─── chapter seventeen.
❛ SOPHOMORES RULE ! ❜
DESPITE THE TOUGH, even though tough was un understatement, year the kil siblings endured at j high, becoming a sophomore at the same school was certainly an achievement.
deok-ja had managed to not get expelled (despite her underwhelming gpa of 0.7) and deok-su had managed to keep his head attached to his body despite the countless temptations to just chop it off in hopes for a quieter life.
before the short break leading to their return as sophomores, he had the 'pleasure' of witnessing daniel park and his rather terrible ordeal involving a stalker and a familiar girl. of course, he just strolled past and minded his business (he wasn't particularly fond of either of the two, though he did feel the slightest twinge of pity for them) like any other onlooker would.
the two weeks of break were like bliss to deok-su, who did not have to talk to anyone beside his sister and their pet retriever, moose, who had grown considerably from the cute little puppy they had first adopted.
deok-ja, on the other hand, did whatever she could to avoid the curse of boredom, often times stepping out of the house for long periods of time to help vasco train convenience store daniel. when she wasn't hanging out with her tattooed gangster friends of burn knuckles, she was with charles choi's goons, working to earn an extra buck.
deok-ja was more in tune with them than deok-su would ever be. especially diego kang, whom deok-ja loved and deok-su was wary of. gun and goo, no matter how much deok-ja complained about how annoying they were, were still considered friends in her eyes. the trio of bloodhounds would go out and practically demolish smaller tier gangs in a few hours just for fun (deok-su was only okay with it because they were no-name gangs and it payed rather well).
back to the topic at hand — the kil siblings' fresh start at j high as sophomores was not as fresh as either would've liked. upon stepping foot onto campus grounds, loud chattering erupted in their wake. something along the lines of 'kil deok-su, the sheathed blade' and 'kil deok-ja, bnc's wildcard'.
although, deok-ja was rather proud of her newfound title. deok-su, not so much.
deok-ja was in a good mood, that rather creepy grin on her face as she walked through the halls of j high with her brother, picturing all the fun she'd have this year tormenting the freshman in the architecture department. deok-su was all glum as people went out of their way to form a path for them to cross, currently annoyed by all the attention he was receiving.
news sure spread fast about his skills, and it was rather damaging to his 'mysterious loner' vibe he had going on. not to mention kouji, the annoying grape headed kid, had transferred schools and was keen on treating him like some sort of king.
deok-ja broke off from her brother as he entered the fashion department, not before saying her hello's to her friends (a hug for mira and zoe, a punch on the shoulder to zack, a fist bump to jay, and a final goodbye pat on the back to deok-su) and making her way to vasco and jace.
they were chattering excitedly, shoulders pressed together and grins on their faces. deok-ja included herself, squeezing in between them and throwing her arms around their shoulders.
"hey." she greeted with a grin, pausing their conversation midway for them to smile and greet her.
"did you hear?" vasco beamed excitedly, giving her those sparkly puppy eyes as he leaned into her.
"hear about what?" deok-ja cocked her head to one side in confusion.
"there's a rumor that there's gonna be another girl in the architecture department." jace whispered to deok-ja, making her mouth fall open in shock.
it took a few seconds for a large smile to form on her face.
"fuck yeah! let's go see!" deok-ja exclaimed in glee, grabbing on of each of their arms and dragged them to the architecture department classroom.
however, all that met them at the sight of open doors was a large group of new recruits, most of them smoking cigarettes. there was not a single girl in sight.
deok-ja and vasco shared a downcast look and sighed simultaneously, turning away from their scrambling underclassmen who were trying to impress them. jace only nodded in understanding at the two knuckleheads.
"ah..." deok-ja trailed off at the putrid smell of the freshman's classroom, bringing her hand to pinch her nose. "i think i'm gonna throw up."
DEOK-SU HAD GROWN USED TO HATING LUNCH. that was usually the loudest part of his day, when some idiot just had to go out of their way to bother another, then bam — there would be an all out brawl.
if he had been born a bloodthirsty fighting demon like his sister, deok-su might've enjoyed such distractions, but he was not. in fact, deok-su had gotten into the habit of hanging around mira, who hated fighting almost as much as he did (though he doubted that would hold true for long, since there was the occasional rush in his veins when he watched a fight these days).
of course, where there was either mira or deok-su, zack lee seemed to follow around like an obedient puppy. the only one who could tease him over such drooling behavior was none other than deok-ja, who often went out of her way to grin tauntingly at the gel haired male and make gestures towards her own brother.
though deok-su tried denying it, zack's piercing gaze had begun to make his ears burn and his cheeks warm in the slightest. it wasn't his fault — he just hated such attention! (or so he told himself...)
as always, zack was being their guard as deok-su and mira conversed quietly with one another, not at all interesting in much else but their very interesting conversation over the health of the kil's dog, moose. mira had taken an immense liking to the puppy, and often asked the teen about the now-grown dog's wellbeing.
