A Pure Soul

36.

"And I don't care. I am only here to protect you and get my paycheck. I am not your friend, now come or we'll be late because of your stupid request, to be dropped off further away!"

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POV. Jimin

The silence between Yeongsoo and me was suffocating, yet I did not dare to speak to him again. He had made it very clear that he did not want to be near me and was only associated with me because he was being paid for it. I could not help but wonder what I might have done to make him act so harshly towards me, but I soon emerged from my thoughts because we finally reached the entrance.

As soon as we entered, I felt several intense gazes upon me. My eyes shyly wandered around, taking in my surroundings and quickly passing by the faces that stared at me.

As we walk down this seemingly endless corridor, I search for signs indicating the location of our room. I quickly retrieve a small note, which I had written earlier, from my pants pocket. On it is written 'C17', the number of my classroom. Although I already had the number in mind, I needed to confirm it to alleviate my anxiety.

We thankfully found our way towards our assigned classroom before the lecture started. "You must be Mr. Park and Mr. Chan?" The teacher asked and I bowed a bit to express my respect towards her. "Very well. My name is Mrs. Kwon, your Korean teacher. Please introduce yourselves." She demanded and gestured towards the class, all eyes were on us and I felt so insecure in this moment. "Hello, my name is Park Jimin and I am 17 years old. Nice to meet you." I quickly introduced myself, or at least I thought so but compared to Yeongsoo his introduction mine seemed like a novel. He only said "I'm Chan Yeongsoo." 

'Have I talked too much, did I already embarrass myself in front of the whole class?'

"Very well, take a seat at the empty desk in the last row." Mrs. Kwon said and I quickly bowed once again before I went up towards the empty desk with Yeongsoo tailing behind me.

I concentrated on the lesson ahead of me, I took notes most of the time, which was probably the reason, that the time went by rather quickly. Even though Korean wasn't my strong suit, because I don't really enjoy writing essays etc. I always liked learning new things, which was also the reason that I was more than once bullied for being a 'nerd'. I most of the time just ignored it, because the things those other children did or said were nothing compared to what my father would do to me after school.

I was at the moment following a girl from our class, named Jisoo she was tasked by Mrs. Kwon to show me the school and lead me and Yeongsoo to the practice room after the break was over. She seemed really friendly and explained a lot of things about the normal school day to me as well as the diffrent courses you could choose from, I was really intrigued by the sign language course; it would be cool to be able to interact with those, who can't talk. I think I'll choose that one, I'll ask our teacher later.

I was really thankful that Mrs. Kwon assigned someone to show me around because I wouldn't  have asked for anyone to show me around otherwise, I would have been to shy and insecure to ask such a favor.

Just when we walked past the cafeteria we heard someone call Jisoo. Out of reflexe we turned around and three other girls came into our view. "Here you are, we were looking for you! You just disappeared on us!" One of them said before she turned towards me "And who may you be?" I was about to answer but Jisoo beat me to it. "This is Park Jimin and that is Chan Yeongsoo, they are new here and Mrs. Kwon asked me to show them around, I am sorry I forgot to text you." "Aish, only you can be so forgetful!" One of the girls hissed before introducing herself as Rose. "Jimin, right? Nice to meet you. My name is Jennie." "And my name is Lisa." They all introduced themselves. 

"As Jisoo already told you, my name is Jimin. I am sorry that I have occupied Jisoo, so that she couldn't text you. I believe we can find the way towards dance practice by ourselves, so you still have time to hang out." I apologized, I was so shy that my voice came out as nothing more than a whisper. "Oh, we're sorry... We didn't mean it like that!" "Yes, we can accompany you to the practice room, it's our next lesson as well!" I was really happy about their offer, so I immediately took it and we made our way down the floor once again, but this time in a group of six. I talked with the girls, while Yeongsoo trailed behind us, like a shadow quiet and sometimes barely visible but yet always there.

"So what is your favorite dance style Jimin?" Lisa asked suddenly. I was flustered as I wasn't sure what to answer, I haven't danced in front of others yet. Until now I just moved my body to the flow of the music, in a way that felt right. "I am not sure, I like a lot of diffrent styles." I pondered a bit before answering. Jennie seemed to notice my uncomfort and quickly changed the topic of our chat, which I really appreciated. 

Short after our conversation we reached the practice room and we bid our farewells for now, because we had to change our clothes, obviously in diffrent changing rooms. I quietly made my way in the boys changing room and started to change my clothes. 

"Hey, shorty!" someone called out across the room. I remained silent and continued changing, but soon after, I couldn't do so any longer as someone snatched my shirt away. Only then did I realize that they had meant me earlier when they called someone "shorty." 

I turned around slowly, unsure if I had done something wrong, and if so, what it was. "Yes?" "You better answer directly next time I call you, understood?" He seemed furious and I wasn't sure, how I could have already messed up this much. "I am sorry, I didn't know that you were referring to me earlier." I apologized, because I didn't want to cause some kind of scene on my first day of school.

"Who else would, I be talking about? You are the only midget I see in here." My eyes wander around and indeed my frame was smaller and thinner, than those of the others. "Those girls you flirted with earlier are our, stay away from them! You understand?" My eyes linger as I try to comprehend what he just told me and finally they shoot open once again. "It's nothing like that! I am not flirting with them, they just showed me around." 

"You've got no chance anyways but if you try to snatch them away, I'll personally kill you!" "But I thought they are already your  girlfriends." I was kinda irritated by what they were saying. "They are not yet, but they'll soon be our girlfriends!" "I am sorry, but then I have to say, that what you just said is really objectifying and you should stop saying staff like that." I felt really angry on their behalf, why do boys always think they can own a girl? I've never understood that. "You little-" He was about to hit me but his fist was caught by Yeongsoo. "If you hit or try to hit him again, I'll have to break your neck... So you'll better go away." Yeongsoo was almost bored as he said this.

The boy, who was about to punch me freed his hand and walked off, while giving me an angry glance, "Thank you" I quickly thanked the other for saving me from a new painful bruise, he only shrugged "That's what I am getting paid for." 

I quickly changed into training clothes and we joined our dance class, I really enjoyed the class despied the fact that I had to perform in front of the whole class, to show how much of a dancing background I already have. I, to my surprise, gained overwhelmingly positive reactions. During the small breaks I was able to talk more with the four girls and they even invited me to eat lunch with them, although I had to decline because I promised my hyungs I would stay in my own 'waiting room' during breaks. I was a bit surprised to see Yeongsoo chatting with those boys from earlier as if nothing had happened, but who am I to tell him otherwise.

The rest of the school day went by rather quiet and nothing more worth telling happened, I decided to not tell my hyungs about the small argument that happened, because they would worry again and become over-protective over this small situation, like they always do.

I was happy nontheless it seemed like my life had finally turned around. I think this could be the first time in my school career that I can actually enjoy school, without worrying about my classmates.

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1562 words