South Seoul // Nomin

Uno

"Mom I'm a sophomore now! You can't keep doing this every time school starts!' complained Jaemin as his mom took a picture of him. Every first day of school his mom takes a picture of him, and every first day of school his mom posts that picture on Facebook with the caption being the grade he's in.

"Well maybe I'll stop babying you when you stop liking it!" his mom shot back.

This silenced Jaemin almost instantly. His mom and him usually argued about the tiniest things, so this was nothing new. It was like a cycle, his mom would do something he didn't like, he'd wait a bit then complain and start the argument, and his mom would shut it down by saying something that hit home. It wasn't completely his fault though! Maybe if his mom had read the list of his pet peeves he gave to her on Christmas, they would agree with one another a bit more, because first day of school photos were definitely on there.

"So Jae, I talked to Mr. Ong yesterday and he said he would make extra room for you in his leaders of society program for you!" Jae's mom said, making him groan internally. He was sure that he put Mister Ong on that list of pet peeves.

"Mom for the hundredth time, I am not interested in Mr. Ong's boring program! All they do is pick up trash and for what? The title of a good citizen? Besides I already signed up for arts and culture!"

He knew his mom and Mr. Ong were college buddies but he hated how close they acted with each other. They would constantly hug and kiss and Jaemin swore he had seen his hand slide a little too far down her back one time after a dinner together.

His dad wasn't in the picture after a divorce that separated his family when he was 7. It's not like he missed him or wanted his mom and him to get back together, but it'd be nice to have a male figure in his life other than that damned Ong.

"You're so mean did you know that? It's a bit of trash how bad could it-" She was cut short by a loud honk of a car parked outside their house.

"Hurry up or I swear I will leave you behind Na Jaemin!" was all the driver of the car said-no, more like yelled out. He instantly knew who's voice that was. It was none other than his favourite senior, Lee Jaehyun. More honks could be heard from outside, giving Jaemin the signal that he would leave him if he didn't come out right now.

"Sorry mom, I made up my mind. Now, I have to go or else I'll be late to my first day. Love you! Bye!"

"Sure Jae, love you too kiddo."

As he sprinted to the car, he tripped over his shoelace and fell on his knee. He was sure there was a small cut now but that was honestly the least of his worries at the moment.

As he slammed the car door shut, he heard Jaehyun tell him one of his "words of wisdom", he always called bullshit on them, so he decided to look out the window and think about how maybe, just maybe, this school year would be better than last.

"So in conclusion Jae, tripping is a metaphor of life. The laces are you and your dreams are the other parts of the shoes. You let yourself get in the way of doing what you love too much."

"I'll try to be more confident this year. I won't need you to hold my hand through the year this time. When I was in my last year of middle school, I would always annoy Taeyong in hopes that he would straighten me out a bit and give me a bit of courage."

"And did it work?"

"Nope."

Just as they wrapped up their conversation, they pulled up in front of the school, now looking for the perfect spot to park. Jaemin wondered if the school had already made the changes they promised they would do last year. Such as, welcoming a more "diverse" range of cultures to the school, finally giving their female and male teachers the same amount of pay, and to be open to a more wide range of the regions of Korea.

"Do you think they made the changes?"

"Most likely not, now get out of the car."

Jaemin did as he was told and got out, only to be met with the crushing realization that this year was going to be more stressing than last, and that had definitely brought his mood down to a minimum.

Though this moment of self contemplation was cut short due to being pulled out of his thoughts by a screeching sound of what he thinks was his name. He's not sure though, because all that he could decipher from the wail was "Jae", the rest was kind of a mess to his ears.

He turned around to see his friend Renjun running to him with all the power his teenage legs could muster.

"Hey JunJun"

"H-, wow ok shit wait, h-hey J-jae." Renjun managed to muster in between his pants.

"So how'd life treat you this summer?"

"Very good actually, I made a friend when I went back to China. His name's Kun and he said he was wanting to transfer to a korean school."

"Ah cool cool" Jaemin didn't mean to sound cold or unenthusiastic. I mean, he loves Renjun. But, there was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that just would not go away.

They continued walking in total silence, even thought Jaemin knew Renjun wanted to tell him things about how his summer went. Great. Of all feelings that we could've gotten, he felt guilty.

They finished strolling across the parking lot and finally arrived at the school gates. He looked up and saw the words "NAM SEOUL CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL" written across the front of it. With a deep sigh, he walked into the school grounds and hoped that maybe, just maybe, a miracle would happen.

••••
Hey chingus this is the author and I really hope you like this book. I'm trying to make it as realistic as possible but I'm not sure how that's gonna go. But,hey! It's the thought that counts. :)

[Finished at: 4:47 am; April 16, 2018.]
Word count: (1087)