"Idol High"- Construction Begins (Chapter 3)
Originally posted by joshijaja at "Idol High"- Construction Begins (Chapter 3)
Title: "Idol High"
Genre: Drama, Romance, and many more.
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Summary: They say that being a teenager is one of the hardest, and most fun, periods of any person's life. Well...one out of two isn't bad, right?
A/N: Okay, so after a LOT of debating with myself, I have decided to update this today. And when I say "a lot of debating with myself," I do mean A LOT, lol. I don't know if most of you will know what exactly I'm talking about when you read the chapter, but I'm thinking that I will get at least one question asking about it, so I'll wait and see if you guys know what I am talking about, lol. Oh, and just to clarify something right now;
I never really announced the entire cast of "Idol High" on here, though some people are in my journal, so I will update all of the chapters with the cover of the story very soon. As for the teachers, they are as follows;
Math: Mr. D (Simon D)
English: Miss Kim (Bekah from After School)
Korean: Miss Park (Kahi from After School)
History: Mr. Jung (Bi Rain)
Chemistry: Mr. Kim (Chang Ryul from DJ DOC)
Vice-Principal: Mr. Choi (S7ven)
Prinicpal: Miss Lee (Lee Hyori)
So with that being clarified, enjoy the new chapter. :D
September 23rd, 2010;
"Okay, so if there are no further questions on part one of our three part segment on chemical reactions, then I would like to move on with the next important topic of the year, and one of my personal favorites; OUR FIRST SCIENCE PROJECT!"
Upon hearing the over-enthusiasm of joy and excitement within the voice of Mr. Kim after the assignment is revealed, all of the students below him start to groan loudly in protest, due to none of them wanting to be bothered with the task of doing the previously mentioned project. To say the least, no one was as excited as Mr. Kim.
"Oh come on, stop it," he says with his face scrunched in irritation. "now you all knew that it was coming eventually, so let's not even start with the whining." he finishes with a roll of his eyes as a low toned sigh escapes through the very thin parting of his lips. "Now before I let you go and spread out to find your partners, let me explain what exactly this project will be about." he starts up again before moving away from the dry erase board behind his desk and towards the front of the room. "This will be a week long project in which you will be picking two chemicals of both yours and your partners choosing. With the chemicals chosen, I will then expect both you and your partner to write a one page report on each of the chemicals chosen, and then, when the final day of the project arrives, I will expect either a joint presentation, with equal amounts of effort from the both of you, or some type of a report to be presented in front of the class. The topics of your presentations and/or reports are up to you, but be sure that they still relate to the chemicals in which you have chosen. I want you all to try your hardest to incorporate everything that you have learned so far in this class into your respective projects, and take note that I will also be looking for some of the key terms that we have gone over during class in the bodies of your written reports and oral presentations. Now in order to avoid confusion," he starts up, pausing mid-sentence in order to point his index finger towards the ceiling, for emphasis. "let me just clarify that you will all be limited to one partner, per person, for this project. Let me repeat again that for those who are unable to hear me at the moment, MISS LEE," he nearly shouts before looking over at CL, whose blonde hair is sprawled all over the surface of her desk due to her head being inside of the wide open space of comfort that she had made with her arms.
"What?" she weakly asks as Mr. Kim rolls his eyes in his typical state of annoyance, thinking that everyday something had to go on between the two of them.
"Yah, get up and pay attention for once. Isn't this why you failed last year?" he asks, pointing towards the student in question.
"I'm paying attention!" she weakly grunts before shifting her head more towards the left side of the room, closer towards the door and away from Mr. Kim's glance.
"Yah," Mr. Kim starts up softly before placing his right hand on top of his hip. "how do you suppose having your big head lying on top of a cold desk is paying attention to Chemistry?" he asks before, yet again, pointing his left index finger at her seemingly lifeless body.
"I've heard every word that you said since you started class. And besides, I don't see the point in having a project so early in the year." CL states lowly.
"Okay, first off, it's nearly the end of September, and we've been here for a month." Mr. Kim informs her as he looks on in pure annoyance at the girl. "And second off, if you really heard me, then what did I just say abou..."
"'This will be a week long project in which you will be picking two chemicals of both yours and your partners choosing. With the chemicals chosen, I will then expect both you and your partner to write a one page report on each of the chemicals chosen, and then, when the final day of the project arrives, I will expect either a joint presentation, with equal amounts of effort from the both of you, or some type of a report to be presented in front of the class. The topics of your presentations and/or reports are up to you, but be sure that they still relate to the chemicals in which you have chosen.'" CL states, in a near rapid fire speed, interrupting Mr. Kim mid-sentence and stunning him into complete silence.
Left at a loss for words due to the complete repetition of every single word and instruction that he had just said and given, not even two minutes ago, Mr. Kim opens his mouth in the attempt, and hopes, that he'll find something, anything, to say to the girl, but unfortunately is left with nothing to come back with.
"Wh...why...yo..you..." sighing out loud in defeat, and lowering his head to the ground below, he merely waves his right hand towards CL, indicating that she, yet again, has won their little argument and that he has officially given up. "well...can you please just lift your head up so that I can at least SEE that you're paying attention?" he asks in a low voice as he turns back towards the rest of the class.
"OKAY MISTA' CHANG!" she suddenly shouts, startling Mr. Kim at the same time, as she jolts her head back up with a chesire cat grin plastered across her face and her eyes forming themselves into tiny straight lines. "I promise, I'll be your best and most favoritest student from here on out." she states, following up with a peace sign as Minzy, who is sitting to her left, tries to subside her chuckles by placing her hand over her mouth.
Taking a long, irritated glance at her, as the rest of the class looks on in fascination at yet another confrontation between the two, Mr. Kim decides to let the situation go, for once, and continue on with his lesson plan for the day. He once again clarifies that everyone is allowed only one partner per person, and that the project will be due in exactly one week from tomorrow, though everyone already knew this due to his previous stating's that this was indeed a "one week project." Before he is able to go over what exactly they will, and more importantly, will not, be able to do for their presentations (if they so choose to do one,) the bell indicating the end of homeroom rings, and everyone quickly starts to gather their things in order to depart from the room, in a nearly desperate manner. The sounds of scraping chairs and chatter instantly fills the room as students start to exit the room and pile themselves into the already cramped hallways, which are already alive with the activeness of nearly all Idol High students. "All," except for one, that is.
In the very back of the room sits a lone boy who continues to stay settled in his work area as he continuously shifts from looking up from his "writing," in order to see whether or not everyone has left the room yet, to stroking the styled hairs atop his head. It takes about four cycles of his pen hitting nothing but the air below him before everyone has finally left the room and he is able to start packing up in order to head to his next class. He grabs his notebook, which he throws into his bag, sticks his pen into his uniform jacket pocket, and quickly rushes past Mr. Kim, in the hopes that he hadn't noticed his behavior, which most teachers would presume to be "odd," or "ironic," without knowledge of his reasonings for doing such a thing. But even then, it's not like they would understand, personally, what he was going through.
Finding himself lost in his own thoughts of a reality that has yet to happen, the boy doesn't even realize that someone is behind the door to Mr. Kim's classroom before he pushes it open, wider than it already was, and turns to the right in order to make his way towards his locker. He actually wouldn't have even noticed that he had bumped it directly into someone's head had he not heard the impact of the oak wood connecting directly against the back of the person's head and a soft, but still audible, "aish" behind him. Feeling his stomach drop into the depths of an area of his body that he couldn't even identify for himself, he turns around quietly, seeing the person rubbing their head, and bows slightly before apologizing in a quickened manner towards them. Turning his back to the person again, he takes on a quicker pace of walking in the hopes that he can escape the wrath of whoever it was, and continue his day in as much peace as the school would allow him to, which sometimes wasn't much, to say the least.
Relieved at the fact that he had finally made it to his locker without having to run into the person again, the boy lowers his body and starts to apply his combination to the lock in front of him, yet again in a quickened state due to the delusion that the person could still potentially hunt him down in order to start problems. Upon getting his locker open, he starts to gather up everything that he needs, without even having to pay full attention to what he's doing due to his locker being that neat and organized, and nearly makes it out of the situation safe until he feels a tap on which back, which causes him to jump and nearly drop all of his books on to the floor.
"Omo! I am so sorry!" he hears a voice behind him say in a nervous and quickened pace of voice before he leans back up in order to look at the unknown individual face-to-face. Instantly taking note of the brown locks atop the boys head, and the fact that his hand goes right back to the spot where the door hit him, Key instantly notices him as the boy that he had just hit with the door. "Are you okay?" the guy suddenly asks, taking Key aback, since he was expecting to be yelled at before being pushed into his locker.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." he says weakly before pointing at the other's head and closing his locker door. "I'm sorry about that." he says again, apologizing before he attempts to, yet again, escape the situation for good, with his eyes lowered to the floor.
"Wait, hold on a second." the guy behind him says, causing Key roll his eyes in both nervousness and annoyance. But mostly the latter.
"Yes?" he asks, in a voice boardering the lines of rudeness, as he turns around towards the person in question.
"Umm..this is going to sound kind of weird, but do you remember me?" the person asks, his voice trailing off along with the wind during the last portions of the question.
Though Key obviously knew the guy as the same person who has sat next to him all year during homeroom, and a few other classes, he actually finds it to be a shock that he can't, for the life of him, remember his name. Though it isn't a fact that is at all bothersome to him, to say the least.
"No." Key answers simplistically in the hopes that the conversation could be over after which.
