HAPPY ANIVERSARY, ANGELIKA!!

 

Noona, you’re [not] a noona, but . . .

 

I hummed loudly to myself, trying to mask the intense rumbling in my stomach as I mopped the floor. I really needed some food. Ah, well, only a few hours of cleaning up the school before I could go home. I’d get my paycheck on Friday, though, so there wouldn’t be much to eat. Either way.

 

I plucked a cookie wrapper up off the floor and tossed it in the nearest trashcan. Damn children were all so messy . . .

 

At that point, I heard a tinkling laugh and looked up from my work to see a group of about six boys with hair the colour of the rainbow round the corner, talking to each other. One of them wore studded sunglasses and was busy flicking the others’ heads; one looked like a cat woman; another was constantly smiling and seemed to wink at nothing with every other step. He was a bit creepy.

 

I ignored them as they passed. A few seconds after that, another boy came tumbling down the hall. He looked like a girl too. “Sorry,” he apologized quickly when he accidentally stepped on my wide mop. “Hey! Wait up! Respect your Hyung!” I found it hard to believe the kid was older than them as he stumbled down the slick hallway, long golden hair trailing behind him. All seven rounded the corner and were out of sight. Huh.

 

I got to work on re-mopping the floor, their shoes having gotten dirt and mud on the tiles. Le sigh.

 

--

 

When I finally found my way home through the darkness and murderous traffic, I found the front door of the apartment wide open, all the lights out.

 

“Umma?” I called feebly to my mother, feeling for the light switch. My hand passed over a bug or two before the lights flicked on.

 

“Don’t come in!” I heard a raspy voice yell. “I’ll get you your money! Just leave!”

 

“Umma, it’s me, not the debt collector,” I called out to the blob of mother cowering in the corner. I spotted empty bottles of various alcohols lying around her.

 

“I told you to leave!” she roared, grabbing hold of a vodka bottle and hurtling it at my head. I ducked and the thing smashed into a million pieces against the far wall. I’d probably have to clean that up later.

 

Knowing she was in another one of those moods, I left the tiny apartment silently, knowing my destination already.

 

It took a few minutes to get there, but I eventually arrived at Kiki’s apartment down the street. I knocked on the door, and sure enough, the door pushed open and her head popped out. “Angelika!” she grinned, pulling the door open the rest of the way. I stepped inside and slipped my shoes off, collapsing in the nearest chair. “Aww, honey, what’s wrong?” she pouted and plopped down next to me, an arm around my shoulder.

 

“Mother’s drunk again,” I sighed, letting my head drop on her shoulder.

 

She tutted lightly, standing up and taking hold of my hand, “Here, let’s get you out of that uniform.”

 

About fifteen minutes later, with newly cleaned hair and fresh clothes, Keyshawn attempted to teach me a thing or two in Algebra. She’d been teaching me a few things since I didn’t go to school. I had to work so that I could make enough to support my mother and myself. Of course, I had to pretend to be at least twenty so nobody would question whether or not I should be forced to go to school and quit my job. “And since there’s absolute value, there can be more than one answer, you know? Like, positive or negative two, since they’ll both end up just plain two . . .”

 

I groaned and dropped my head onto the table, covering it with my arms. “Oh come on, Angelika . . .” she pulled at my arm to get me to come out, but I was a hermit crab. She sighed. “Fine, let’s take a little break . . .”

 

I clapped my hands excitedly and sat up straight, flipping my paper over. “So, anything special happen today?” she asked.

 

I shrugged. “Not much. Some kid stepped on my mop, though. Chasing after some of his friends or something.”

 

“Was he cute?” Kiki wriggled her eyebrows at me, grinning again.

 

I buzzed my lips and smacked her lightly on the arm. “Are you kidding? I’m, like, twenty or something!” I laughed, knowing I was only recently fourteen. Kiki laughed along. But, when I thought about it, all seven of the boys had been pretty good-looking . . .

 

--

 

I didn’t know why I was so excited to go to work at the school the next morning. My job was boring and difficult, save the occasional wisp of gossip I caught when walking down the hall to get to my next assignment. Either way, about ten minutes before buses would start arriving, I bounced towards my closet happily, intending on using my listening skills. Besides, it seemed the seven were new as I’d never seen them before. There was bound to be someone talking about them.

 

“Oi! Niel!” I heard a somewhat familiar voice call. That same blonde kid who claimed to be older than the other six’s voice echoed throughout the hall. The six rounded the corner in the hallway in the exact same formation as the afternoon before. “Daniel!” the blonde boy showed himself, skidding down the shining tiles towards the other boys.

 

“Don’t call me Daniel,” the boy with cat-like eyes and huge lips turned and seethed.

 

“Go away, Taemin. Stop being such a leech,” the oldest one with the dumb glasses also turned to look at the boy, and the other four did the same. He seemed to be the leader.

 

“Cap . . .” a shorter boy tugged on the sleeve of the oldest one. “Don’t be so mean.”

 

“Ricky, go to class. Take Chanjo.”

 

“But--”

 

“Go.” At that, the young boys stumbled off down the hallway, at least twenty minutes early to their first periods. It confused me. Why the heck were they here so early? Maybe they were in some school club that gathered in the morning or something.

