He Started It by Hitting on Me

Their Fracases Are Significant

My gaze has never ever left that intimidating piece of annoying, useless crap lying below me. It called out to me, begging desperately for the slightest attention. I knew it craved to get into my pants. Everything that had to be similar to that irritating thing wanted to get into my pants. And my main question is: why does math have to be so utterly and disgustingly annoying? Numbers really don't make sense after getting out of the basic phase, like from first grade. They add radicals and square roots and negative signs. Negative? When the hell are we going to use negative numbers in our lives?
"Get the hell away from me," I growled at the textbook, shoving it away from my face. I rested my forehead on my palm and gave out a heavy sigh in defeat. Nothing was easy. I couldn't do anything; I couldn't try.
I sighed once more. I knew what the consequences were to be if I was not able to pass my college entrance exam, which I might add is not so far away from now. At this rate I'll barely pass through the first question of the math section. English isn't so great either. Success is earned through hard work and I get a headache just by looking at a study sheet or a page in the textbook. Everyone thinks I'm some kind of dumbass, and it hurts a bit. People think I'm some kind of retarded fool that knew nothing. They didn't expect much from me. I was just known as a twit. I scoffed as I stared at the wooden desk below me. "Stupid," I muttered. That's what I was.
I got up from the chair and threw my backpack over my shoulder, signaled the librarian I was leaving, and headed out the door. I left the textbook back at the library; it was part of school's property anyway. I walked in the school hallways in the last minutes of my free period. I pursed my lips and silently tapped my right foot against the ground. I scanned the less than crowded hallway, taking in the view of a few kids studying and a couple, making out constantly. The blonde-haired girl smiled after her boyfriend-at least that's what I assume-pecked her on the lips, and then went to kiss him back. They were holding each other in a comfortable position as their lips failed to stop smooching.
I felt my stomach turn nervously. When will I ever experience this kind of romance? When will the time come when I get to hold my lover in my arms, kissing her lovingly, affectionately? Will I get a girl? Who? I averted my gaze away from them and gave out a small sigh. They probably won't last long.
The bell finally rang and people began to pour out of classrooms. I stood up straight from my slouched position and glanced at several people who began to chatter away with their friends. I sighed again.
Life sucks, and then you die.
I went in after everyone from the previous class exited. I bowed down to Professor Cheung before heading towards my seat. "Mr. Kim." I stopped in my tracks and turned my head around.
"Yes, Professor?" I asked.
Professor Cheung was scribbling something in that binder of his. "Are you studying?"
"Um...somewhat."
"Elaborate on that." Ugh, damn it.
"Uh, you know...I'm studying here and there, studying what I can do..."
"You need to study the things you don't know," Professor Cheung said clearly, his pen still on top of the loose leaf.
"I know, but it's hard..." I admitted, my voice traveling to a whisper. Professor Cheung looked up from his binder and readjusted his specks.
"I see words mean nothing to you then," he grunted, obviously displeased. I wrinkled my brow.
"Meaning?" I wanted to know. People began to pop in the classroom, taking their seats one by one.
"Meaning that you don't really care about what I said back then. Action speaks louder than words to you, am I not right?" he queried.
I stared at him unknowingly. "I guess...what am I suppose to do about this, um, problem?" I asked.
Professor Cheung looked up at me. "You should ask for some help," he replied shortly after.
I blinked at him. "Help? I can't do that," I said, shaking my head slightly.
"Why is that?" A slightly curious yet still deadpan expression took over his face.
"Then people won't take me seriously and I'll always be known as the dumba-person," I mumbled, a slight warmth taking part of my face.
"It's okay to have some help, Mr. Kim. You can't do everything on your own," he said truthfully. I cussed under my breath. Well Mr. Teacher, that was the ing last thing I wanted you to say.
"I can try, Professor Cheung. You don't know what I can do if I try," I defended, feeling a slight angry force pushing out.
"Have you been trying at all, Mr. Kim?" he asked.
