Gonna try this chapter from Mei's point of view to see if it works better or if I like it more, let me know which you prefer.
'God I am exhausted, and this boring class isn't helping ' I take a glance at Gerard, he's still sleeping. I get out a sticky note and write a quick note for him if he wakes up while I'm gone. I get up quietly and head to the snack bar. Halfway there I run into the two I met yesterday, Big Ben and Gogo.
"Hey Mei! Over here! Me and GoGo were just about to head to the pool hall, you wanna come?" Big Ben asked.
"Hey, I never agreed!" You see Ben gives him a look before Alex gives in, "Yeah I guess I'm down."
"Haha! Great!" Big Ben says as he slaps GoGo on the back enthusiastically. "You coming Mei?"
"Hell yeah, the class was putting me to sleep anyway." I smile and follow them as they run out of school with these big smiles.
'They're so simple, it's nice' My smile grows just as big as theirs and we all run out laughing.
At any other school, the teachers would've heard us and stopped us, but this is Eunjang. They definitely heard us, they just don't care.
<3
"Now that I think about it, where is this pool hall?" I ask, realizing I once again followed near strangers without actually knowing where we were going.
"Oh we're almost there, it's like right past the Underpass," GoGo says nonchalantly.
"Isn't that where the delinquents hang out? The Underpass? That's what Gerard said anyways." I ask, a little confused why'd they make a supposedly dangerous place their hangout spot.
"Huh? Oh yeah, technically, but you don't have to worry about that when I'm here! No one messes with Big Ben's friends. And if they do, they're in for a treat." He said a wide smile on his face, no care in the world.
"Mmh, is that so?" I ask, a hint of challenge in my voice.
"Yep! As long as you stick with GoGo or me here, you'll be just fine, we'll protect you. Isn't that right GoGo?" He said teasing his best friend.
"Psh stop talking yourself up so much, makes us look like losers," GoGo grumbles looking away from us.
I laugh and poke him in the shoulder, "Aww come on GoGo, I'll still hang out with you even if you are losers." I mock poking him over and over until he swats my hand away and I laugh. His face goes red and he just grumbles and speeds up, walking in front of me and Ben.
We walk into the pool hall and the most beautiful girl I've ever seen greets us. My face heats up and when she makes eye contact with me I give her a closed-eyed smile, before looking down at the ground and walking past the desk. I look over my shoulder to glance at her again and see her looking at me already. I blush and look away. 'Goddamn it, I'm so awkward around pretty girls' I mentally wail.
Ben gets us a table and he hands me a stick as Alex sets up the balls.
"So I've gotta be honest, I'm not too confident in my pool skills, I haven't played in years and I don't even remember how to hold the stick," I admit, chuckling a bit.
"That'll be an easy win then for sure! Ouch, what was that for Alex??"
"Don't be so rude"
"Haha he's good, and probably right."
"Well, since there's three of us, how about me and Mei be on a team since I'm the better one at the pool? Even it out a bit." GoGo suggests.
"How is that 'evening it out that's two against one?!" Ben pouts.
"Think of me less of a second player and more of a handicap." I muse.
"Are you really that bad?" Ben asks. I nod.
<3
The final bell rings and someone taps Gerard awake.
"Hey schools out." The boy says and Gerard stretches awake. "Uh, it looks like you have something..." The boy reaches out and picks something out of his hair. "It's a sticky note"
He hands it to Gerard and he reads it. 'Welcome to consciousness sleeping beauty, I went to get a yoohoo before the last period starts.'
'Huh that's weird, she didn't come back?' Gerard wondered. "Hey did you see Mei leave?" He asked the boy.
"Oh uh yeah, more like heard her leave, she was with Ben Park and Alex Go, something about the pool hall I think?" He responds.
"Of course she did." Gerard sighs and stands up with his stuff. "Better go find her before she gets herself in trouble, see ya." He headed out of the school toward the pool hall.
'Huh guess he lives this way, he's taking the same route as yesterday.' Gerard thought seeing the silver-haired boy.
<3
We played two games and I miss the ball every time, hit a scratch twice, until the very last three balls on our second game.
