Madison walked a few blocks through the residential neighborhood surrounding the high school to her new house. Like most houses in Korea it was situated very closely to the houses on either side. But it had something Madison loved. There was a giant tree in the courtyard out front and it was right outside her bedroom window. Madison opened the gate to their courtyard which was only a half meter from the road and smiled at the giant tree. She walked across the pavers, through the courtyard to the front door.
Inside, Madison took off her shoes and put them on the shoe rack and slipped on her house slippers. Her mother heard her come in and came out of the kitchen to greet her. "Madison, sweetheart! How was your first day?" her mother said in English and gave Madison a hug. Madison's mother was American, which is why Madison didn't have a Korean name. Her mother spoke both Korean and English and had used both since Madison was born.
"I had a good day, Eomma." Madison answered in Korean. Madison's mom ushered her to the table where she had laid a snack of homemade Gimbap out for her. Madison munched happily on her snack while she told her mom about her day. "I met lots of new friends. We played volleyball in PE." Madison made a cringe face. Volleyball wasn't her favorite. "But my new friend, Minje told me we are starting a different PE unit tomorrow, so I'll be glad of that. I sat next to a boy named Jungkook in three of my classes today. He didn't have anyone sitting next to him."
"Oh, that was sweet of you honey. You always look out for someone who needs a friend." Her mom smiled at her.
"He didn't want me to sit next to him, but I think we will become friends. He helped me with my math a lot." Madison thought more about Jungkook as she told her mom about her day. She wondered why he liked to sit alone.
"Do you have much homework?" Her mother inquired.
"I need to finish some math and a Chemistry worksheet but not too much. I think I'll go play soccer for a bit first." Madison was excited that there was a playground across the street from her new house and it had a small soccer field. Soccer was Madison's sport, she planned to try out for the girls' soccer team in a few weeks. She wasn't sure how competitive the team was at this high school. She needed to meet some girls on the team to find out more about it.
"Ok, but you need to finish unpacking also." Her mother warned.
"Oooookaaaaaaay Mooooooom." Madison said sarcastically. They both laughed. Madison had a great relationship with both of her parents. They had been through a lot together and she appreciated that her parents had always supported her.
Madison changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt and ran to the park with her soccer ball. It wasn't raining any more but the ground was still soft and wet. She practiced dribbling and making goals, feeling all the nervous energy leave her body as she worked hard. She could use someone to practice with.
Madison came in after practicing for almost an hour. Well, part of that time had been spent on the swings. She left her soccer ball by the front door with her soccer shoes and headed upstairs to her room. She looked out the big bay window in her room at her tree. It looked like it had large sturdy branches and she planned to try to climb it sometime.
Madison had a bathroom attached to her room that also had a door to the guest room at the back of the house. Her parent's bedroom and bathroom were on the first floor. After showering and changing clothes, Madison decided to unpack a bit before working on her homework.
The style of their home was a mixture of her parent's styles. Madison preferred a high bed instead of a floor bed and her room definitely had a Western style. She had been unpacking for a few days now, a little at a time, so everything was unpacked except her clothes now. She shoved those boxes into the walk-in closet to do later.
She sat down at her desk to finish her homework. The math was harder than she remembered and she wished Jungkook was there to help. She did her best, even though she knew she got at least two problems completely wrong. She also finished the Elements worksheet. She had to Google only a few of the answers.
She heard her father come home and ran down to greet him. "Appa! You're home!"
Her father chuckled and hugged her. "How was your first day of school Sweetheart?"
"It was good, I made some new friends." Madison had been the 'new girl' many times. Their family had moved for her father's work every few years. She was hoping that she would not have to move again before graduating from high school. Then her parents could live wherever they wanted while she attended college.
"She met a boy." Her mother said with raised eyebrows, smiling.
Madison's father feigned shock. "No! Madison, tell me you didn't meet a boy!" Madison had boys as friends before so she knew her father was teasing her.
Madison took her father's hands in hers and pretended to 'have a talk' with him. "Appa, there comes a time in a girl's life when she has to talk to boys. I'm sixteen now, almost seventeen. It was bound to happen, you will be alright."
Her father laughed. "Keep up on your studies, and don't get too distracted by the boys." Madison's father was a hard worker. He had always tried to instill in her the virtue of making a strong effort, practicing, and working hard. Her American mother didn't think these traits were nearly as important as her Korean father did. But Madison took her father's lessons to heart and did work hard.
---
The next morning, Jungkook annoyed himself when he realized he was on time to first period. Maddy was already in her seat and the bell didn't ring until after he sat down.
"Good morning, Jungkook!" Her bright smile was almost blinding.
He closed his eyes a little and frowned. "Can we not? I didn't get coffee this morning."
Madison gave a smaller smile, nodded, and said quieter, "Okay, got it."
Ms. Seong started the lesson right away and Madison took notes on Polynomial Long Division even though she had no idea what was going on. Jungkook put his head down on his desk and closed his eyes. Madison stole a few glances at him during the lecture. He really was a beautiful boy. He had a very defined jaw line. She liked the way his eyelashes laid on his cheeks and she noticed he had a little mole under his lip.
