Karma ━━ Jake Sim

𝟭𝟵 ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏⠀Paying It Forward

Huh?

After about half a minute of trying to figure out who it is - and only when she's absolutely sure the person's wave is directed towards her because, if it isn't, that would just be plain old embarrassing - Sujin lifts a hand up uncertainly to wave back.

The blurry stranger drops their hand and exchanges some words with the small group of people they're with before making their way down the path. They're making a beeline for Sujin, and the closer they get, the quicker she starts to realize that it really isn't a blurry stranger at all. Quite far from it, actually.

"Oh!" She mentally smacks herself upside the head for being so clueless, "Hi, Jay."

The boy approaches with a large smile stretched across his face. He's changed out of his uniform and into a dark knit cardigan that hangs nicely off his angular shoulders, specs propped atop the bridge of his nose.

"Hey, Sujin." He greets her cheerfully, "What's up?"

"Ah, you know -" She gestures toward the leaf-covered pathway with a roll of her eyes, "- Just spending the afternoon singlehandedly cleaning this place up. Same old, same old."

"Uh huh." Jay's brows tug upward in amusement, "May I ask why?"

"Out of the goodness of my own heart." Sujin replies, sarcasm dripping from her tone.

Jay lets out a snort at that. "Let me guess," He plants a hand on his hip, "The Headmistress is making you do community service."

"Unfortunately." Sujin scowls, stabbing at a small pile of leaves by her feet with the rake.

"Tough." Jay clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth, "So that's three strikes in..." His brows knit together ever so lightly as he counts in his head, "What, a week?"

Sujin sighs heavily. The last thing she needs right now is even more reprimanding from the people around her.

Luckily, that doesn't seem to be on Jay's agenda.

The boy cracks into a mischievous grin, "You trying to break my record or something?"

"Wh- Your record?"

"Come on, Sujin." He teases, "Are you forgetting who you're talking to right now? A week is rookie numbers."

Sujin crosses her arms over her chest indignantly, "Rookie numbers my ass, Park. As if you could do any better!"

"Please," He scoffs, "How's two days sound to you, hm?"

"Two days?!" Sujin's jaw drops in disbelief.

"Thirty-eight hours, to be precise." Jay adds, an oddly prideful tinge evident in his voice. As if breaking enough rules to warrant a community service punishment in a day and a half is some commendable achievement.

Come to think of it, in Sujin's books... it kind of is.

"Damn." She nods slowly, impressedly, "What did you do?"

"Ah," Jay diverts his gaze sheepishly, "Nothing I'm too proud of, if I'm being honest. Vandalism, skipping classes, sneaking out... you get the idea."

"Hell yeah." Sujin delivers a playful punch to his shoulder in approval, "I need to get on your level."

"Believe me, you really don't." He rolls his eyes with a laugh.

Sujin frowns, "I don't see why not."

Jay gestures to the rake in her hand with a 'Duh' expression coating his features.

"I was just making things unnecessarily difficult for myself." He says, "I mean, sure - it was fun. But at some point you've gotta step back and look at the bigger picture, y'know?"