"Oh, well...I'm Kim Jonghyun." the boy states, introducing himself with a smile on his face as Key's face remains in the stoic nature that it has been in since the conversation started. "My locker's been next to yours all year and we sit next to each other in homeroom."
"Sorry I've never noticed." Key says in a monotonic, sarcastic, voice as an eye roll unconsciously takes over his facial muscles before he tries to leave again.
"Wait, one second." Jonghyun says before Key is even able to take a step.
Turning around yet again, this time with a glare of annoyance clearly evident on his face, Key subliminally curses himself for even stopping to apologize to the boy when he had already done so prior to the current conversation.
"Yes?" he asks, yet again in a monotonic voice that, unknowing to himself, tightens Jonghyun's stomach in fear.
"Well...I was just wondering; do you have a partner for the project yet?" Jonghyun asks, causing Kibum's eyes to nearly roll out of his head, due to, what he felt was, complete and utter stupidity.
"No." he says weakly, now not caring if he sounded rude or disrespectful.
"Well...do you want to be mine, maybe?" Jonghyun asks again as Key starts to wonder why exactly he was acting so nervous around him, though he noted that the way that he was acting towards the boy could have something to do with it. He was new after all.
"Sure, why not?" he asks back, sarcastically of course, before turning around and leaving the kid in a baffled state of mind, wondering if he had just been taunted or not, and whether or not sarcasm was being brought to play, yet again.
The next day in Mr. Kim's homeroom, the noise level, during the beginning of the hour, is nearly triple the amount that it would usually be due to everyone spreading around in the hopes of finding a partner that they would be more than happy, or at least tolerant, to work with for the next week. For the most part, people instantly drew themselves towards pre-picked partners and good friends, though there were those who had to step out of their boundaries and comfort zones in order to, hopefully, make new friends and find a partner who they could stand to be around for the extended period of time. Looking on in fascination towards all of his students, due to the excitement and anticipation that he feels for the numerous projects to begin, Mr. Kim takes a quick glance around the room and sees that nearly everybody is paired into two's, as he had instructed, exnaying the back row of the room, which he can barely see due to not only the numerous column's of marble work areas, five to be precise, in front of them, but also due to the fact that he broke his glasses and was, for the most part, as blind as a bat.
"All right then, so most of you appear to be okay..." he states as his voice trails off and he places his right hand above his very feeble line of vision, like a pirate searching the sevens seas. He has to squint his eyes, due to the bright lights of the room adding on to his blindness, but doesn't see any empty space except for the entire back row. "Okay, does everyone have a partner?" he asks as he unsquints his eyes and attempts to look around the room again, only to be met with everyone he that could see, which mostly consisted of the first two rows, looking around and nodding their heads. "Okay then, moving on..."
"Excuse me..." someone from the back row quietly speaks up before everyone turns around in order to see who it was. "I don't have a partner." the person states, yet again in a very quiet tone of voice, as Mr. Kim, at first attempting to squint his eyes again in order to help his vision, walks towards his direction in order to identify, for himself, who exactly it was that was speaking.
"Oh, Mr. Kim. I apologize." he says alongside a nervous chuckle, that stemmed from his having to lean into Key's face in order to fully recognize him, as he clears his throat and starts to search the room again. "All right, is there anyone out there who does not have a partner? Anyone?" he asks, to which he is only met with silence as Key lowers his head down further from everyone's gazes, which made him uncomfortable and quite nervous, to say the least.
Trying to find a plausible solution in his mind, Mr. Kim looks around the room, with his right hand now on his chin, and notes that not only does Key not have a partner, but he is also the only one sitting in the back row, which he notes usually has a few more people sitting in it. Looking around the room, and yet again having to squint in order to see who isn't currently present in class, he is interrupted from his deep train of thought when the door to the classroom opens, two minutes after the bell to homeroom had rung, and three students come in, one after the other in a nearly straightened line.
"Sorry Mr. Kim," the first, a boy, says as he bows before making his way towards the back row to the classroom. "my locker got stuck again and it took a while until I could get some help." he explains as a nervous chuckle escapes his lips.
"It's fine Mr. Kim, just don't make it a habit." Mr. Kim instructs as Jonghyun smiles upwards towards him and nods in an apologetic manner. "And what exactly is your excuse?" Mr. Kim suddenly asks before turning around towards the other late parties, whose identities he already knew, whether he was blind or not.
"Minzy had some lady issues that we had to take care of, so we couldn't make it here on time." CL, in her typical high pitched accent, states with no shame whatsoever, causing Minzy to hit her in the arm and blush in embarassment.
"AISH!" Mr. Kim shouts before turning his entire body around towards her. "Do you have to be so blunt and disrespectful all of the time?" he asks with a disgusted look on his face.
"What Mista' Chang?!" CL asks with a shrug of her shoulders and an innocent look on her face. "You asked why we were late, so I told you." she states, nearly whining.
Sighing out loud and rolling his eyes towards the ceiling, Mr. Kim merely shakes his head at the thought of CL, something in which he feels that he is doing a little too often during his days, and silently instructs her to take a seat before remembering that Key still had no partner.
"Miss Lee..." he says, now with a smile on his face as she turns her attention back towards him. "Would you happen to already have a partner that you're working with for the project?" he asks as CL raises her eyebrows towards the man's sudden shift in personality.
"Um...I'm working with Minzy...why?." she asks before taking out a small, baby pink, nail file from her uniform jacket and scraping the tip of her index nail, a noise in which she knows annoys Mr. Kim to no end.
Having to take in a deep breathe in order to control not only his breathing, but his own anger, Mr. Kim, finally fed up with the disrespect that she shows him on a daily basis, scoffs out loud and looks down at CL.
"Yah, what have I told you fifty-seven times, since last year, about filing your nails in class?" he asks as his face starts to scrunch up and a headache starts to beat towards the right side of his brain.
Not realizing that he was talking to her, due to being concentrated on the tedious task of having to keep her regularly bitten nails well kept, CL, after hearing a very soft voice in her ear, looks up at Mr. Kim with a completely clueless expression on her face.
"Huh? I'm sorry, did you say somethin' Mista' Chang? I was not paying any attention whatsoever." she asks, legitimately baffled as Mr. Kim's blood level proceeds to sky rocket to the ceiling.
"Okay, first off," he starts as he snatches the nail file out of her hand. "give me this." he says, before she is able to say another word. "And second off, I am so sick and tired of this blatant disrespect that you not only show me, but the entire class." he confesses, motioning to the class behind him and almost hitting a girl due to not being able to see her face right by his hand.
Luckily she dodged.
"I didn't do anything!" CL states with her mouth open in shock. "And besides," she starts up again as she leans back in her chair. "you've never told me anything about filing my nails in class, and there's nothing in the handbook about it."
"Yah!" Mr. Kim says before pointing at her, as he feels the heat of anger taking over the greater portion of his face. "First off, I have told you fifty-six..."
"Fifty-seven." CL says in a sing-songy voice, alongside a smile, as Mr. Kim blinks down at her in embarassment, due to his being outsmarted by her, yet again.
"Yes...fifty-seven times," he says lowly before exhaling a deep breath and continuing on with his point. "to not file your nails in class. It's distracting, and even if it's not in the school handbook, it should be common courtesy to not to do something like that when there are twenty-two other kids in the class trying to learn." he says, with his voice trailing off in a whiny, high pitched tone.
"Well no one's ever complained about it..." CL states lowly as Mr. Kim nearly loses his capability to remain sane due to the girl's cluelessness to the expectations of behavior in an academic community.
"Okay, you know what, I have had it Miss Lee." he states with his head lowered down to the floor. "You are late to my class each and every day of the week, you are constantly disrupting with one of your constant antics or your quirky little questions, that just have to be answered, you never pay attention in class, not even for the simple stuff, and for the millionth time, MY NAME IS MR. KIM, NOT 'MISTA CHANG!'" he finishes, attempting to mimic CL's signature accent as she rolls her eyes and sends a smile in Minzy's direction before looking over at him.
"Mista' Chang," she starts as Minzy attempts to keep her chuckles to herself in order to not get in as much trouble as her best friend. "you really shouldn't get that angry. Didn't the doctor tell you last year that your blood pressure shouldn't get too high?"
Appalled at the fact that she would even dare ask such a question, and in front of all of his students for that matter, Mr. Kim, in both shock and anger, takes in another meditated deep breath, and smiles soon after, due to an idea popping into his head.
"Actually...yes, he did." he states as he rests his hand on top of CL's work area. "So in order to calm down, here's what I'm going to do. Due to you, Miss Gong, and Mr. Kim," he starts up, pointing at both Minzy and Jonghyun, who become nervous due to their names being mentioned. "being late for class on the first day of the project, you three, as punishment, will not be able to decide who you're partners are-AH AH, QUIET!" he orders before CL is able to get another word out. "So with that being said; Miss Gong, you will work with Mr. Kim." he states as he points over at Jonghyun. "And Miss Lee, you will be working with Mr. Kim Kibum." he says as CL's mouth opens wide in pure bewilderment.
"BUT MISTA' CHANG!" she squeals, causing a few students to have to cover their ears due to how pitchy it came out. "That is not fair. I told you that she had woman problems, so why should I be punished?!"