Her eyes also strayed to his silver hoop earrings, he had two of them in just the ear she could see. Madison had never had her ears pierced. She had always thought poking a hole in your body to wear jewelry was a little barbaric. But looking at his earrings along with his tattooed hand laying on the desk she thought maybe she could be inspired to decorate her body also.
Just like yesterday they had the last half of class to work on problems. Jungkook sat up and got his book out and started working. Madison opened the book and wrote down the first problem. She had no idea what to do. She looked over at Jungkook's work, "How are you able to do that when you didn't pay attention to the lesson?"
Jungkook didn't look up but kept working. "I listened a little. Plus, she left the examples on the board, they are right there." He pointed to the board.
"She may as well have given the lecture in Greek for how much of it I understood." Madison mumbled. She tried looking at the examples in the book. They were equally as confusing.
Jungkook finished his work and Madison looked at him with a big smile with eyebrows raised. He knew what she wanted. "Is this going to be a daily occurrence?"
She nodded, "Yes, for sure. I'm not even going to pretend that it isn't. I won't be able to do any of the math with the way this teacher lectures. It is like she assumes we already know it before she starts."
Jungkook flipped over his paper and taught the lesson to her again. He started with long division with numbers, which he was glad to see she remembered. Then he applied those principles to the polynomial division. After helping her complete several problems she wanted to try one on her own. She talked through it while he listened and watched. "Super close." He made one correction to her work.
As she continued working on the problems she said, "Jungkook you should be a math tutor. You are really good at explaining."
He looked at her like she was crazy. "Absolutely NOT!"
Madison threw her head back in laughter at his reaction, she was so amused. Jungkook thought her musical laughter was one of the nicest sounds he'd ever heard. She looked at him with mirth in her eyes, "Your reaction was as if I told you to become a snake handler or a tight rope walker or some crazy dangerous profession. You are so good at math and you are really good at explaining it, why would it be crazy for you to be a math tutor?"
The look she was giving him was weird. It wasn't a look he usually got from people. Why did she think he could be a math tutor? If he offered to be a math tutor people would certainly laugh. It was common knowledge that he did well in school, but he never went out of his way to help people. And he had his 'bad boy' image to keep up. He couldn't even imagine what Jimin would say if he did math tutoring. It was a stupid thing for her to suggest.
The only answer he could offer her was, "You don't really know me, Maddy." The bell rang and they left class. Jungkook was surprisingly unaffected that he wasn't the first one out the door.
Mr. Lee lectured for the first part of Korean History. Then he asked the students to write a two paragraph journal entry of someone from the Northern and Southern States period (698–926). He acknowledged there was no written language at that time in Korea so it would be an exercise in what someone at that time, might write in a journal, if they had the ability to write. He had a list of different personas students could choose to write about. Madison chose a royal princess. Jungkook chose a laborer.
While they were all quietly writing, Jungkook reached over and borrowed Madison's eraser a few times. This made her happy because it showed he was getting more comfortable being around her. For the last part of class they were supposed to share their journal entry with their seat partner.
She told Jungkook to go first and to her surprise he did. His journal entry was all about how exhausted and overworked and hungry the worker was. It outlined a plan the worker had to steal some food from the palace.
While Jungkook was reading his entry, Madison pulled her feet up and crossed her legs in her seat. The class got loud enough that she felt comfortable pulling out a bag of chips and opening it on her lap, away from the teacher's eyes. She munched on them while Jungkook finished.
In the last part of his journal entry, there was a really annoying next door neighbor that moved into the hut next to the laborer. The new neighbor was always smiling and bubbly and it drove the worker crazy. Madison gave him a raised eyebrow and said, "His neighbor sounded really nice." Then she handed him the chips and brushed off her fingers, so she could read hers.
Jungkook gratefully took the chips and finished them off while she read. Madison's journal entry was an exercise in creative writing. Her princess was trapped in a loveless marriage and she pined for a knight in the royal guard. Madison referenced circumstances and conditions that Mr. Lee had outlined in his lecture, but her entry read more like the beginning of a novel. Jungkook was curious what happened to the love torn princess.
"You're a good writer." Jungkook offered as he popped the last chip in his mouth.
"Thank you!" Madison beamed with his praise and it strangely made him want to compliment her more often.
Madison was so happy that Jungkook said something nice to her for the first time. His compliment filled her up with warmth because she could see them becoming friends soon.
The bell rang and for the second time that day, Jungkook was not annoyed to have missed the bell. But he was a bit bothered by the nice interaction he had just had with Maddy. Sharing chips, exchanging stories, laughing. These were things friends did together and she was not Jungkook's friend. The enjoyment he just had with her felt dangerous. He knew the only way for him to not get hurt was to not open himself up to people. She was a tricky one because he felt himself being lured in. He would need to be more vigilant.