𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 | 𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐣𝐚𝐲

7: 1st first

"𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮,"

~🌙~

"Did you hit your head or something as you left?" I ridiculed. Yes, we argued, but now he was pushing it too far. I could tell that he was frustrated with how our project was going, but not everything should go his way.

"No, I'm being serious! I left the library and overheard her talking to her friend about it," he admitted. He looked serious and upset. He rubbed his eyes whilst sighing and paused to look at me.

"She was on the phone saying all this stuff about getting close to you for her grades. I heard her, Jay. It's true," he said in a pleading tone. 

"Wow, I didn't think of you as the eavesdropping type," 

" Wha-, I wasn't eavesdropping. It's not my fault I overheard her," 

"Even so, you probably didn't hear right," I was reluctant to believe what he was saying. Amy was a nice girl. She was funny, polite and considerate. A girl like that would never use someone. She was pure with good intentions and it wasn't my fault that Jake couldn't see that.

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"No, but you're probably hearing things. You were already mad about the fact she's changing how we work. Your brain is making things up to fuel your anger," I evaluated. I was tired of him crying wolf. I took the articles tat were strewn about the table and gathered them. They weren't useless and I refused to make her feel like she wasn't contributing. I didn't want her smile to falter because of him.

I took a highlighter and starting highlighting words that we could use, annotating them with notes from the textbook. 

"Jay-ah. You know me. I wouldn't just say things like this for nothing! You can't seriously be on her side!"

"There isn't a side to be on, Jake. We have a project due. I'm going to do it, with her. You can contribute or don't. It's your loss. Seriously though, get over yourself," I said harshly with a clenched jaw. I let a breath out after realising the integrity of my words.

"Y-you don't mean that,"

I couldn't meet his eyes, because I knew they'd be hurt. Out of all of us, Jake was the purest. He could never stay mad at us, even if we were wrong. He instilled happiness when we needed it and made sure it lingered. He worked so hard everyday to keep us safe and happy, and here I was telling him to get over himself like he was selfish. If there was anyone in the world that needed to be selfish, it was Jake. He never thought about himself, only others. 

"I don't," I said softly, "I'm sorry." 

"I know, but please. Hear me out," Jake said. He put a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye. He was hurt by more words, but I could also see that her cared. He only wanted to protect me from being hurt myself. I appreciated him, always and loved that he was always there for me. 

I'm sorry, Jake. 

"I won't believe it until I hear it for myself. You're not a liar, but we need to get this project finished. We can't do that if we're fighting with her," I said rightly. 

***

"Thank you for your presentation, students. Please applaud them," the teacher spoke out to the rest of the class. They looked bored, but clapped anyway. I spotted Sunghoon in the back cheering happily for us, and I laughed at his energy and winked at him playfully. He saw it and gagged, which made me laugh even more. 

"Is something funny, Mr Park," Mrs. Kang pointed out.

"Ah, no. Sorry," 

"Anyways, let's move on to the feedback," she read over our grade papers and then looked back up at us three. We stood at the front like sitting ducks waiting to be shot. 

"You ticked almost all the criteria boxes," she announced. 

almost all?

"Who was in charge of causes and risks," 

"I was," Amy answered. She held her hand up with a bright smile on her face. How cute. 

"You missed the marking points, here. I'm sorry," she apologised with a disappointed look. Amy's smile fell and she laughed embarrassed at how that was announced in front of our whole class. 

"Boys. Once again you have exceeded my expectations. Well done. However, this is a group project and since Miss Kim's contribution was not enough, I'm afraid I will have to lower your grade," 

Her words turned into mush in my head. I wasn't sure whether it was because I felt sorry for Amy or the fact that our grade was lowered even though we did the best. My mind was blank, but at the same time so busy with thoughts. I couldn't process anything. 

Mrs Hwang ushered us to sit down, whilst handing us our grade papers. I stared at the sheet, my eyes widening at the big red 'C' at the top of my page. I hated to be that ungrateful student, but I needed to be. Jake and I were straight A students and were now processing a C. I was all sorts of upset and angry. Did I not overlook her work? Did I not check that we met the criteria? What went wrong?!

I trudged back to my seat. I heard an 'I'm sorry, Jay', from her, but I almost couldn't look at her. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't. Even though she brought us down, I couldn't blame her. You can't judge someone on their intelligence. That was wrong. Besides, one person is only capable of enough. 

"First C grade, huh?" Jake said as he sat beside me. I nodded emotionlessly. 

"It's just one grade. Relax," 

"It's not as simple as that," I chuckled darkly. 

"We aren't going to be rejected from university for one grade. Be realistic," he said trying to lighten the mood, "What's one grade when we have about 100 As between us. It is nothing." 

I hoped it was just nothing.