"Because number one, you're disrespectful." Mr. Kim answers in a blunt manner. "Number two, I know for a fact that Miss Gong didn't have these supposed 'lady issues,' because I heard you in the hallway trying to convince her to skip class." he states as CL's face shifts from a look of shock to a look of chuckled embarassment, that she hopes will distract Mr. Kim, but unfortunately doesn't. "And number three, you are not about to use Miss Gong in order to do all of the work for you and get an easy A on this project. You need to learn that life isn't always going to go your way Miss Lee, and what better way to do that then to take you away from your support system?" he states with a smile on his face, which shifts CL's face back into one of anger.
"But Mista' Chang, that..."
"It's okay Mr. Kim. I can work by myself." Key proposes as Mr. Kim turns back towards him and Jonghyun, who looks on at the situation, along with Minzy, not knowing how to take everything in.
"I'm afraid that won't be possible Mr. Kim. Given that there is an even number of students in the class, that means that everyone is able to be paired up, hence, each and every person must have a partner, including yourself."
"But why does it have to be me?" CL asks, causing Mr. Kim to roll his eyes, but admire her for not giving up when she really believes in something. That was something, if not the only thing, that he did like about her. "I mean, it's obvious that we would be uncomfortable around each other and fail."
"I don't really think that's the reason why we would fail." Key mumbles under his breathe, causing CL to turn her attention away from Mr. Kim and towards him, for the first time since the argument with Mr. Kim started.
"Excuse me, is there something that you would like to say a little louder? You know, so that I can hear you?" she asks with a smile on her face as she taps the tip of her ear in order to further emphasize her point.
"Actually, yes, there is." Key answers, returning her smile with one of his own as he turns his shifts his body in his chair to turn towards her. "What I meant by what I said, that 'I don't really think that that's the reason why we would fail,' is that I would be a lot better off working on this project by myself than with someone who is not only disrespectful, but has already failed this class before. I would actually like to get a good grade, if you don't mind." he states with a nod of his head as everyone in the class gets more intrigued with the situation and turns towards CL to see her reaction.
"Miss Lee..." Mr. Kim says, trying to get her attention, but failing miserably.
"Oh, really? Is that so?" she asks with a tilt of her head. "Well ya know, I think that I would rather work on my own rather than working with someone who has a stick up his ass...among other things, from what I've heard." she says wickedly as her grin widens and Minzy grabs her arm in order to, somewhat, tell her that she should stop before she goes too far.
"Oh wow." Key scoffs, turning his head towards the window behind him and then back towards CL. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"I think you know exactly what I mean, wouldn't you..."
"MISS LEE! If you dare say it, I swear I will send you down to the principal's office faster than you can fail this class!"
"Okay, first off, that was not funny Mista' Chang," CL starts up, causing Mr. Kim to cringe due to her calling him that hated name again. "and second off, he started it, so why should I have to stop anything?"
"I started it? Are you serious right now?" Key asks with an unbelieving smile on his face.
"Okay, okay, both of you stop it!" Mr. Kim orders, finally getting sick of being the meek teacher who gets scared of these types of situations. "We've already wasted around five minutes of class and the partnerings as of now are final." he says, now directing his attention back to the entire class as he walks back up to the front of the room for his roll call sheet.
What he doesn't see behind him though, is CL and Key staring each other down in vicious manners. Each refusing to back down. Each refusing to let the other win or get the upper hand above them. To say the least, they both knew that this was going to be a very interesting week they would spend together.
Three days passed since the accursed incident in Mr. Kim's homeroom, and in those three days, no words were spoken between Key and CL other then very small mumbles and "fine"'s exchanged between each other. Though there were times where they felt that the tension between them was so thick that even the slightest motion could set one of them off, and then start an argument that would be talked about for centuries to come, shockingly to them both, things were actually a lot more calm and peaceful than they both expected. They had accomplished very little with their project, due to Key having to do most of the work and them refusing to talk to each other for the first day of work in order to pick chemicals, which Key finally chose on his own, so, with dread on both ends, they knew that they would have to spend more time with each other in order to catch up. With the thought in her head, CL hadn't even realized that the bell signaling the end of class had rung. The only indication that she had of such was that Key tapped her arm and handed her a note, which she took, of course after giving him a glare of resentment, that he of course returned. Popping her gum in a silent taunt to the young boy, she turns her attention towards the note, opens it from its square folding, and squints her face in confusion when she reads;
"My house. 3:30pm. Don't be late. Don't waste my time. Address below."
At first she was offended by the fact that he would not only boss her around like that, but word the note in such a manner. But then, after rolling her eyes and shaking off his rudeness, which she noticed was constant each and every day, even to people that weren't her, she started to think of reasonings as to why exactly he would want her inside of his home in the first place. As she started to pack her bag and stick her nail file, which she shockingly didn't get yelled about due to Mr. Kim helping other students, back into her uniform pocket, she touched her Chemistry 101 text book and then it hit her like a brick;
"I'd actually like to get a good grade, if you don't mind." her mind repeated back to her, in his voice, causing her to pop her gum again, in an attempt to release some of her anger, as she rolls her eyes in irritation.
Meeting Minzy, who was waiting for her by the door to Mr. Kim's room so that they could walk to their next period together, CL hands her the note, already knowing that Minzy was watching them and wanting to know what exactly had happened between the two, and stops in front of her locker in order to turn the lock.
"Wow. He doesn't let up on the rudeness, does he?" she asks with a squint of her brow, to which CL only pops her gum angrily in response. "Are you going to go?" she asks as she leans against the locker next to CL's.
"No choice." CL states as she slams her locker door shut. "But trust me, I wouldn't if I didn't have to."
"I know." Minzy says, following her to Miss Kim's English class.
"I mean, who the fuck does he think he is anyways? Just ordering me around and shit. 'Don't waste my time.' Bitch, don't waste mine. Fucking whore." CL snarks with a roll of her eyes.
"Chaerin!" Minzy gasps, hitting her friend on the shoulder. "Watch your mouth." she demands, feeling somewhat of a hurt inside of her due to the viciousness of CL's words. "And besides, what makes you think that he's a whore?"
"I don't know Minzy. You know that I always call someone I don't like a whore or a ho. It's what I do." she says as she opens the door to Miss Kim's room and greets her with a quick smile.
"True, but still, don't you think that maybe you and him should just bury the hatchet? I mean, me and Jonghyun are getting along really well, and half of our project is already done." Minzy states as she places her bag onto the floor below her and adjusts the golf hat on her head, which she stole from her dad this morning since it matched her uniform jacket.
"Well Jonghyun didn't, pretty much, call you a dumbass and bitch you out in front of an entire class, did he?" CL asks with a bite to her voice as she rolls her eyes in remembrance towards her and Key's conversation.
To say that she hated everything about him would, nearly, be an understatement. CL was a girl who was very big on the characteristic of respect. Whether you knew her or not, the one thing that you had to be mindful of was that you had to respect her, and if you didn't, problems would arise. And the only reason they hadn't, so far, with Key was because, as much as she hated to admit it, she needed him. If she failed the first project of the school year, not only would she prove Mr. Kim right in his beliefs that she would fail his class, yet again, but she would have to be chewed out by her new guidance counselor, Miss Kan, who has been annoying her, ever since the year started, about her having to graduate high school in order to "even have a chance at a job in the future," or "have a successful life." She didn't even want a corporate job. She wanted to sign with YG Entertainment and make a number one, smash hit, with Teddy Park, so she didn't understand why she even had to learn such things as Chemistry 101, or even Algebra, which she was quite good at. But, knowing that potentially being kicked out of school for failing two years in a row would not look good on a resume' to become a nation wide idol to thousands of little girls, whether you had the greatest amount of talent or not, didn't sound good, she kept coming anyways. And in order to make her dream a reality, she was going to have to drive over this bumpy road.
This very...very bumpy road.
Around twenty minutes had passed since the final bell of the day had rung, but CL still found herself in the school due to Minzy having to stay and talk to Mr. D about joining, of all things, the Math Club. Rolling her eyes at the mere thought that people could actually like to do math for fun, like her best friend, she looks up at the clock, for the tenth time in the matter of ten minutes, and notes that she only has eight minutes to get to Key's house. Getting this thought in her mind that he seemed to be the type who would rip someone apart for even being twenty seconds late for something, she picks her bag up from the ground below her, slings it over her shoulder, and starts to leave the school. Taking note, inside of her mind, that it wasn't at all because she was intimidated by the thought of Key, she takes her phone out of the side pocket of her bag, after pulling it closer to her chest, and text's Minzy, telling her the situation and that she'll go on her own, since coming with Minzy unannounced may cause problems due to Key being the way that she was.
After pushing the left front door to the school open, it took CL approximately five minutes, due to her fast walking, to find Key's street. Looking down at the paper below her and then at the street sign above her, she clarifies the street as being the correct one before looking across the street at a two story, egg shell blue house in a direct diagonal angle from where she was standing. Looking down at the note again to check for the address, and thanking God for her great vision, even through the annoyance of her tiny eyes, she also clarifies it as being the correct one before making her way across the street, up Key's stairs, and finally to the front of the door. Before she even has a chance to knock on the door, it opens and there stands Key, looking completely different than she had remembered him from school. He had changed out from his uniform and into a t-shirt with a scrunched up hand and the words "put your paws up" in big, white letters under the grey arm/hand. He complimented this with blue skinny jeans and grey Adidas, which looked worn, and yet perfectly brand new at the same time. Baffled at how his shoes could possibly look like this, CL realized that she had probably been staring at Key for a little too long, and looked up at his face, only to see him not there. Looking past the door and into the house, nervous about whether or not she should just step in without being invited, her heart nearly jumps out of her chest when she hears a voice from inside of the house.
