind of hoping for her to forget but I was wrong.

“Yeah My day went fine” I say, putting my spoon down. I’m done eating.

“Lair” Linh chirped in.

“I’m not lying” I say, looking inside my bowl. Linh is ruining my plan.

“What truly happened?” Mother asked. I didn’t feel like answering so Linh decided to answer for me.

“Some guy named JR was picking on her today”

“Oh I know that JR kid. He’s a real trouble maker” Mr. Yi said.

“What did he do to you Ren?” Mother asked.

“He did nothing. He just asked me why I’ve not left school yet. That’s all, no need to worry. And besides he was only joking” I say looking up smiling. I don’t want Mom to start worrying about me.

“Sure he was” Linh says not willing to drop it.

“Okay I believe you Ren, but if anyone starts bullying you, report it to the principal” Mother says, getting up.

“Mom, I’ll do the dishes” I volunteer, getting up.

“Okay. Seong il, come. I’ve something to ask you” She says, walking out of the house. Mr. Yi gets up and follows her. I and Linh gather the dishes and start washing.