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JAKE
"Did you just erase the whole sentence I wrote?!" Flabbergasted, Jake says.
"Yup," Siyeon answered, showing no remorse after what she had just done as she typed another sentence to replace the one he had written. "For someone who bragged about being so fluent in English, you're not very good at our own language."
Thirty minutes in and both were already feeling the pain of being paired together. None of them could agree except for picking the topic-- which was probably the easiest part of their presentation. They were tasked to present their take on a certain issue and since neither of them wanted to play it safe when Siyeon had suggested the education system, he immediately agreed.
The hard part now was agreeing to the contents of their presentation.
So far for the first slide, they had to play tug of war with her laptop to decide who was going to write the introduction, but after a series of glares, Jake managed to bag the introduction. Now they were in the first point, and they both placed sentences that would support their main idea. Yet the thing was, they were not satisfied with each other's contributions.
"Our ideas are conflicting, just give me the first idea." He suggested and when she came to realize that their points were conflicting, she sighed in defeat.
"Write your points on a piece of paper or type them on your phone. I'll add it later." She said, creating another slide and this time providing her point.
The students around them all had their heads stuck together to make this project work but Siyeon and Jake had to work separately for them to get something done. Jake raised his head, gazing at Jay, who was seated not far from him. Jay was mouthing something to the latter but Jake couldn't quite understand what it is.
"He's asking how you're doing." Siyeon abruptly says nonchalantly while she typed something on her laptop.
Jay and Jake looked at each other, and the former wondered why the latter seemed so astounded. Breaking their eye contact, he diverts his gaze to his seatmate that continued to type, unbothered by everything surrounding her.
"When did you even have the time to look at him?" He asked, this time earning her attention.
"I looked at you to check if you were working, instead you were busy deciphering what your friend was telling you." She explained, returning to the screen of her laptop afterward.
Getting the message that she was very focused on her work, he went back to writing all his points which he, later on, passes to her when he was finally finished. She had to read it carefully because of how strict she was with grammar. Feeling satisfied with what she had read, she placed it on the side of her table continuing to type on her laptop.
Then it was another round of tug of war because Jake wanted to read what she had written, but surprisingly Siyeon was insecure about it, claiming it needs more proofreading.
"I'll proofread it. Just show it to me." He says and unable to argue any further, she gave in and handed him the laptop.
Keeping true to his words, Jake did read it and surprisingly it wasn't as bad as she made it seem. It was well-written, it spoke greatly about their topic, and it was detailed. From the way he saw it, she made sure that no information was left behind while also keeping in mind the maximum length of their presentation.
"Wow, so this is how students from class A write presentations." He said, his expression remaining astonished by what he read.
"You overestimate students from class a." She comments, stealing the laptop from him and going back to her work.
Glancing at his watch, he realized that very little time was left before their class ends. "Should we continue this tomorrow during lunch?"
Siyeon paused, and she seemed to be thinking about something for a short while. "I have to go to the infirmary tomorrow." She informs Jake.
The latter immediately remembered her weekly rendezvous to the infirmary. "How about our presentation for tomorrow? How are you going to do that?" He asked, worried that he may have to present alone.
"I'll talk to my parents, see if I can do anything." She tells him.
"Why did I have to be paired with Remus Lupin?" He mutters, comparing her situation to a fictional character from Harry Potter.
If she could hear his breathing, there was no doubt she'd also hear that one. "Because I turn into a werewolf every full moon? What's your point?" Her eyes narrowed upon hearing the comparison.
"Because you're always in the school clinic." He copied her eyes by narrowing his own.
"So I could turn into a werewolf even if it's not on the full moon?" Despite getting his point, she was prolonging their conversation to mess with him.
"Stop messing with me, Siyeon. I know you know what I mean."
"What if I don't?"
"You can write superb explanations and solve complex physics problems, but you can't understand what I said?" Without even hesitating, she nods.
Jake groaned when realizing how tiring their conversation was. While he put his head down, he was able to hear the faintest chuckle escape from the lips of his seatmate.
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"Siyeon, you're excused for this class."
Those familiar words that Jake has been hearing for many weeks now, were once again spoken by the teacher in the front.
"I'll just go to the infirmary." He whispers to her when Siyeon had given him a glance before standing up.
There was a startled expression on her face, yet due to their current situation, she was left with no choice but to nod. Walking to the doorway, she managed to give him one final look, and quite frankly, he couldn't figure out what emotion she held during that simple glance.
As soon as lunch came, Jake grabbed the notes he wrote a day before for their presentation from his bag. He made his way to the infirmary and on his path, he came to a halt in front of class a when he sees Hyejin about to walk out. Both their eyes meet and the girl's eyes lit up upon seeing who it was.
"Jake!" She called, walking closer to the latter. "Are you busy with something?" She asked once the distance between them decreased.
"Why? Do you need help with something?" He asked her back, wondering why she was asking him that out of nowhere.
"Yeah, I need help with fixing up the music room because some class messed it up but if you're busy, it's fine! I think I can fool Hana into helping me." Hyejin crossed her arms, smiling mischievously just by imagining tricking her best friend's cousin.