"Okay, I've got this." I breathe out and aim for the cue stick before hitting the cue ball and sinking the ball into the corner pocket. "Yes! I did it!" I jump clapping.
"Good job Mei! I knew you'd get the hang of it." Big Ben says patting me on the shoulder. And GoGo nods.
That's when we hear some commotion going on outside. Ben and GoGo head towards the window and point someone out. "That one over there. It's Jack Kang. Jimmy Bae's valet."
They start talking but I didn't really understand what they were going on about, Jimmy Bae? Jack Kang? The names meant next to nothing to me. But I do understand Ben's last exclamation.
"Yippee! Finally! It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to let loose!!" He grins and runs out the door and Alex soon follows. I start to follow but stop at the front desk.
"I'm very sorry about them, we'll be back soon!" I say before jumping down the stairs after them as Ben calls out after me "DON'T TOUCH OUR TABLE PLEASE!"
We run into the underpass and I see Gerard and Gray standing next to each other facing the five guys on their own.
"Hey! You fucking sons of biaaatches-!" Ben yells as Gray and Gerard turn around and look at us. "Oh wow-! All of the most sorry as losers in one place!" He continues as Alex becomes serious.
The five delinquents must have known Ben cuz they started exclaiming when they saw him.
"You look overly excited to see me. Could it be that you came here to get me?" Ben says a devilish smile spreading on his face. "Anyhoo, De todos modos, back to business."
"Look like we're on this side, right? On the gutsy kid's team."
The clean-cut-looking one starts to speak, "We're only here for you, Ben."
Ben isn't swayed, just as cool as before, "Yeah, sure. So tell me.." Ben's smile becomes almost threatening, "Why the hell should I listen to What Jimmy Bae's Minion has to say-? Hah?" The minion's face clenches, clearly angry. "And speaking of Bae, if he wanted to see me why didn't he come here himself? Why did he ask you to bring me to him, Jack Kang? Does he think he's Donald Na or something? Or... Is he just imitating him?"
'Donald Na' that name struck a fear in me, I knew that name. How did these guys know him? Are these Jack Kang and Jimmy Bae dudes involved with him? I clenched my fists and knew that if it was true, I wouldn't be letting a single one of these boys go without a hell of a beating.
Jack Kang began yelling I didn't catch most of it, I was watching Alex's reaction, and saw it coming when he sprinted and jumped forward, punching the brunet square in the jaw. "What did you say? Huh? You bastard." Alex began to pummel the boy with a flurry of fists. It was an impressive sight, it was hard to keep up with his speed. "How dare you-!!" He went in for a finishing blow but the other dude saw it coming and took the chance to send a heavy punch to Alex's cheek.
"Alex-" I started but Ben put his arm out to stop me.
"Argh... that idiot." He grimaced.
That's when Alex began to laugh like a fucking maniac. I paused, where the hell had that come from?
And then before the Kang dude could do anything a bright pink-haired bitch comes and kicks Alex off guard. And Jack took the opportunity to land another punch but Alex managed to block it, though he was still clearly phased by the strength of the hit. 'He must be strong' I thought. Jack began to ramble yet again, this time about his own strength and not his master or whoever this Jimmy Bae was.
"Alex!! Shit just hit the fan. We're crushing all of 'em!" Ben yells.
I smiled, this was gonna be fun. Gerard turns and starts, "you stay here, we'll take care of it-" but before he could even begin I had sprung into action.
Alex was being held by some dark-haired dude. He lifted up his fist about to punch Alex while the Jack guy went to punch Alex while he was captive.
"You shallow bastards!" I yell as I grab the one holding Alex's wrist, spinning him around before landing a solid punch to his temple.
"Gah what the fuck-" The guy started but I was already grabbing his hair and smashing his face into my knee. As he was stumbling back from the blow, I step my foot behind one of his, breaking his stance. As he began to fall I gave him one more strong punch to the nose and the momentum made the back of his head hit the wall. He was out.
"You're no fun," I say as I turn to Alex who was just standing there watching me wide-eyed.
