Born to be Different

Chapter 2: Imperfection

                     

In life, perfection is what everyone wants. For humans, it's a need that's desired on a day to day basis. It has a type if sweetness to it that can't be explained in words. It can't be explained because, to put it simply, it's unachievable. A person can even get as close as one millimeter away from it but still have something ruin all of their best efforts. Why did this happen? That person will ask, but the answer is so blatantly obvious it's cruel. Perfection is not part of the universe's will, and if something threatens that, it's going to be stopped. Weather you want it to or not, it is always stopped. For some, it's simply accepted and life continues to move forward, but for others...

It's not always that easy.

                    Kim Namjoon

As I sat down at my usual spot in the school cafeteria, I stared blankly at the computer screen that was currently showing me my grade for my last presentation. The two digit number left a heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

79. Out of all possible numbers, it was a 79. I hated that number, it was so....... 

So empty, so....... odd. I hate odd numbers. They make me feel unsettled. There's just always, something missing. They don't look right. There's no balance, nothing to split. One is always heavier than the other, no matter what and there's literally nothing that can be done about it. It's out of my control and I hate things that are out of my control.

I bring my knees up to my chest and wait for my brother and his friend to come out of the lunch line. It's not even 1 o'clock and already, I want to go home. Why does school have to be so draining? Did someone decide that putting kids through so much stress and pressure would be funny or something? The person who made school like this must've either been extremely depressed or just a straight up sociopath. Those are the only two logical explanations that could possibly come to my mind.

Could today possibly get any worse?

         
                 Kim Taehyung

"So today, it's either gray meatloaf or those unnaturally chewy chicken strips? Welp, better than yesterday's undercooked pizza. What do you think?" I ask my friend as I look at today's um... "appetizer options" while grabbing a plastic lunch tray.

"Okay, that's like asking me if I want to drink a gallon of 5 month expired milk or eat moldy cheese. Both are extremely unappetizing and are just gonna end with me having a ginormous stomachache at the end of the day. He replied as he grabbed his own tray.

"Oh come on Jimin, it's not that bad." I replied, trying to sound enthusiastic. Jimin just laughed in response.

"Taehyung, you humor me. Frankly, I'm surprised that they can even legally call this slop food." Jimin replied as he went for the chicken strips, causing me to scoff.

"What?" He replied with a confused smile.

"Oh nothing, I just love how you talk about how terrible the food is while you put some of it on your tray." I replied with a slight laugh as I went to grab the chicken strips also, not trusting any type of meat that was gray.

"Hey, it's either this or be hungry for the rest of the day and I have a test next period, so I'll take what I can get." He said back with a chuckle as he went to grab a few sides.

"You're not wrong." I replied.

"Of course I'm not. I'm Park Jimin." Jimin said with a confident smile as he moved up the crowded lunch line, causing me to roll my eyes at him.