Teenage Girls
Pairing: Les!JongHo and OnKey
Length: 3.4k
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: Minjung hates Junghee, sort of. Only sometimes.
“I am gonna hit her in the face!” Minjung yelled as she got into the vehicle. To say that Kibum was surprised at his daughter’s outburst would have been an overstatement, since as of late her rather competitive nature had caused a riff with another girl in her grade. The usually passive girl had taken to quietly cursing her classmate as she told her father about her day.
“What did Junghee do this time?” Kibum asked, figuring he’d humor his daughter.
“You will not believe what she did, Dad!” Minjung whined, pulling her seatbelt on and changing the radio station. “That sly little cheater actually asked Mr. Lee if she could have extra-credit work to boost her grade in the class!”
“That’s scandalous!” Kibum cried out. It was fun for him to indulge Minjung in her petty rivalry, particularly because she was innocent enough to not read the sarcasm or his gentle mocking even if she was sixteen. The girl began ridding herself of her layers, taking off the big puffy jacket she wore outside while waiting to get picked up.
“I know, right? I bet she found out that my score in his class is higher than hers so she needs the extra work cause she can’t be awesome like me!” Minjung continued with a shrug of her shoulders. “Its not like she can beat me fair and square.”
“Wait, how did you know her grade was lower than yours?” Kibum asked, picking up on the detail. “I thought grades weren’t out until this Friday?”
“Um, well, you see, Taeyeon may have been in Mr.Park’s room and he may have gone to the bathroom and she may have peaked at the grades.” She answered sheepishly. “But only cause he left them up on his computer! Its not like she went snooping.”
“Uh huh, I’m sure.” Kibum teased. “But I thought last week you said that Taeyeon was a traitor because she was friends with Junghee too?”
“I mean, she totally is, but I kinda get it because we’re in so many things together, its hard to avoid Junghee no matter how much we try.” Minjung reasoned. “Ugh, I bet that traitor totally told Junghee too!”
It was a little comical to watch Minjung figure things out from the driver’s seat, only because it was obvious that with her focus being on her rivalry with Junghee it didn’t leave much attention available for details. This ‘arch-nemesis’ thing, as MInjung called it, had begun at the end of the previous semester. Because the girls were now in eleventh grade, it was drilled into their minds by the school that every single thing they did between the beginning of high school and their senior year of high school would directly affect their future universities. It was a completely unnecessary and highly unhealthy mentality to instill in impressionable minds, but no matter what Kibum said to dissuade his daughter she was determined to be the top student in her grade.
That meant that she was involved in extra curricular activities after school, that she volunteered on the weekends, and that she put a tremendous amount of effort into her school work. The thing that seemed to spark the issue between the girls was that they both had the same thing in mind. They each wanted to be the best student, with the longest list of accolades, and still balance a semblance of a social life. Kibum thought that his daughter should lighten the pressure on herself but knowing that any words said along the vein would be refuted, he didn’t waste his breath.
After the end of their first semester, the teen had received their report cards in the mail that included a class ranking. It had been Kibum who opened the envelope, but past looking over his daughter’s passing grades, he hadn’t noticed the very important single digit number at the bottom right of the page. He mentioned the fact that he had received the report in passing over dinner when Minjung abruptly jumped up from the table and went in search of said paper.
The long, high-pitched squeal she released into the air had the hairs on the back of Kibum’s neck standing pin straight. At first, he wasn’t even sure if it was a good noise or a bad noise, but when Minjung walked back into the dining room, the huge smile on her face was telling. To her own surprise, Minjung had placed first in her class. Even though Kibum assumed that this would help settle her nerves and allow her some piece of mind, it only seemed to string out his little girl. She was hellbent on keeping her position.
Shortly following the resumption of school, somehow, Minjung had managed to fish out the other contenders for the top ten spots. One particular girl, Junghee (number 2), had become the bane of her existence. Although they participated in soccer, choir, and student council together, Minjung felt like the other girl was constantly nipping at her heels. If she volunteered to help a teacher after school, Junghee would invite herself along. If Minjung decided to try out for the school play, Junghee could also coincidentally be found at auditions. In short, it drove Minjung insane. AND she wasn’t afraid to vocalize her distaste, at home at least.