"Yes...maybe...I don't know," I sighed after, throwing my hands in the air. Professor Cheung nodded once and got up from his chair. After standing up, his height left me feeling goddamn short. He was just as tall as Minho. Ugh, Minho and his damn tallness. All tall people should go to hell.
"Help is always all right when needed. I suggest you ask someone who would. Till then, I'll need you to go to your seat so I can start the lesson for today," he directed, gesturing his head behind me. I nodded once and went towards my seat; head down. I brought my chair back and let my plop in the seat. I lazily took my binder out of the bag and slapped it against the desk, along with a stubby pencil. Not being able to study well...no college...no Mi Young...
My eyes lit up in realization. I snapped my head quickly to the left and found Mi Young taking out a binder from her bag. Her red hair fell over her shoulder as she moved her arm around in her bag. I blinked. "Hi," I blurted out. Mi Young jumped up a bit, but then turned her head towards me. Her eyes were slightly squinted.
"Hey," she replied slowly, going back to rummaging through her bag. I shifted in my seat.
"How are you today?" I asked calmly.
She turned her head back to me and showed me an expression of slight bewilderment. "Um...okay, I guess," she muttered, shrugging a bit.
"Did you pee today?" I asked as if that was the most common thing to say. Mi Young furrowed her eyes and stared at me as if I was weird.
"Maybe," she replied, still staring at me. I nodded.
"I peed, too," I said, giving her unnecessary information. Was that the best conversation starter I could come up with? Mi Young cleared her throat and nodded at me, the corners of her lips turned somewhat upright. Is that a smile? I think it is. She smiled; she ing smiled at me! I did something good for once! Maybe she doesn't think I'm all that weird. Pee is a good conversation starter; must make a mental note on that. I smiled at her and nodded as well. "Okay," I said. She stared at me blankly, and then looked away.
The smile wiped off my face. She's been acting like this for a while now. More like a week, actually. I don't know what happened but after I gave her my apology drawing, she's been awkward as hell. She insults me more, stares at me more (which in my case is all right, since I don't mind the gazes I get from her), ignores me from time to time, hits me on my head a little more than usual, etc.
This is like a gift from God! She's paying more attention to me now! I knew that apology drawing was a hit.
I averted my attention to the binder and opened it to a fresh new page. I picked up my pencil and wrote my name on the margin at the right. I placed my pencil beside my binder and readjusted my on the chair. "So," I started, bringing Mi Young's attention on me, "ready for college?"
"Well...I don't know. I just want it to be easy. At least I hope so," she mumbled, sighing after.
"I think you'll do well," I said.
Mi Young's eyebrows rose. "Really?" she queried.
"You're really smart and focused on almost everything you do, so why the hell not, you know? You'll do great," I smiled at her, showing my pearls. Mi Young's face winced. She looked away shortly after. My smile wiped away and was replaced with a frown. "What's wrong?" I asked, worry seeking out of me.
"Nothing. Just don't smile," she responded, a bitter tone hitting me in the face. My frown deepened.
"Why not?" I asked, wanting to know.
"You don't look good when you smile," she insulted. My nose scrunched up in anger, yet my eyes probably showed I was surprised as hell.
"Yes I do! Everyone says so!" I barked.
"Like who?" she snorted, picking up her pencil.
"My mom!" I yelled. "Ugh..." I said after, an odd yet familiar feeling taking over my face. That was stupid, Jonghyun. Stupid.
"Just your mom? Ha."
"Don't laugh at me mockingly! I was being nice and then you insulted me. What the hell was that? God, you're so rude," I sniffed, turning away from her. I sensed Mi Young roll her eyes at me.
Professor Cheung had already begun his lesson for today. The first period we had Professor Cheung today, we had an assembly for seniors. It wasn't much, just the usual talk about what's going to be happening in a few weeks or so. Senior Skip Day for the win. And we skipped an agonizing period of science, so I didn't mind.