Jake chuckled because there was no way she'd be able to trick his cousin. He looked at his watch, checking if there was enough time to help her and then go to Siyeon afterward. Since lunch had just started, he decided to agree to her request without telling her that he had something to do. He couldn't say no to her, not when there was a huge possibility she'd be forced to carry heavy instruments alone.
Opening the door to the music room, Jake had underestimated how messy the room was. The instruments were everywhere compared to how it usually was organized whenever he would visit Hyejin there.
"Jeez, was the class who messed this room up children?" He asked, placing the notebook he was carrying on a table. "How did you even end up being the one to clean this mess?"
"I may have corrected him multiple times during class whenever he taught us music." She explained guiltily as if she was wrong for doing what she did. "So he kind of developed an awful dislike towards me."
"Ah, I vaguely remember Heeseung telling me how you went off when the teacher had mistaken the tempo of 'Ronda Alla Turca." Jake teased her, remembering how hard he laughed when his best friend had told him that story.
"The worst part about it is he wouldn't admit that he was wrong." She pushed her tongue against the side of her cheek out of annoyance. "I could tell some of my classmates knew he was wrong and if I hadn't corrected him, I am sure one of them would."
"You know what? Let's just start cleaning up. Thinking about those memories still irks me." Hyejin even shuddered as she stated that sentence.
Jake handled the heavy instruments like the cello and harp, which he could never figure out how why it was misplaced. He placed it on the side or whatever direction Hyejin had pointed with her lips. Throughout the long process of cleaning up, it had completely slipped his mind that he was supposed to go to the infirmary and finish his presentation with Siyeon.
It was only when Hyejin had seen the notebook he was carrying earlier did he remember where he was originally supposed to be.
"Oh is this for your presentation?" She asked, looking through the pages of it. He paused for a while, clenching his eyes when it sunk into him that Siyeon was going to kill him. "Is something wrong?"
"I-I have to be somewhere." He muttered but the latter didn't decipher it very well, given that they were standing at a long distance.
"Huh?" There he further explained his current situation, and while he said it, he can already imagine the words he was going to get from Siyeon. "Why did you agree to help me?! Go now! Siyeon is going to kill you!" Hyejin was shoving him out of the room, putting the notebook in his hands.
Before he could even speak or at least defend himself, she had already shut the door on him. Unable to argue with her on this, he made his way to the infirmary. He knocked on the door twice and opened it, there he saw the nurse sitting there quietly while organizing. She smiled at the student, asking him if he needed anything.
"Is Siyeon here?" Jake asked.
"Oh no, she just left to make her way back to class." He had given her a smile before thanking her and closing the door.
He walked back to class, already thinking of an apology he would give to the latter who was undoubtedly angry with him. He may have just given her another reason to hate him despite the list already being so long. Upon arriving, she was back in the classroom, busily reading something from the screen of her laptop while she played with her pen. His pace slowed down while he made his way to his seat. He wanted to remain undetected not until he was sitting beside her, but unfortunately, Jay had found that moment as the best opportunity to holler something to the scared man.
"Jake! Why are you walking so slow?" Jay innocently asked his friend.
That alone stole Siyeon's attention, immediately glanced at the person just by the doorway, who was slowly making his way to his seat.
"Nothing." He tells Jay, going back to his normal speed as he walked to his seat.
Jake sat next to Siyeon, whose gaze remained on him. His bottom hasn't even touched the chair when she had placed her laptop on his table. "I finished everything. Scan it yourself so you won't embarrass yourself in front of the class."
He was about to apologize for making her do everything, but she was already walking away from him before his mouth could even open. He glanced back to the presentation, and as she said, it was done. The traces of his contribution was very limited, and it was very obvious that she had done most of the work. Normally it would bother him but after the stunt, he pulled earlier, he wasn't even in the position to complain.
She came back minutes later, but by the time she was there, the teacher was already in front of the class as she discussed to them the rubrics.
He was still reading the presentation when they were both announced as the first pair to present. His heart almost dropped, realizing that he was in no way prepared. Siyeon, noticing the panicked expression on her partner's face, told him to just read the words, and she'll explain everything.
"You're in no place to argue with me right now." She whispered, already feeling that Jake would protest the decision she had come up with.
She was true to her words, a minute into their presentation and she had introduced their topic by herself without even glancing at the laptop or the notebook in her hand. Despite her blank face, she stood straight, unbothered by the attention from the whole class. But he expected that of her, she may have been quiet but she had never seemed timid to him.
He only ever spoke when he would read the words on the presentation, already predicting the great difference between his and Siyeon's grades. Most of the time his only real job was to press the arrow button on her laptop to change slides.
"I must say your presentation is very detailed. Did you two work together for this?" The teacher asked the two. Jake looked at Siyeon, his breath hitched, already anticipating that she was going, to tell the truth, yet the only answer she gave was a nod. "Alright then, very good the two of you. Next pair."
By the time, they were in their seat, he ripped a piece of paper from his notebook and wrote on it.
I'm sorry. - J
He pushed it to her table. She quickly saw it, looking at it for two or more seconds before actually replying to it.
Ass. - S
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AUTHOR'S NOTE :
writing this while thinking about the prom i didn't go to because of social anxiety