As the little family of two arrived home, Minjung dashed out of the car in haste to get into the house before she could get scolded for not putting her jacket on. Kibum knew her tricks. He allowed it, however, as she called out that she would make dinner tonight before making her way to her room.
Getting a little work in before dinner, Kibum lost track of time. He was looking over resumes for the receptionist position when Minjung yelled from the kitchen that dinner was ready. He pulled himself out of his office and made his way to the dining room, unsurprised that the food was not set up there. He walked over to the little bar that bordered their kitchen to find his daughter already digging in to some sort of pasta dish.
“What are we having?” he asked, sitting in front of his own dish. There was a bottle of soda sitting there for him as well, but there was no fork. Kibum got up and grabbed one from the utensil drawer as Minjung swallowed the bite of food in her mouth.
“Um, like chicken alfredo? I guess?” She answered with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Are you finished with your homework?”
Not deigning the question with an answer, Minjung simply gave her dad an incredulous look. As if he needed to ask the question.
“You know, most parents have to ask that! I read the books!” Kibum said with a laugh.
“What’d you buy books for? I’m pretty sure I could tell you how to parent.” The girl replied, smirking.
“That’s what the parenting books said! That you’d think you knew best.” He said before taking a bite of the food. “Though they didn’t say anything about arch-nemeses, so I don’t know what to tell you about that.”
“Don’t say it like that! You make it sound like she’s some super villain.” Minjung complained.
“I thought that’s what she was to you?”
“I’m not twelve, dad. She’s just infuriating because she is just so … ugh!” She finished.
“Yeah, okay.”
“Its just that, why can’t she be a little dumber? Or in less activities? It’d be easier to ignore her if she was.”
Kibum wanted to sympathize, he did, but he really didn’t understand this whole rivalry thing. He’d actually kinda hung out with Junghee’s mom at soccer games and sat with her at choir recitals, and she seemed nice enough. He, of course, hadn’t mentioned this to his own kid afraid of her reaction. He wasn’t sure if talking to Junghee’s parents made him a traitor in her eyes, and he surely wasn’t going to ask.
“Wait, so you don’t ignore her?” he asked, still shoveling food into his mouth. He’d involved Minjung in the kitchen as soon as he adopted her, hoping it could be something that they could bond over, and now she was a pro in the kitchen.
“Well, not exactly.”
“What does that even mean, Minjung?”
“I mean, I kinda talk to her?” she shrugged, not offering further explanation.
“So you talk to her, but you hate her and don’t want Taeyeon to talk to her?” he questioned. This was getting weird, he definitely did not understand teenage girls regardless how many books he’d read on the subject.
“I don’t hate her!” she cried out quickly.
“But you said earlier that you were gonna hit her in the face, which I do not condone of by the way. And you complain about her all the time.” Kibum reasoned. In his mind, that kinda added up to hate, or dislike at least but his daughter seemed intent on defending herself.
“I just.. wish she was less competition?” Minjung asked more than stated. “The rest of the kids in the running for valedictorian are kinda way behind. So I’ve got it in the bag if Junghee would just back off. But that doesn’t mean I’m like mean to her or anything. She’s in most of my classes and we hang with the same people.”
“I’m sure she wants to be the best too, that’s not bad right?”
“I guess not, but dad! I need to be valedictorian, that means more scholarships for me!” Minjung excused. Kibum knew full well that that wasn’t her real reasoning. She’d been rather joyful when looking at different scholarship opportunities, claiming that it was awesome that she was adopted, and that her dad was gay, and that they were Asian; even though she was a little put out by the fact that she wasn’t left handed. He was pretty sure that her competitiveness was what brought out her distaste, or whatever feelings she had, for the other girl.
“If you say so, Minjunggie.”
The subject was dropped in favor of recapping their days, and nothing more was said on the topic. Although he wanted to ask more questions about her actual relationship with Junghee, Kibum knew better than to pick anymore on Minjung. He knew that his daughter was caught between being a good, nice person and her competitiveness, and he could only hope that she did the right thing.