"deok-su, mira!" zack ushered them over to an almost empty table with a wide grin.
the only other person sitting there was a thug-looking guy. deok-su ignored him in favor of mira, who was smiling in a heartfelt manner as she recounted how much she had wanted a dog when she was younger.
"i'll ask deok-ja to take you to see him one day, if you really want to." the bespectacled teen murmured quietly, making mira's smile grow.
"really? that would be the best, thanks!" she beamed, making deok-su turn away from her blindingly bright smile.
just as zack was about to take his seat, some kid with an overshaved bowlcut purposely bumped into him, and a sausage fell out of the boxer's tray and onto the thug's uniform.
deok-su sighed loudly as the two began arguing. mira nervously looked between the two troublemakers, biting her lip as she looked in zack's direction. he knew she wanted to break up the fight for zack's sake, but the other guy must look terrifying in her eyes.
the bespectacled boy could tell from the way she timidly rose to her seat. feeling as though it was an interaction that couldn't be avoided (it certainly could — but he wasn't that heartless. plus, mira reminded deok-su of his sister, so he couldn't possibly make her do something like that), deok-su gently grabbed mira's arm.
"i'll handle this." he gave her a reassuring smile, though it wobbled around the corners.
who was he kidding, he was terrified! however, seeing mira's relieved face as she sat back down, there was no way he could back up now. curse him and his chivalry.
"did you apologize? let's go eat." deok-su said quietly as he approached the two, his heart beating like crazy.
sweat began accumulating against his balled fists, and his glasses slid a few centimeters down his nose. if only deok-su wasn't so weak hearted...
zack took notice of the quiet teen and bowed his head once more to the thug with a grin before scurrying off towards deok-su.
"let's go." he grinned, and the two walked back to where mira was patiently waiting.
mira only gave the boxer a scolding look and put her hands together in prayer. the two boys mimicked her, neither religious, only too fond of her to say no.
with his eyes closed, the hairs on deok-su's neck bristled as he heard heavy footsteps from behind them. he turned fast enough to see a large, grubby hand tipping a tray full of food above mira. his instincts took over, shielding the girl protectively from the contents.
"sorry, sorry." the thug from before said in a condescending manner, his face twisted into a smile.
deok-su gritted his teeth as he felt the food slide off his hair and drip down onto his white uniform shirt.
"bastard..." he muttered under his breath, focused solely on the pig in slides before him.
there was a loud clatter from the other side of the cafeteria, where deok-su could spot his sister from a mile away fuming angrily.
here we go again, deok-su sighed as the building erupted in clamor.
he gave his damp shirt a sniff. it smelled like barely edible cafeteria food, alright.
"deok-su!" zack leaned over to the bespectacled boy, eyes filled with concern. "are you hurt?"
"m'fine." he said quietly, shrinking under the numerous pairs of eyes gazing in his direction.
"do me a favor and hold my sister back from killing him. i'll be in the bathroom." deok-su added as an afterthought, letting his eyes stray from the bundle of fury stomping her way towards them to the direction of the bathroom.
the boxer made to protest, maybe even to ask to accompany the male, but thought better against it and nodded. deok-su let out a relieved sigh and hid himself in the bathroom, focusing all his attention to the spreading yellowish stain of the cafeteria food.
meanwhile, the cafeteria was a rowdy mess, full of gasps and yells as deok-ja and zack stood side by side, both looking absolutely enraged.
"that's my fucking brother, you whale." she spat, but zack held her back with a raise of his hand.
"let me handle him. this punk dared to hurt both mira and deok-su." he snarled.
deok-ja, though blinded by anger, seemed to calm down at his words. damn, did this dude have a crush on her poor, innocent older brother (who was not innocent at all, simply used to convey how much she cared for him in this specific instance)?
"give him hell." she said at last, receiving a nod in return.
OF COURSE, deok-ja knew zack and the transfer were not on the same level. though she felt appreciative that the boxer would go to such lengths for her brother, it was now her time to shine.
especially now that vasco was making his way here, and deok-ja didn't want her class president to get intoned another fight, especially since she could handle it easily.
