*

KIM JONGIN

*

That’s the sound of the clock’s secondhand ticking away which I can only hear because of how quiet it is in the front office—where I currently reside. I’ve come to speak to my father, but apparently he’s in a meeting, and therefore, I have to wait until it’s over, but I’m so eager to speak with him that I can’t sit straight. Instead, my legs bounce uncontrollably like I’ve got ADHD or like I’m hyped up on caffeine and can’t stop jittering.

The lady in the front office has been staring at me oddly for the past few minutes (probably due to all my fidgeting) but I ignore her, and instead, turn my attention to pulling out my wallet from my coat pocket.

I’m feeling in need of a little motivation, and I know exactly the thing to give me just that.

Within an instant of opening my wallet, I’ve pulled out a ripped photo with my co-president’s face on it.

It’s actually a candid photo of Minji from the previous year’s yearbook of her all-girls high school, Maechon Academy. I’d come across it a while ago when I had been doing a little background check on Minji after my mom had asked me to find any info that might come in handy to use against her.

I remember being frustrated because I couldn’t find any dirt on her at the time…but now was different. Now, I had plenty of dirt on my co-president.

Automatically, I feel my lips spread into a wicked smirk just from the thought as I stare at the image of the smiling red-haired girl.

Yeah, this is definitely all the motivation I need.

I study the photo of the girl named Gong Minji. I study her crescent moon eyes; her cute button nose, and her sweet little upturned smile.  

In just the last few days, I’ve stared at the image so many times that it’s practically been etched into my brain. But it’s the satisfaction I get from looking at the actual image that keeps me staring at it again, and again, and again...

It just amazes me how she can manage to look so innocent, when really, underneath that “sweet” face is something vile, grotesque, and just pure evil.

I really didn’t know she had it in her to do something so…bad.

There’s a lot you don’t know about me, her words from last weekend suddenly replay in my mind.

Huh, I grunt inwardly. Well that’s for damn sure. I definitely know now that there’s a lot more to Minji than meets the eye.   

I continue staring at the photo until my attention is quickly stolen from the sound of the front doors to the office swinging open. A few students enter and I immediately recognize them as a few senior girls. The moment they enter, each of their eyes land directly on me since I’m the only person in the office waiting area. I grow wary from their stares, but before I avert my eyes, I notice one of the girls has bitten down on her lip like she’s trying her best to refrain from laughing and I suddenly become washed over with a feeling of dread. Her friends are looking at me in a similar manner, and in response, I shy away from their stares, suddenly feeling my cheeks burning.

I want to put my head down in embarrassment. In fact, I do, and as the girls make their way down the hallway of the office, every second it takes for each girl to pass me by kills me slowly on the inside.

“Hi Mr. President,” one of the girls suddenly says as she passes, but her voice is laced with mocking that is only meant to be understood between myself and them. Her friends immediately start laughing with her as they all pass me.   

I swear, I could almost yell.  

I hate this! I think heatedly. I’m Kim Jongin, the senior president of the academy and son of the headmaster. I should not be ridiculed like this!

And yet, here I am practically blushing like a little girl because I know why those girls are laughing at me.

As they turn the corner down the hall, I hear them whispering to one another before they all start laughing again.

It doesn’t take a genius to know that they’re gossiping about me and just from that knowledge, I’m livid all over again to the point that I’m scrunching up the photo of Minji in my right hand as if my grip on the photo will transfer to the real Minji and cause her physical pain or some sort.

This is all her fault!

Minji had had me fooled into thinking she was this upstanding student with a squeaky-clean image who was too innocent to do anything immoral but that was not the case. I still can’t believe that I had actually wanted to kiss her just this past weekend. I had even almost committed assault on one of my very own classmates just to get a kiss from her!

I really can’t explain what I was feeling over the course of that weekend and neither can I explain my actions. I assume it must have been the outfit she’d been wearing that had had me hypnotized. But I know it was all part of her plan. I had learned Minji was a master of disguises. She could play innocent. She could play sweet. She could play y. She could play any part she needed to get what she wanted, and she had played her little acts on me.   

And I had bought into them and let my guard down. But whatever spell she’d had me under, I have fully recovered from it now.

I may have been fooled by my co-president’s “sweet” and “innocent” face at one time, but not anymore. I have snapped out of it, and seen Gong Minji for who she truly is:

A little sneaky, evil, deceitful witch!

And I’ll explain why…

I guess I’ll start with what had happened over the weekend after Minji had thrown up all over my Air Jordan’s.

I was disgusted, yes, but a little vomit never hurt anyone, and I figured I could always just buy a new pair of shoes, so I didn’t make a big deal out of it. The girls from the kissing booth had immediately come rushing onto the stage, scooping her up and whisking her away before I could even do anything.

While they took her to the nurse, I went to hose off my sneakers and then went back to my dorm to change clothes before going to visit her in the nurse’s office.

The audience that Yoona had attracted for her kissing booth had dispersed since the show was over (Yoona had later decided to just kiss the last few guys herself in order to make sure they kept their promise in voting for her) but my so-called “friends” were still hanging around.

