Crazy Over Him

15: Trouble in Biology

"Homework check. Take out your work," Dr. Kim said and the students mumbled a reply.

Lisa took out her papers and laughed to herself. Ryan looked at her through the corner of his eye and whispered to her.

"Did you do the homework?" he asked quietly.

"Of course not. What do you think I am? A loser like you?" Lisa replied and played with the ends of her hair.

Ryan kept quiet and stared at her sheet.

"Yah, aren't you supposed to deny me and stand up for yourself? I called you a loser, Ryan. Are you agreeing with me?"

"All your solutions are wrong," he whispered and scanned the rest of her sheets. "These aren't even the right molecular diagrams."

"And what about it? He said we only needed to try."

"Lisa and Ryan, again." Dr. Kim's condescending voice echoed in the room.

Ryan slowly looked up while Lisa gave her teacher an expecting look to continue his lecture.

"Both of you stand up," he instructed and the two of them pulled themselves up from their seats. Lisa's chair dragged itself against the floor with a loud creek and Ryan lifted her chair to stop it. "Ryan, why were you looking at Lisa's homework? Were you trying to copy off of her?"

"No, sir. I wasn't."

"Then?"

"I...." Ryan debated on telling Dr. Kim that Lisa didn't finish her homework properly but he didn't want to put her in the spot like that.

"Who in this class believes that Ryan didn't copy Lisa's work?" Dr. Kim asked and all of the students raised their hands.

Lisa scoffed and crossed her arms, "seriously?..." she thought with an angry pout.

"I can assure you that Ryan did his own homework, Dr. Kim. We do our homework together everyday," Jisoo lied in hopes of helping Ryan out, but Dr. Kim didn't seem convinced.

"Jisoo, what's your grade in this class?" he asked and sat on his desk.

"Oh... Um, a 96, sir," Jisoo replied shyly as students gasped in shock of such a high grade.

"Ryan, what's yours?"

"A 94, sir."

Dr. Kim was speechless for a moment then rubbed his temples. "These kids have no life, do they?..." he thought to himself.

"I have a solid 69 if you're wondering, Dr. Kim." Lisa said it with a proud smile and the class laughed with her. Even though it was just a joke, she was actually barely passing this course. It wasn't her fault the school accidentally enrolled her into a senior course.

"Ryan," Dr. Kim started and Ryan stood taller, "... get on Jisoo's level."

"Yes, sir," Ryan said with a smile. He had helped Jisoo with her biology homework but never knew her mark until then, and he was proud of her.

"Lisa... You'll need some help to boost your mark so I've decided, just now, to make an assignment for the class. You'll work in partners to map out the cycles of Glycolysis, Krebs, and Oxidative Phosphorylation. Due next week so get started."