Professor Cheung went on about stuff I really could care less about, and wrote a few things on the board for us to copy down. I tapped my fingers against the desk, a rhythm forming at the top of my head. At first it was just fingers drumming against the desk, but then chords began to evolve in my head. The desk began to change to the classic colors of black and white, the colors in smooth, small rectangles. My fingers depressed the keys and the sounds went off, giving me a melody to work with. It started off low and soft, but then contained a repetition a moment after. I then worked my hands on the keys, going from left to right, going low and soft once again, getting higher. I repeated that again, along with a new form of melody that formed at the top of my head. The rhythm then resulted into a faded metal string.
I gave out a short chuckle. It's been some a while hasn't it...with all that I've been doing...all this useless garbage in my past...I haven't been paying any attention to you. It's weird, isn't it? How you meant so much to me before, before she ruined everything, before I turned 180 degrees and became the person I am now.
Who was I now? Was I that player who hit on every girl that I laid eyes on? Was I that sensitive, shy guy who did stupid things when it came to something like love? Who or what was I? I rolled my eyes at no one in particular. Whatever. I turned my head towards Mi Young and watched her write down notes as the teacher spoke. I gazed at her red hair over her shoulder, and the way she moved the pencil quickly against the paper. As if on cue, she turned her head sideways and raised her eyebrows. "Can I help you?" she wanted to know.
"Is this going to be on the test?" I asked, trying to get a conversation between us.
"You do know you're going to be having a test on intermediate standards, right?"
"I do, but what about this stuff? Won't I have to be tested on this too?" I wondered out loud, anxious.
Mi Young shrugged. "You should ask the teacher about that because I have no idea," she answered honestly. She was about to turn back to her notes, but suddenly stopped. She turned her head towards me again. "On another note, you have never written anything down for this class, so you'd fail anyway." Though this made me utterly furious, I knew she was correct. "And why don't you?" she asked me.
I furrowed my brow. "Why don't I what?"
"Why don't you take notes? Is it difficult for you, or do you have some disability...?" she trailed off, letting me go on my mental rampage.
"I just can't," I mumbled, rubbing my palms against each other as I looked down.
"And why not?" she wanted to know.
"Because I just can't. I don't know," I sighed ultimately, running a hand through my hair.
"So you're really that lazy and dumb, huh?" she said bluntly.
I snapped my head towards her, shooting a glare at her way. Her impassive expression remained the same. "I don't take notes because I don't know how to take notes, okay?"
She arched an eyebrow. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Like...I don't know what to write down when the teacher says something. What am I supposed to jot on the paper? What's important or the main idea? I don't understand," I answered honestly.
"That's idiotic. You should know at least how to, God. I don't understand why you don't understand," Mi Young scoffed, shaking her head a bit side to side.
I scowled at her. "I have my reasons," I snapped.
"And what would they be?"
I opened my mouth to retort, but pursed my lips after a moment of silence. There was nothing rational in my mind to say. Mi Young's smirk showed me she felt triumphant. I blinked at her. "Well...it happens to people. It's not explanatory," I reasoned, sniffing after.
She rolled her eyes. "You're stupid," she commented.
"Shut up!" I hissed between teeth.
She stuck her tongue out at me and balanced her head on one side. "Stuuupid~"
"It's a shame to have such a rude in this generation; but then again, the generation's been losing its touch now, hasn't it? You just helped greatly," I retorted calmly as I tried to ignore the twitch that wanted to peek out from my lower eyelid.
Mi Young's nostrils flared. "The generation has also been losing their intelligent side of the story; it sucks to know you've been born to create this problem."
I leaned in closer. "The stupidity of others does not affect the ones who are probably horrible in bed with their nagging and constant iness," I barked.
"The attention span of those who don't like work are not that high, is it Mr. Kim?"
. I turned my head towards Professor Cheung, who was in the front of the room, staring impassively at me. The whole class was gawking at me as well. I looked down to my wooden desk in shame. . "Sorry, Professor," I muttered audibly enough for him, and as well as the other students to hear. He took my apology and went on with the lesson.
The rest of the class was a bore as it went on and on without Mi Young and I talking...honestly I just wanted Mi Young's attention on me but to no avail since she basically ignored me the rest of the period. After class ended, Onew hyung was the first one out as he ran wailing incoherent words. That weird girl that bothered him followed after as she skipped merrily. I will never understand their relationship; Onew says she's annoying as hell, but goes along with her weird antics. Weird people think alike, no?
