damien_alley

I groaned the moment I heard about projects. I was in a good mood for the whole day and the teacher had to bring up the project. Everything went exactly went the way I wanted today till that teacher showed up. I didn’t even listen to a thing he blabbered about until I heard the word 'partner' caught my attention. 

I groaned louder. Let's just say I like to work alone rather than having someone work with me. My ears perked up as I heard the teacher mention my name. "Jason Kim?" 

I put up my hand unwillingly and looked at the teacher. Please be the geek. Please be the geek. In my class there's this loner nerd who sits by himself. I don’t know him that much but what I do know is that he's smart, smarter than anyone in this class. I could just ask him to do all the work for me. That'll be so perfect.  

"Tiffany Hwang." I tried hard not to slump my shoulders in disappointment at the unfamiliar name. The teacher keep on calling names and then we were asked to sit beside our partners. I did not make any move since I was that lazy.  

Not even seconds afterwards a red haired girl showed up right in front of me. I looked up at her and smirked. At least, she's pretty.  

I watched her as she make her way towards the chair beside me. She kept on fidgeting, probably feeling uncomfortable under my gaze.  

"I guess you could speak English?" I spoke to her for the first time and she seemed genuinely surprised about it. "Y-Yeah." She stuttered. How cute.  

The teacher left for us to discuss and for the first time I like him. I get time to sleep off the rest of the class. I put my head on top of the table and I could see how Tiffany pouted. Feeling guilty, I pushed back the thought of sleeping at the deepest part in my mind and asked her about the project. 

"Let's find out for some information first." She said. 

I propped my elbow on the table and rested my head on my palm, facing her. "Let's do that." I smiled as she seems nervous. "Relax, I'm not going to bite." For the first time, we made eye contact and I was mesmerized for a second. "After school, at the library" She asked and I agreed.  

We've been working for 2 hours and the first hour was spent with Tiffany explaining what was the project all about. Yes, I'm not smart, boohoo. I could see how Tiffany got frustrated when I still didn’t get what to do when she explained for half an hour.  

We worked in silence after that. We worked hard and tried to find as much as we can till the next hour. I felt guilty for not listening and for making us waste our time so I offered Tiffany out for dukbokki and thankfully she agreed. Not like other girls who need oh so many persuasions just because they're shy. 

We sat right beside each other at the stall and I asked Tiffany to order whatever she wanted. She was unsure at first but ordered fish cakes, soondaes and kimbap. This girl could eat. 

"Do you want some?" She asked, holding out a fish cake. I bit only half of it because it was too big and she ate the rest of it. I felt happy thinking that we just shared a food. It felt nice. 

I hold out a rice cake for her and she ate it. "It's delicious." She said and I grinned.  

Tiffany insisted on paying for her meal but I was faster than her. "You have to buy me a meal after this." I said, inwardly asking her to go out.  

I had my bike and Tiffany had to wait for a bus so being the gentleman I am, I waited for the bus with her. We talked on our way there I find out more about her. She just moved form California 3 years ago and moved into our school about a month ago which explains why I didn’t recognize her.  

I was about to ask her another question when someone called her name which make both of us look up. I know that the person is uninvited when Tiffany tensed while looking at him.  

I eyed him up and down. Tattoo on his arm, earrings and he wore all black which is stupid cause it's freaking hot. "What do you want." Tiffany spoke in a harsh tone and she was scary. If looks could kill, the man would be dead by now. 

"Is that a way to talk to your boyfriend, Miyoung-ah?" It was my turn to tense up. Boyfriend? Tiffany noticed my look at her and she said loud and clear. "Ex boyfriend." I eased up. 

Tiffany pulled my arms and we walked past the man but he grab a hold on her arm. Without knowing the reason my anger boiled, I pushed the man and succeed to make him lose his grasp on her. "Don’t touch her." I gritted my teeth. 

"Don't touch me." He grabbed the collar of my shirt and yanked me aside. By the time I stood up, I saw Tiffany slapping the man, hard. I smiled, that felt good.  

"Stop doing this, Minjun." Tiffany walked towards me but was stopped by Minjun. He tried dragging her but I was faster than that. He fell on the ground, groaning in pain. 

Minjun's probably older than me, and definitely stronger. I quickly pulled Tiffany with me and ran as fast as we could from him. I loosened my grasp on her wrist and intertwined our fingers whilst running.  

Even though we're far from Minjun, and we've stopped running, we still had our hands together and neither of us wanted to let go.