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"The finals are coming up," Soyeon speaks with full distress and worry, somewhat unsure even though she'd been studying for it for almost two weeks straight.
"So?" Yuqi inattentively replied as she took another bite of her already half-eaten granola bar. To be specific, their final exams are like, two days away—and it makes Soyeon so disoriented how calm Yuqi was about it unlike her, who had been panicking to save her life. Not only did she get baffled about the Chinese girl's attitude, but she was also concerned for her well-being since if Yuqi kept this attitude up, she might fail. Again.
"'So'? What do you mean 'so'? Don't you feel the need to review for shit?" Soyeon furrows her eyebrows. She really can't believe how calm Yuqi manages to be even if they're—metaphorically—being set on fire from how many assessments they've been deliberately given whilst finals are fast approaching.
"Ah ha-ha, calm down, unnie." Yuqi says, "I know, I know. I'll start in a bit."
"The "bit" you've been talking about was 30 minutes ago. Oh, I meant almost 50 minutes ago, if I may point out." Soyeon replied with a hint of annoyance as she stared at Yuqi, who seemed calm as day laid back in her chair. "Have you even finished the Philosophy essay I asked you to write for practice? Because you're seriously failing that subject,"
"Yes, indeed, ’cause I'd known you'd be up my ass if I said I didn't. So, I sucked it up and came to writing." the Chinese sarcastically comments, handing Soyeon a two-page essay from her backpack. "Also, quit talking like you're in a Disney sitcom. It's a bit.. strange."
Soyeon examines the papers given to her but not, of course, without a glare as a response to Yuqi's statement. "I, for a fact, do not talk like a character in a Disney sitcom. I say what simply comes to mind," she replied as she runs her two fingers on the light surface of the paper. It seemed as though it has been in Yuqi's bag for a while with the amount of creases on it; she finished her essay without even letting Soyeon know about it?
Yuqi put her glasses on and held up a finger pointing to the ceiling. "I, for a fact—" she mocked, but was quickly cut off when Soyeon harshly smacked her arm. "Ow! Okay, okay!" she winced.
"We still have some time to spare," Soyeon lifts her phone that immediately wakes to give her the current time. "Tell me if there's 5 minutes left before our next period. I'll check whatever your teenage-boyish head got to come up with."
And she sees Yuqi smirk, albeit cockily, which makes eyes twitch.
At first glance, Yuqi's essay seemed sane. Same format, ordinary margins, and classic indentations. Her information is complete and the title is present. There's nothing special about it, nor is there anything wrong with her work. Just the same old plain boring essay you'd typically see.
Except, though, when Soyeon finally gets in depth on reading the content to correct her work is the time where everything goes horribly wrong.
The title is written as "Mario, the Idea vs Mario, the Man", which she initially let slide until she reached the full body of Yuqi's essay. For Philosophy, this would be one of the works a professor would typically rip into pieces in front of a student—she's just lucky it's not an official work given to them.
The essay starts off with a hook to catch the reader's like most works by other people would have. "Everyone knows Mario is cool as fuck," it reads, and Soyeon crossed out that phrase and writes how much of a horrible opening it is. A first red flag she'd spotted, but she keeps going.
"...but who knows what he's thinking? Who knows why he crushes turtles?" Soyeon mumbles as her eyes move along the trail of words. Obviously— everyone knows the character's goal is to save the princess in the end, the Korean thought with confusion.
"And who knows why you gave me this half-baked essay," Soyeon says a little bit too out loud.
"Pardon?" Yuqi raises her brow and shifts her gaze from her phone to look at a rather very concentrated and stressed Jeon Soyeon checking her paper.
"Nothing. None of your business." she quickly corrected herself, a self reminder to always keep her mouth shut else the sarcastic insults for Yuqi her head came up with might come out more harsh than intended.
The sentences seem to be complete. But the fact that it's obviously a half-assed essay overpowers it, and it irritates Soyeon how the content seems to be so... ironically and stupidly... poetic? So descriptive yet there's something wrong about it; it's probably due to the fact she's used perchance wrong at least twice in a row, and or the way it's supposed to be a formally written essay. It does prove that Yuqi has a way with words; there's potential. She's just not using it well.
Soyeon clicks her tongue, immediately getting to work by putting underlines, circles, x marks, question marks, and comments on whatever Yuqi did wrong. You can't just say "perchance", her statement reads in a deep red shade.
Because, really? Out of all topics, Mario? She could've written about what the meaning and concept of life truly is, or perhaps something more fascinating and interesting, but no. She chose a video game character that has absolutely nothing to do with the subject.
Meanwhile, Yuqi wanted to point out how Soyeon looked: eyebrows furrowed, head down, and shoulders tensed up. However, she kept her hands and words to herself and waited until Soyeon was finished lest she did not have to deal with her girlfriend's wrath.
"Here," Soyeon finally says and hands the paper back to the rightful owner, Yuqi. "I'll come right out and say it, it's terrible. The way you wrote your sentences is fine; they're descriptive. Maybe just don't use slang like 'stomp a turty', using perchance when it's unnecessary—why did you add that in the end? And maybe don't write about someone like Mario," she added. Each word flowed out of her lips like water as if they came from memory, from how she'd been a teacher grading papers her whole life.
"Wow, okay Socrates," Yuqi joked but Soyeon merely huffed. "Thanks for the feedback. I'm really aware about what I should and shouldn't do, I just thought it'd be funny this way. Like, hello? Haven't you wondered how a shithead like me has such a way with words?"
"Stop bluffing. You're failing Philosophy."
"And I am so going to ace that test," Yuqi winked.
"You better," Soyeon warned. "or I'm gonna totally kick your ass."
"Granola bar?" Yuqi changed the topic, handing over an unopened granola bar, to which Soyeon accepted as if it was against her will. "Sometimes you're full of shit. I can't believe I'm dating you," she commented, but she knows that Yuqi knows she didn't mean that.
"But you love me anyway," Yuqi puckered her lips in Soyeon's direction. "Oh-kay, Mario."