"Are you coming in or not?" Key asks bluntly, causing CL to groan out loud, softly so that only she could hear it, and proceeds into the home.
She shuts the door behind her, worried that she probably let a shitload of flies into the house, and takes off her shoes before taking in her surroundings. To her left were hanging pictures of people who she presumed were Key's family. Most were of Key and a girl who she recognized as Kim Taeyeon, his twin sister, smiling brightly towards the camera in matching outfits of boy/girl variation, but as she walked closer to the kitchen, where she thought that she had heard Key's voice come from, she noticed that some of the pictures were turned on the opposite side so that only the back of the frame could be seen. Though she wanted to see what exactly what was behind the mystery of the pictures, CL held herself back from touching his things and turned towards her right to be met with a very clean living room area, which was painted in the same color as the outside of the house; a very bright egg shell blue that you would see painted onto eggs around Easter time. Smiling at the color and the fact that more pictures could be seen of the twins on the sides of the walls next to the television, CL chuckles slightly to herself, beating herself up inside at the fact that she had actually smiled in an asshole's house, and looks into the open area to her left to see Key near the right side of a very white kitchen, which had hints of egg shell blue on the tiles below.
"Are you going to come in or just stand there like an idiot?" Key asked in a monotonic voice, obviously very concentrated on what he was doing.
Not even caring about the fact that he had more than likely just called her an "idiot," shocking herself with such a fact, CL starts to walk into the kitchen, loosening her bag from her shoulder and looks around to see white. She quickly thinks of how white is the color of death and chuckles to herself that she would make such a comparison to her life, in a seemingly happy home.
"What?" Key asks, looking up at her as CL takes notice of the fact that he's wearing glasses.
"Oh, nothing." she says, waving her hand at him.
"You can have a seat." he says, as if reading CL's mind, as he goes back to his work in a way reminiscent to a grandma doing her monthly taxes.
Setting her bag on top of the surface of the island and pulling out one of the bar stools that surround it, the one next to the nearest to Key, CL takes a seat and starts to open her bag.
"So I'm suspecting that you're doing your report?" she asks as she continues to look through her bag.
"Yes." Key answers in that monotonic voice that annoyed CL to no end. "Did you start yours yet?" he asks back, not even looking at her.
"I did a little bit of it last night." she says as she pulls the notebook containing the said report out of her bag.
"Do you mind if I see it?" Key asks, already reaching his hand out in order to grab it.
"Sure, why not?" CL asks in a very low, slightly sarcastic, voice as she rolls her eyes at his rudeness and hands him the report.
The next thirty minutes go by in nearly agonizing silence for the two. Though it is a silence that is somewhat reminiscent to the silence that they felt when they were with each other in the classroom, CL noticed that this silence was more peaceful than that one, even if the dialogue between the two was, pretty much, exactly the same as it was when they were in class. They hardly spoke, except when they needed to, and CL felt herself becoming bored. Unbearably bored.
"Let's play a game." she suddenly says, pushing her notebook aside and placing her elbows onto the island.
"What kind of a game?" Key asks, still looking down at his work.
"Twenty-one questions. I'll go first and we'll stop when we get to twenty-one, deal?" she asks as Key continues to work.
"Sure, why not?" he says as he writes something down.
"Okay, first question; why do you hate me so much?" CL asks as she smacks her lips a little bit, which seemingly gets Key's attention, since he looks up at her after she does so.
"You're rude and, quite frankly, a bitch who I would rather not be around. Is that a good enough answer for you?" he asks as he lowers his head back down to his work.
"Why yes, it is." CL answers with a smile and a tilt of her head. "Do you think that you look cute when you use curse words like that? Because you really don't sweetie." she informs him with a shake of her head.
"I never implied that I did. Is it your job to make assumptions about me, or are you just that judgemental?" Key asks as he types something into a calculator, which baffled CL, since she could have sworn they were studying Chemistry.
"What are you talking about?" she asks, cursing herself in her mind for using one of her questions on something like that.
"'A stick up his ass...among other things, from what I've heard.' That ring a bell?" Key asks, and CL instantly knows what he means and, somewhat, why he's been so rude to her since that day.
"Oh, that." she says, not really knowing what to say afterwhich. "Well, was it was really necessary to taunt me first for failing last year?" she asks as a legitimate question, outside of the game.
Closing his book suddenly and looking up at CL, Key pushes all of his work aside and stares directly into her eyes.
"I was just being honest. Sorry if it was too much for you to handle. Are you that used to being a bully that you don't expect it when someone stands up to you?"
"Stand up to me?" CL asks with bewilderment painted onto her face.
"Yeah. As I far as I see, you're just like everyone else. You think you can walk all over everybody, for God knows what reason, and that your shit doesn't stink. Am I right?"
"Somewhat." CL states truthfully. "But that doesn't mean that I'm not human too." she says too, shutting Key up for the moment and starting an awkward silence between the two that she ends quickly. "Look..." she starts, beating the shit out of herself on the inside for what she's about to do. "it's obvious that we don't like each other, but do you think that we could maybe apologize and get this over with?" she asks as Key continues to look at her.
For a moment she swears she saw a twinkle in his eye.
"Fine." Key says with a quick roll of his eyes and a sigh. "Really, I'm sorry that I bitched you out for failing a year. Was that okay enough for you?"
"Perfect." CL says with a very small smile. "And I'm sorry if it seemed like I was judgemental. It's a bad habit." she says before turning her head to flip a bit of her blonde hair behind her left ear and sighing out loud, in a nervous manner that she hoped Key didn't notice. "So...what's your favorite color?" she asks as Key, shockingly enough to her, actually smirks at the question in the attempts to hold in a laugh. He thought that she hadn't noticed, but she knew exactly what she saw.
For the first time, she saw humanity in him.
"Pink." he answers, re-verting back into his shy nature. "What about you?"
"Same thing." she replies back.
"Really?" he asks back, unintentionally.
"Yeah. I prefer a hotter type of pink than that light pink, borderline white, bullshit though. It looks better for fashion design and whatnot. Speaking of that, where did you get your shirt?" she asks before pointing at the mentioned piece of clothing.
"Oh," Key says, for some reason unknowing to him, as he looks down at the shirt. "I bought it online. A friend of mine made it and sent it to me. Why, are you a fan of GaGa or something?" he asks with an arched brow.
"Yeah, she's cool. I like her outfits more than anything, but 'Pokerface' was my shit for like six months." she says with a laugh and a shake of her head as she reminisces on the said period of time. "Can I ask you an honest question?" she asks as Key's heart starts to slowly seep into his stomach in nervousness.
"Sure, why not?" he asks back, trying his hardest to control his breathing.
"Why are you so cold to people all of the time?" CL asks, being sure to not continue on and use one of her remaining questions, since she knew the game would be over soon.
Taking him for a spin, due to not expecting that particular question to be asked, Key looks over to his left, outside of the window, and sees two blue jays sitting on top of the tiny windowsill garden that his mother hand built during the summer renovations. They appeared to be a mother and son, due to one feeding the other, but Key wasn't entirely sure due to the fact that he had taken off his glasses a while ago and wasn't wearing his contacts.
"I just don't trust people." he answers as CL looks on, knowing that he wasn't finished. "I can't really explain why," he says, both lying and telling the truth to the girl before him. "but I just don't. Plus it's not like people are nice to me anyways, so I don't see the point." he says in a low voice as he watches the mother bird scoot closer to the baby bird.
"Understandable." CL says as she nods her head and looks over at what he's staring at before looking back at him. "All right, one more, and I'm taking this one since you took two in a row before." she says as Key snaps out of his trance long enough to look over and see her giving him a questionable look. "Would you like to hang out with me this Saturday?" she asks as she drums her fingers on top of her thighs softly and Key is left at a loss for words.
It had been so long since anyone had asked him anywhere, especially to do something with him. It's been so long, in fact, that anytime someone does such now, he thinks that they're merely joking, which they are three-fourth's of the time, and moves on with his day as if it never happened. Though of course, the taunt still replay's in the back of his mind like an annoying record that he can't escape from. But, for some reason beyond his knowing, he sees sincerity in CL's eyes. It doesn't take away the reserved nature of his being, or the wall that he's built in front of himself and her, but it does warm his heart. Just a little bit.
"Um...I don't know." he says, looking down at the surface of the island below him.
"Oh come on!" CL whines, her voice squeaking slightly. "I think you're cool, and we're somewhat starting to get along, so why not? Come on, I don't want us to be mad at each other forever, especially if we have four more days of this project." she says as Key looks back up at her, only to see that her smile hasn't left yet. "And besides, you shouldn't go through life not trusting people or having anyone who you can just go out and screw around with. Trust me, it's a lot less fun." she finishes, continuing to smile a genuine smile at him.
Feeling his heart warm at not only the smile that she's giving him, but also the chance that she's giving him to possibly have a friend again, or even someone around him who wouldn't judge him or feel sympathy towards him, Key, after feeling as if he's going to regret this, sighs out loud, and then opens his mouth to answer the girl.
"...okay, fine. Pick me up at twelve and we'll talk from there." he says as he goes back to his work in order to avoid looking at the girl.
"Cool." CL says with a smile and a pop of her gum. "It should be fun," she starts up as she returns her attention back to her notebook. "or a complete disaster, depending which one of us gets our period that day." she snorts out loud, causing Key to laugh along with her due to her sarcastic, but still fun, sense of humor.
As the smile pulled his facial muscles upwards, a realization suddenly hit his mind like a building had just dropped on his head.