As soon as I stuffed everything back in my bag, I was on Mi Young's tail as she was around the exit out of class.
"Mr. Kim and Ms. Park." Damn it, what now? Both Mi Young and I took a step back and turned around to face Professor Cheung, who was sitting in his chair. I closed my eyes for a brief second. Well, obviously he wanted to know if-
"How's the tutoring going?" he asked, staring up at us.
"It's going well, Professor," Mi Young replied, standing next to me.
"Is Mr. Kim going to pass my test?" he inquired, staring at me for a second.
"I think he'll do fine," Mi Young answered. My heart leaped in the air for a short moment, giving me all the candy canes and lollipops in that short while.
Professor Cheung nodded. "That's all I need to hear; you guys can leave now." We both bowed down and exited out of the classroom. By that time, Mi Young and I began to insult each other once more. I forgot who started it, since it seems like we both decided to bring up a conversation around the same time. The usual 'bastard-' battle went on somewhere in the conversation. We were by the doors out of the school when we were met with our friends. We had come at the time when Taemin was complaining once again about this girl in his dance class. He was just telling the story.
"So I went to class yesterday to dance, right? And then it was calm for a while...until she decided to come and..."
Taemin dabbed his face with a towel.I don't want to stretch my legs anymore, he thought grumpily as he rubbed his inner thigh softly. He rolled his eyes after. Some of the hyungs would say something weird about this...wait, why am I thinking this? Wait, no! Am I becoming like them too? NO! This is too weird! Taemin shook his head vigorously. Hyungs are weird; I'm the normal one. Hyungs are weird, and I'm the normal one. He nodded, showing that he was truly convinced with this. Taemin took a sip from his water bottle and began to get ready for the next thing his teacher had in mind for the class.
"Taemin-ah!" Oh no. "Taemin-ah!" Taemin turned around and took a deep breath. I must hide before she can spot me. Wait, she did see me. THEN I MUST COMMENCE INTO BATTLE. "Taemin!"
The said boy quickly turned on his heel as soon as he had heard the footsteps of her. He raised his hands and legs in the most used karate position that's seen in movies. A girl with short hair and a bag around her waist in front of him raised an eyebrow in bewilderment.
He hopped on the leg he was balancing on. "You shall not come any further," he commanded.
"Why are you like this...?" the girl asked, frowning.
"Stay away from Lee Taemin or you will face the consequences," Taemin warned, trying to stay balanced on one leg.
The girl folded her arms. "And what would they be?"
Taemin blinked as he hopped again. "Taemin has not thought of them yet," he answered.
The girl rolled her eyes. "You're always like this whenever I see you. If you keep acting like this for our dancing project again, we might fail."
Taemin pouted. "Then you should stay away from me because you're weird and then I wouldn't have to do any of these things," he responded, waving his arms.
The girl raised her arms. "I don't do anything; you overreact when I talk to you," she said. Taemin pointed at her and scowled.
"That's mean, and-OW!" Taemin had fell due to the lack of balance and fell with a thud on the floor. He rubbed his and gave out a wail of pain. The girl giggled at him.
"You're clumsy," she commented, patting his head and walking away. Taemin slapped the air and patted his head.
"Don't worry head, she is gone, I will protect you from weird Taebek," he whispered to his hair as he petted it and somehow 'destroyed' the supposed Taebek 'cooties'.
We all stared at Taemin and sighed. It was typical of him to do something like this. He thought others were weird when in reality; he was the weird one. It was okay, though, that's how his brain went. We left him how he was. Taemin then went on saying how Taebek criticized him about his dancing, and complained to Key, Minho, and Yanna. Key was really talking to Mi Young, so he shooed Taemin and the said boy went on talking to Minho and Yanna only. I had a bit of an eager spot to know what Key and Mi Young were talking about, since they look so into their conversation and Mi Young looks rather cute when she's flushed with red on her cheeks.
