Uptight school with uptight rules. What did wearing uniform neatly has to do with academic results?

The clock was ticking, waiting for the bomb to explode. It was 6.45 in the morning and in 5 more minutes, Park Yeonmi's record of being the student with no school-rules violation would be broken. Cold beads of sweat formed, running down her face.Why did school start so early anyway?

And she's stuck with no tie to wear. 5 points deduction for not wearing your tie. Why was she so unlucky that day? Yeonmi is used to so many tests --there would be a chemistry test and tons of homework to submit for the day, but this? No, she never thought there will come a day when she would break the school rules, and it's all because of a tie. It was ridiculously silly she just wanted to cry.

 

Do Kyungsoo always arrives on time for school. On time, not in time.

 

And for the first time in 18 years of living, Park Yeonmi hated that very fact.  She’s the more in time kind of person. She liked how she could always revised her homework and study more before the bell ring. She noticed how Kyungsoo would arrive one or two minutes before the bell rang to class. There were some rare occurrence when he arrived early but Yeonmi remember the last time he came early was because he was a part of the student council committee and they were having a morning meeting.

She wished for a miracle to happen that morning but no such luck was seen. 6.50, the bell rang. Kyungsoo was still not in sight and she was going to just accept her fate, let her clean student record to be stained, all because of a tie.

Sighing, Yeonmi opened her bag to take out some textbooks. She actually still had the last card to avoid that 5 points deduction but it was too much of a hassle. No, I’m going to spend the rest of my high school days peacefully,  she thought to herself. But when she remember what her first subject is, she groaned. How can a day be so bad when it was not yet 7?

 

The English teacher was rigid like a brick. Everyone’s expected to be in their neat uniform or she would kind of throw a fit (actually, she would just go ramble about the importance of wearing your uniform rightly, and that it is to show your discipline, and so on and so on). Yeonmi could not let herself be scolded later –the goody two-shoes she is, really—and she took out the tie in her bag, slowly, but surely.

 

Preparing to go to hell, Yeonmi wore the tie painfully slowly. Still waiting for Kyungsoo to come and save her from all this mess she was going to let herself in.

The tie was finally on her neck. Every classmates of hers was staring intently, some even gossiped about it.

“Woah! Park Yeonmi’s taken! Look, she’s wearing a guy’s tie!”

“No kidding, who’s the guy?”

 

“Yah! How could you not tell me?” Her seat-mate, Yunho, asked bewilderedly.

“It’s not what you think, okay? Please shut up for the moment.” With a scowl evident on Yeonmi’s face, Yunho complied and just smiled mischievously.

 

There’s actually a school tradition (or additional rules, Yeonmi might say) in when a guy and a girl become a couple, they would exchange their ties. It was to avoid any love problems and misunderstanding in the school –oh the irony. This exact tradition would actually be the one to make Yeonmi misunderstood.

 

Murmurs were still heard by Yeonmi and she could only pray for the day to not get any worse. Exactly 7 AM, the English teacher came and as usual, she inspected whether everyone was wearing the uniform rightly and neatly. Noticing someone still hadn’t arrived, she asked the class who was not there yet. At that exact moment, Kyungsoo blasted through the door, in all his handsome glory, wearing Yeonmi’s tie.

To say she’s shocked is an understatement. All her classmates that were already silent actually started talking again, looking at Kyungsoo and Yeonmi with playful and teasing  gazes.

 

“Park Yeonmi! Congratulations! You kind of hit the jackpot, huh?” Yunho couldn’t help but to tease. He grinned like a madman and Yeonmi just sighed.

“I told you it was not like that! Stop talking or I’ll make sure you’ll be wearing your own tie in no time.”

“No way! She loves me too much to do that for you, Yeonmi!” (Yeonmi’s best friend is Yunho’s girlfriend, hence the tie reference).

 

Kyungsoo sat on his seat and the class calmed down a little when the teacher started to explain the lesson. Yeonmi tried to concentrate but she failed miserably.

 

Yeonmi was good in Chemistry. She actually liked it. With her smart brain, she could easily passed all of the tests with flying colors. Sometimes Yunho and her other classmates would ask for her to tutor them. She helped with all her might and she took an enjoyment in seeing others to understand what she helped them with.

Kyungsoo is smart, okay, but he is bad with memorization. And it didn’t help when the upcoming chemistry test was all theories. He was sure he’s screwed, until he has the guts to ask Yeonmi to tutor him and some of his friends. She happily helped them to study in the library the day before. But the library’s air conditioner must have been broken or something, because it was so hot Yeonmi had to took off her tie, and so had Kyungsoo. Both of them actually never did this, fearing they would misplace the important piece of uniform (they did actually, because when Yeonmi got home all she saw in her bag was Kyungsoo’s tie and not hers and Kyungsoo’s owl-like eyes got as big as possible discovering a girl’s tie on his possession).

Kris, the class president nudged Yeonmi on the back and she turned to look at him only to find a piece of paper in his hands, he mouthed, for you, she accepted it and settled to read it.

 

We should talk, on the break?

-Kyungsoo

P.S. Sorry ><

 

Deciding to reply, she wrote her reply and asked Kris to pass it to Kyungsoo whose seat was 2 rows behind her.

 

Okay. No probs.

I’m sorry too.

-Yeonmi

 

It was finally break time and Yeonmi waltz out of the class to speak to Kyungsoo. He was nervous, he felt sorry, and he was actually looking forward to talk to Yeonmi. Spotting her, he checked himself for the last time and finally tapped Yeonmi on her shoulders. She turned around and faced Kyungsoo with a sheepish smile.

 

“I’m sorry! People will now misunderstand and I’m sorry dragging you on this! I just couldn’t let my records be unclean..”

“Oh, no, I’m sorry for being careless too and it’s alright, I would have done the same…”

 

He smiled a little and Yeonmi though how attractive he is actually.

 

“Say Yeonmi, do you want your tie back?” A playful smirk was seen on his face.

Yeonmi was taken aback. Of course she wanted her tie back,

“Eh? Of course.. why? You’re not gonna keep it, right?”

 

“If I wanted to?”

 

And that sentence caught Yeonmi off-guard. What was he trying to say?

 

“Wou..would you like to go to the prom with me? It’s alright if you don’t want to..you should just return me my tie right now and this never happens and you can go on with your life and just talk to Yunho and…”

If Yeonmi was caught off-guard the last time, now she had fallen. She blushed, seeing how Kyungsoo looked like a nervous wreck right at that time but still handsome, and she couldn’t ask for more.

 

“I…I’ll keep your tie, okay?”

 

He lighten up at Yeonmi’s answer and beamed largely. A sigh of relief escaped his plump lips  and Yeonmi couldn’t help but smile too.

 

“Actually, I’m never giving this back to you.”

”Me too. You’re mine, now and forever.”

 

Kyungsoo and Yeonmi shared a knowing look. They started walking back to their classroom. Slowly, they got their hands entwined, like the tie that tied their fate.