Chapter Text
" Unnie! Wait for me! "
I shouted as i pulled the sleeve of my coat from the door handle. One of the pockets must'have gotten stuck on it again, I'm always such a mess when it comes to getting up in the morning. I always trip on something I left behind the day before or I accidentally unplug my alarm in my sleep. Either way, its not very pleasant and I end up making some scenario in my head where I get scolded for being late by one of my teachers. Just yesterday I hurriedly made it to class one minute before the bell and Professor Hwang side eyed me as I took a seat on my desk. I still have nightmares about that experience.
Once I finally get the coat free, I shut my front door and run out of the front garden. The strands of my dark brown hair fly from my shoulders to my face as I run down the side walk. I can't see clearly - let alone concentrate since I'm already a few minutes behind behind schedule - and before I know it I run face first into someone's backpack. It doesn't hurt, its actually quite soft and It feels like I landed on gentle pillow. I am startled though and I take a couple steps back which causes me to stumble and land butt first onto the hard sidewalk. It happened so fast and all I can do in the moment is groan at the slight pain i feel.
I fix my hair by pulling some strands out of my eyesight and see a hand reaching towards me. I look beyond the hand and see a smile that belongs to my dear friend Hyun-Ju - Or as I like to call her, Unnie. " Goodness! Young-Mi are you alright? " She asks. She's giggling a bit but I can tell that she's still worried about me. I take a hold of her hand and she lifts me up without any struggle. " Yes, I'm alright " I respond, the pain still has some effect on my voice. Hyun-Ju smiles and she wipes the dust off of my backpack. " You need to be more careful. One of these days you're gonna injure yourself, worse than how you just did " Hyun-Ju says in a somewhat reproachful manner. Well theres that scolding I daydreamed about..
" I know, but I was in such a rush and I didn't want to keep you waiting and I lost track of time...and the movement of my feet.. " I respond back. Hyun-Ju sighs. Shes used to my disorganization, but I can tell that she wants me to make a change. " Well then we should get going, I don't want Professor Hwang to get mad at you again. " She says, much gentler this time. I swipe the dust from my coat as we both walk along the sidewalk.
I haven't mentioned how good of a friend Hyun-Ju is. She supports me in almost everything I do, she's always there when I'm feeling down, and she sticks up for me whenever someone messes with me. And no one really messes with Hyun-ju that much, considering that she has a pretty muscular appearance. Not even the sporty guys will mess with her. Its not like she's picking fights with people to build such a reputation, she's actually quite gentle with everyone. She's kind with everyone she meets and won't be judgmental unless she's given a reason to. Sometimes I wonder if it has to do with the fact that she's transgender. She told me one time that her parents threw her out of the house after she told them. She said it was the darkest time of her life, but she somehow got through the hardest parts of it. They let her back in..but that's about it. Besides basic necessities, they told her word for word, " If you're old enough to disgrace our family like this, then you're old enough to pay for your own things! ". She spends most of her days at my house. We often have sleepovers in the living room. Today wasn't one of those days, Hyun-ju's dad bought extra food at the supermarket and demanded that she finished the rest of it at home. He even got mad at her for allegedly wasting food and wouldn't let her walk to my house. My parents love Hyun-ju though, they treat her as if she was their own daughter. Thats actually the reason why I call her Unnie - well one of the reasons. She's such a close person to me, I could never imagine life without her. She makes life easier for me in every way, I wonder if she feels the same.
After a while we walk up to the school entrance, We don't live far from our school so we don't have to worry about how long it'll take up to walk here - Doesn't mean that I won't worry about it. Hyun-ju holds the door open for me as I walk into the main entrance. I wait for Hyun-ju and we both walk past the main office and up the large stairs. There aren't many students walking around at the moment, I'm guessing that if we don't hurry up then we'll end up being late. " I think we should go to our lockers separately this time, I don't want you to be late because of me.. " I tell Hyun-ju. Hyun-ju looks up at a clock on the wall, " 7:55AM.. Yeah you're right. See you in Psychology! " She replies. We both part ways and I walk alone down a long hall of lockers. Its only been a few seconds but it now it seems like the school is completely deserted. I look around as I unlock my locker and place my backpack in it. I rummage through my textbooks and take out my Psychology one. I grab a couple more things, and I motion my hand to shut my locker. But I suddenly get a bad feeling as I place my hand on it.
I have to pee..
This is the absolute worst time to go! I only have 5 minutes to get to my class which is all the way on the 3rd floor! I sigh...maybe Professor Hwang will understand. I shut my locker and rush down the hall and pass another set of stairs. The bathroom feels further and further away as I walk, and it seems as if time is moving faster and faster. At this point I'm practically sprinting down the hall, I'm lucky Officer Hwang isn't patrolling the halls at this time. I almost feel like passing out from exhaustion. But my emotions finally calm down once I walk through the restroom door.
I place my books on the sink's countertop and rush towards the last stall in the bathroom. I swing open the door and look up to see..
A boy!?
What's a boy doing standing on rim of the toilet!? Better question, WHY IS A BOY IN THE GIRL'S RESTROOM!?
I stand in the doorway in shock for a second. I'm both eyeing the boy's expression and figuring out the thought's in my head. He seems just as shocked as I am, his short and dark hair looks like its been roughed up. So does his uniform, his coat is only covering one of his shoulders and his tie is on backwards.
We just stand there looking at each other. Then..
" AAAAHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE GIRL'S ROOM!? " I scream! I don't know what's happening but if I just potentially caught a creep in the bathroom then I'm gonna try to attract as much attention as possible! I pick up my pencil pouch and lunge it at him while I continue to shout. I'm about to throw my textbook at him but I'm suddenly stopped by someone's voice. " Min-su? Is that you I hear? Wow you sound just like a girl! ", The voice says in a mocking tone. It sounds like male student. I don't know anyone here well enough to determine who it is, but it sounds like I just made this situation worse. " Come on out Min-su! It's no fun when you hide! It won't be pretty if I have to go in there to find you.. ", The taunting voice says again. Wait...I do recognize that voice! Its one of the baseball players..Thanos! I suddenly hear footsteps getting closer and closer to the door. I spend no time in dropping my textbook and running into the stall with Min-su.
I pick up my pencil pouch and stand on the rim of the toilet as Thanos swings open the door. There's not much room and I find myself gripping Min-su's arm for dear life.
" AHA- oh you're not in here..I guess i'll go.. "
I hear the door shut.
I'm about to let my foot touch the ground but Min-su takes a hold of my arm and shakes his head. He looks just as anxious as I am, so I listen and place my foot back on the surface. A few seconds pass. " I knew you wouldn't fall for that again...I need to stop using that trick. ", Thanos says, clearly disappointed that his plan didn't work. I hear a couple footsteps pass each and every single one of the open stalls. I then realize...we're in the only closed stall...so there's only one place for Thanos to find us. I hold my breath as Thanos starts talking again..
" Dale dale dale..No pierdas el tino...porque si lo pierdes..pierdes el camino.. " Thanos slowly says while walking down the bathroom in what I assume is very bad spanish. " Ya le diste una.. ", He continues, Now getting closer to my textbook.
He bends down and picks it up.
" Ya le diste dos.. " He says while placing the book on the countertop. He approaches our stall door. " Ya le distes tres... ", He continues while I hear him grab the handle on the door. Its now that I realize that we never locked the stall.
" Y TU TIEMPO SE ACABO! ", He yells. But Just before he can open the door I hear another voice coming from the bathroom entrance. " Mr. Choi! Just what do you think you're doing!? ", A deep and demnading voice shouts. It doesn't take long for me to realize that the voice belongs to our School Officer - Officer Hwang.
Thanos is quiet for a few seconds. " Jun-ho! Long time no see- " Thanos says in a bad attempt to distract Officer Hwang. " Mr. Choi! It is completely innapropriate for you to even be in the girl's restroom! Let alone harass girls inside of it! You need to follow me to the principal's office immediately! " Officer Hwang oders. His voice echoes inside the bathroom. Min-su and I are holding to each other for dear life during this. This situation would look much worse if he found us here. I know it's not what it seems but to an officer who's used to dealing with rowdy kids..it just won't look that way. I'm too worried about what's going on outside to realize how awkward our position is.
I hear Thanos groan and leave through the door. I hear Officer Hwang walk out the room, but before he closes the door he says, " My apologies for Mr. Choi's behavior. It's best if you went back to class young lady.". Officer Hwang then shuts the door.
We wait for a while, just until their footsteps are unrecognizable. We both take a long sigh of relief....and then we realize that we're both practically cuddling.
Min-su immediately relases his grip on me and I catch myself before I fall to the floor. Now all of my weight is pulling on his arm which causes us to lean hard left. But Min-su catches his feet and indirectly pushes us to the wall next to us. Now his arms are surrounding both of my sides while his anxious face gets worse. He immediately backs up and apologizes.
" I'm so so so so so so! Sorry! I promise I wan't trying to creep on you I ran in because that guy kept chasing me and well I...I didn't look where I was going.. " He says in a hurried and ashamed tone. He bows and hold his hands together in front of me. Once he gets up after apologizing some more I notice just how red his face is. Was it this red while we were hiding in here..or did the realization of our circumstances cause it? I'm too ashamed to say anything in return. What are you supposed to say to the guy who you hid with inside a bathroom stall? He must've noticed the nervous look on my face because he decides to rush out of the bathroom. I didn't even get to say that it was fine..well not fine but understandable..you know? The bell rings as he shuts the bathroom door.
Oh god! I'm late! And I still need to pee!
~
I turn on the faucet and wash my hands. I look at the mirror and realize that my coat is handing off my shoulder. It must'have dropped while I was hiding in the stall. I giggle..the situation was scary but..it was kind of funny. Well, only if you decide to ignore how close together me and Min-su were. I'm picking up my things and heading out of the bathroom when I realize that I've heard that name before. But where? I know that I recognize his appearance now that I've really looked at him. The halls are completely empty now, which emphasizes how loud my speed walking is. As I'm running up the stairs I start to remember where I've seen Min-su before. We were both in our school's production of the Little Mermaid back in middle school. He looked so different back then - especially with the sea sponge costume - no wonder I couldn't recognize him. He was so shy and timid back then, way more than he appeared to be just then. Well..I'm one to talk..I was probably even more shy than him. I used to dance behind the stage set so I wouldn't have to look at all the people on stage. I did know Hyun-ju at the time..but not as well as I do now. But even then she still tried to push me out of my shell. No seriously, she legit tried to push me out of the shell prop that I was hiding in. And I remember running behind a different one once she got me out. I even pushed someone out of the way in my panic. Someone in a sponge costume..MIN-SU! That's where I saw him specifically-
My train of thought suddenly stops as I barge Mr. Hwang's door open.
All of my classmates look at me..I notice Hyun-ju's worried look as I hear from in front of me..
" Ms. Kim. You're 5 minutes late to my class. I hope you have a good excuse. ", Mr. Hwang says...
Fuck.