Of course they teased me to no end. In fact, to this very day, they still haven’t let it go.

“So Kai,” Sehun had asked sniggering like the buffoon he was. “How was your kiss with your precious Minji, huh?”

“Yeah, was it everything you imagined it would be?” Baekhyun had joined in. “Oh wait! That’s right! You couldn’t kiss her when she was too busy vomiting all over you!”

Insert: hysterical laughter from all of my jackass friends. I just ignored them all, but not before flipping the finger at them, of course.

When I’d reached the nurse’ office, I was surprised to find out that Minji had already left. Based from how sickly she had looked earlier I had thought that she would’ve ended up having to stay in the nurse’ office for the rest of the night; however, when I had asked the nurse if Minji was still in her care, she’d told me that she’d given Minji some medicine that instantly made her feel better and that her friends then checked her out.

I was glad that she felt better, but I found it a bit strange that she’d left the nurse’ office so quickly. 

At the time, I couldn’t understand why the girls even bothered to let Minji go up to kiss someone in the first place if they knew she was sick. They had to know. I had considered the idea that Yoona was so desperate to win the vote for secretary that she was willing to force her friends to participate in her campaign.

But now I knew better.

I know the girls were doing a little plotting and scheming of their own just like us guys.

Knowing what I know now, I could see why Minji had participated even despite being sick. I’d remembered asking her why she’d chosen to partake in Yoona’s kissing booth. She had responded something that I was too…distracted to really pay attention to; it was something along the lines of: 

We’re girls.

We have to stick together.

It’s not like we can trust you or the rest of these guys anyways.

Between the strange, sudden friendship between Minji and Yoona and that little comment Minji had made, I should’ve known then that something wasn’t right. This had to be the reason for Yoona’s suspicious behavior when I was questioning her about the authenticity of her and Minji’s friendship.

That meant that Minji as well as the rest of the senior girls had obviously figured out about the prank all us senior guys were planning on them by then. And that’s obviously when they decided to retaliate.

But this revelation hadn’t come to me until later after what had happened on Monday; the day I now considered to be the worst day of my existence. I never cared for Mondays before, but now I seriously hated them with a passion.

Oh, what’s that? You want to know happened on Monday? Well, I’m glad you asked because now I can show you just how evil my now “ex” co-president is.

It had all started earlier this week when I woke up on Monday morning…

*

……………. *sniffs* …………… *grumbles* ………….. *groans* …………… ugh …………… my eyes won’t open ………….. wait, a minute ………… ah, now they’re opening …………… *yawns* ………….. *looks around* …………………. I’m on the floor ……………………. why? ................................. *sits up* ……..………… whoa! …………… *gets dizzy* ……………….. my head feels heavy  …………………. *holds head and rubs eyes* …………………. crap, it’s Monday, isn’t it? ……………… I bet I’ll have to get ready for school soon …………… maybe I should just skip— *gets distracted by the sound of the TV and looks up* ……………….. The TV is on ………….. why? ……………….. and why is the game still on? ……………………... *hears snoring and looks up across the room* …………… Sehun? …………….. how can he sleep in such an uncomfortable position? ……………. *glances down* …………..  he’s still got the controller in his hand ………….. *looks back at the TV* ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..….. oh, that’s right, we were playing a video game last night …………….. but why didn’t we turn it off before falling asleep? ……………. *thinks hard* ………………………. I don’t even remember getting tired ……………. and why did I choose to sleep on the floor? ………………. and, why does my stomach still hurt????? 

It’s early in the morning, and although I’ve just begun to awaken from a deep sleep, I’m still half-asleep, so I feel as if I have just come out of a year-long coma, and my thought process is a bit slow.

I feel strange, but I don’t know why. Apparently, according to my current position, I had fallen asleep on the floor, but this is odd to me because normally, this is something I would never do. About two meters away from me, is my perfectly comfortable full-sized bed, so why I had chosen to sleep on the floor is beyond my understanding.

Yawning, I sit up from my laid-out position on the floor, rubbing at my eyes, wearily, however, the unexpected weight of my head catches me off guard and I almost collapse back down.

My head feels heavy, my eyes feel heavy, my body feels heavy and all I want to do is let my body plop back down so that I can drift back to sleep.

But I can’t.

I know its Monday, so I’m pretty sure I either have to start getting ready for school soon, or, I only have a limited amount of time before I have to start getting ready so it’d be pointless to try and go back to sleep either way. However, with the way I feel I at the moment, I could sleep through the entire school day and not give a damn. For a split second I even consider doing just that, but the sound of the Plasma TV running steals my attention away.

Letting my heavy eyes slowly glide up to the TV across the room, I stare at the lit up screen, stupidly, for I don’t know how long until it finally occurs to me that I had been playing a video game the night before. Then I realize that both Sehun and I had been playing, actually.

And as if on cue, my ears suddenly pick up on the sound of his light snoring from above me.   

