Fear Me P.JM

Chapter Twenty Six: Hurt Feelings

I sit in my desk ready to tackle a new day of school. Yes, I'm ready to get that learning action on. 1+1 = 2! Not impressive, but I'm warming up! Don't want to pull a muscle now.

"Good morning, Nikito," a suave voice greets me.

"Good morning, Jimin!" I say without turning around.

Jimin stops right besides me. "Well, that's new."

"What?"

I see Jimin's hand rest on my desk. His fingers are perfect. No hairy thumb. No wart on the index finger.

"Well, usually," Jimin says and his hand raises, "you either run crazily out into the hallway..."

I watch as he uses his index and middle finger to demonstrate.

"...Or you lean over so far away from me that you fall out of your chair.."

His hand suddenly topples over on my desk.

"...Or you distract yourself completely and don't hear a word I say."

He taps several fingers continuously on my desk.

I don't answer. I'm utterly mesmerized. His fingers hypnotize me. They twirl. Turn.

"You're fingers are like tiny ballet dancers," I whisper.

"And it happens again," Jimin says pulling his hand away.

I follow the hand and end up looking up at Jimin. My eyes widen.

"Hi," he says with a smile.

I fall out of my chair trying to get away from him.

"This is abuse!" I tell him. "Physical and mental abuse!"

Jimin passes by me and sits down at his desk. "Not if you're the one doing it to yourself."

Damn. I need to read the fine print.

"Hey, you okay, Kito?" A set of strong arms pick me up.

I look over. "Jb!" I yelp out in an octave higher than usual.

"Hey," he says not letting go of my arm.

My face is growing hot.

"You want to do something after school?" Jb asks.

"Um," I stutter, then suddenly someone grabs hold of my other arm.

I look over. You have got to be kidding me.

Jimin is holding onto my right arm. Jb is holding onto my left. And I'm sitting down in my chair so it looks like I'm about to stand up to do the wave.

"She's going to meet Mario Batali," Jimin says. "So, sorry, she can't."

My head shoots up. He's right! Batali is going to give me a cooking lesson today!

Jb shakes his head. "You're lying."

"No!" I say. "I really am! A cooking lesson!"

Jb looks down at me. "Are you serious!"

I nod.

"Then I'll walk with you to Jimin's house."

What? I don't need a chaperone.

"I know you don't need a chaperone," Jb says instantly reading me. "I want to."

"Sorry, only people on the list can get into the gated community," Jimin says.

He sounds evil. Dark, sexy evil. Did I just say sexy?

"Fine, I'll walk her up to the gate," Jb says.

"Do whatever you want," Jimin answers. "Oh and let her go."

Jb's grip on my arm tightens. "You're the one who made her fall. You let her go."

Okay, enough is enough. "Both of you, let me go," I tell them.

They don't move for a second so I pull away and stand up.

Ohhhh my gosh. The feeling in my arms begins to return. Having them hold my arms up for so long, I lost all blood flow.

"Sorry, were we hurting you?" Jb asks.

"No," I say. "Needed blood."

Jb and Jimin make a momentary glance at one another.

"You know what, I actually understood what she meant," Jimin says.

Jb nods. "Me too."

"I'm going to Jimin's house to learn from Batali, okay?" I tell Jb.

I can feel Jimin beaming. When a beautiful person beams, you feel it. It's like a little shockwave of utter hot-ness.

"And you," I say looking at Jimin's perfect chin, "stop interrupting every time Jb asks me to hang out with him!"

The two look at each other again.

"Did you know she was that observant?" Jimin asks.

Jb shakes his head. "Nope."

Um, I'm right here.

"Kito! Is it true you and Jb kissed!"

I see Abna racing toward me from behind Jb and Jimin.

"What?" I say, completely surprised. "How do you know?"

"I read it on Xanga," Abna says. "You know, those featured blogs section, there was one called, '50 REASONS WHY JAEBEOM SHOULDN'T BE WITH NIKITO ."

I'm speechless. Would Bambam really do such a thing?

"Oh," Abna adds, "on that blog there's also another entry called, 'TOP 5 REASONS WHY THE NAME NIKITO SUCKS'."

Apparently he would.

"It's pretty funny," Abna continues.

"I printed it out if you want to see."

I stare at Abna, absolutely dumbstruck.

"You printed it out!?"

I take the paper from her.

TOP 5 REASONS WHY THE NAME NIKITO SUCKS by BamBam&JB4EVA

5. Her name sounds stupid.

4. Her name has no history, no meaning.

3. Her name backwards is "Otikin" yuck!

2. According to the popularity of baby names, Nikito cannot even be listed (because it sucks).

1. She's obviously done nothing in her life, because Google shows nothing for Nikito Travis.

"He's a determined guy," Jb says over my shoulder. "You've got to hand him that."

I crumple up the paper and throw it at him.

Jimin hasn't said a word.

"Jimin, you okay?" Jb asks.

"Fine," he answers.

I look at his chin. It doesn't look great. I mean, in its already perfect way.

"You sure?" I ask.

"Yeah," Jimin says gruffly and heads to his desk.

"So...um, I'll see you after school then?" I say.

"I really don't care."

I don't say a word.