daybreak || minsung

Chapter 9

When I walked out the front door in the morning, my truck was there in the driveway. I'd forgotten about its absence completely, but I was glad Jisung brought it back — by way of magic, apparently, since I didn't give him my keys. I was growing to expect that of him.

The kids at school had a lot of fun with the fainting incident. I didn't want to know how ruthless they would become when they'd have me cornered in a mini van on Saturday (the accursed beach day). Mike kept his mouth shut about Jisung's involvement. I was relieved. I had the feeling the students would find Jisung stealing me from Mike and princess-carrying me to the nurse to be a new level of hilarity.

Jessica was among the people who found the whole thing funny, but she was more interested with Jisung wanting to sit with me at lunch.

"So what did Jisung Han want yesterday?" she said in Trig.

"I don't know." Which was kind of true.

"He never got to the point?"

"Nope."

"So you just talked?"

"Yup."

"What did you talk about?"

"Stuff."

"I've never seen him sit with anyone except his family."

"Huh. Weird."

My non-answers pissed her off, and she disengaged from the conversation.

When I followed Jessica into the cafeteria, I immediately zeroed in on the table Jisung and I had sat at the day earlier. Empty. My eyes switched to his family's table, on the other side of the room. Two of his siblings were there — the intense-looking one and the one with freckles — but he was not. I looked over the crowd, searching for black hair and chubby cheeks...

Nothing. I realized — with an audible gasp — that I didn't know when he was coming back from Mount Goat or whatever. My shoulders slumped to the floor.

Mike was full of details for the beach trip. I was right in assuming we'd be riding in a mini van. Mike said it would be sunny, but I was skeptical of the local weather man. Anyone with a rug that ill-fitting wasn't trustworthy.

When I got home, I dropped my backpack and stared into the distance. The stillness didn't last long; I just had to start thinking, and then everything got overwhelming. I flopped onto the couch and groaned into the cushion.

My brain was so loud that I decided to make an entire goddamn pizza for dinner. From scratch. I was up to my forearms in sauce. I found a pepperoni sitting on my shoulder like a conscience. I had to change my clothes completely before I sat down at the table with Charlie.

"Do you know anything about a place called Mount Goat?" I asked casually. "It has something to do with, um, Rainier?"

"Goat Rocks, yeah. Why?"

I shrugged. "Some kids were planning on hiking there."

He looked alarmed. "It's not a very good place for hiking. Too many bears. Folks go there to hunt when it's the right time of year."

"Oh." I was suddenly anxious. An image of a bear lunging at Jisung flashed through my mind, and the slice of pizza in my hand started trembling. "I must have gotten the name wrong."

~ * ~

After a night of dreaming about Jisung, the light streaming in my window woke me. I couldn't believe it. I hauled myself out of bed and stared out the window for a while. The sun was there — too low, too far away, shining pathetically over the trees, but I was still grateful for it.