Looking up to my left, I see Sehun’s entire body sprawled out all over his bed, but his upper-half is hanging off the side. It doesn’t look like a very comfortable position, but clearly this doesn’t matter because he’s out like a light—mouth wide open, drooling, and all. It looks like he’d even fallen asleep while in the middle of playing the game because his hand is still loosely gripping the game controller.  

When I turn my attention back to the TV I see that the game was never even paused. The character is still on the screen, holding his gun, waiting for a player to move him, so now I’m certain that Sehun and I must have fallen asleep in the middle of the game, but this seems odd to me too. Sure, we’d stayed up all night playing video games plenty of times before, but we’d always turned it off once we got tired of it. We had never just crashed out in the middle of playing only to leave the game running the whole night.  

What’s stranger is that I don’t even remember falling asleep. Well, never do I actually remember the moment I fall asleep, however, this time I have absolutely no recollection of ever even having gotten sleepy. I remember Sehun and I had been playing the game with some people over the internet, and then Sehun had started slurring curses at them because they sank his tank or something, and then next……..nothing. Just blank.     

I sit still for a moment, not yet ready to spring to action, while waiting for my mind to awaken a little more before I head for the showers. A good, hot shower is usually all it takes to awaken me, but the moment I turn, I feel a pain in my stomach and I suddenly remember the stomachache I had had the night before. And that’s when it occurs to me:

That’s why I had laid down on the floor!

Sehun and I had been playing video games, when my stomach started to hurt, and that was when I had let him take over while I just watched. Then Sehun had started losing which resulted in him yelling, and I had been laughing, and………………… that was honestly as far as I could remember, so I figure that must have been when I had fallen asleep. But it was still very strange to me that I had fallen asleep so suddenly.  

Now finally understanding what had happened, I allow my body to plop right back down on the shag carpeted floor.

At least I was smart enough to grab a pillow before crashing out, I muse as I shift my head over the cushion a few times, liking the feel of it. The longer I lay, the more inclined I feel to just skip school for the day. They’ll ask for a reason tomorrow, but I can just say that I was sick, which technically isn’t a lie since my stomach is still bothering me for unknown reasons.

I figure that Maybe I’d just eaten too many sweets over the weekend during the elections. That had to be it. After all, everybody had been giving out endless freebies, so I had gone a little crazy when it had come to the confectionaries.

I make a mental note to go down to the nurse and get some antacids. She’s pretty nice so I know she’ll write me up a note which I figure I can later hand in to my English teacher but that’s when I remember…

Today was the day of our presentations! Crap! I’d totally forgotten, so I can’t skip!

Last week, Mrs. Jordan had made us sign up in numerical order for when we wanted to do our presentations and since Chanyeol was my partner, we had chosen to be the fifth pair to present. She had made a big deal about the presentations too.

“When it is your turn to present, I don’t want any excuses,” she had said over a week ago. “This is why I’m letting you and your partners choose when you will present so that you have plenty of time to finish and you can manage your time effectively that way you know when to be ready. Presentations won’t start until next week but when your number is called, if you’re still not ready to present, I will be deducting twenty points from your presentation grade. No excuses!”    

Craaaaaaap! This was all because of Ms. Jordan and her abnormal obsession with order. The woman seriously had some issues.

Well, at the very least, at least my part of the presentation is finished, I reason. After all, I had taken the liberty of calling up Krystal’s “homework help hotline” to have someone write up my assignment. I remember when I had seen her station out in the field with a large sign post that had read the number “1-800-HOMEWORK” in bold. Just like everyone else who had been running for student office and had used bribes to gain votes, she had made her own hotline promising that if the students voted for her, she’d get their homework done.

I voted for her. After all, I was the one who originally elected her out of the other candidates in the first place, and in return, she promised that she’d have one of her workers type up my assignment by Monday.   

Well, Monday was here. Now it was just a matter of getting in contact with Krystal to pick up my assignment.

For the next couple of minutes, I stayed in my position on the floor, rubbing at my stomach, thinking it may help ease the tightness. It nearly feels like someone is taking my intestines, and twisting them up (very much the same way a person wrings out a wet towel) with their bare hands.

I know I should go on and get ready in order to get to the nurse’s office ahead of time if I want to get some medicine before school begins, but I don’t feel like moving. All I want to do is--  

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

On impulse, I sit straight up, my back completely erect, and gawk at the closed door of me and Sehun’s dorm, stomachache forgotten.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!” the sound of someone’s screaming from on the other side of the door follows. “WHATTHE?!”

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Boom! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

If I was feeling too exhausted to get up before, I‘m not anymore because just from the sound of the blows coming from the other side of the closed door of me and Sehun’s shared dorm, and I’m shaken wide awake, eyes bulging and all.

“Huh?” I hear a still half-asleep Sehun drone, obviously stirred awake from all the ruckus. “What’s that?”

“I don’t know,” I answer mechanically, too disturbed by the pelting sounds firing off the door and down the hall.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!

I stare at the door feeling a mixture of concern, disconcertment, curiosity, and…a little fear. From inside of our room, I can hear that something out there is pounding mercilessly at the door and at the hallways walls. In fact, it sounds as if a machine gun is being fired off, shooting an endless round of bullets through the hallway. Whatever it is, it’s banging against our door so hard its vibrating like it’s about to bust open in any second.