Is Key confessing to her? Ha, please, Key liking Mi Young? Ha ha ha...ha. Well, that happened before. I wiped that thought away from my head. "Let's go home," I announced, walking towards the exit. Everyone else followed, and the talking went on. Taemin bothered the couple of our group, the best guy and girl friends were talking in hushed voices, and that left the chicken-loving hyung and me. Onew hyung made fun of me throughout the way home. He teased about Mi Young and me. One thing he said was: "Mi Young and Jonghyun, sitting in a tree, ...x-I-N-G". Honestly I liked that, but doing it in a tree is something I'd be turned off by.
Our whole group began to chunk off one by one. Minho had basketball practice while Yanna just needed to go home, so they parted their ways with a kiss. I hate how lovey-dovey they were and it was actually cute. I could never have their relationship, and I envied that. Onew had homework to finish up so he left as well. Key had a few errands to run and took Taemin along with him, since Taemin had no intention of going to dance class today (there was no class today). And it left my of a crush and me.
She had to go to my house today, so we'd be done with the tutoring for this week and didn't want to lie to Professor Cheung if he were to ask tomorrow about it. We went off to my house, bickering once again. It was never ending for us, and it surprised me; just by a little. The usual comments went on and on until we had made it to the front door. No one was home again, so we yelled and snapped and used bad words. We went upstairs and into my room, the arguing still loud as ever.
I went into the room first and Mi Young followed, shutting the door behind her. God, how I wish she could strip of her clothing right here and now. Ugh, I'm thinking off topic again. "Take out your book," she ordered, sitting down in her usual spot by the desk.
I scoffed as I took out my textbook from the drawer. "Don't tell me what to do," I retaliated.
"I'm your tutor, I can do anything," Mi Young sneered slightly.
I scowled. "You've got the ego of a cunning madman," I muttered, flipping the pages in my book.
"You complimented me."
"In a way, yes, but it was mostly an insult."
"You suck at insults."
"You do too!" I yelled back.
Mi Young sighed. "Do you want to work or not?"
"I don't but I don't have a choice, so yeah, whatever."
She frowned at me. "Why do you have such a big head?" she asked.
"How the hell is that relevant to anything?" I growled.
"It just came to mind, since your head is so ing huge."
"Yah, you're fat."
"You're so stupid."
"Why do you gotta be like that?"
"You called me fat, why can't I call you stupid when it's true?"
"You're rude, you know that?"
"I never liked you."
"Well then, I see we'll be the best of friends in the near future."
"When have you learned sarcasm?"
"I've been knowing sarcasm-wait, was that a rhetorical question?"
Mi Young rolled her eyes. "Obviously we can't cooperate in these conditions. Perhaps another time would be better," she suggested, getting up from her seat. I almost did not want her to go, but I knew she was right.
"Fine, go. Who needs you anyways?" I muttered, folding my arms. It sucked that I couldn't hide the hurt in my voice. Mi Young threw her bag over her shoulder.
"Stop being such a baby," she remarked, slapping the side of my head. I grabbed the part where she hit.
"You're so impolite!" I yelled, rubbing my head. She rolled her eyes and began to exit out of the room. I followed her out. I still kept my hand on my head. "Yah, , you know if you keep this up you'll be a cat lady forever."
"I don't like cats; I prefer dogs."
I cleared my throat, trying to contain my obvious happiness. "Well, that's ironic since you are a and all..."
"I wonder if you're an illegitimate child; surely then you'd be an official bastard." We were already jogging down the stairs.
I scowled at her. "Do you consume twenty pounds of rice everyday?"
"No. Are you deprived of your family's love?"
We were already down at the front door when she had finished her sentence. I rolled my eyes and squinted at her. "," I spat.
"Bastard," she replied.
I opened the door for her to go out. I leaned my arm against the door. "So tomorrow then?" I asked; blinking twice with a thin smile plastered on my mouth.
Mi Young nodded. "Yup. Bye," she replied, waving once as she walked out. I waved back.
Yes, we were pretty much insane in the head.