"Holy shit," he said before we heard the sound of what had to be someone's skull being cracked open. We all turn to see where it came from and we're surprised to see Gray, standing beside a dude twice his size as he crumples and passes out, unconscious, hopefully still alive.
"That's enough. Stop. You sickening shitheads." Gray said pure disgust rolled off him. I've never felt so shaken to my core.
'I can't tell if he's talking to them... or us too.' A pang of shame rolls through me before I shake it off. 'Nah, I'm sure he meant them... right?'
<3
"Well, that was pretty chilling... Did you see the look on that kid's face? What kind of wacky character is that?" Ben asked. We were back at the pool hall, this time with Gerard.
"And who knew Mei could fight, surprised the hell out of me." GoGo said, I shrugged, "Ugh but now that I've exerted myself like that, feels like I'm having a worse game."
"Maybe it's cause you got the shit beat out of you." Mei chimed in smirking.
"Oh shut up.." He grumbled before side-eyeing Gerard, "Can someone explain why that chump tagged along... I don't like him."
Gerard smiled, "Aw, don't get rude on me now. Think of it as a celebratory event for crushing Yoosun High." 'As if, I'm only here to keep an eye on her' he glanced at Mei who was too busy examing the setup of the game.
But GoGo noticed the look on the tree head's face. 'I don't like him one bit' he scoffed.
Ben, was sitting on a bench pondering the events. "And what about Gray Yeon? Saying he has to go to his after-school class after causing all that chaos back there. Like hell he does, it doesn't fit that edgy bastard at all..."
"Fits him perfectly." Gogo and Gerard said simultaneously.
I look up, "Hey, you guys know what he said when he stopped the fight 'Stop. You sickening shitheads'" She said imitating the boy, the boys nodded. "Did anyone else... get the feeling he meant us too?" She asked, her voice feeling small remembering the aura he had.
The group went quiet, all thinking back to the scene. "To be honest, I don't understand the guy at all. He looks so quiet and studious, and the next thing you know he's a demon beating the pulp out someone way bigger than him." Alex said.
"He's a total wild card," Gerard said as the rest of them nodded before Alex changed the heavy subject.
"But do you think those bozos from Yoosun will just cut their losses on this?" he asked.
Ben made his shot, "Of course not... Jimmy Bae's giant head wouldn't allow that to happen he won't stay quiet... Hell, what do I know? Tell him to come over all he wants. What's the worst that could happen? That's game-!" He exclaimed.
"Lucky ass shot-!"
"Wow you're good, but let's play one last game, I think I've got the hang of it now." Mei chalked her stick.
"Sure, why not, gives me a chance to beat Ben before his ego gets too big," Gerard said pulling the triangle out and setting up the balls.
"Hey... I've got an idea, what if we put a bet on this one, ya know now that I'm not a handicap now." Mei suggested, her face full of innocence and the boys all smiled.
"You sure about that Mei? You've made all of three balls in this whole time." Ben said jokingly.
Gerard smirked, "Yeah she's sure, what are we betting on, hmm, favors?"
Mei smacked him on the back of the head, "shut it perv." She said irked. "I was thinking losing pair pays for the previous games.. and gets whoever shoots the winning shot a drink of choice."
Ben and Gerard smiled while GoGo sighed. Ben and Gerard were on a team, which meant GoGo was gonna end up paying for all the games, he'd let Mei pay for the drink. But he didn't want her to pay for the rest.
"Hell yeah, get your wallets ready!" Ben and Gerard high-fived.
"You seem so confident," Mei pouted, "Since you're so confident we'll go first." She said and picked up her stick.
"Fine by me." Gerard smiled.
"Hey Alex, you mind if I take the first turn?" She asked.
Alex sighed, what's the point of fighting it? "Sure go for it."
Mei went to the end of the table, she took her stance, and the boys' eyes widened. 'Her stance totally changed!'
The cue ball cracked as she broke. Three balls went in. She moved and lined up a shot, she sunk a solid yellow ball. She smirked, "looks like we're solids GoGo."
His jaw dropped, as Mei walked around the table. She sank two balls in, a bank shot.
Ben's legs were shaking, "Mei.. what happened?"