"hate to say it, but you did good." deok-ja patted zack lee's shoulder with some force, letting her scowl ease into a little smirk. "you have my blessing!"
zack looked up at her in bewilderment, but she only grinned and turned towards the transfer.
he laughed at the sight of her. "this bitch wants to fight me? i don't care if you're a girl, i'll fucking kill you."
suddenly his face contorted further into ugly anger. deok-ja placed her arms on her hips as she let out a chuckle.
"kill me?" she scoffed. "fucking bring it."
she caught vasco's eye, who was now in the crowd watching, his eyes clouded over with something deok-ja couldn't make out (concern, maybe?) and winked in his direction.
"don't worry prez, i won't fail burn knuckles." she smiled, completely forgetting about the 300 pound transfer behind her.
in that short time when deok-ja's attention was diverted elsewhere, he wrapped his thick, grubby hands around her neck, not even bothering to use any technique against her.
with an irritated cough, deok-ja turned her body so her legs latched around the transfer's neck, executing a flying armbar without much difficulty. he groaned in pain and loosened his grip against her neck, allowing her to escape.
"you fucking wench!" the transfer growled angrily, rubbing his sore arm.
"what?" deok-ja feigned ignorance. "i thought you said you were gonna kill me? what happened to that?"
gritting his teeth, the transfer looked around the cafeteria, noting the scathing glares people were shooting him, especially one from a tattooed teen wearing grey coveralls. he looked about ready to tear him apart, and it seemed many people shared that sentiment.
with a low growl, logan lee turned away from deok-ja and walked out of the cafeteria.
"wow. that was pretty lame." deok-ja tutted, crossing her arms in annoyance.
with a shrug, she dug her hands into the pockets of her coveralls and walked over to zack, who was still coughing weakly on the ground.
"mind checking up on my brother for me?" she asked as she hoisted the boxer to his feet.
though he grumbled angrily (something about 'stealing his moment'), zack limped towards the restrooms.
wow, she thought to herself with a sly grin. guess he's not completely useless.
turning, she walked over to vasco and jace, who were staring at her open-mouthed.
"did you learn that during your time as a gang member?" jace asked, and though he didn't;t have any malicious intent behind his words, sent a jab to deok-ja's chest.
"no." she muttered, pushing past them. she no longer felt like relishing in her victory.
"deok-ja!" vasco's voice followed her out of the cafeteria, and a large hand situated itself atop her shoulder in an effort to stop her.
the girl turned, not bothering to shrug off his hand.
"you don't have to tell us about it if you don't want to. we'll wait until you want to share." he said, and jace nodded, his face painted in a frown.
"sorry for sounding so bitter. i meant it as a joke." jace added.
deok-ja looked at them both before her lips spread in a small smile.
"i will tell you guys, someday. but it's not a nice story, so i gotta prepare myself in case you don't wanna be around me anymore after you know." she laughed humorlessly. it was getting real emotion, real fast.
"we wont." vasco assured, and awkwardly patted her shoulder.
"hey, euntae!" a voice rang out through the hallway, and deok-ja turned in surprise, slightly angry that someone would dare ruin such a touching moment.
"who the fuck —" she snarled, swiveling around and glaring only to find a rather tall underclassman from the architecture department looking in their direction.
even with the boyish cut and the slightly raspy voice, deok-ja could immediately recognize the fact that this person was trying to blend in. as a man.
so the rumors weren't completely untrue.
"who are you to address vasco so informally?" jace said angrily, staring down at the underclassman.
"don't you remember me? you promised to fight me, you asshole!" the student yelled, unexpectedly kicking vasco's shin.
the tattooed teen looked down at his shin in surprise.
"hey, watch it." deok-ja intervened, placing a hand protectively in front of vasco.
the underclassman huffed and turned away, stomping through the halls.
"these underclassmen are so weird." jace muttered under his breath.
he didn't even know the half of it.
# LOVE, RAY !
here's a longer chap for ya'll bc i was bored !!
this chap was all over the place but now logan has been introduced ,, the next few eps are ab mira, zack, and johan and the cult so i think im going to skip those and start next chapter during the picnic / notte world the park trip!! (eps 123-131 btww! next ch starts off at ep 139!)
hopefully i can write some more zack/deok-su and vasco/deok-ja cute moments for yall
i love interactive readers so don't pls vote and comment<33 also pls lmk if there are any spelling and grammar errors !!
love y'all and stay safe!