I want to open the door and check what it is that’s out there, but I’m afraid.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” I hear yelling again, as the pelting continues in the hallway and at our door, but this time, it’s not just one person that’s screaming, it’s followed by the sounds of many terrorized screams. From the screams alone, my mind fills with images of a warzone where the military men are fighting on the front lines.     

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!

“ATTACK!” Someone screams from the hall again through all the commotion. “ATTACK ON THE BOYS’ DORMITORY!”

“An attack?” Sehun repeats, now getting out of bed. He’s fully alert now as he glances over at me, and I, at him. For a moment, we both just stare at one another mirroring the same worried expressions before Sehun finally asks, “Who would attack our dorm?”   

I have no answer to his question, but I decide to go ahead and bravely head for the door, even whilst having to hold my stomach the entire time I’m moving over to it because it’s aching again; however, by the time I’m actually opening the door, I’m already regretting it because—OOF!

Bright yellow stars. For a minute, all I can see are bright yellow stars.

 “ARRRRGH!” I groan in pain as I stumble back, my hands immediately coming up to clutch at my now pelted left eye. But then I lose my balance and end up landing hard on my back. Normally, I’d be thankful for our soft shag carpet which has kept the impact of the fall from being painful, but it’s what’s happening to me next that makes me ungrateful.

BALLS.

MANY. HARD. . BALLS. And they’re pelting my body relentlessly from every side; however, it’s my chest that seems the primary target. Immediately, I curl into a ball, trying to shield myself from being hit in any more delicate areas but the balls just end up decking me in the back.

Dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk…

I groan some more through my clenched my teeth as I try to slither my body away from being hit, but it’s no use. The balls flying are everywhere.

 I can hear the sound of them ricocheting all around our room, breaking glass, knocking things over, banging into walls and so forth. I don’t know where Sehun’s run off too, but from the sound of a door suddenly slamming shut, I assume he’s taken cover in one of the closets.

“IT”S AN ATTACK!” I hear someone yell again at the top of their lungs from down the hall. “ATTACK ON THE BOY’S DORMITORY!”

“RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!” the sound of another’s screams comes.

What the hell is going on? I wonder as I hope for all the commotion to end soon.

But it’s about another good minute or so of nonstop action before things finally do settle down and the balls are no longer attacking me or anything else in the room. Even the balls in the hall seemed to have died down, and all I can hear is the sound of them rolling around the hallway’s hard wood floor. Nobody is screaming anymore, but I can hear groans and moans and a few curses.

In comparison to all of the noise that had taken over the halls only a moment ago, it is now so silent my ears are ringing. Then finally, a moment later, I hear the sound of Sehun’s voice call out to me from somewhere in the room.       

“Dude, are you okay?” he asks while I’m still on the floor with my eyes clamped shut. I want to open them, but it hurts too much to even do that. All I can see are the bright yellow stars through the darkness of my closed eyes.

“It was flying golf balls,” I hear him again, his voice calmer now that the commotion has quieted. I feel him come over to me while I’m still huddled up. The feel of his hand stirs me, and I glance up, but I find myself only being able to do so through one eye. Sehun’s eyes widen instantly as he looks at me. “Oh dude! You’re eye looks awful!”

“Is it that swollen?” I ask already knowing the answer. I’ll bet I look like I’ve been stung in the eye. I should’ve just left the damn door closed instead of letting my curiosity get to me. Now, all because I’d chosen to open the door, a stupid golf ball ended up decking me straight in the eye and now its swollen shut.

I see Sehun extending a hand, seeming to want to touch my eye, but I swat it away.

“It’s uh…..” he trails, staring at it like he’s trying to figure out what to say without worrying me too much. “Its…”

“Hey! Are you guys alright?” the sound of someone else’s voice inquires through our open door, grabbing both our attention. I see its Kris who’s still in his pajamas. He looks just as tattered as I bet I look only he doesn’t have a swollen eye to go with it. Kris apparently takes notice of mine though, because his already furrowed brows furrow even further, making his face look harder than it normally does. “Damn! Did you get hit in the eye by one of these things?”

He’s referring to the golf balls.

I sit up, and I have to clutch my stomach again. Amidst all the commotion (and all the other aches I’d gained thanks to being mauled by golf balls), I had forgotten that it even hurt.

“Yeah, I did,” I grumble out rubbing at my stomach.

“Man, you guys have to come out here and see this,” he says, turning around to look down the hallway. Sehun and I glance at one another before following suit, only while Sehun walks, I crawl, too pained to actually get up.

“What are you doing?” Sehun asks confusedly.

“Dude, I can’t walk. Everything hurts.”

As I crawl, the first thing I notice through the open door is that the hallway floor has been covered in what appears to be rat traps; golf balls, just like Sehun had said they were, roll around the hard wood floor, aimlessly.

Once I’m actually out the door, I’m stunned by what I can see through my one good eye.