This was the first time that he had genuinely smiled with someone since the incident happened. Over six months ago.
Title: "Idol High"
Genre: Drama, Romance, and many more.
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Summary: They say that being a teenager is one of the hardest, and most fun, periods of any person's life. Well...one out of two isn't bad, right?
A/N: Okay, so after a LOT of debating with myself, I have decided to update this today. And when I say "a lot of debating with myself," I do mean A LOT, lol. I don't know if most of you will know what exactly I'm talking about when you read the chapter, but I'm thinking that I will get at least one question asking about it, so I'll wait and see if you guys know what I am talking about, lol. Oh, and just to clarify something right now;
I never really announced the entire cast of "Idol High" on here, though some people are in my journal, so I will update all of the chapters with the cover of the story very soon. As for the teachers, they are as follows;
Math: Mr. D (Simon D)
English: Miss Kim (Bekah from After School)
Korean: Miss Park (Kahi from After School)
History: Mr. Jung (Bi Rain)
Chemistry: Mr. Kim (Chang Ryul from DJ DOC)
Vice-Principal: Mr. Choi (S7ven)
Prinicpal: Miss Lee (Lee Hyori)
So with that being clarified, enjoy the new chapter. :D
September 23rd, 2010;
"Okay, so if there are no further questions on part one of our three part segment on chemical reactions, then I would like to move on with the next important topic of the year, and one of my personal favorites; OUR FIRST SCIENCE PROJECT!"
Upon hearing the over-enthusiasm of joy and excitement within the voice of Mr. Kim after the assignment is revealed, all of the students below him start to groan loudly in protest, due to none of them wanting to be bothered with the task of doing the previously mentioned project. To say the least, no one was as excited as Mr. Kim.
"Oh come on, stop it," he says with his face scrunched in irritation. "now you all knew that it was coming eventually, so let's not even start with the whining." he finishes with a roll of his eyes as a low toned sigh escapes through the very thin parting of his lips. "Now before I let you go and spread out to find your partners, let me explain what exactly this project will be about." he starts up again before moving away from the dry erase board behind his desk and towards the front of the room. "This will be a week long project in which you will be picking two chemicals of both yours and your partners choosing. With the chemicals chosen, I will then expect both you and your partner to write a one page report on each of the chemicals chosen, and then, when the final day of the project arrives, I will expect either a joint presentation, with equal amounts of effort from the both of you, or some type of a report to be presented in front of the class. The topics of your presentations and/or reports are up to you, but be sure that they still relate to the chemicals in which you have chosen. I want you all to try your hardest to incorporate everything that you have learned so far in this class into your respective projects, and take note that I will also be looking for some of the key terms that we have gone over during class in the bodies of your written reports and oral presentations. Now in order to avoid confusion," he starts up, pausing mid-sentence in order to point his index finger towards the ceiling, for emphasis. "let me just clarify that you will all be limited to one partner, per person, for this project. Let me repeat again that for those who are unable to hear me at the moment, MISS LEE," he nearly shouts before looking over at CL, whose blonde hair is sprawled all over the surface of her desk due to her head being inside of the wide open space of comfort that she had made with her arms.
"What?" she weakly asks as Mr. Kim rolls his eyes in his typical state of annoyance, thinking that everyday something had to go on between the two of them.
"Yah, get up and pay attention for once. Isn't this why you failed last year?" he asks, pointing towards the student in question.
"I'm paying attention!" she weakly grunts before shifting her head more towards the left side of the room, closer towards the door and away from Mr. Kim's glance.
"Yah," Mr. Kim starts up softly before placing his right hand on top of his hip. "how do you suppose having your big head lying on top of a cold desk is paying attention to Chemistry?" he asks before, yet again, pointing his left index finger at her seemingly lifeless body.
"I've heard every word that you said since you started class. And besides, I don't see the point in having a project so early in the year." CL states lowly.
"Okay, first off, it's nearly the end of September, and we've been here for a month." Mr. Kim informs her as he looks on in pure annoyance at the girl. "And second off, if you really heard me, then what did I just say abou..."
"'This will be a week long project in which you will be picking two chemicals of both yours and your partners choosing. With the chemicals chosen, I will then expect both you and your partner to write a one page report on each of the chemicals chosen, and then, when the final day of the project arrives, I will expect either a joint presentation, with equal amounts of effort from the both of you, or some type of a report to be presented in front of the class. The topics of your presentations and/or reports are up to you, but be sure that they still relate to the chemicals in which you have chosen.'" CL states, in a near rapid fire speed, interrupting Mr. Kim mid-sentence and stunning him into complete silence.
Left at a loss for words due to the complete repetition of every single word and instruction that he had just said and given, not even two minutes ago, Mr. Kim opens his mouth in the attempt, and hopes, that he'll find something, anything, to say to the girl, but unfortunately is left with nothing to come back with.
"Wh...why...yo..you..." sighing out loud in defeat, and lowering his head to the ground below, he merely waves his right hand towards CL, indicating that she, yet again, has won their little argument and that he has officially given up. "well...can you please just lift your head up so that I can at least SEE that you're paying attention?" he asks in a low voice as he turns back towards the rest of the class.
"OKAY MISTA' CHANG!" she suddenly shouts, startling Mr. Kim at the same time, as she jolts her head back up with a chesire cat grin plastered across her face and her eyes forming themselves into tiny straight lines. "I promise, I'll be your best and most favoritest student from here on out." she states, following up with a peace sign as Minzy, who is sitting to her left, tries to subside her chuckles by placing her hand over her mouth.
Taking a long, irritated glance at her, as the rest of the class looks on in fascination at yet another confrontation between the two, Mr. Kim decides to let the situation go, for once, and continue on with his lesson plan for the day. He once again clarifies that everyone is allowed only one partner per person, and that the project will be due in exactly one week from tomorrow, though everyone already knew this due to his previous stating's that this was indeed a "one week project." Before he is able to go over what exactly they will, and more importantly, will not, be able to do for their presentations (if they so choose to do one,) the bell indicating the end of homeroom rings, and everyone quickly starts to gather their things in order to depart from the room, in a nearly desperate manner. The sounds of scraping chairs and chatter instantly fills the room as students start to exit the room and pile themselves into the already cramped hallways, which are already alive with the activeness of nearly all Idol High students. "All," except for one, that is.
In the very back of the room sits a lone boy who continues to stay settled in his work area as he continuously shifts from looking up from his "writing," in order to see whether or not everyone has left the room yet, to stroking the styled hairs atop his head. It takes about four cycles of his pen hitting nothing but the air below him before everyone has finally left the room and he is able to start packing up in order to head to his next class. He grabs his notebook, which he throws into his bag, sticks his pen into his uniform jacket pocket, and quickly rushes past Mr. Kim, in the hopes that he hadn't noticed his behavior, which most teachers would presume to be "odd," or "ironic," without knowledge of his reasonings for doing such a thing. But even then, it's not like they would understand, personally, what he was going through.
Finding himself lost in his own thoughts of a reality that has yet to happen, the boy doesn't even realize that someone is behind the door to Mr. Kim's classroom before he pushes it open, wider than it already was, and turns to the right in order to make his way towards his locker. He actually wouldn't have even noticed that he had bumped it directly into someone's head had he not heard the impact of the oak wood connecting directly against the back of the person's head and a soft, but still audible, "aish" behind him. Feeling his stomach drop into the depths of an area of his body that he couldn't even identify for himself, he turns around quietly, seeing the person rubbing their head, and bows slightly before apologizing in a quickened manner towards them. Turning his back to the person again, he takes on a quicker pace of walking in the hopes that he can escape the wrath of whoever it was, and continue his day in as much peace as the school would allow him to, which sometimes wasn't much, to say the least.
Relieved at the fact that he had finally made it to his locker without having to run into the person again, the boy lowers his body and starts to apply his combination to the lock in front of him, yet again in a quickened state due to the delusion that the person could still potentially hunt him down in order to start problems. Upon getting his locker open, he starts to gather up everything that he needs, without even having to pay full attention to what he's doing due to his locker being that neat and organized, and nearly makes it out of the situation safe until he feels a tap on which back, which causes him to jump and nearly drop all of his books on to the floor.
"Omo! I am so sorry!" he hears a voice behind him say in a nervous and quickened pace of voice before he leans back up in order to look at the unknown individual face-to-face. Instantly taking note of the brown locks atop the boys head, and the fact that his hand goes right back to the spot where the door hit him, Key instantly notices him as the boy that he had just hit with the door. "Are you okay?" the guy suddenly asks, taking Key aback, since he was expecting to be yelled at before being pushed into his locker.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." he says weakly before pointing at the other's head and closing his locker door. "I'm sorry about that." he says again, apologizing before he attempts to, yet again, escape the situation for good, with his eyes lowered to the floor.
"Wait, hold on a second." the guy behind him says, causing Key roll his eyes in both nervousness and annoyance. But mostly the latter.
"Yes?" he asks, in a voice boardering the lines of rudeness, as he turns around towards the person in question.
"Umm..this is going to sound kind of weird, but do you remember me?" the person asks, his voice trailing off along with the wind during the last portions of the question.
Though Key obviously knew the guy as the same person who has sat next to him all year during homeroom, and a few other classes, he actually finds it to be a shock that he can't, for the life of him, remember his name. Though it isn't a fact that is at all bothersome to him, to say the least.
"No." Key answers simplistically in the hopes that the conversation could be over after which.
