Chapter 17- That Kind of Girl

Bom's POV

I was in a daze through most of my classes until lunch finally rolled around. After grabbing a tray, I surveyed the room for the girls that I had sat with yesterday but before I could even spot them or even move in their direction, I turned to see someone approaching me from behind.

"Looking for someone?" It was Taeyang.

I shrugged casually. "Not really, just somewhere to sit." As soon as those words left my mouth, I immediately wished that I could take them back. I hadn't meant it as a hint and now, to me, they sounded entirely too obvious.

But if he was put off by me 'throwing myself at him' he didn't show it. In fact, he just shrugged nonchalantly as if both my statement and the following offer meant nothing to him. "You can sit with us if you want."

I tried to act as unaffected as he did but I wasn't sure if I was pulling it off or not. "Sure," I replied cooly. "If you're sure you don't mind?" There, I just offered him an out. He didn't have to feel obligated to let me sit with him.

"Nah, and it'll piss your brother off even more." He grinned then, and it made me wonder if that was his motive more so than any concern to me. But he talked comfortably with me as we made our way towards his table, and then went out of his way to make me feel welcome with his group, and that dispelled any doubts I had.

Unfortunately, it made the guilt worse.

To release my stress, after lunch, I paced in the bathroom until my nerves had calm down considerably. Of course, that made me late to class, which resulted in my very first ever detention. 

Oh joy.

"You've changed so much!" Dara told me, shaking her head as we both piled our books into our bags. "I'm serious. A week ago you wouldn't have even sat by a boy, especially Taeyang, during lunch." Then her expression changed to one of sympathy. "Much less get a detention."

"Yeah." I groaned. "I'm still kinda mad at myself for that one." I was pleased that Dara had made an effort to talk to me even if the topic wasn't all that great. But then, I figured that that kind of problem was a normal one so its annoyance was lessened somewhat.

We waved goodbye as we parted ways at the door before I trudged down the hallway, heading for the room number marked on my detention slip. After finding the door, I mentally tried to prepare myself for an hour of miserable boredom. I was not, however, prepared for who would be experiencing it with me when I opened the door.

I stared at my make believe sibling in open shock and his face mirrored my same exact expression. "What are you doing here?" We both blurted in unison and then simultaneously made faces at the idea of saying the same thing at the same time with one another.

"I practically live here." Jiyong said hotly. "What's your excuse?" I could tell he was annoyed, not only at having to be stuck with me but also because it wasn't my reputation I was ruining. It was his sister's!

I made a face before saying, "I was late to class." No one else had arrived yet so I had my pick of the seats. I sat on the same row as Jiyong but on the opposite end. "What did you do? Get caught blackmailing anyone?" I asked, the irony in my voice unmistakably obvious. 

"Nope." He grinned easily. "I never get caught."

"Yet you're here." I reminded him, folding my arms on my desk as I lowered my head to rest on them.

"Okay, I rarely get caught." He amended. "The teacher didn't believe my excuse when Seungri and I were skipping."

"Then, why isn't Seungri here?" I asked, not bothering to lift my head.

He shrugged. "We had different classes. His teacher must have believed him."

There was a pause afterwards so when I looked up at him, turning my head without raising it, I knew that I just had to ask. "What was your excuse?"

His face reddened. "My dog ate my homework."

A beat. I lifted my head back as laughter poured out of my mouth before I turned my whole body towards him. "Are you serious?"

"I got my excuses mixed up!" He defended. "It's not like teachers usually ask me why I missed class! Today was a fluke!" 

I momentarily made myself stop laughing but I couldn't fight the amused grin on my face. "You really are an idiot." I informed him.

He glared at me but it held no venom. "I wouldn't be talking if I were you. Who was it that blamed Taeyang for her sudden transformation?"

I felt my cheeks start to burn as I said, "That's your fault! You're the one who suggested it was a guy earlier. Naturally my mind grabbed at that when I had to think of an excuse!"

"Sure. Blame me." He replied, feigning being hurt.

"I do." I retorted. "Everything going wrong in my life right is all your fault."

"Do I look like I care?" His grim was disarming but he definitely didn't look too concerned with my troubles.

"You don't look like you care about anything." I muttered, crossing my arms. "I just hope you start to while I'm around so I can ruin it for you and laugh in your face."

He shook his head at my naïveté. You'll never have as much power over me as I have over you." He informed me with confidence.

"Which is why I hate your freakin guts." I told him bluntly before clamping my mouth shut as the teacher walked in. He didn't reply, silence being a requirement in detention but his answering grin was more than enough of a response. In the next few minutes, the rest of the students trickled in and the time began to pass by in a miserably slow pace.

"You're wrong." I informed him as we walked towards his car. "There's no way anyone who looks like me would ever have a crush on Johnny Depp." I wrinkled my nose. "That's just wrong."

It's funny how even a poster in a classroom could spurn an argument between us. Jiyong glared at me. "I'm telling you, she's crazy about him! Look at the top of closet when we get home if you don't believe me. She's got posters of him stashed away in a box up there!" 

"That's disgusting!" I insisted. "She can't be that weird."

"Oh, since you look like each other, you're suddenly an expert on her?" He questioned with a sarcastic tone before grinning wickedly. "You know, to make the act more believable, you might have to pretend you're obsessed with him too."

"No chance." I retorted. I would have said more but a voice from behind interrupted me.

"Jenny? How come you're still here?" Taeyang was at the end of the hall and I purposely ignored Jiyong as he jogged closer.

"You work fast." Jiyong muttered, closing off as the other boy approached. I was slightly disappointed because I was enjoying our little argument. And what right did he have to get mad? I was only doing what he told me to.

"I told you. I'm an expert." I told him even though I couldn't help but wonder how believable that statement was since it was a bald faced lie but the sight of Taeyang heading towards us seemed to give credit to my words.

"And you're proud of that?" He suddenly asked, the question instantly shocking me, especially coming from him. I turned, hoping to find an explanation in his face but it was already closed off. "I really didn't think you were that kind of girl." He said, implication of it hanging air, frozen between us.

What?

I was supposed to be feeling triumphant, having fooled him successfully, but all that I could do at that moment was stare at the ground miserably. I hadn't meant for it to come out that way but taking it back would be like admitting that I had lied about having experience. It was too humiliating.

Better he be disgusted with me.

Taeyang reached us and smiled down at me. "Would you rather catch a ride home with me?" He asked me, probably sensing that we'd been arguing but not realizing the reason. In his mind, separating me from Jiyong after an argument was fulfilling the promise he'd made to me that morning.

I spared one last glance at Jiyong. His face was unreadable. "Sure." I said, my voice softer than I intended. Taeyang grinned and took me by the hand, leading me down the hall and out the school until we reached his bike. If he noticed how quiet I was on the ride to her house, he assumed it was because of my brother.

And that only made him more determined to keep us apart.