The entire hall floor from one end, all the way to the other end where it turns is decked out in an endless field of rat traps. The golf balls cover the floor as well, thus tripping any of the guys trying to move down the hall. On top of that, the walls have been completely vandalized; in bright, bold red, the word “Payback” has been spray painted repeatedly.

 “Damn,” I hear Sehun curse in shock from above me. “Who the hell did all this?”

Someone with a serious vendetta, my mind immediately responds.

And that’s when it fully occurs to me exactly what has happened. This is one of the oldest practical jokes to ever be pulled.

All you have to do is set down some rat traps, then place some type of ball in them (usually people use ping-pong balls in order to avoid causing damage) and then when someone comes and steps on one of the traps, not only are they in excruciating pain, but they are suddenly being pelted with flying, balls bouncing all over the place.

The very fact that whoever did this had used golf balls for the prank tells me that they intended to cause serious physical damage, and just from appearances, they did just that. All down the hallway, plenty of my fellow dorm mates are laid out looking just as beaten and swollen as me.

For a minute, I stay glued in my spot in my spot, taking in the devastation that now surrounds us all until I hear the sound of Kris banging against the door to his dorm room, yelling at Tao to open up.

“Damn it, Tao!” I see him angrily beating against the door. “Why are you hiding in there anyways? Come on, man. I need to get my stuff!”

“GO AWAY!” I hear what sounds to be a very emotional Tao scream from the other side of the door.

Kris and Tao are roomed right beside me and Sehun, so we’re kind of like neighbors to each other. However, Kris and Tao hardly ever fight, so it’s a little weird seeing the two act in such a way towards one another.

I follow Sehun over to Kris, still crawling as he kicks aside the stuff crowding the floor for me, clearing the way a bit. Once we make it over, Sehun asks Kris what’s wrong.

“Man, Tao’s locked himself inside the room and I don’t know why,” he gripes while I use Sehun’s body as a leverage to hoist myself up from the floor, and then lean against him to keep myself standing. I’m that sore.  

Kris’ fist then comes up to bang against the door again in anger. “Now, I’m stuck out here in nothing but my boxers!”

Technically, he’s got on an undershirt as well, but I still see his dilemma. He’s wearing boxers that have little alpaca’s all over them—not very manly for someone with Kris’ image. 

“Better your boxers, than brief underwear,” I joke in return, which causes Kris to fix me with a hard glare.

Sehun snorts before shaking his head. “Dude…”

I mean to question the disapproval tone of his voice, but I’m cut off by the sound of our dorm advisor’s voice bellowing throughout the hall.

“Alright, I’m going to need everyone to return to their dorms, right away!” Tony An, our dorm advisor, or D.A, as we like to call him, demands as he comes down the hall. He’s pushing a large dust-sweeper broom down the hall, clearing the floor of the traps and balls. Some of the guys began scrambling to get out of the way and back to their rooms, but some linger, which makes Tony a little more forceful. “Come on guys. Up and out of the way! Back to your dorms!”

Some other kids get up, but instead of going to their dorms, they head off down the hall and around the corner.

“No, guys are you listening to me?!” Tony growls as everyone seems to ignore him. “I said to your dorms!”

“Hey Tony!” Kris suddenly calls, grabbing our DA’s attention. “What’s going on?”

“That’s what Hee Joon and I are trying to figure out,” Tony says as he comes up to us, still pushing the broom. He’s referring to the other DA for the senior boy’s dormitory, but Hee Joon is stationed on the second floor.

When Tony catches sight of me he suddenly frowns. “What happened to your eye?”

I grimace, looking down embarrassedly.

“He was smacked in the eye by one of these things,” Sehun answers as he kicks a roaming golf ball with his foot. 

Tony shakes his head, going back to what he was talking about before. “Whatever. For now, I want you guys all to go on back to your rooms and—hey!”

He’s suddenly been sidetracked by the sight of some guys having come out of their rooms only to zip right past us, and then disappear around the corner. “Guys, where are you going? To your rooms, now!”

“Sorry Tony, but I have a bathroom emergency!” one guy yells as he speeds off.

“Me too!” yells another.

“Ugh, these damned kids don’t listen to me,” Tony mutters in disdain before turning back to us. “As I was saying, you three go back inside, and I’ll get to Hee Joon so we can figure out how this all happened.”   

“But I can’t get in my room,” Kris says. “Tao’s locked the door.” Tony sighs and puts down the sweeper-broom for a moment.

“Step aside,” he tells Kris. Tony then taps the door with his knuckles a few times before speaking to Tao through the closed door.

“Tao! This is your DA, Tony. If you don’t open this door by the time I count to ten, I’m busting in whether you like it or not!”

There’s no response from Tao, so Tony starts counting up. “One…two…ten!”

Tony pulls out from his pocket, his master key that can open any lock in the boys’ dormitory and inserts it into the lock. It immediately unlocks, and he turns the knob to open the door, but before he can even push it open, the sound of Tao’s voice exclaims, “Wait!” right before the door slams shut again.

“See!” Kris groans, fed up. “I don’t know what he’s doing in there.”