That turned out to not be the case or so he thought, as he was called to the principal’s office of her high school the very next day. He left the hospital, where he worked as an administrative director, and made his way to the school. The front office worker who called him had cryptically said that he was required at the school because there had been an incident between his daughter and another girl. He’d tried to fish for more information, but the woman had stated that it would be easier to explain in person.
Key made his way to the school as quickly as he could, really not knowing what to expect. The last time he’d been called to the school it had been in the first year of Minjung’s adoption. She was eleven, and docile, but her sharp tongue and wit showed itself when she was made fun of for her situation. He’d been so proud of her standing up for herself and him that he hadn’t punished her for making two of her classmates cry. He hadn’t seen this side of her before the official adoption, but her strength had been evident. It was one of the reasons they got along so well.
Which was why walking in to the office to find his daughter sitting in a chair crying was petrifying. She was normally so mature and put together that seeing her with her legs curled up and her chin tucked into them with big fat tears falling down her cheek and sobbing was utterly heartbreaking to Kibum. He definitely hadn’t expected that, and instead of waiting for the principal to come out of his office or anyone to give him further information, he rushed over to his daughter and enveloped his daughter.
“Oh honey,” Kibum said. “What happened? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Minjung didn’t give a direct answer just allowed her father to hug her into his arms before circling her arms around his neck. She hiccuped directly into his ear mumbling quietly, yet hysterically about how it wasn’t her fault, and she didn’t know why everyone said that.
“Mr. Kim, its nice to see you again, despite the circumstances.” The principle stated with a hesitant smile. Kibum made no move to stand up or remove himself from Minjung’s embrace. As his daughter lifted her face and saw the other girl, her sobbing got louder and her arms got tighter as she buried her face in her father’s chest almost as if she wanted to meld into him so she wouldn’t have to face the situation.
“Minjung-ah,” the short girl called quietly. “Its okay, MInjung. I know it wasn’t on purpose.”
“Please take a seat, Junghee. You can wait here until your parents arrive.” The principle said before directing himself to Kibum.
Shamefully, Kibum’s first thought was ‘I can’t believe Minjung actually hit her in the face!’
“I’m sorry Mr. Kim, we seemed to have called you under false information. Ms. Lee here was just explaining the incident to me and it looks like we’d been misinformed by the young lady that took Junghee to the nurse.”
“So, what happened?” Kibum asked, not fully understanding the situation. Why was Minjung crying?
“It was actually kind of my fault, Mr. Kim.” Junghee said quietly. Kibum had never heard her speak before, and the only time he’d ever really seen her she had been running around a soccer field. He was a little surprised by her seemingly shy nature, since this girl was supposed to be his daughter’s competition.
“No its not!” Minjung said loudly, finally detaching herself from Kibum. “Apparently everyone thinks I’m the scum of the earth and I backhanded Junghee because I hate her!”
“I never said that Minjung! I told Jessica that wasn’t what had happened!” Junghee cried out, here eyes quickly filling with tears. She wrinkled her nose, trying to contain them.
“Well that’s what everyone was saying, and it was the reason Krystal pushed me into the lockers!” Minjung nearly screamed.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Kibum interrupted. “Minjunggie, why don’t you tell me what happened? Come on, honey.”
The principle was also intrigued by the conversation, sitting down in a nearby chair between Minjung and Junghee.
“Well,” Minjung hiccuped. “I was in the storage room putting the the beakers away on the top shelf when someone called my name.” Kibum and the principle nodded, prompting her to continue. “So I dropped my hand and Junghee was there. I didn’t mean to hit her I swear! I didn’t even know she was there!”
“Okay, okay.” The principle said quickly. “That’s basically what Miss Lee told me. What happened after that? You said Krystal pushed you into the lockers?”
Minjung sniffled and nodded. “I’m wearing bangles today, so I guess I hit her really hard and Junghee fell down. That was when Jessica walked in. She started screaming about how I was crazy and how I shouldn’t have hit Junghee just because she was better than me. Then she took Junghee out but she just kept screaming at me. I tried to follow them to the nurse to make sure that Junghee was okay, but Krystal shoved me into the lockers and told me to leave them alone.” With that, Minjung started crying again.
“Are you crying cause you’re hurt?” The principle asked. Kibum knew that wasn’t the case, since MInjung hadn’t been holding any part of herself. His daughter shook her head fiercely.