"Oh, well...I'm Kim Jonghyun." the boy states, introducing himself with a smile on his face as Key's face remains in the stoic nature that it has been in since the conversation started. "My locker's been next to yours all year and we sit next to each other in homeroom."
"Sorry I've never noticed." Key says in a monotonic, sarcastic, voice as an eye roll unconsciously takes over his facial muscles before he tries to leave again.
"Wait, one second." Jonghyun says before Key is even able to take a step.
Turning around yet again, this time with a glare of annoyance clearly evident on his face, Key subliminally curses himself for even stopping to apologize to the boy when he had already done so prior to the current conversation.
"Yes?" he asks, yet again in a monotonic voice that, unknowing to himself, tightens Jonghyun's stomach in fear.
"Well...I was just wondering; do you have a partner for the project yet?" Jonghyun asks, causing Kibum's eyes to nearly roll out of his head, due to, what he felt was, complete and utter stupidity.
"No." he says weakly, now not caring if he sounded rude or disrespectful.
"Well...do you want to be mine, maybe?" Jonghyun asks again as Key starts to wonder why exactly he was acting so nervous around him, though he noted that the way that he was acting towards the boy could have something to do with it. He was new after all.
"Sure, why not?" he asks back, sarcastically of course, before turning around and leaving the kid in a baffled state of mind, wondering if he had just been taunted or not, and whether or not sarcasm was being brought to play, yet again.
The next day in Mr. Kim's homeroom, the noise level, during the beginning of the hour, is nearly triple the amount that it would usually be due to everyone spreading around in the hopes of finding a partner that they would be more than happy, or at least tolerant, to work with for the next week. For the most part, people instantly drew themselves towards pre-picked partners and good friends, though there were those who had to step out of their boundaries and comfort zones in order to, hopefully, make new friends and find a partner who they could stand to be around for the extended period of time. Looking on in fascination towards all of his students, due to the excitement and anticipation that he feels for the numerous projects to begin, Mr. Kim takes a quick glance around the room and sees that nearly everybody is paired into two's, as he had instructed, exnaying the back row of the room, which he can barely see due to not only the numerous column's of marble work areas, five to be precise, in front of them, but also due to the fact that he broke his glasses and was, for the most part, as blind as a bat.
"All right then, so most of you appear to be okay..." he states as his voice trails off and he places his right hand above his very feeble line of vision, like a pirate searching the sevens seas. He has to squint his eyes, due to the bright lights of the room adding on to his blindness, but doesn't see any empty space except for the entire back row. "Okay, does everyone have a partner?" he asks as he unsquints his eyes and attempts to look around the room again, only to be met with everyone he that could see, which mostly consisted of the first two rows, looking around and nodding their heads. "Okay then, moving on..."
"Excuse me..." someone from the back row quietly speaks up before everyone turns around in order to see who it was. "I don't have a partner." the person states, yet again in a very quiet tone of voice, as Mr. Kim, at first attempting to squint his eyes again in order to help his vision, walks towards his direction in order to identify, for himself, who exactly it was that was speaking.
"Oh, Mr. Kim. I apologize." he says alongside a nervous chuckle, that stemmed from his having to lean into Key's face in order to fully recognize him, as he clears his throat and starts to search the room again. "All right, is there anyone out there who does not have a partner? Anyone?" he asks, to which he is only met with silence as Key lowers his head down further from everyone's gazes, which made him uncomfortable and quite nervous, to say the least.
Trying to find a plausible solution in his mind, Mr. Kim looks around the room, with his right hand now on his chin, and notes that not only does Key not have a partner, but he is also the only one sitting in the back row, which he notes usually has a few more people sitting in it. Looking around the room, and yet again having to squint in order to see who isn't currently present in class, he is interrupted from his deep train of thought when the door to the classroom opens, two minutes after the bell to homeroom had rung, and three students come in, one after the other in a nearly straightened line.
"Sorry Mr. Kim," the first, a boy, says as he bows before making his way towards the back row to the classroom. "my locker got stuck again and it took a while until I could get some help." he explains as a nervous chuckle escapes his lips.
"It's fine Mr. Kim, just don't make it a habit." Mr. Kim instructs as Jonghyun smiles upwards towards him and nods in an apologetic manner. "And what exactly is your excuse?" Mr. Kim suddenly asks before turning around towards the other late parties, whose identities he already knew, whether he was blind or not.
"Minzy had some lady issues that we had to take care of, so we couldn't make it here on time." CL, in her typical high pitched accent, states with no shame whatsoever, causing Minzy to hit her in the arm and blush in embarassment.
"AISH!" Mr. Kim shouts before turning his entire body around towards her. "Do you have to be so blunt and disrespectful all of the time?" he asks with a disgusted look on his face.
"What Mista' Chang?!" CL asks with a shrug of her shoulders and an innocent look on her face. "You asked why we were late, so I told you." she states, nearly whining.
Sighing out loud and rolling his eyes towards the ceiling, Mr. Kim merely shakes his head at the thought of CL, something in which he feels that he is doing a little too often during his days, and silently instructs her to take a seat before remembering that Key still had no partner.
"Miss Lee..." he says, now with a smile on his face as she turns her attention back towards him. "Would you happen to already have a partner that you're working with for the project?" he asks as CL raises her eyebrows towards the man's sudden shift in personality.
"Um...I'm working with Minzy...why?." she asks before taking out a small, baby pink, nail file from her uniform jacket and scraping the tip of her index nail, a noise in which she knows annoys Mr. Kim to no end.
Having to take in a deep breathe in order to control not only his breathing, but his own anger, Mr. Kim, finally fed up with the disrespect that she shows him on a daily basis, scoffs out loud and looks down at CL.
"Yah, what have I told you fifty-seven times, since last year, about filing your nails in class?" he asks as his face starts to scrunch up and a headache starts to beat towards the right side of his brain.
Not realizing that he was talking to her, due to being concentrated on the tedious task of having to keep her regularly bitten nails well kept, CL, after hearing a very soft voice in her ear, looks up at Mr. Kim with a completely clueless expression on her face.
"Huh? I'm sorry, did you say somethin' Mista' Chang? I was not paying any attention whatsoever." she asks, legitimately baffled as Mr. Kim's blood level proceeds to sky rocket to the ceiling.
"Okay, first off," he starts as he snatches the nail file out of her hand. "give me this." he says, before she is able to say another word. "And second off, I am so sick and tired of this blatant disrespect that you not only show me, but the entire class." he confesses, motioning to the class behind him and almost hitting a girl due to not being able to see her face right by his hand.
Luckily she dodged.
"I didn't do anything!" CL states with her mouth open in shock. "And besides," she starts up again as she leans back in her chair. "you've never told me anything about filing my nails in class, and there's nothing in the handbook about it."
"Yah!" Mr. Kim says before pointing at her, as he feels the heat of anger taking over the greater portion of his face. "First off, I have told you fifty-six..."
"Fifty-seven." CL says in a sing-songy voice, alongside a smile, as Mr. Kim blinks down at her in embarassment, due to his being outsmarted by her, yet again.
"Yes...fifty-seven times," he says lowly before exhaling a deep breath and continuing on with his point. "to not file your nails in class. It's distracting, and even if it's not in the school handbook, it should be common courtesy to not to do something like that when there are twenty-two other kids in the class trying to learn." he says, with his voice trailing off in a whiny, high pitched tone.
"Well no one's ever complained about it..." CL states lowly as Mr. Kim nearly loses his capability to remain sane due to the girl's cluelessness to the expectations of behavior in an academic community.
"Okay, you know what, I have had it Miss Lee." he states with his head lowered down to the floor. "You are late to my class each and every day of the week, you are constantly disrupting with one of your constant antics or your quirky little questions, that just have to be answered, you never pay attention in class, not even for the simple stuff, and for the millionth time, MY NAME IS MR. KIM, NOT 'MISTA CHANG!'" he finishes, attempting to mimic CL's signature accent as she rolls her eyes and sends a smile in Minzy's direction before looking over at him.
"Mista' Chang," she starts as Minzy attempts to keep her chuckles to herself in order to not get in as much trouble as her best friend. "you really shouldn't get that angry. Didn't the doctor tell you last year that your blood pressure shouldn't get too high?"
Appalled at the fact that she would even dare ask such a question, and in front of all of his students for that matter, Mr. Kim, in both shock and anger, takes in another meditated deep breath, and smiles soon after, due to an idea popping into his head.
"Actually...yes, he did." he states as he rests his hand on top of CL's work area. "So in order to calm down, here's what I'm going to do. Due to you, Miss Gong, and Mr. Kim," he starts up, pointing at both Minzy and Jonghyun, who become nervous due to their names being mentioned. "being late for class on the first day of the project, you three, as punishment, will not be able to decide who you're partners are-AH AH, QUIET!" he orders before CL is able to get another word out. "So with that being said; Miss Gong, you will work with Mr. Kim." he states as he points over at Jonghyun. "And Miss Lee, you will be working with Mr. Kim Kibum." he says as CL's mouth opens wide in pure bewilderment.
"BUT MISTA' CHANG!" she squeals, causing a few students to have to cover their ears due to how pitchy it came out. "That is not fair. I told you that she had woman problems, so why should I be punished?!"
"Because number one, you're disrespectful." Mr. Kim answers in a blunt manner. "Number two, I know for a fact that Miss Gong didn't have these supposed 'lady issues,' because I heard you in the hallway trying to convince her to skip class." he states as CL's face shifts from a look of shock to a look of chuckled embarassment, that she hopes will distract Mr. Kim, but unfortunately doesn't. "And number three, you are not about to use Miss Gong in order to do all of the work for you and get an easy A on this project. You need to learn that life isn't always going to go your way Miss Lee, and what better way to do that then to take you away from your support system?" he states with a smile on his face, which shifts CL's face back into one of anger.
