High Tide | 김태형

02

Walk
*

As the days rolled past I started to notice a few things.

For one, none of my friends gave any indication they were interested in the subject of the new boy, Kim Taehyung, whenever I brought his name into conversation. I had asked Yoongi - coming from Daegu himself - if he knew anything about the enigmatic blonde, but he shrugged me off with a crude grunt.

Secondly, as much as I'd like to say I was only curious, I couldn't help but notice that he seemed to disappear as soon as the bell rang for the end of the day; his normally nonchalant strut turned to a race out the classroom door.

Although, as I decided to stop burdening my friends over the new kid, I found his face never seemed to leave my head; more particularly that expression he always seemed to wear.

*

Math was one of my easier subjects, so most of the lesson I usually spent helping the hopeless Jungkook with equations I found to be simple, since he was struggling so much the teacher excused our talking only when that class came up.

But on Wednesday, Mr. Riley seemed to have had a better idea.

"Group work!"

Okay, I'll just pick Jungkoo-

"Groups of three!"

Fuck.

Since Jungkook and I had already claimed each other as partners, linked arms and all, we glanced around the classroom to find nobody who'd want to work with us.

Except Shelly.

Please don't pair us with Shelly.

"So, who hasn't got a three yet?"

Jungkook reluctantly raised a hand, in which I tried to grab, but it was too late.
He'd seen us.

"Oh, Shelly doesn't-" he paused mid sentence, just about to pair us with the pigtailed girl with the colossal crush for Jungkook before his head turned to the seat by the middle front of the class.

"—Taehyung doesn't have a partner!"

Jungkook and I both sighed in relief, and neither of us dared to get a glimpse of Shelly's expression as she was surely disheartened.

Mr Riley then pointed the boy in our direction, who had raised brows and wide, curious eyes as he followed the teachers gaze. His eyes settled on the pair of us and he immediately started collecting his things.

Jungkook's shoulders dropped slightly, and I nudged him, trying to loosen his mood as he was quite obviously disappointed. "Hey, atleast we don't have to work with you-know-who."

He didn't lighten up, though. I didn't understand why he seemed so disappointed, but before I could ask, a chair was brought before us and a textbook in between mine and Jungkook's.

"Hey," I offered a welcoming smile, one of my first, but he didn't look on time to notice. I don't know why I felt so disappointed.