CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Let the Record Show
★
͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏⠀⠀ Let the record show: Han Sujin has officially had it with Jake Sim.
It's barely even been a week since he'd given her Strike One and already he's managed to strike her out yet another time, watch over her so intently she's convinced herself it's starting to borderline stalking and, of course, piss her off to no end in the process.
Let's rewind for a moment.
Thursday afternoon; a measly two days after the first strike. Sujin's last class of the day was AP English - bonus points to her for finally making it through a school day without getting into a fight or skipping! - with Sora at her side.
As usual, she'd kept to herself as their teacher took them through a dramatic reading and equally flamboyant analysis of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The girl then spent the remainder of the lesson drafting an essay response that was due by the end of the period; but that's not to say she was paying attention - not completely, at least. Also per usual, she took it upon herself to sneak a trusted AirPod beneath her hair and will the time away with some music.
She always concentrates better when there's a certain ambiance clouding her mind, she's found out over the years.
Though said ambiance was brought to a jarring - and very unfortunate - interruption when Jake all but dumped a heap of papers atop her desk with an annoyingly smug grin.
Thwack!
"What the fuck?!" Sujin hissed, looking up from her notebook to direct a deadly glare toward her classmate. She gestured at the work she was doing with a scowl, "Do you mind?"
"Not at all." He replied, a certain cheekiness seeping into his tone.
Evidently, the boy gets some kind of a kick out of pushing at her buttons.
Sujin sighed.
"I'm just playing around with you," Jake picked up the papers off her desk with a nonchalant chuckle, "You should really lighten up, y'know."
"And maybe I will," Sujin pursed her lips, "As soon as you leave me alone."
"Ouch."
Jake adjusted his grip on the papers cradled in his arms, now only peeling one sheet off the pile and placing it on Sujin's desk in a much less obnoxious manner. Sujin scanned the page and came to the conclusion that it's a worksheet - one that he'd probably volunteered to hand out to the class for their teacher.
No surprises there, kiss-ass.
"Ah- What's this?" A faint buzzing sound immediately captured Jake's attention, and he lifted Sujin's copy of Macbeth to uncover her phone lying beneath it. Scooping the device up despite her protests, the boy read off the track displayed on her lockscreen with a bemused twinkle in his eyes, "SEVENTEEN, huh? I never took you as a K-pop kind of girl."
Cheeks flushing, Sujin immediately lurched forward in her seat to snatch her phone back.
"Ah ah ah -" Jake tutted, holding it away from her grasp before she was able to retrieve it, "- No phones allowed during class, remember? Rule 108 in the handbook."
"Fuck the handbook, and fuck Rule 108." Sujin deadpanned, "You can't just take my phone!"
"I can, actually." Jake countered matter-of-factly, "Rule 109 allows any member of staff, or a Student President, to confiscate any improperly-used devices for a week."
A week?!
Sujin slumped back in her seat with a huff, "Fuck Rule 109 too, then."
Jake rolled his eyes.
"Is everything okay back there?"
Their teacher, taking quick notice of how long Jake had spent at just one table, craned her neck over the first few rows of students to suspiciously observe the interaction.
"Yes, ma'am." Jake cleared his throat, squaring his shoulders in the way a peacock would brandish its feathers. The action in itself was enough to make Sujin internally gag. He then slipped her phone into his back pocket, making a point to pair the action with a shit-eating grin that made her blood absolutely, positively boil.
"That's Strike Two, sunshine."
And with that, he resumed his original task of passing out the rest of the worksheets like nothing had ever happened.
As soon as the boy was out of earshot, Sora leaned out of her own seat to eye Sujin with a look of half-shock, half-amusement.
"Sunshine?" She gawked, suppressing a giggle in the sleeve of her blazer.
Sujin merely groaned, slamming her head against the desk with a dull thud.
"Don't ask."
★
͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏⠀⠀ Fast forward a couple days, and it's already Sunday.
Without access to her phone, Sujin's weekend could only be described as: homework, homework... and even more homework.
She wasn't even able to call Heeseung on the two days she actually could, having to resort to sending him an email describing her circumstances like a goddamn fossil. Though, considering the fact that the guy only checks his emails a whopping three times a year - and that's if you're lucky - Sujin supposed she'd just have to catch him up at a later time.