“Man, I don’t get paid enough for this,” Tony grumbles, pinching at the bridge of his nose like he’s stressed out. He then turns to Kris and gestures to Sehun and I. “Look, just hang out in their dorm for right now.”

Not wanting to cause Tony any more trouble than what he already has to deal with (and the fact that I would love to have an excuse to stay in my room all day considering the way I feel), we go ahead and do what he’s said, but just as I turn around, the sight of Chanyeol’s gangly body running down the hall at full speed, towards us, stuns me.

“MOVE ASIDE!” Chanyeol yells and I immediately side-step, trying to get out the way, but I’m still sore and therefore, am unable to move quickly enough, so as he passes, he shoves me aside so hard that I end up crashing into Sehun who then crashes into Kris who then crashes into the wall like a domino effect.

Immediately, though, while Chanyeol is in full speed, Tony grabs him by the shoulder, stopping him and flings him around, but it’s not for very long, because before Tony can even get any words out of his mouth, Chanyeol has jerked out of Tony’s grasp and has sped lightning fast down the hall.

 “Yeol, where do you think you are going?!” Tony yells after Chanyeol’s retreating frame.

“Man, I have to go the bathroom!” Chanyeol cries back before disappearing around the corner like so many of the rest of the guys. In fact, it’s just then that I notice it seems to be getting really loud around the corner like there’s a large crowd down there.    

“Oh no!” Tony says gravely. “I think it’s happening up here too.”

“You think what’s happening?” I ask picking myself up, again, using Sehun for leverage. Along with Kris, the three of us begin following after Tony since he’s now taken off down the hall.

“I woke up this morning to a text from Hee Joon,” Tony begins explaining. “Apparently the guys on the second and third floors have all filled the bathrooms and all have a bad case of diarrhea or something.”

“What?!” the three of us gawk simultaneously.              

“Yeah, and someone’s replaced the stalls with duct tape instead of tissue,” Tony replies and turns the corner, us right on his tail. “That’s why I was going down there to see what was going on, but apparently, the same thing…is…happening up here too…”

Tony has gone silent; in fact, all of us have because of the sight before us. Three Words:

Complete. Mad. House…or Dormitory.

*

I sigh as lean back in the office chair, remembering the sight of the state of the boys’ bathroom that morning. Never had I ever been so grossed out before. Although I hadn’t seen what the state of the girls’ dormitory looked like the morning after we had pulled the diarrhea prank on them a few months back, I wondered if it looked anything as bad as it did in ours’ because it was ghastly.

The bathrooms in the dormitory’s were large; there were plenty of stalls—at least 20 of them—but because every dude that lived on the first floor was trying to use them all at once, every stall was filled, thus leaving the longest line to the boy’s bathroom that I had ever seen. Unfortunately, some guys who couldn’t wait any longer had resulted to crapping themselves in the hallway. Some guys crapped in the urinals…some crapped in the sinks...

I felt really bad for the janitor who had to clean it up later.

But that wasn’t even the worst of it.

Chanyeol! Man, the poor guy! I remember him saying how he had eaten a ton of Kris’ chocolate when he had been trying to steal Minji’s ticket away from him for me. Since the line was too long, he ended up turning the hallway garden bed into a toilet, but then what made it worse was when the other guys started to follow his example!

Pretty soon, half the guys that had been in line were ting in the garden bed.

Those poor plants…

Then, the girls had had the nerve to rid every stall, as well as the supply closet, of every roll of tissue in the boys’ dormitory. But they left us duct tape instead. That was downright cruel! But I’ll admit that the whole “Jigsaw” theme was a nice added touch for their prank.

I just wish I had known earlier this week that it was going to turn out to be such a ty Monday—both literally and figuratively. If I’d known that, I would’ve stayed back in my dorm room all day like Tony had originally told us too. But see, I remembered that there was still an important project that had to be presented for our English class that morning and that our grade would be tarnished for not being prepared on time; plus, Ms. Jordan was a hard- teacher, so I figured she wouldn’t take any excuses like having diarrhea.

Chanyeol was my partner, but he had been in no condition to present that day, so I had told him I would just do the presentation for the both of us. After all, I had figured since his part of the essay assignment was already finished, and mine had been completed all thanks to Krystal, all I would have to do is show up to class for a few minutes, read the essays, and then I could just call out sick for the rest of the day, and have my father sign me out.

But this wasn’t what ended up happening…no, this was where things got even worse (and the reason those senior girls had been laughing at me a second ago).

I had gotten to Krystal before school had started and she had had my paper all ready and typed up just like she had promised (or at least that’s what I had believed at the time). At the time, I hadn’t bothered to look through the paper, but now I know I should have because it would’ve saved me a ton of embarrassment. All I knew was that the front looked neat, and professional like an essay should, so I figured everything was okay. 

She’d smiled at me sweetly, and thanked me again for voting for her before running off to class at the sound of the bell. I still didn’t feel all that great, so I took my time making it to class, and just presented Ms. Jordan with a tardy note given to me from the office.

