I got to the classroom of my second period, Art. I was alright with this class. I wasn’t good at drawing, painting, or sculpting, but our teacher, Sung seonsaengnim, didn’t really care. As long as you passed something that she saw you work on, she was totally fine with it.

Settling down in front of my assigned table, I waited for the rest of the class, and more importantly, my teacher, to arrive.

My mind brought me back to what Jinyoung said earlier. Will he seriously ask her out? I should be happy for her, right? But why do I feel like something is wrong with the way it’s turning out?

“Alrighty, class,” my Sung seonsaengnim’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Today, we will be working on pottery. The principal finally approved of my proposal and bought enough pottery wheels for the class.”

She went out of the classroom and brought a huge cart back in.

“Grab yours and go back to your seat so I can explain the basics.”

We did as she said and I settled back onto my table, which I shared with 2 other people: one of the smartest kids in my year level, Seo Jinwoon, and the other was just one of my other batch mates, Park Chanyoung.

The teacher explained how she made the clay for us already, since making it in class would take up too much time. She handed us 2 balls of reddish-brown pottery clay, one for the initial pot, and the other for just in case we messed up. She also handed us aprons, saying it would get messy, and left a large bowl of water in the middle of the circular table.

She demonstrated in front what we should do, step by step. Afterwards, we started trying it on our own, with her roaming around to help us if we needed it.

By the end of the period, I had use only 1 of the clay balls, but my output barely even looked like a pot. It was deformed and misshapen, but I had other classmates who did worse, so I didn’t complain. The class itself was actually pretty fun, overall.

The rest of the day flew by pretty quickly, with me dozing off in English class, acing the practical test in PhysEd, and most importantly, me observing the way Jinyoung started to open up to Jaehee and talked to her.

I was waiting at the bottom of the stairs again, but this time, I was alone. Joey probably got caught up in show choir practice. I also got a text from Jaehee that read “Jinyoung asked me to meet him, so it will be a while before I meet you guys. OH. MY. GOD! What if the whole new image thing worked? What if he asks me out?! Thank you, Mark!”

I guess Jinyoung built up his courage throughout the day. I wonder what Jaehee will say when she gets here. She’ll probably spazz on the way home. I knew her too well.

I saw Jessica approach me, and she too, leaned against the railings.

“Jaehee is—“

“with Jinyoung. I know.” I cut her off.

“So, what are you gonna do about it?” she asked.

“Huh?” I looked at her, confusion written all over my expression.

“What are you gonna do about it? It’s pretty obvious that you like her.” Jessica said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“No I don’t!” I denied, almost laughing.

“Yes, Mark. You do.” She said, her tone becoming serious.

“B-but, I like you!” I blushed, looking down at my white school sneakers.

“Mark, do you know that if you said that 4 years ago, I would have been all giddy and said that I liked you too?” she asked.

“What? You like me?” I was in shock.

“Well, as I said, I would have if that was four whole years ago. But now, I’ve moved on already, and even though you don’t know it, you have, as well. You’re still in denial. Because of that huge crush you used to have, even though you are already attracted to someone else, you can’t seem to let go of your first love. And honestly, you never will, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t start loving someone else.”

“Wha- What do you—“

“And yes, Mark. I saw the way you used to look at me. It used to make me feel so special, and so satisfied. I loved that feeling. I came to Korea, not just because I wanted to see you, but also because I wanted to help you move on. I thought that you hadn’t yet, but I was wrong. All this time, you have been looking at someone else, without even realizing it.”

“So you’re saying that I like Jaehee?” I questioned.

“Well, that’s up to you to decide, Mark. You could ignore my advice completely and just go on with life. But I am telling you this now, I won’t accept your confession if you do decide to tell me that you still like me, because for one thing, I know that soon enough, you’ll realize what I’m telling you is true, even if it isn’t with Jaehee, and the second reason...” she took a deep breath, “I like someone else. And no, they aren’t from the States, they’re from here, and I just met them, but I already like them. I know it’s kind of stupid, but the heart wants, what the heart wants.”

This was the first time Jessica ever spoke like this, so seriously. Usually, it was just the happy-go-luck girl who didn’t have a care in the world and looked as if she had no burdens on her shoulders, but here she was, stressed about both of our love-lives.

“I don’t know, Jess. Why don’t I feel nervous when I’m with Jaehee like I am when I’m with you?” I asked.

“That’s how you know. You can let your guard down around the one you love and not be nervous about what they think of you, because you want them to fall in love with the real you.”

I was silent after that. I needed to give this some thought. I decided to change the topic,

“So, who’s that guy you were talking about? Do I know him?”

“You know him. Really well, actua—“

“Hey guys!” Jaehee practically hopped down the stairs.

“Hey.” A voice that was neither mine, nor Jessica’s said. It was Jinyoung, who was right behind Jaehee.

“Hi.” I replied.

“Well, Jaehee. I need to get going. Don’t forget to ask your parents if I can take you out on Saturday night.” He said.

“I won’t. Trust me.” she said, and he took her by surprise by kissing her forehead.

She stood there in shock, and was just staring at his retreating figure.

I looked to my left, noticing that Jessica didn’t utter a sound at all when Jaehee arrived, and that was when I saw it. The pain in her eyes.

Jaehee finally snapped out of it and turned around, a huge grin adorned her face.

“Oh? Joey’s not here yet?”

As if on cue, Joey exited the school doors, and Mom pulled up on the school driveway.

“Let’s go, then!” Jaehee said, excitedly, hooking her arm around Jessica’s.

Jessica gave her a smile, that to a normal person, looked genuinely happy, but after having a crush on her for so long, I knew that she was masking all her sadness.

“Yeah.” She replied, and they got into the vehicle.

A/N: Hello, my lovelies! I updated early, as I said last night, because I'm leaving to see my friends in a while. And thank God, this chapter is actually long-ish.

I wrote part fifteen, in hopes of clearing up all of that confusing  stuff that I wrote in the last few chapters.

In conclusion, if you don't get it, Jess is saying that Mark actually likes Jaehee and just doesn't know it yet, but he's denying that fact and eventually tells her that he likes her. She, however, says that she used to like him, but has moved on, and is now crushing on Jinyoung. But as said in the start and end of this chappie, Jinyoung is giving Jaehee a chance, and it pains Jessica to see them together. 

I hope that clears up all the confusion. Goodbye for now!~~~

P.S. - Jessica isn't mean, nor is there anything wrong with her. Some of you said there was something off about her, but really, she's okay. Cut her some slack.