passing notes | j.jk

chapter 14

"Today, in celebration of Arbor Day, we are going to start a project," the art teacher announced at the beginning of class, and a collective sigh washed over the room.

"Don't be like that. You will be working together in pairs to create a clay sculpture," and I sat up straighter in my seat.

Pairs?

I felt the stare of eyes on the side of my face. I already knew who it was, and he tapped my leg multiple times to make his point.

I moved his hand away from my leg and had the courage to look at him, as the teacher kept explaining the rules for the project.

Under the layer of his hair, I could see his eyebrows raised in a suspicious way. A signature smirk was plastered on his face like he was anticipating this moment for years. Once he saw that he had my attention, he pointed one finger towards me and one towards something across from me.

I didn't have to look to know who he was pointing to.

I bit my nails and looked down at my desk, gazing at the titles of the books instead of the teacher.

That is, until, he started calling the names of the pairs.

"Hana and Hyejin," he announced, and the suddenness jolted me from my trance. Yugyeom once again tapped my leg and leaned towards me, so that his mouth was right by my ear.

"I hope you get paired with her," he whispered and then laughed. I simply moved away from him and wiped my ear, telling myself to ignore his teasing.

"Seungnam and Yuri."

"You should see your face right now," he said, "You look like you dunked your head in red paint."

I hit him in his side and mumbled, "Shut up." My heart was starting to do that thing again, and I realized I accidentally bit off a piece of my fingernail. I flung it away and sighed.

It's not even that big of a deal. It's just a project.

"Jaeil and Hyunwoo."

-Augh, I don't know if I want to be paired with her or not-

What if we're just awkward with one another?

"Yugyeom and Jia."

My heart stopped. I instantly tilted my head at Yugyeom, whose eyes grew in surprise and eyebrows jumped up his forehead. He turned to me and raised his hands in defeat.

I was conflicted. In one hand, I was relieved that I wasn't paired with her. A knot of worry disappeared from my chest and my heart stopped trying to win a race. The nervousness I would feel trying to talk to her would overtake my senses and I would end up stuttering like an idiot. So, not being with her relaxed me, since I wasn't quite ready for face-to-face communication.

But on the other hand, I couldn't recognize what I felt.

Why?

"Jungkook and Bitna."

I nearly choked. 

A/N: oof jungkook out here confused. 

but why is he almost choking? (lol no nasty stuff ya pervs)

+ Arbor Day is a worldwide holiday where people go around participating in tree-planting activities. In South Korea, it isn't an official holiday anymore, but people still celebrate it. 

++ in a couple days from now, i'm going to be traveling to portugal for 2 weeks! i'm pretty sure i'm going to have good internet there, so i don't think i'll have a problem uploading.

+++ sorry for putting this up 2 hours late (I mean I don't anyone was counting), but for this whole week I've been volunteering at a computer coding camp for kids and it's from 5:00-8:00 p.m, right during my posting time.

++++ have a wonderful day/night.