Chapter 2: Can We Be Friends? 

“My name is Kang DaeSung.”

The small-eyed small-brained punk was smiling, I mean, really smiling; he was practically beaming with happiness. I bet that was the first time someone had ever complimented him for his klutzy deeds.

“The b1tch over there is Lee ChaeRin or you can always call her the Nazi behind her back. She doesn’t really care,” YeJin had said as though I was not there although I was just a few inches away.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and gave her my infamous you-know-I’m-about-to-kill-you look. YeJin seemed oblivious to this as she continued her little chat with the idiot.

The next event that occurred was beyond my wildest imagination.
 

YeJin took out her handphone.
Klutzy DaeSung put out his handphone.
They were ing exchanging phone numbers with each other!
 

I blinked hard trying to project that what I was seeing was real. I pinched myself and immediately regretted doing so when the pain came; it was real alright.
 

Whoa, I never in a million year would’ve guessed that would happen. 

Ever.

I mean, yesterday I didn’t even know that punk existed. Who can blame me? It was hard enough trying to remember how your no-good 30-something classmates looked like, let alone this punk whom I didn’t even know which grade he was in. I bet he’s a junior, judging by his clumsiness and lack of intelligence.
 

I stared at the punk who was busy trying to capture YeJin’s picture with his phone. Apparently he had forgotten all about the incident just now and was oblivious to the fact that I was still there, ready to skin him alive.
 

I took the opportunity to take a good look of the idiot. 

He was of average height, only a few inches taller than YeJin and I. His hair was short and spiky, showing off his large forehead. His eyes would almost disappear and form a straight line whenever he smiled or grinned. 
 

Crap, even his teeth were bigger than his eyes.
 

I had wondered if he still could see when he’s smiling or would he just be blinded temporarily until he stopped smiling. 
 

But I have to admit, his smile was what you’d call: charming. His face literally lit up whenever he smiled. Judging by the way he was wearing his uniform, his fashion sense was so-so. 

To put it simply, this Kang DaeSung punk was nothing spectacular. 

In fact, I personally thought that he was below average. But did YeJin ask for my opinion when she decided to befriend this weirdo?

NO.

I was deeply annoyed by the sudden realization.

Don’t tell me she wanted to let him hang out with us now. I seriously dreaded the thought.

YeJin was admiring his Doraemon key-chain thingy that he hung at his phone while I tried hard not to barf. I mean, puh-lease, how old was he to have that sort of thing? 

I found out it was a birthday present from his elder sister.

Yawn.

Then, he told YeJin (Remember, I was merely the bystander in this conversation) that he was in 5c, the class next to ours. That means he was our age. Who would have known?

Then, the conversation came to things concerning me. They were laughing about me being the daughter of Hitler. Why that she-devil YeJin! Couldn’t she just leave me out of this?

I faked a cough but YeJin, or rather, they, didn’t seem to hear me.
I coughed again, louder this time.

DaeSung immediately looked at me and the douchebag was immediately relieved to see that I was only faking it.

He was seriously alert when it comes to people choking. He must have badly wanted to become a nurse or something. What a douche.

YeJin rolled her eyes.

“Do you want me to do that again?” DaeSung smiled while YeJin had donned an annoying teasing smile upon her face. I knew he was only joking and meant no harm but I didn’t know why I was so annoyed at the remark. 

“You little punk,” I was ready to tackle him down like a rugby player.

The punk quivered and get this-he ing hid behind YeJin!

That little ball-less klutz!

I tried by all means to grab him through YeJin but the punk sneakily evaded all my attempts while using her body as his shield.

Why that sneaky little rat!

“Yah, Lee ChaeRin!!” YeJin took my hands to stop me from attacking her new found friend/rat. “He was only kidding!”

Great, now she’s taking his side. What happened to ‘friends through thick and thin’? That was obviously a thin situation for me.

“God, sometimes you are too much!” she continued.

Double great, now she brings God into this.

It turned out to be the punk’s lucky day because the bell rang to signal for us to enter class. All around us, students were rushing to get to their classes.

I finally gave up on killing DaeSung and rushed for class. YeJin and DaeSung followed closely behind me. When we reached the doorway of our class, we stopped and YeJin called out the punk’s name.

“Come sit with us for lunch, okay?” was what she had said to him.

The punk beamed. He looked like a kid being given ice-cream on a hot day.

“Okay,” we could hardly hear him.

But of course the inevitable happened to the klutz; he tripped and fell down flat on the floor. YeJin went to help him stand up.

I sighed. It’s going to be a lo~oong lunch, I thought.
 

****
 

English was boring as ever and nearly half of the class was already nearing la-la land. The teacher, Mrs. Choi was mumbling something about Shakespeare being ‘the best writer to ever graced planet Earth’ (her words, not mine). Obviously, not so many in the class could share the same excitement over some old dead poet whose words we could barely understand.

Only the class rep, the goody-two-shoes, top student of our class, Jang ChaeKyoung could be seen nodding her head in agreement to whatever the teacher was mumbling. It was typical of ChaeKyoung to stay focused in English class, but of course, for a definite reason. 

It’s time for a little gossip. 

Rumor has it that Mrs. Choi was so smitten with ChaeKyoung that she wanted her to marry her only son. Apparently, the nearly-fifty Mrs. Choi tried to play matchmaker by inviting ChaeKyoung to her house to help her with ‘something’. That ‘something’ turned out to be her handsome kingka of a son, Choi SeungHyun.

Does that name sound familiar?

Yes, it was the same Choi SeungHyun-my Orange Baboon. I heard from YeJin last two years that Choi SeungHyun had taken a 180 degrees turn and had ‘blossomed’ into a KingKa. Turns out he was in the same school as YeSung, YeJin’s younger brother. 

“Thank God he didn’t enroll into this high school or else he’d make us pay for what you did to him,” YeJin had said as though she had nothing to do with that incident in 3rd grade. It was also YeJin who pointed out that Mrs. Choi was actually the Orange Baboon’s mother.

I wonder if she, like her son, prefers such loud, bold colors for . 

According to YeJin (yes, I have no other source. I bet she grilled YeSung for info about the baboon), Choi SeungHyun practically owned the damn school he was in and all the students there worshipped the ground that he walked on; like a God.

However, I doubt that I could hold back my laughter if I ever see him again. Seeing his mother every day for the past two years had been tormenting enough, not being able to laugh and reminisce about the good old times.

Kingka or no kingka, to me little SeungHyun would always remain my Orange Baboon. But still, I’m glad that I haven’t met him ever since 3rd grade or else- as Ye