Some of the guys from English had been missing though—not a lot, but at least a few of them meaning they were all back in the dormitory, still glued to the toilets. However, I had noticed that all the girls had made it to class just fine… except for Minji. She hadn’t been in her usual seat when I had arrived which I had found strange since Minji was generally on time for class five days out of five. She was supposed to be presenting with Kris—who was in class that day—since the two of them were partners, but I didn’t see how that was supposed to happen if she wasn’t even there.

“Where’s your partner?” I had asked Kris as I had sat down in front of him in my seat, like usual.

Kris shrugged. “I don’t know any more than you do. She’s just out today.”

“But what about your grade?”

“We’re one of the last to present, so we’re probably not going to have to do it until tomorrow.”

After hearing that, I had grimaced and turned back around and put my head down, wishing Chanyeol and I had signed up as one of the last to present instead of one of the first. Then, I wouldn’t have had to go in to class that day in order to save our asses from failing.

I didn’t know how I was supposed to pull off a good presentation. I was hardly in a presenting mood that morning after everything that had happened, along with the fact that my stomach was still aching like crazy. In fact, you could say I was downright grouchy. But I had figured that all I had had to do was wait for Ms. Jordan to get to the presentations and then I could leave after mine was over.  

But having to wait had proven to be horrible because the longer I had sat in my chair, the more my stomach twisted into knots to the point I was ready to cry. Then, an overwhelming amount of pressure started to erupt in a really uncomfortable place. And I knew what was wrong…I had to fart. Like really badly.

But I was in the middle of class; plus, Kris was right behind me, so I couldn’t.

 After that morning’s spectacle of what had happened to the rest of the guys I already knew what was wrong with my own stomach, but I had thought that I could at least make it long enough to give the stupid presentation. But I had been wrong…

I had needed the bathroom.

“Ms. Jordan,” I had called, waving my hand in the air frantically. “I need go to the bathroom.”

Ms. Jordan had given me a hard look through her glasses. “Mr. Kim, why did you wait until the very moment I was going to start presentations to have to use the restroom? You know listening to your classmate’s presentations is part of your grade, right?”

“But I really have to go!” I had begged, trying to use my best sorrowful gaze, so that she’d feel bad for me and allow me to leave.    

“Tell you what,” she had said. “If you do your presentation first, then I’ll let you go without docking any points from you or Chanyeol’s grade.”

I had really needed to get out of class, so I’d had to take the deal. I’d agreed, but I had also been afraid to stand because I had still been holding in the irresistible urge to fart. My entire way up to the front of the classroom, I’d had to clench my cheeks to keep from expelling any gas. By the time I was up there, I was shaking from having to squeeze so hard.

“What’s wrong with his eye?” I had heard one of the students whisper, which had caused me to sulk knowing that it still looked hideous. The swelling had gone down, but it was badly bruised.  

“Uh…hello everyone,” I had spoken to the classroom in a voice that wasn’t typically my own. I could hear how different I sounded; my voice was small and shy—not like me at all, but I had felt terribly uncomfortable up there, and had even felt a little vulnerable considering the fact that I had to try to hide the fact that I needed to fart desperately.

“My partner Chanyeol couldn’t be here today, so I’m going to read his part of the essay, but first I’ll start with my own.”

I had then flipped through the pages of my essay, ready to read it aloud, but once I flipped to the first page and saw what was there, or rather, what wasn’t there, I had frowned.

Blank.

Just a white page staring back at me. Speechless, I had flipped to the next page.

Blank again.

So then I had flipped to the next.

Blank as well.

In fact, as I continued flipping, all the pages to my “essay” had all been blank until I got to the very last page where only one word presented itself to me.

PAYBACK.

It had been typed all in caps lock, all in bold, and had been staring right at me and it was then that I knew Krystal had played me.

“Is something the matter, Mr. Kim?” Ms. Jordan had asked me getting up from her desk and walking over to me.

“U-uh…” I had stammered having had a hard time coming up with an answer, but it was too late, she had already snatched the “essay” out of my hands and was looking it over.

“Mr. Kim, what is the meaning of this?” she had asked bluntly. “There’s nothing here! Is this supposed to be a joke?”

“I-I…u-uh…um…”

And then, it happened. In all my nervousness, I had forgotten I was trying to hold in a fart, and had accidentally unclenched my cheeks, which had resulted in the worst thing to ever happen to me.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

………….

……………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Silent. The whole classroom was dead silent.  

I swear space, time, and the whole world all stopped to stare at me. Then, they laughed.

Except for Ms. Jordan, who had stood staring at me with the most surprised look on her face, but I hadn’t stuck around to explain anything to her. I had bolted for the door, and had headed straight for the bathroom. But there had been one problem: in all my haste to get to the restroom without crapping pants, I had accidentally ended up running into the girls’ bathroom.

I hadn’t recognized it until I was sitting in the stall and had noticed the tampon dispenser on the side of the stall wall.

“Oh …” I had cursed to myself.

“Oh is correct, Mr. President,” an awfully familiar feminine voice had suddenly responded as a she stepped inside the bathroom. My heart had instantly stopped at the sound of that voice, but unfortunately, my crapping hadn’t as it landed into the toilet bowl with a loud plop followed by the sounds of thunderous farting.

