High Teen Society

Chapter 15: Love

Tell me tomorrow.

Yeah. Okay. Tomorrow.

Tomorrow never came. I stared out the car window with sleepy, bloodshot eyes. Jay was right beside me, his big but gentle hand resting on top of mine.

My boyfriend was dressed comfier than usual. He donned himself only in a plain black, Stussy t-shirt and a leather bucket hat, but he still looked inordinately handsome. You couldn't take that away from him no matter what he wore. I smiled at him, and he gave me a soft pinch on the cheek in response.

I wanted to talk to him so badly about us. At that point, we had become nothing more than overly-affectionate best friends. I wasn't sure if Jay genuinely couldn't tell, or if he was being deliberately obtuse. Either way, neither of us did or said anything to address the looming shadow over our relationship.

It was the big day. Seoul Championships. Both Gwanglim Academy and Shilo Academy razed through the entire preliminaries and got through to the finals with no trouble. And rightfully so. Imagine how embarrassing it would have been for Heeseung if they lost early in the championship without even getting to play with Shilo.

When Jay and I walked into campus, there was an overabundance of outsiders. A lot more than the usual quota when Gwanglim hosted basketball games, anyway.

"It's probably because of the thing." Jay whispered sideways.

Right. I almost forgot to mention. Oh Nabi's incident reached the national news. Gwanglim Academy had been under fire for nearly three weeks since, trending #1 on Twitter, Youtube, Naver, and other search engines.

Sunghoon initially thought it would be the end for the school. He thought their sponsors would pull out and the parents of the elite would have their sons drop out, but it had the inverse effect. Their enrollees for the next school year doubled. People began to call Gwanglim Academy the "ghost school" and would group together outside to take pictures. The entire nation sensationalized the poor girl's death, which Chairman Park found absolutely horrifying. Blood money, he would call it.

As we walked together in the dark hallway leading to the court, I decided I was going to set things straight once and for all.

"Jay hyung." I called out to him. "Can we talk for a second?"

The older looked at me in mild surprise. "If it couldn't wait until after the game I'm sure I have to hear it." He squeezed my shoulder to comfort me. "What is it?"

"Yes. It's really important." I averted from his gaze nervously, looking right at the wall behind him instead. Somebody had carved the words the chairman's son is a douchebag. "I think that we... I think that we need to....."

"Break up?" Jay offered. My head snapped towards him.

[♪ Selena Gomez - Lose You To Love Me ♪]

"H-Heeseung hyung and I kissed on his birthday. I wasn't drunk." I stated quickly before I could change my mind. I stood firm, bracing myself for the response.

I didn't know how I expected him to react. If I expected him to punch a wall or yell at me or call me an unfaithful whore. But it certainly wasn't how he reacted. The older leaned back on the wall and smiled sadly. "Sharing a kiss is of little concern. But it seems you're leaving out a crucial detail."

"What do you mean?" I frowned. "No, we just kissed."

Jay shook his head. "People kiss all the time with no strings attached. It was more than that. You know it.... you feel it too, don't you?" He asked. "That we're not right for each other."

I couldn't answer him right away. I opened my mouth to deny his claim, to tell him he was wrong, but no voice would come out.

"I knew. I always knew. But I didn't want you to say it. Not just yet. Because it felt good to be held by someone, to feel loved by someone." said Jay. "I guess I grew too selfish."