Stranger

.EIGHT.

Silver Valley School of Arts
________

At the end of the day, Chaewon had a second check up with the school's nurse, then waited outside Principal Kim's office. When Seojun walked out, he was forced to apologize to her.

"I'm sorry," he said without meaning it.

"Can I go now?" Chaewon scoffed and was allowed to leave.

Seojun sighed and sat down on the chairs outside of Principal Kim's office. He put his face in his hands and waited to be dismissed.

"Ahem..."

Seojun opened his eyes and saw his BlueJays hat in front of him. He looked up and Jennie smiled softly.

"I think you should take this back. I know it's important to you and... I just have a lot of anxiety by making sure nothing happens to it," she admitted.

Seojun put his face in his hands again, ignoring her words. He wasn't in the mood to move a finger.

"Seojun," Jennie said and tapped his shoulder but he didn't reply.

"Jennie, did you ask to see me?" Principal Kim said, walking out of his office.

Jennie nodded and held onto Seojun's cap when she went into the office. Minutes later, she came back out and sat next to Seojun.

"Seojun, you are excused. There will be no charges whatsoever. You may leave now," Principal Kim said and walked back into his office without another word.

"You're welcome," Jennie said and poked Seojun's shoulder and he gave her a confused look. "I'm the Principal's daughter," she whispered with a sly grin.

Jennie offered the BlueJays hat again but Seojun was still looking at her. Then, he got up and walked away.

"Okay, I'm confused. Your friends warned me how special this hat is but when I offered to give it back—twice by the way—you suddenly don't want it?" Jennie asked and followed Seojun to an empty hallway.

Seojun took a deep breath and looked around to see if anyone was there before sitting on the ground and resting his head against the wall. He pointed to a spot on the ground on his right for Jennie to sit and she did. He carefully took his Adidas hat off and revealed a line of stitches next to his temple that was about an inch long.

"Oh my god..." was all that Jennie could say as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"It's not too bad. Smaller than the first scar," Seojun spoke and lifted some hair to show the longer scar near his forehead.

"Did... did he do that to you too?" Jennie asked and gently touched the healed scar with a finger.

"Yeah. But that was a few years ago..." he said.

Seojun took his BlueJays cap back and put it on his head, wincing a little when it touched his cuts.

"Don't tell anyone... I don't even know why I told you," he said. He got up from the ground and dusted his pants.

"Seojun," Jennie said as she stood up and opened her arms for a hug.

He sighed with exhaustion. "... No."

"Why?"

Seojun looked at Jennie who smiled brightly.

"Come on," she said and took a step forward but Seojun took a step away.

"No."

"Don't make me say it..." Jennie threatened. "Look, I know you need a hug so just let me comfort you at least."

"Hug this," Seojun said and gave Jennie his Adidas hat.

"Seojunie~" Jennie said and cringed a little at herself. "Let me hug you... please?"

Seojun pouted but eventually gave up and let Jennie wrap her arms around him. The top of her head barely reached his chin, and he stuck his limbs out to the side so he wouldn't touch her.

"This isn't a hug if I'm the only one doing it," Jennie said.

Seojun groaned and put an arm around her shoulder. The other arm awkwardly patted her back.

"Consider this an initiation. We're friends now..." Jennie said with a small laugh.

"Please, no."

Jennie let go of the hug and looked up at Seojun who barely made eye contact with her again.

"By the way, your mom invited me for dinner again this weekend... she said it was at a different house...?"

"She invited you? I don't think so..." Seojun said. "I'll tell her you can't make it."

"She made me promise I'd show up!"

Seojun sighed. "Fine. But make sure you finish packing by the time I come over to pick you up. Where do you live-"

"Wait, packing? What do you mean?"

"My mum lives on an island. We have to take a short boat ride to get there and the waves get rough at night so she's always makes me stay until the morning."

"We-we have to ride a boat?" Jennie said with worry in her eyes.

"So staying overnight on a strange island isn't bad but riding a boat is?" Seojun asked.

Jennie still had a worried look on her face and suddenly Seojun didn't want to seem too rude.

"Is that... okay with you?" he asked slowly.

Jennie nodded, "I have seasickness so I'll just pack some medicine."

Seojun nodded and there was an awkward silence.

"Here," he said and put the Adidas hat over her head. It was too big so it slid over her face and made her smile. "Hug this if you get seasick. I'll throw up if you throw up so..."

"Thanks."

They smiled at each other until Seojun became shy and looked away.

"See, isn't it great to have friends? They make you smile just like this. You're happy when they're happy, even if you don't mean to be," Jennie said and poked Seojun's arm.

"Yeah..."

"Oh, and I still haven't forgiven you for being rude to Rosie at the carnival. You should be nicer to others."

"Rosie?" Seojun asked. "Rosé?"

"Oh, ah, yeah. I call her Rosie."

"She has three names?"

"Her full name is Roseanne."

"Four names?"

"Is that a problem?"

Seojun shook his head. There was another round of silence and Seojun shifted his hat.

"Ow..." he said. Jennie's eyes widened as blood rolled down the side of his head.

"Seojun, you're bleeding. Let me take you to the nurse," Jennie said and tugged his arm.

"No, it's okay," he said and took his hat off. "Are the stitches still in place?"

Jennie pulled him down with a surprising strength and Seojun stumbled a little. She kept a hand on his face to look closely.

"They're fine but you're still bleeding. Let me wash your hat at least, it'll be stained," she said and he handed it to her.

"Hold on," Seojun said and took out his phone. "What's your address?"

"Not now, idiot," Jennie said and pulled him down the hall by the arm.

— Stranger —