My head had fallen forwards in embarrassment.

The voice had immediately started laughing, hysterically, along with a few others, and that was then I had noticed the pairs of feet coming into view from underneath the bathroom stall.

“Oh Kim Jongin, you thought you could fool us girls and get away with it, didn’t you?” she had said and just from the pitch, I had automatically known who it was. I had gotten too accustomed to the sound of that voice to not know who it was. I could just picture the smirk that had to be forming on her face as she stood on the outside of the bathroom stall I had been in.  

“Minji!” I had growled out with as much ferocity as I could muster up, trying to sound threatening despite my sitting position on the toilet of the girls’ bathroom. “I don’t know what it is you’re planning, but you better not…”

“I better not what?” she had cut me off. Then the sight of leg stands to a chair had suddenly appeared from the opening at the bottom of the stall. I had seen one slender leg climb onto the chair followed by another. The sounds of the doors to the bathroom stalls on either side of me had opened as well as two people entered them.

I had figured what was happening.

I had looked up dumbly, and saw three faces smiling down at me through the top of the stall I was in. One was my co-president, giving me the most devilish grin I had ever seen her give; the other was Yoona, and the last had been…

“Jiyeon,” I had whispered under my breath. The girl the guys and I had originally filmed farting in class before putting it online.       

“Hello Mr. President,” Jiyeon had said, only she was holding a recording camera in her hands while smirking down at me. “Now it’s your turn to be caught on candid camera! Smile!”  

***

I pout as I recall the embarrassing event that had happened in the girl’s bathroom. I didn’t know what those girls planned to do with that footage they shot of me ting on the toilet, but my guess was that they were going to put it online just like we had done with the video of Jiyeon.

However, as far as I could tell, no word of the video had been spread across campus besides that of the seniors girls and myself. Even some of the guys still didn’t know about it, so that had me wondering just what they planned to do with it. Even more so, I wanted to know where the footage was.

That’s why I had come to speak with my father because I knew he would know how to get to the bottom of this.

“Kim Jongin,” my thoughts suddenly come to a halt at the sound of the front office lady gesturing me forward. I moved toward her and she informs me that my father is ready to see me now.

After that, she hits the buzzard that unlocks the office door.

As I enter, I immediately began making my way to my father’s personal office in the very back. After a few turns down a couple hallways, I arrive at his room, but it’s just as some people are exiting his office, which I recognized as some members from the school administrative board.

They’re all laughing, my father’s boisterous laugh amongst theirs as he shakes hands with the superintendent. My mother’s along with them as well, speaking with one of the Trustees, so I assume whatever meeting they had all just had, had gone well.

“Oh, Jongin, honey!” my mother greets me a little too excitedly as they all take notice of me. “How are you doing sweetie?” She then turns to the administrative members. “Of course you all know our son, Jongin.”

“Yes, the senior president of the academy,” the balding administrative member says as he sticks out his hand for me to shake, but I regret it the moment I do. His hands are clammy and I have to wipe my hand on my pants once he lets go.  “Soon he’ll be head of his own academy just like his father.”

If I could’ve rolled my eyes, I would’ve, but appearances were everything so I smile and nod, diligently, like a good student. Everyone else laughs before continuing down the hall.

“Go on, Jongin,” my mother says as she passes by. “You’re father’s ready for you.”

My father’s at the door saying a few last goodbyes, but I scurry around him and sit in one of his office chairs, waiting for him to finish. He finally closes the door before turning to head back to his chair on the other side of the desk.

“What was that all about?” I ask immediately, nudging my head to the door, referring to the board members that had just left with my mother.

My father shakes his head. “We’ll talk more about that later. Right now, I want to know why you came to see me.”

Straight to business. Just like my father.

I uncross my arms and sit up straight in the chair. I could be all business too.

“I wanted to talk to you about Gong Minji, my co-president and something that she and the rest of the senior girls did over this past weekend,” I tell him flat out. “You and mother originally wanted me to find some dirt on my co-president, well, I finally have something. It’s regarding what had happened in the boys’ dormitory earlier this week.”

There’s a momentary silence between the two of us as he stares at me through his dark eyes that mirror my own.

“Are you trying to tell me that she had something to do with it?” he finally asks.

“Not just something to do with it, everything to do with it.”

“That’s a serious accusation, Jongin,” he replies sternly. “You have no evidence…”

“There’s recorded video evidence,” I interrupt.

Silence again. He stares at me for a few seconds longer while I hold his gaze.

“Okay,” my father sighs finally. “I’ll have to investigate, but you do know that if this turns out to be true, that this is a case that’ll go to the administrative board. You and Minji both will have to make an appearance in the board of trustee’s court.”

“I’m aware,” I answer simply.

“Alright,” he says. “Tell me what all you know.”

Woo Hoo! \^0^/The boy's finally got pranked back! Anybody else want to celebrate that part? 

*Throws confetti*

Haha...man, you guys have no idea how much I stressed about writing out the prank scene! I hope it's okay...