"But Mista' Chang, that..."
"It's okay Mr. Kim. I can work by myself." Key proposes as Mr. Kim turns back towards him and Jonghyun, who looks on at the situation, along with Minzy, not knowing how to take everything in.
"I'm afraid that won't be possible Mr. Kim. Given that there is an even number of students in the class, that means that everyone is able to be paired up, hence, each and every person must have a partner, including yourself."
"But why does it have to be me?" CL asks, causing Mr. Kim to roll his eyes, but admire her for not giving up when she really believes in something. That was something, if not the only thing, that he did like about her. "I mean, it's obvious that we would be uncomfortable around each other and fail."
"I don't really think that's the reason why we would fail." Key mumbles under his breathe, causing CL to turn her attention away from Mr. Kim and towards him, for the first time since the argument with Mr. Kim started.
"Excuse me, is there something that you would like to say a little louder? You know, so that I can hear you?" she asks with a smile on her face as she taps the tip of her ear in order to further emphasize her point.
"Actually, yes, there is." Key answers, returning her smile with one of his own as he turns his shifts his body in his chair to turn towards her. "What I meant by what I said, that 'I don't really think that that's the reason why we would fail,' is that I would be a lot better off working on this project by myself than with someone who is not only disrespectful, but has already failed this class before. I would actually like to get a good grade, if you don't mind." he states with a nod of his head as everyone in the class gets more intrigued with the situation and turns towards CL to see her reaction.
"Miss Lee..." Mr. Kim says, trying to get her attention, but failing miserably.
"Oh, really? Is that so?" she asks with a tilt of her head. "Well ya know, I think that I would rather work on my own rather than working with someone who has a stick up his ass...among other things, from what I've heard." she says wickedly as her grin widens and Minzy grabs her arm in order to, somewhat, tell her that she should stop before she goes too far.
"Oh wow." Key scoffs, turning his head towards the window behind him and then back towards CL. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"I think you know exactly what I mean, wouldn't you..."
"MISS LEE! If you dare say it, I swear I will send you down to the principal's office faster than you can fail this class!"
"Okay, first off, that was not funny Mista' Chang," CL starts up, causing Mr. Kim to cringe due to her calling him that hated name again. "and second off, he started it, so why should I have to stop anything?"
"I started it? Are you serious right now?" Key asks with an unbelieving smile on his face.
"Okay, okay, both of you stop it!" Mr. Kim orders, finally getting sick of being the meek teacher who gets scared of these types of situations. "We've already wasted around five minutes of class and the partnerings as of now are final." he says, now directing his attention back to the entire class as he walks back up to the front of the room for his roll call sheet.
What he doesn't see behind him though, is CL and Key staring each other down in vicious manners. Each refusing to back down. Each refusing to let the other win or get the upper hand above them. To say the least, they both knew that this was going to be a very interesting week they would spend together.
Three days passed since the accursed incident in Mr. Kim's homeroom, and in those three days, no words were spoken between Key and CL other then very small mumbles and "fine"'s exchanged between each other. Though there were times where they felt that the tension between them was so thick that even the slightest motion could set one of them off, and then start an argument that would be talked about for centuries to come, shockingly to them both, things were actually a lot more calm and peaceful than they both expected. They had accomplished very little with their project, due to Key having to do most of the work and them refusing to talk to each other for the first day of work in order to pick chemicals, which Key finally chose on his own, so, with dread on both ends, they knew that they would have to spend more time with each other in order to catch up. With the thought in her head, CL hadn't even realized that the bell signaling the end of class had rung. The only indication that she had of such was that Key tapped her arm and handed her a note, which she took, of course after giving him a glare of resentment, that he of course returned. Popping her gum in a silent taunt to the young boy, she turns her attention towards the note, opens it from its square folding, and squints her face in confusion when she reads;
"My house. 3:30pm. Don't be late. Don't waste my time. Address below."
At first she was offended by the fact that he would not only boss her around like that, but word the note in such a manner. But then, after rolling her eyes and shaking off his rudeness, which she noticed was constant each and every day, even to people that weren't her, she started to think of reasonings as to why exactly he would want her inside of his home in the first place. As she started to pack her bag and stick her nail file, which she shockingly didn't get yelled about due to Mr. Kim helping other students, back into her uniform pocket, she touched her Chemistry 101 text book and then it hit her like a brick;
"I'd actually like to get a good grade, if you don't mind." her mind repeated back to her, in his voice, causing her to pop her gum again, in an attempt to release some of her anger, as she rolls her eyes in irritation.
Meeting Minzy, who was waiting for her by the door to Mr. Kim's room so that they could walk to their next period together, CL hands her the note, already knowing that Minzy was watching them and wanting to know what exactly had happened between the two, and stops in front of her locker in order to turn the lock.
"Wow. He doesn't let up on the rudeness, does he?" she asks with a squint of her brow, to which CL only pops her gum angrily in response. "Are you going to go?" she asks as she leans against the locker next to CL's.
"No choice." CL states as she slams her locker door shut. "But trust me, I wouldn't if I didn't have to."
"I know." Minzy says, following her to Miss Kim's English class.
"I mean, who the fuck does he think he is anyways? Just ordering me around and shit. 'Don't waste my time.' Bitch, don't waste mine. Fucking whore." CL snarks with a roll of her eyes.
"Chaerin!" Minzy gasps, hitting her friend on the shoulder. "Watch your mouth." she demands, feeling somewhat of a hurt inside of her due to the viciousness of CL's words. "And besides, what makes you think that he's a whore?"
"I don't know Minzy. You know that I always call someone I don't like a whore or a ho. It's what I do." she says as she opens the door to Miss Kim's room and greets her with a quick smile.
"True, but still, don't you think that maybe you and him should just bury the hatchet? I mean, me and Jonghyun are getting along really well, and half of our project is already done." Minzy states as she places her bag onto the floor below her and adjusts the golf hat on her head, which she stole from her dad this morning since it matched her uniform jacket.
"Well Jonghyun didn't, pretty much, call you a dumbass and bitch you out in front of an entire class, did he?" CL asks with a bite to her voice as she rolls her eyes in remembrance towards her and Key's conversation.
To say that she hated everything about him would, nearly, be an understatement. CL was a girl who was very big on the characteristic of respect. Whether you knew her or not, the one thing that you had to be mindful of was that you had to respect her, and if you didn't, problems would arise. And the only reason they hadn't, so far, with Key was because, as much as she hated to admit it, she needed him. If she failed the first project of the school year, not only would she prove Mr. Kim right in his beliefs that she would fail his class, yet again, but she would have to be chewed out by her new guidance counselor, Miss Kan, who has been annoying her, ever since the year started, about her having to graduate high school in order to "even have a chance at a job in the future," or "have a successful life." She didn't even want a corporate job. She wanted to sign with YG Entertainment and make a number one, smash hit, with Teddy Park, so she didn't understand why she even had to learn such things as Chemistry 101, or even Algebra, which she was quite good at. But, knowing that potentially being kicked out of school for failing two years in a row would not look good on a resume' to become a nation wide idol to thousands of little girls, whether you had the greatest amount of talent or not, didn't sound good, she kept coming anyways. And in order to make her dream a reality, she was going to have to drive over this bumpy road.
This very...very bumpy road.
Around twenty minutes had passed since the final bell of the day had rung, but CL still found herself in the school due to Minzy having to stay and talk to Mr. D about joining, of all things, the Math Club. Rolling her eyes at the mere thought that people could actually like to do math for fun, like her best friend, she looks up at the clock, for the tenth time in the matter of ten minutes, and notes that she only has eight minutes to get to Key's house. Getting this thought in her mind that he seemed to be the type who would rip someone apart for even being twenty seconds late for something, she picks her bag up from the ground below her, slings it over her shoulder, and starts to leave the school. Taking note, inside of her mind, that it wasn't at all because she was intimidated by the thought of Key, she takes her phone out of the side pocket of her bag, after pulling it closer to her chest, and text's Minzy, telling her the situation and that she'll go on her own, since coming with Minzy unannounced may cause problems due to Key being the way that she was.
After pushing the left front door to the school open, it took CL approximately five minutes, due to her fast walking, to find Key's street. Looking down at the paper below her and then at the street sign above her, she clarifies the street as being the correct one before looking across the street at a two story, egg shell blue house in a direct diagonal angle from where she was standing. Looking down at the note again to check for the address, and thanking God for her great vision, even through the annoyance of her tiny eyes, she also clarifies it as being the correct one before making her way across the street, up Key's stairs, and finally to the front of the door. Before she even has a chance to knock on the door, it opens and there stands Key, looking completely different than she had remembered him from school. He had changed out from his uniform and into a t-shirt with a scrunched up hand and the words "put your paws up" in big, white letters under the grey arm/hand. He complimented this with blue skinny jeans and grey Adidas, which looked worn, and yet perfectly brand new at the same time. Baffled at how his shoes could possibly look like this, CL realized that she had probably been staring at Key for a little too long, and looked up at his face, only to see him not there. Looking past the door and into the house, nervous about whether or not she should just step in without being invited, her heart nearly jumps out of her chest when she hears a voice from inside of the house.
"Are you coming in or not?" Key asks bluntly, causing CL to groan out loud, softly so that only she could hear it, and proceeds into the home.
