THE OTHER SIDE

03

03

Lunch period on Monday, Jungkook was sat alone in the farthest corner of the cafeteria quietly observing Namjoon eat his lunch. Kitty had been right, there was an air of sadness about the school president; even as his friends joked and laughed rambunctiously around him, Namjoon only offered closed lipped smiles. Come to think of it, Jungkook couldn't remember a single time he'd seen Namjoon horse around like his friends did, he was always contained.

He sighed, pushing the barely edible food around his tray. After talking to Gayeon he'd decided the best course of action was to speak to Namjoon, the problem was what he would say? Should he just walk up to him and ask if he was aware that there was a cat-girl spirit that had attached itself to him? Or maybe he should ask if he was ever acquainted with cat-girls who had passed away and had unresolved business with him.

Speaking of said cat-girl, he hadn't seen her since yesterday and her cat form hadn't been following Namjoon around all day. He knew this because he'd been low-key stalking the president. When his eyes went to Namjoon's table like they'd been doing all lunch, he found that the president was already staring at him. Jungkook quickly looked away, when he looked back Namjoon was already on his way out of the cafeteria.

"You still haven't been able to talk to him?" Gayeon's soft voice came from his right side. He quelled the comment on the tip of his tongue about how weird it was seeing her in the cafeteria. She was a loner and he'd heard rumours that she either had her lunch in the bathrooms, the tool shed or the library depending on her moods.

"No." he said with a shake of his head. "What exactly am I supposed to say to him?" he ran his fingers through his dark hair, the motion betraying just how agitated he was.

"The truth would be best." Gayeon sagely suggested, playing with the ends of her ridiculously long hair. Jungkook belatedly realised that the gentlemanly thing would have been to offer her a seat, but he was already getting weird looks from everyone. Not that he cared much for popularity, but associating with Gayeon was social suicide and he wasn't ready to lose the few acquaintances he had, who else would he copy his history assignment from, moreover he didn't want anyone assuming he was her partner in the dark arts. Yeah, he was being a jerk but that changes nothing.

He snorted at Gayeon's suggestion, "What? And have everyone think I'm as crazy as y...as old man Park?" he'd caught himself before he could say you. Luckily Gayeon didn't seem offended, it was like she'd accepted that she was and always would be a social pariah, which was really kind of sad.

The bell rang and any chance at talking to Namjoon would have to be saved for afterschool.

*******

Jungkook felt like he was being watched, and it wasn't his classmates who kept whispering among themselves while casting surreptitious looks at him from behind their textbooks.

There!

There was a figure, if you could call it that standing by the chemical cabinet. The figure appeared more like a smudge in the air, or a transparent shadow if that made any sense. From the height and build Jungkook could tell that it was a male and he/it was just standing there, unmoving. Somehow Jungkook knew it was looking right at him, and he had a feeling it was smirking; not the kind of smirk he and countless other guys used to charm the panties off girls. It was most likely a dark, vile smirk with the promise of violence.

Another shiver ran down his spine. Jimin gave him a concerned look as he wrapped his scarf tighter and drew the sleeves of his jersey over his fingers. The temperature in the room had dropped a few degrees.

The figure disappeared some time during the chemistry lab and remained gone when Jungkook went into the staffroom to see him homeroom teacher. He was surprised to find Namjoon there as well glowering at one of the teachers as he was being scolded. It looked like they were in the same boat because Jungkook's own teacher Mrs Jung was scolding him about his declining grades. Already Jungkook had had to take make-up tests for every month end test because of his poor scores and if he didn't pick his socks up he'd have to stay back a grade and blah, blah, blah.

He might have been acting blasé about the whole thing but staying back a grade with Jimin moving up bothered him. It was unfair really! He and Jimin spent the same amount time playing video games and frequenting arcades and coffee shops and generally doing as little studying as possible, how was it that idiot always passed?

"I'll work harder on my next tests." He promised, pouring as much sincerity as he could in that statement. In truth, he was only going to start studying a few days before the test like he always did. Mrs Jung seemed to believe him however and dismissed him just as Namjoon's teacher shouted at the president to come back, but Namjoon just slammed the staff room door behind him as he stormed off.

*******

Jungkook watched Namjoon resting his forehead on his locker. His shoulders were moving up and down indicating that he was breathing deeply. However, Jungkook could still not bring himself to approach Namjoon, especially when he looked pissed. Namjoon reached for his bag in the lock and slammed it shut storming off. Jungkook frowned when he noticed the transparent shadow standing by one of the many lockers, but it was gone between one blink and the next.

What was it with these other worldly beings being attracted to him and Namjoon? As he walked past the latter's locker he noticed that it hadn't closed at all. He closed it for him and that's when he noticed the photograph lying on the ground.

It was Namjoon and a girl, both in school uniforms and holding up peace signs while smiling brightly at the camera. The picture looked like it had been taken in the ice cream parlour a few blocks from the school. He looked closely at the girl by Namjoon's side, she looked familiar. He'd seen that mischievous smile somewhere before.

"Holy hell!" he breathed when it clicked. If you pictured the girl with white hair and gave her cat ears...

"Kitty."