 

From their talking, I’d gathered most of their names. The golden haired one by himself was called Taemin, the oldest with the dumb classes Cap, the smallest two Ricky and Chanjo, and the cat-woman one Niel. I still wasn’t sure about the other two, but one of them was a little creepy while the other had bright pink hair.

 

The kids almost looked like they were ready to get in a fight. Ricky and Chanjo were walking away as slowly as possible, watching the exchange between their Hyungs. I remembered that I was a janitor; in theory, I could give them detention if they misbehaved. I had pretty much the same rights as a teacher.

 

“Ahem,” I cleared my throat loudly. All of them, including the now still Ricky and Chanjo, turned slowly to look at me. I looked in each of their eyes in turn threateningly.

 

“What do you want?” the one called Cap said, breaking the silence.

 

Derp. “I -- er, you guys better not get in any fights!” I said in my best twenty-year-old noona voice.

 

“We weren’t gonna fight,” laughed the cat-like Niel. His head swiveled around to look back at Taemin as he said, “It’s not a fight if he doesn’t hit back.”

 

Taemin stuttered and stepped back as Cap advanced. “Hey! Quit it!” I stepped up to the tall kid and stepped between him and Taemin. “Okay, all six of you have detention! Taemin, go to class. Ricky, Chanjo -- er, actually, you guys can leave, I guess. Cap, Niel, and you two go to the office right now!”

 

“How old are you?” snickered the oldest.

 

“Older than you! I’m the school janitor! Now get a move-on!” I shooed them in the general direction of the office until Taemin was out of sight. “You know how to get there?” I asked.

 

“Yes, we toured this dump yesterday after school,” Cap said, more than a little angry.

 

“Good,” I huffed. “Go on!” I watched the boys sulk towards the office for a time before marching back to where Taemin probably was. He might’ve run off, but I wasn’t sure.

 

I got a headache as I located the boy standing awkwardly as if he didn’t know exactly what to do. “Taemin!” I called as I walked down the hall towards him. “You can go to class now.”

 

“How old are you?” he asked, almost bewildered.

 

“I already told you, I’m older than you!” I said in my noona voice again. Even I wasn’t convinced.

 

“You don’t look older than me,” he raised a brow suspiciously. “What’s your age?”

 

“You don’t ask a girl that kind of question!” I jabbed a finger at him, huffing and putting a hand on my hip.

 

 

“You look fifteen.”

 

“But I’m older!”

 

“I doubt that.”

 

“Well, uh, stop doubting!”

 

“Let’s start over. Oh, hello! I’m Taemin. I’m eighteen yet my donsaengs and Cap hate me for some reason. I’ve been told I’m a good dancer and that I’m good-looking. Now, what about you?”

 

His face seemed friendly enough. He seemed pretty trustworthy. Besides, what if I told him? He was already suspicious; telling him I was older again wouldn’t change his opinion one bit. Also, what would he do with my age? Tell on me? He hardly seemed the type. He was probably just curious. “Uh, hi,” I said, following his format. “I’m Angelika. I’m fourteen. My mother is a messed up alcoholic and I need to pretend I’m twenty in order to keep my job so I can support her and me. My friend Keyshawn takes me in when things get too tough, like last time: my mother kept throwing bottles at me until I left, thinking I was a debt collector. Kiki teaches me a few things each week since I’m too busy with my job to go to school. If anyone with authority knows I’m only fourteen, they’ll send me back to school and I’ll lose my job.” Life story time, eh? My stomach grew a knot of dread as the back of my mind feared he might run away and tell someone. To my relief, however, he smiled lightly.

 

“That’s what I was looking for,” he chuckled. “You don’t look twenty, by the way. I’d say sixteen at most.”

 

“Yeah, try not to tell anyone about me, by the way,” I said somewhat nervously.

 

“Oh, that’s what you want?” a mischievous look flashed across his face. “In that case, you just might have to bribe me.”

 

“I stared blankly at him. “Did you listen to me before? I have nothing. Unless you want an empty wine bottle, I can’t give you anything.”

 

He chuckled again. “Oh, nothing like that. It doesn’t have to be an object.” He stepped closer and I felt my heart beat just a bit faster. “You seem like an interesting person, Angelika,” he said smoothly, still stepping forward. I caught my breath. When he was a foot or two away from me, he changed completely, giving me his most adorable look possible. Sparkly eyes and everything. He shrugged his shoulders and clasped his hands. “Will you go on a date with me?”

 

I looked at that puppy face in all its glory. His fat eyes sparkled as he bit his lip in anticipation. “Uh, okay . . .” I said hesitantly. He made some sort of puppy-like yelp of joy and hopped, clapping his hands a little. “I’ll take you somewhere after school! Meet me here when you’re done~” he began to skip off down the hallway.

 

“Wait! Taemin! Where are we going?” I called after him, the hard walls making my voice bounce and echo towards his ears.

 

“It’s a surprise!” he called back, waving goodbye as he turned the corner and disappeared. I shook my head slowly, smirking a little bit as I turned to walk to my janitor’s closet and get started for the day.

 

 

 

Aish, sorry for the lame derpishness around the end. I couldn’t think of anything smoother. At least it gets the plot through. I’ve got a few plot devices bouncin’ ‘round in me noggin, so that’s good.

 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY AND SORRY IT’S ALL LATE AND STUFF!

By the way, I’m kind of freaking out right now because an ant crawled under the Ctrl key. I pressed it a bunch, but I dunno if it’s dead or not.