Elle and the Exchange Student

Chapter 9

Elle's Point of View:

The days go buy. Tilda spent less and less time with us, I used all of my free time working my as of to finish our assignment and most importantly Dae-Jung was nowhere to be found. I wouldn't be surprised, if they finally kicked him out of the exchange program.

This morning I finished the project and submitted it to Miss Stephanie. I had been determined to finish it before the weekend, and I was proud of myself for succeeding, all on my own, may I add.

Opening my locker, it seems as if a tornado has swept through here because I can't locate anything. Deciding to quickly tidy it up, I lift all my six books into my arms.

"So your..."

"Jesus!" I yelped, dropping all of my books as I startled at a sudden sound behind me.

Squatting down to grab my belongings, I look up to see who caught me off guard.

None other than Dae-Jung.

And being the jerk he is, he's not moving a muscle to help me with my books. Would it kill him to be nice sometimes?

Ignoring him, I continue to organise my locker. He then moves from behind me to lean against the neighbouring locker, only inches away from me. What does he want?

"So your place or mine?" he asked way too casually.

"Excuse me?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Are we going to your place or mine?"

What makes him think I would want to go anywhere with him?

"To do our French project" he added.

Why the sudden interest in our teamwork? Three days ago, he told me 'no' three times when brought it up.

"Don't worry about it, I already finished it on my own and turned it in."

"You see, Miss French teacher wasn't so pleased to hear you didn't include me in the assignment" his smirk was so evil, I could've mistaken him for Satan himself.

"What?"

"And after finding out that the majority of your work was copied from last year's student's paper, I had to do a lot of convincing so she wouldn't fail you in the course."

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT TRUE!"

I couldn't deal with his bullshit anymore. I've tried to ignore him, I've tried to be nice and polite. But to fuck with my grades just for fun, that's low, even for him.

"She agreed to let you pass the course, only if we redo the entire thing together. And obviously, we can't use any material from your version, you know, since it was plagiarised." he finished, looking like he was proud of himself.

Never in my life, has anyone hurt me so badly. I gave him the opportunity to work with me, he declined. I worked so hard to finish this assignment and make it a good one too. Now, it was all for nothing. And for him to accuse me of plagiarism, oh my gosh! If people in school found out about that, it would, most definitely, be the end of me. 

Tears in my eyes, a breath caught up in my throat, I look him deep in the eyes and say, with as much loathing as I can, "You disgust me". 

With that, I close my locker and steadily walk away, leaving him there with widen eyes and his jaw almost touching the floor. I wanted to run, but I couldn't. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. I wanted to hit and punch him, but I couldn't do that either. So I texted the girls, knowing I needed them desperately, and made my way to the bathroom.