Alone

United: Part 2

Little brat.

He knew damn well that I was able to answer these questions on my own, but purposely got on my nerves right now.
"The second one is sucrose.", I groaned and squinted my eyes at him.
There it was again, the amused and lustful twinkle.
"And the third is lactose. What are you guys doing?", Namjoon wondered as he looked back and forth between the two of us.
"I was just trying to help.", Jungkook claimed and licked over his lips.
"Nobody asked for it.", I retorted.
He furrowed his eyebrows for a second, probably realizing that I wasn't just putting on a show but was actually upset with him.
"I'll stop then. No need for bad blood.", he surrendered, his eyes telling me that he was confused, but would apologize if he did something wrong.
I just huffed and focused back on our task, leading him to nudge my leg with his to get me to look at him again. Of course I didn't give in and stubbornly ignored him for as long as I could. Namjoon and I worked together pretty well and finished before the time was up.
"So, uhm... Tell me a little about yourself. For all I know you've been here since last year and still nobody knows anything about you.", he mentioned and I chuckled.
"I'm doing something right then. It's not my goal to be talked about."
"And not talked to either? I noticed that you're always on your own.", he continued, making me shrug.
"I guess I just don't meet the requirements to join one of the cliques here."
Jungkook again kicked me under the table and earned himself a glare.
"What's your problem, huh?", I snapped.
"Nothing. What's your problem that you lash out on me all of a sudden?", he asked back irritatedly.
"Stop kicking me under the table then, idiot! Focus on your paper, you only have ten more minutes."
"No worries, sweetheart. This is next week's homework.", he snarled, got up and brought the paper up to the front desk.
"What's up with that guy, am I right?", Namjoon shook his head in disbelief.
"Even the school king has a bad day sometimes."
"I guess... Back to you though. What is something you haven't told anyone yet?", he asked and made my eyes widen.
"Well, where do I start? It would be easier to tell you something about me that I have told someone.", I exhaled and scratched my ear.
"You really stay to yourself, huh? I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable or anything, but is there a deeper reason for it? You don't have to answer of course. I'm just curious.", Namjoon proceeded lightheartedly.
"Not really. It just happened to be that way.", I replied.
Jungkook returned and dragged his chair back to its previous spot before he slumped onto it and rested his upper body on the table.
Was he upset now?
Whatever.
None of my business.
"How about some basics? Favorite color, food, music and hobbies?", Namjoon suggested and I pressed my lips together, while the idiot at the table in front of ours chuckled darkly.
"I'm...working on those things.", I responded mindlessly.
"Working on those things?", he repeated after me in confusion and I just nodded.
"Uhm... Alright. Not even a hobby you could tell me about? I noticed that you spend a lot of time in the library and read a lot.", he remarked.
"If you already know, why did you ask?", I wondered and made him furrow his eyebrows with an amused or perhaps teasing smile.
"That's what people do. It's smalltalk."
"I just don't understand why you would ask for something you already know."
"Moving on then. Where did you go to school before you came here?", Namjoon switched the subject and started to make me feel a little weirded out.
I had been here for over a year and never exchanged a single word with him, but now he suddenly talks to me? Furthermore, he seemed to have watched me for quite some time. Why was he so interested in me now or is that just how things go? Was that how one started a friendship?
"I've been homeschooled all my life.", I replied nervously.
"Homeschooled? Fun. How do you know Jimin then? I noticed that you two bickered pretty much since day one. Are you a pretty party girl in private?", he asked straightforward and I again felt really uncomfortable and weirded out.
Jungkook abruptly stood up from his chair, turned around with a paper in his hand and walked towards me while staring at it. He bent down next to me and discretely reached his free hand out to gently squeeze mine, while crumpling the paper up to throw it in the bin behind me. I caught myself giving in to his touch and lightly wrapping my fingers around his for some comfort. The way his thumb affectionately moved over the back of my hand quickly shook me out of my weak moment though. What really snapped me out of my haze was the thought of him doing that for her as well. And my mind took it as far as to imagine them cuddled up in bed simultaneously - just finished doing the deed of course. Thus, as much as his small gesture would've meant to me usually, today it only irritated me more and made me quickly shake him off.
"I don't consider myself a party girl and Jimin was friends with my brothers.", I then explained to Namjoon.
The guy next to me let out a huff, got up and stomped back to his seat with an expression just as irritated as I felt inside.
"Brothers? They don't go to school here, do they? I've never seen any guys around you. Unless you completely avoid each other."
Once again, my discomfort only grew.
"They don't go to school here."
"I feel like the more I say, the more I throw you off or scare you even. Is it too much? I get nervous around beautiful girls. I really don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything.", he worried.
"No offense, but you might still want to work on that.", I mumbled and averted my eyes to the desk.
"My apologies. I promise I'm not a stalker or anything! You just stand out by not being surrounded by a group and having a book in your hands instead of a phone."
I lightly smiled at his words because he genuinely sounded sorry for overwhelming me like that.
"It's my own fault then.", I joked and made him nudge my elbow as he laughed along.
That was when the bell finally rang and announced the end of the lesson. Everyone gathered their things, of course didn't listen to the teacher trying to tell us about an upcoming quiz and stormed through the door like there was an all-you-can-eat buffet waiting for them outside. I just rolled my eyes at that behavior. Jungkook was also nowhere to be seen anymore, but I really should stop caring about that from now on. Our time together has come to an end, our meetings were supposed to stop a long time ago and now there was an undeniable reason for it.
"Hey, I know this might be weird and if you say no, that's totally fine... I'm a little lost in all the different sugars and someone as smart as you probably understands the topic very well. Would you be willing to help me with the homework?", Namjoon asked.
"Uhm, sure. Do you want to get right to it?", I offered in return, since I planned on going to the library to avoid meeting Jungkook outside anyways and having a human distraction from him would only benefit me at this point.
"That'd be great, yeah."
"Alright. Let's meet up in the library in ten. I'll quickly grab some things from my locker.", I said and watched how he walked backwards with a grateful smile.
"You're my savior, Y/N!", he exclaimed, making me laugh.
As I opened my locker to store my books in it and get my bag, a small note floated to the ground and made me groan as I picked it up.