CREDITS TO AUTHORS
Clean
"That hurts."
"It stops the flow of the blood, stop whining."
Yuri pinched the bridge of Jessica's nose and applied more pressure onto it. The trickle of blood was slowly stopping and resting at the corner of Jessica's curved lip. Yuri took the heel of her palm and gently brushed it down to a faded dull pink smudge. Jessica was sitting with her legs crossed, and hands dipped into the space created between her legs. Yuri was kneeling and looming her shadow over Jessica's drained body.
Yuri tilted Jessica's head back by the grip on her nose, and furrowed her eyebrows as she reprimanded.
"What were you thinking? Were you even thinking at all?"
Harsh words behind soft eyes.
It didn't scare Jessica much.
Jessica lifted one lazy hand up to grab the hand gripping her nose. She carefully lined her fingernails to the tendon on Yuri's wrist, and spoke to annoy.
"I've never really known anyone to care before."
"Stop trying to get on my good side - I'm really mad at you right now."
"Is that why you're blushing?"
The exasperated spout of air blew across Jessica's forehead, and she knew Yuri was done speaking to her.
"Yuri?"
Yuri ignored Jessica's nasally voice and reached behind to pull up a single cloth.
"Mad?"
Yuri held the cloth over a bottle of water by her side, and flipped it over as she wet it. She turned the bottle over again and lifted the cloth to Jessica's chin. Yuri gently dabbed the red stain smeared across her cheek, and said nothing to the repeated question.
"Mad?"
Who wouldn't be?
"I didn't want you to get mad."
Well, she was.
No one asked Jessica to go and get hurt - it didn't matter if she did it for her sake. Yuri was fuming at the lack of better judgement.
"I - "
"Jessica."
"Yes?"
"What happened? Why are you always fighting people?"
"But - "
"I'm used to having people call me names - "
"I'm not."
Arguing with Jessica was something close to impossible. Yuri let out a displeased sigh and wondered on how love could be so irritating at times.
She pressed her fingers tightly onto the bridge of Jessica's nose, and pushed it back while she hissed the words desperately into Jessica's right ear.
"Don't let this become a habit."
---
It was a risk to be different in middle school. It could bring on cruelty. Yuri was a blaring target.
It was true that she was not as thin as the other girls, she was not as shapely either, but still, it shouldn't be any reason to be called ugly.
She tried hard in covering her weight with her over - sized shirts and slipped on a larger sweater. She clawed her bangs down and tried to hide her face. She didn't like what the mirror projected.
---
Everyone in her class treated her like a diseased rat.
"Hey, the fatass is here!"
"Quiet - she might tell Jessica!"
Yuri gripped the pencil and her knuckles stuck out against her stretched skin. She ducked her head and forced herself to concentrate on the blank sheet of paper on her desk.
A poke on her back and a taunting whisper.
"Are you going to cry and tell Jessica again?"
A sharper poke.
"Are you?"
The boy laughed menacingly and threw a crumpled paper at her back.
She really hated hearing whispers behind her back.
---
"I want you to stop getting yourself involved."
Jessica was hearing but not listening.
"It's too late for that - "
"NO, IT ISN'T!"
Jessica stared in shock at the frustrated yell. Yuri clenched her fists together and tugged down on her shirt; an act picked up from her insecurities. She liked the feeling of covering up her flaws, and right now she felt hugely overweight next to a leaner Jessica.
She wanted to say more, but couldn't, so she turned around and took to counting her steps. Another set of steps quickly ensued, and she knew Jessica was right behind her. She kept her hands in front of her thighs, as she also knew Jessica was going to stop her.
"Stop."
Yuri was aware of the warning in Jessica's tone, but didn't care. She had to stop caring. This was getting them nowhere. She was fat and disgusting - nothing like Jessica.
"Stop walking away - "
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Yuri heard the footsteps halt, and willed herself not to cry. This was for the best after all.