She shuts the door behind her, worried that she probably let a shitload of flies into the house, and takes off her shoes before taking in her surroundings. To her left were hanging pictures of people who she presumed were Key's family. Most were of Key and a girl who she recognized as Kim Taeyeon, his twin sister, smiling brightly towards the camera in matching outfits of boy/girl variation, but as she walked closer to the kitchen, where she thought that she had heard Key's voice come from, she noticed that some of the pictures were turned on the opposite side so that only the back of the frame could be seen. Though she wanted to see what exactly what was behind the mystery of the pictures, CL held herself back from touching his things and turned towards her right to be met with a very clean living room area, which was painted in the same color as the outside of the house; a very bright egg shell blue that you would see painted onto eggs around Easter time. Smiling at the color and the fact that more pictures could be seen of the twins on the sides of the walls next to the television, CL chuckles slightly to herself, beating herself up inside at the fact that she had actually smiled in an asshole's house, and looks into the open area to her left to see Key near the right side of a very white kitchen, which had hints of egg shell blue on the tiles below.
"Are you going to come in or just stand there like an idiot?" Key asked in a monotonic voice, obviously very concentrated on what he was doing.
Not even caring about the fact that he had more than likely just called her an "idiot," shocking herself with such a fact, CL starts to walk into the kitchen, loosening her bag from her shoulder and looks around to see white. She quickly thinks of how white is the color of death and chuckles to herself that she would make such a comparison to her life, in a seemingly happy home.
"What?" Key asks, looking up at her as CL takes notice of the fact that he's wearing glasses.
"Oh, nothing." she says, waving her hand at him.
"You can have a seat." he says, as if reading CL's mind, as he goes back to his work in a way reminiscent to a grandma doing her monthly taxes.
Setting her bag on top of the surface of the island and pulling out one of the bar stools that surround it, the one next to the nearest to Key, CL takes a seat and starts to open her bag.
"So I'm suspecting that you're doing your report?" she asks as she continues to look through her bag.
"Yes." Key answers in that monotonic voice that annoyed CL to no end. "Did you start yours yet?" he asks back, not even looking at her.
"I did a little bit of it last night." she says as she pulls the notebook containing the said report out of her bag.
"Do you mind if I see it?" Key asks, already reaching his hand out in order to grab it.
"Sure, why not?" CL asks in a very low, slightly sarcastic, voice as she rolls her eyes at his rudeness and hands him the report.
The next thirty minutes go by in nearly agonizing silence for the two. Though it is a silence that is somewhat reminiscent to the silence that they felt when they were with each other in the classroom, CL noticed that this silence was more peaceful than that one, even if the dialogue between the two was, pretty much, exactly the same as it was when they were in class. They hardly spoke, except when they needed to, and CL felt herself becoming bored. Unbearably bored.
"Let's play a game." she suddenly says, pushing her notebook aside and placing her elbows onto the island.
"What kind of a game?" Key asks, still looking down at his work.
"Twenty-one questions. I'll go first and we'll stop when we get to twenty-one, deal?" she asks as Key continues to work.
"Sure, why not?" he says as he writes something down.
"Okay, first question; why do you hate me so much?" CL asks as she smacks her lips a little bit, which seemingly gets Key's attention, since he looks up at her after she does so.
"You're rude and, quite frankly, a bitch who I would rather not be around. Is that a good enough answer for you?" he asks as he lowers his head back down to his work.
"Why yes, it is." CL answers with a smile and a tilt of her head. "Do you think that you look cute when you use curse words like that? Because you really don't sweetie." she informs him with a shake of her head.
"I never implied that I did. Is it your job to make assumptions about me, or are you just that judgemental?" Key asks as he types something into a calculator, which baffled CL, since she could have sworn they were studying Chemistry.
"What are you talking about?" she asks, cursing herself in her mind for using one of her questions on something like that.
"'A stick up his ass...among other things, from what I've heard.' That ring a bell?" Key asks, and CL instantly knows what he means and, somewhat, why he's been so rude to her since that day.
"Oh, that." she says, not really knowing what to say afterwhich. "Well, was it was really necessary to taunt me first for failing last year?" she asks as a legitimate question, outside of the game.
Closing his book suddenly and looking up at CL, Key pushes all of his work aside and stares directly into her eyes.
"I was just being honest. Sorry if it was too much for you to handle. Are you that used to being a bully that you don't expect it when someone stands up to you?"
"Stand up to me?" CL asks with bewilderment painted onto her face.
"Yeah. As I far as I see, you're just like everyone else. You think you can walk all over everybody, for God knows what reason, and that your shit doesn't stink. Am I right?"
"Somewhat." CL states truthfully. "But that doesn't mean that I'm not human too." she says too, shutting Key up for the moment and starting an awkward silence between the two that she ends quickly. "Look..." she starts, beating the shit out of herself on the inside for what she's about to do. "it's obvious that we don't like each other, but do you think that we could maybe apologize and get this over with?" she asks as Key continues to look at her.
For a moment she swears she saw a twinkle in his eye.
"Fine." Key says with a quick roll of his eyes and a sigh. "Really, I'm sorry that I bitched you out for failing a year. Was that okay enough for you?"
"Perfect." CL says with a very small smile. "And I'm sorry if it seemed like I was judgemental. It's a bad habit." she says before turning her head to flip a bit of her blonde hair behind her left ear and sighing out loud, in a nervous manner that she hoped Key didn't notice. "So...what's your favorite color?" she asks as Key, shockingly enough to her, actually smirks at the question in the attempts to hold in a laugh. He thought that she hadn't noticed, but she knew exactly what she saw.
For the first time, she saw humanity in him.
"Pink." he answers, re-verting back into his shy nature. "What about you?"
"Same thing." she replies back.
"Really?" he asks back, unintentionally.
"Yeah. I prefer a hotter type of pink than that light pink, borderline white, bullshit though. It looks better for fashion design and whatnot. Speaking of that, where did you get your shirt?" she asks before pointing at the mentioned piece of clothing.
"Oh," Key says, for some reason unknowing to him, as he looks down at the shirt. "I bought it online. A friend of mine made it and sent it to me. Why, are you a fan of GaGa or something?" he asks with an arched brow.
"Yeah, she's cool. I like her outfits more than anything, but 'Pokerface' was my shit for like six months." she says with a laugh and a shake of her head as she reminisces on the said period of time. "Can I ask you an honest question?" she asks as Key's heart starts to slowly seep into his stomach in nervousness.
"Sure, why not?" he asks back, trying his hardest to control his breathing.
"Why are you so cold to people all of the time?" CL asks, being sure to not continue on and use one of her remaining questions, since she knew the game would be over soon.
Taking him for a spin, due to not expecting that particular question to be asked, Key looks over to his left, outside of the window, and sees two blue jays sitting on top of the tiny windowsill garden that his mother hand built during the summer renovations. They appeared to be a mother and son, due to one feeding the other, but Key wasn't entirely sure due to the fact that he had taken off his glasses a while ago and wasn't wearing his contacts.
"I just don't trust people." he answers as CL looks on, knowing that he wasn't finished. "I can't really explain why," he says, both lying and telling the truth to the girl before him. "but I just don't. Plus it's not like people are nice to me anyways, so I don't see the point." he says in a low voice as he watches the mother bird scoot closer to the baby bird.
"Understandable." CL says as she nods her head and looks over at what he's staring at before looking back at him. "All right, one more, and I'm taking this one since you took two in a row before." she says as Key snaps out of his trance long enough to look over and see her giving him a questionable look. "Would you like to hang out with me this Saturday?" she asks as she drums her fingers on top of her thighs softly and Key is left at a loss for words.
It had been so long since anyone had asked him anywhere, especially to do something with him. It's been so long, in fact, that anytime someone does such now, he thinks that they're merely joking, which they are three-fourth's of the time, and moves on with his day as if it never happened. Though of course, the taunt still replay's in the back of his mind like an annoying record that he can't escape from. But, for some reason beyond his knowing, he sees sincerity in CL's eyes. It doesn't take away the reserved nature of his being, or the wall that he's built in front of himself and her, but it does warm his heart. Just a little bit.
"Um...I don't know." he says, looking down at the surface of the island below him.
"Oh come on!" CL whines, her voice squeaking slightly. "I think you're cool, and we're somewhat starting to get along, so why not? Come on, I don't want us to be mad at each other forever, especially if we have four more days of this project." she says as Key looks back up at her, only to see that her smile hasn't left yet. "And besides, you shouldn't go through life not trusting people or having anyone who you can just go out and screw around with. Trust me, it's a lot less fun." she finishes, continuing to smile a genuine smile at him.
Feeling his heart warm at not only the smile that she's giving him, but also the chance that she's giving him to possibly have a friend again, or even someone around him who wouldn't judge him or feel sympathy towards him, Key, after feeling as if he's going to regret this, sighs out loud, and then opens his mouth to answer the girl.
"...okay, fine. Pick me up at twelve and we'll talk from there." he says as he goes back to his work in order to avoid looking at the girl.
"Cool." CL says with a smile and a pop of her gum. "It should be fun," she starts up as she returns her attention back to her notebook. "or a complete disaster, depending which one of us gets our period that day." she snorts out loud, causing Key to laugh along with her due to her sarcastic, but still fun, sense of humor.
As the smile pulled his facial muscles upwards, a realization suddenly hit his mind like a building had just dropped on his head.
This was the first time that he had genuinely smiled with someone since the incident happened. Over six months ago.