She ignored the question and lined up her next shot. Another bank shot, one ball in, two left. But it looked like a pretty impossible shot, the 8 ball was right in the way.
She huffed, "hmm" and she began to line up her shot.
"Uh, Mei, our ball is more in that direction." He said pointing.
But he was cut off by the crack of the cue ball bouncing off the wall and hitting the ball at the perfect angle to send it spinning into the side pocket.
"Holly shit," Gerard said, completely taken aback.
The pool hall was silent, even the pretty girl who was working was watching intensely as Mei worked her magic.
After she sank the last solid ball, the 8 ball was all that was left. She called the corner pocket before sinking it in, leaving the cue ball spinning to a stop perfectly where it hit the 8 ball.
"Looks like you boys just got scammed, you owe me a yoohoo, and me and GoGo's tabs." She smiled a devilish grin. GoGo hugged her, "That was AWESOME!" Before his face went hot and he stepped back quickly realizing what he had done.
"You totally lied! Uncool." Ben pouted, "Okay, still kinda cool." He said cracking a small smile.
"Mei you little shit," Gerard said smiling while shaking his head.
"Heh, never underestimate me, kay?" She said winking.
Ben went and bought her a yoohoo, leaving a not very happy Gerard to pay for the rest of the tickets.
Mei walked up to the counter and smiled at the girl. "Pretty impressive, am I right?" Her confidence had grown after successfully scamming the boys.
"You're really good, and the stunt you pulled," The worker smiled sheepishly, "but between you and me, I never doubted you."
Mei's face fumed red. "Ah-a- uh thanks. Heh," She said scratching her neck.
(The back of her neck, not like chapped Shiggy scratching his raggedy ass skin.)
The worker smiled, "see you around?" she asked.
"Uh- I mean yes, yes you will!" Mei said before Gerard dragged her away by her collar.
"You are the worst flirt I have ever seen in my entire life" He deadpanned.
"Aye let me go!" She fought off his grip, "I'm a lot better than that" her voice went small, "just only with guys."
He laughed, "What's the difference?"
"Shut it, it's not like your Mr. Smooth." She grumbled.
(Gerard: And I took that personally)
He leaned down and got close to her face. "Eh?! b-back up" She said pushing his face away.
"Hmph, 'not smooth' says the one bright red." He said before walking out the door, where Ben and Alex were waiting.
'That little shit' Mei fumed before joining the boys outside.
"Heh, that was fun. Thanks, Gerard." Ben said laughing.
"I'll get you back for that," Gerard said scowling and Mei and GoGo just laughed.
"If I've learned anything today, it's that Mei sure knows how to surprise you." He laughed, "First you beat the shit out of that dude and now you're secretly a beast at pool."
"First of all, never call me 'a beast' at anything" she fake shivered, "and two, better you learned it sooner than later, never underestimate a Shisui" She puffed her chest out with pride.
"Consider that lesson learned." Ben laughed and put his arm around the girl. "Next time you fight, you gotta make sure I'm paying attention, I didn't see it and I'm jealous of GoGo."
"Me too, can't have my bestie beating someone to a pulp without me cheering her on." Gerard said a shit-eating smile on his face as he said 'bestie' sarcastically.
"Yeah yeah I'll make sure to stop everything and call you too, 'hey hold that fist right there, my friends are gonna wanna see this'" She said rolling her eyes.
They laughed, "That's exactly what I expect, kay Mei?" Gerard said.
"Aye-aye cap." She said and half-assed saluted to him. "It's getting late, so it's probably best to split ways now. See you guys tomorrow." She said as she turned and started heading towards her apartment building.
"See ya, Mei!"
"Thanks again!"
"Don't get too cocky you little shit"
(Can you guess who said what, I'll give you a hint, it's easy asf)
<3
Hi yall, so this is actually a 3k word chapter! Hope you enjoyed it!
Please let me know if the fight scene is confusing or if it actually gives a good idea of what's going on.
Also, I think "you little shit" is gonna be her and Gerard's thing if you have ideas for the other characters and their inside jokes/ nicknames lemme know!
PSA I was listening to Taylor Swift the entire time I wrote this.