The walk back to her home was terribly long.
---
"Where's Jessica?"
"You won't be seeing her for a while."
"Did you two fight?"
Yuri didn't take her eyes off of her assignment, and worked under the lowly lit lamp. TaeYang swung the door gently by its handle and looked down at the floor. He dug his toes into the speckled short strands and brushed his heel along the fuzzy texture.
He heard of the fights involving Jessica. He knew Jessica was a fighter, he also knew she would never fight with Yuri.
He watched as his sister clicked her mechanical pencil, and poured herself over the night's work. It looked maddening.
"Yuri."
"What?"
Her voice was impatient and gruff, but her pencil stopped its path. He asked in a small voice.
"Why did you fight?"
He was not rewarded with an answer, but that was not why he had asked. He asked it simply to have her hear and think about the question.
Why did she fight?
---
The boy who poked her and sat behind her desk was absent.
And he was for three more days.
He came back with a gash on his lip and a yellow circle around his right eye.
There were no more whispers behind her back.
---
"Why did you do it?"
Jessica balanced herself against the slim rail and hopped down from it. She was wearing black sunglasses and smiled as she faced Yuri.
"Do what?"
"Why did you beat him up?"
"I found out that he was bothering you in class."
"Who told you?"
"Not you."
Yuri bit the flesh inside of her cheek, and walked ahead. She was tired of all this honesty.
"I like you."
Yuri stopped at the loud whisper. Jessica was behind her and she could feel the heat of anger rise in each of her words.
"I like you."
The tight grip on Yuri's wrist burned and she stifled a yelp when Jessica jerked her around roughly. Jessica spat out her indignation, and Yuri felt nails dig into the soft skin around her wrist.
"What's wrong with protecting the person you like? Why don't you want that?"
The punches never fazed Jessica much. The kicks were too blunt.
But when Yuri rejected her help.
It hurt like cold hell.
"Why don't you want my help?"
She tugged Yuri's hand harshly, and asked again.
"Why can't I - "
"I'm not worth it."
Jessica's chin quivered and she bit down hard to keep it from shaking. The back of her teeth were grinding painfully under the force, and her spit was filling up her mouth too quickly. She swallowed it and told herself to keep calm.
But she couldn't.
"BULL****!"
She screamed it in Yuri's face and tore off her sunglasses. A colored bruise was over Jessica's left eye, and Yuri's heart sank because of it.
"YOU'RE WORTH IT!"
The anger was something new to Yuri, and she couldn't move a muscle. She never saw Jessica so upset and unruly. The nails on her skin began to hurt, and Yuri couldn't hold back a whimper. Jessica snapped out of her fury and whispered out an apology.
"I'm sorry."
She brought Yuri's wrist to her lips, and kissed the small red marks.
"I'm so sorry."
Jessica always treated Yuri like a wounded bird.
---
"The first day is the hardest."
Jessica cleared the table and slammed a chart on its flat surface.
"This is your weekly diet."
She slammed another one on top of it.
"This is your daily exercise."
Yuri groaned and hit her head onto the table.
"This looks impossible, Jessica."
She heard a chuckle and Jessica leaned down to kiss her ear chastely. The words she spoke encouraged Yuri greatly.
"Don't worry, I'll be doing it with you."
---
"Jessica?"
"Yeah?"
"Maybe this isn't worth it."
"Do you want to stop?"
"I just don't think I'll be any prettier even if I do get skinnier."
Jessica kissed the tear - stained cheek and wiped the sweat on Yuri's brow. She unzipped Yuri's jacket and fanned her face with her right hand. The work - out routine was always a discomfort.
"I wouldn't care if you stopped. I like how you are right now."
Yuri knew Jessica meant it. She listened in to the consoling whisper from Jessica.
"I like you."
Yuri looked up and tried to smile at her, but she stopped abruptly at the cut on Jessica's lip.
She continued her discomfort because she hated seeing Jessica smile through her fights.