“Is it because they were blaming you for the accident?”
Instead of answering, Minjung burst into a fresh set of tears.
“Its okay, honey.” Kibum said trying to comfort his daughter. Just then a man dressed in a suit burst through the doors looking like the wind had swept him in. His hair was wind-blown and poofy, his cheeks were pink from the cold. Junghee jumped up at the sight of him.
“Dad!”
“Junghee!” He answered, walking over to his own daughter. Kibum had never met Junghee’s father, to be honest he was expecting to be able to talk things out with her mother without causing a scene. Her father, however, seemed to have other plans. “What the heck happened? I just got a call from the secretary and she wouldn’t tell me anything other than mentioning that you had been hurt!”
Kibum sighed, knowing that this definitely wasn’t going to help assuage Minjung’s guilt.
“I do apologize about that sir,” the principal said quickly. “I think that I’m going to need to speak to the secretary about giving cryptic messages to parents.”
Looking over to Minjung, Junghee spoke up just barely. “I’m okay, dad. It was just a misunderstanding. Um I kinda sneaked up on Minjung and then she got called so she accidentally hit me when she turned around.”
“Oh.” Mr. Lee said quietly. “Oooooooh THAT Minjung?” At the sound of her name being said by Junghee’s father, both MInjung and Kibum turned to face the man.
“Oh my God, dad. Please stop.” Junghee said, burying her face in her hands but not before a dark flush crept onto her cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” he laughed, wrinkling his nose, then turned to face Kibum who still had Minjung, red-faced, in his embrace. “Hi, I’m Lee Jinki. Junghee’s dad.”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever had the pleasure,” Kibum smiled softly. Junghee definitely favored her mother, though both father and daughter scrounged up their faces when apologizing. It was cute. “I’m Kim Kibum, Minjunggie’s dad.”
The principle cleared his throat before making his move to stand from where he was. “If you’d like to take the girls home now, I’ll excuse them for the rest of the day.”
Both dads seemed to deem this a good idea, and gestured to follow their daughters out of the office. As they walked out to the main hallway, Kibum felt a soft hand on his wrist. He looked down to find that Jinki’s hand was holding him back from the front doors. Jinki nodded over to where the girls were standing by the door, looking shyly at one another. Kibum got the hint and allowed himself to hang back with Junghee’s dad.
They were far away enough that it didn’t seem like they would be eavesdropping, but apparently school entrances had fantastic acoustics as they could hear the words that were whispered quietly.
“I’m really sorry that Krystal pushed you.” Junghee began.
“No! Its not your fault.” MInjung rebutted.
“I tried to explain to Jessica that I had just kinda been standing really close to you when you turned around.”
“Is your cheek okay?” Minjung asked, bringing her hand up to inspect Junghee’s cheek. Kibum could see the effect that the soft caress had on the shorter girl with her eyes widening and her breath catching, but he noticed that his daughter completely missed it. He turned to face Jinki, to confirm whether he’d also caught the moment when Jinki smiled at him benevolently.
“Yeah, THAT Minjung indeed.”
Kibum couldn’t help but smile wider. It explained so much that his daughter was blind to. The constant presence that Junghee had become in Minjung’s life wasn’t because she aware of the apparently one-sided rivalry, but because she had a crush.
“Your wife never mentioned it!” Kibum exclaimed as quietly as his excitement would allow.
“Well, my ex wife isn’t exactly aware of Junghee’s preferences.” Jinki commented. “She only sees Junghee on the weekends.”
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you were divorced. Junghee’s mom never called you anything other than Junghee’s dad.” KIbum answered thoughtfully. “That explains why I’d never seen you at one of their soccer games or choir recitals.”
“Its a good thing too,” Jinki laughed. “I’m sure I would have spilled the beans a long time ago.”
“Nah,” Kibum said. “Minjunggie is kinda dense when it comes to stuff like that.”
“Does she take after you in that sense?” Jinki asked.
“No, she’s adopted.”
“Good, so you’ll be aware that when I ask for your number that I’m hitting on you?”
Kibum couldn’t help but laugh as he begun to walk towards the girls who were still standing close together. “How bout we take the girls to lunch first, then we’ll see about that?”