New Student, just who are you?
The Pathway to Failure is Filled with Bliss
Middle school was so hard. Seunghyun rubbed his eyes of sleep and tried to focus on the board but all the numbers and foreign letters blended together. He looked back at his worksheet and realized he only had his name on the sheet.
Sighing he started to put things on his paper to make it look like he had put in some effort. Select numbers and letters and symbols. He filled as much space as he could to try and get half credit at least.
It was 10:14, 2 hours until lunch, not that he had any friends at school to talk to. All of his friends were in high school so he ate lunch alone and wrote poetry and rap ideas in his notebook while munching on his favorite, rolled up egg and rice.
He looked out the window. Spring was starting late, keeping up pace with the school year’s beginning. He had no idea how he would make it through high school with a diploma in hand to make his mother proud. He wouldn’t pass the college entrance exams and would be a shame to his family. Not to mention how much his noona would torture him over it. He groaned and buried his head on his desk. Nothing looked bright despite the sun pouring down on him. Suddenly the classroom door slid open. Seunghyun lifted his head a slight bit in desperation for a distraction from this torture.
A younger boy walked in. He was slouched and had his uniform sleeves rolled up and his pants one size too big. He looked a little rebellious but straightened up a bit and flashed the teacher a smile as he gave the teacher a note and put his hands partially in his pockets.
The teacher took the note, read it and sighed a bit muttering something about ruining class unity before announcing, “Class, this is Kwon Jiyong. He is one grade under this class but the 7th grade math teacher decided from his scores on his tests that he will be joining us for one hour a day.”
“Please take care of me,” Jiyong said sharing a shy smile and biting his lip.
Seunghyun couldn’t stop looking at the boy who decided to sit 2 rows over and one down from him so he was almost directly center in the classroom. He was interesting. Most of the boys in his class would either rebel and fail or keep every rule to it’s fullest. This boy found a way to rebel and be a good student.
Seunghyun looked down at his paper and noticed that he was lightly sketching something that vaguely looked like the shape of the boy’s smile. Erasing it slowly, Seunghyun wondered what this feeling was, this mesmerizing state of being. Looking at Jiyong easing into his desk and opening his notebook, trying to catch up on the assignment everyone was just finishing; he noticed he dropped his pencil. Looking up after he picked it up he flashed Seunghyun a small smile before going back to work.
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