edge ; knj

iv

four

hyungeun slept in on monday morning, which was unlike her. although she appeared to be rebellious, my little sister prided herself on being punctual. then again, it was the last week of school. and the last week of school made kids do strange things, even the teachers- some of them smiled. with the promise of summer beckoning, everyone let their guard down. it was liberating.

on the outside, it may have looked like i breezed my way through the four years of high school, but it was tough. in reality, i worked my ass off. unlike taeran, i was not a genius. but i'd be damned if anyone knew that, especially someone like jiwon.

at home, i'd blast the music in my room, then dive into my books. i found no joy in studying, and getting high grades wasn't so much a reward, but merely a relief of not having failed.

for the first time that year, i drove to school without my sister. it was weird not having her in the car criticizing me, my driving, and music taste. it felt good walking onto campus. it was my place. our school was fairly new, and often mistaken for a college.

"hey, namjoon."

"what's up, prom king?"

"hey joon."

not gonna lie, it felt great being popular. i smiled and nodded as i strolled through the hallway. with each greeting, i felt better. maybe i wouldn't be affected by the break-up with yerin.

"hey, it's the prom king!"

"hey, namjoon!!"

"ass sniffer."

i stopped. "excuse me?" i said to kisun

"you heard me," she said. "ass sniffer. namjoon, you are a ass sniffer and a horrible human being."

i didn't have time for that. clearly, kisun had a yerin grudge. i continued toward the main gates and tried to shake off her rudeness. still, my thoughts kept turning to yerin. i hoped she was okay. i mean, you don't just date someone for two years and not feel a thing when you break up.

as i entered campus, people stopped and stared. someone snickered. maybe they heard about yerin and i? i knew there would be rumors about the break up and the barfing. i would have thought vomiting on your girlfriend was the worse of the two evils, but apparently i was wrong. the "you don't love me" was what everyone was talking about.

as i made my way down the hallway, more kids broke out grinning at the sight of me. some even held up their hands for a high five, which i gave them. "thank you" i said each time. i was feeling nostalgic about high school and i hadn't even left yet. that is, until i rounded the corner and came to a dead stop.

i ripped the flyer off the wall and stared. there were dozens of them. in place of the "namjoon for senior of the year" flyers, someone had taken my grad photo and defaced it. i now had a hitler mustache, horns, and a gap-toothed smile.

that's when i noticed a bunch of freshmen laughing. i shoved one of them in the chest. "you think that's funny?" i asked.

the boy looked as if he was going to pee. "n-no, sir. namjoon sir." he stammered.

when he screwed his eyes shut, i realized my fist was nearing his face. i let him go, and he ran down the hall.

this couldn't be happening.

hitler namjoon flyers lined the hallways.

why?

the bell rang and the hallway emptied, except for me holding fistfuls of wadded-up flyers with me looking like hitler and a headline screaming "namjoon for dinky dick of the year."

~

i ended up in the principal's office as the victim.

"ah, mr. namjoon," mr. kang said as i entered his office. the walls were lined with photos of him shaking hands with self-important people i didn't recognize. "how may i help you, mr. namjoon?"

"these!" i said, dumping the flyers on his desk. "they're all over the school!"

he uncrumpled one, "nice photo" he said.

"mr. kang," i said, finding it increasingly more difficult to tamp down my anger, "this is slander and i demand that the school do something!"

"you demand the school do something about it?"

he sounded like a parrot.

"yes," i said, "i could sue the school."

"you could sue the school?"

i shook my head. "for defamation of character."

"defamation of character? mr. namjoon, sit down. cool your jets."

he leaned back in his chair. i hoped it tipped over.

after staring at me for an uncomfortable amount of time, mr. kang spoke. "i will ask the custodian to take down all the flyers." then he locked his eyes on me. "namjoon, do you have enemies?"

i shook my head, "no," i told him. "no enemies,"

"no enemies? that surprises me. clearly at least one person doesn't care for you. is there anyone you've offended recently?"

"no one i can think of" i answered.

he was baiting me, and we both knew it.

"think hard, mr. namjoon," he said. "students, teachers, staff, surely among them, there must be someone who thinks that you're a spoiled, arrogant, entitled-"

"thank you, mr. kang," i said as i stood, "i'll be leaving now."

"keep your eyes on your friends," he said as i left his office, "they could be your enemies."