Thanks a lot, Jake!
The Student Body President was all but a total parasite all weekend, watching over Sujin as if his life depended on it (and in the Headmistress' own sick way, it kind of does).
Wherever Sujin went, Jake was there. On Saturday morning, when she'd agreed to grab breakfast at The Plaza with Sora and Sunoo - he was there. Later that night, when she'd visited the library to get her History homework done - he was there. The following afternoon, when she'd decided to treat herself to some basking in the sunshine, bumping into Riki mid-soccer practice - surprise, surprise, he was there.
And it would be one thing if he were minding his damn business. But no matter what he was preoccupying himself with at any given moment, Sujin would catch glimpses of the boy peering over and watching her like a hawk. Almost as if he were waiting - wanting - for her to get caught out on Strike Three.
Like hell she'd give him the satisfaction!
★
͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏⠀⠀ ... And now we're all caught up.
After a long and tiring weekend, Sujin wakes this morning significantly grumpier (if that's even possible) and later than usual.
So far, she's been relying on Sora as some form of a human alarm clock to shake her awake in time for breakfast. But yesterday, the older girl had mentioned something about needing to attend an early-morning meeting with her photography club, so Sujin is only mildly surprised to awaken to an empty room.
She is also not-so-mildly, more-so-horrifically surprised when she sees the time - 8:47am.
"Shit!"
With less than thirteen minutes to spare before first period, Sujin miraculously manages to brush her teeth, wash her face, wrangle the mess of her bed hair into a ponytail, and shimmy into her school uniform. After haphazardly throwing all her books into her tote bag, she all but sprints out of her dormitory and toward the main building in a record-breaking four minutes. (And fifty-one seconds, to be exact.)
Still in the process of catching her breath at the door of her classroom, Sujin reads the time off a clock mounted against the wall - 8:59am.
Thank god, she sighs.
Maybe today's my lucky day.
She pushes the door open, grimacing as soon as she's met with the prying eyes of everyone in her Math class. This includes Jay, who's sitting by the door with an amused grin curling at his lips. And, as if the girl's day isn't already off to a sour start, the only available seat left in the entire classroom just so happens to be right next to him.
Never fucking mind.
Sujin hauls her bag over the table, sliding into the seat with a grumble.
This next hour better be over soon...
Alas, not even five minutes into the lesson, Jay is already leaning over to direct a whisper in her direction.
"First missed alarm of the semester, huh?"
She draws her lips to a tight line.
"I'll take that as a yes." He chuckles under his breath.
Sujin wordlessly keeps her eyes on the whiteboard.
In her peripheral vision, she sees Jay bend over his desk to unzip his bag, and he pulls something out after a few seconds of rummaging around. Careful not to attract the attention of their teacher, who has his back turned from the class as he jots down a particularly complex equation on the board, the boy slides the object onto Sujin's own desk.
She looks down to see that it's a chocolate croissant wrapped in clear plastic.
Her brows knit together in confusion, and she finally turns her head to the side to give Jay a quizzical look.
He shrugs, "It's not good to skip breakfast."
Momentarily stunned by the act of kindness, Sujin pauses to look between the boy, to the croissant, then back to the boy again.
"It's not poisoned, if that's what you're worried about." He laughs at his own joke, "Take it, really. It's on me."
A couple of beats pass in silence before the girl slips the pastry into the pocket of her blazer with a hesitant smile.
"Thanks, Jay."
"Don't mention it."
He throws her a lackadaisical grin of his own, and the two redirect their attention back to the front of the classroom.
For the rest of the lesson, Sujin finds herself silently pondering the chocolate-flavored peace offering. Going back and forth, then back and forth again, and again, and again, on whether or not she's prepared to fall victim to the Park boy's whimsy.
There's a stubborn part of her that remains angry at Jay for talking about her behind her back that first day they'd reunited. And she's still not entirely sure if the school has molded him into another one of their puppets over the years.
But the fact still stands - he's not been anything but nice ever since. And it may just be her empty stomach doing all the talking, but she sure could do with a buttery pastry right about now.
So let the record also show: Maybe, just maybe, Jay Park is starting to weasel his way into her good books.
SAGE'S SPACE! 🗯️
i went back to uni last week and it's been absolutely battering me, third year really is no joke 😞💔 i'm trying my best to keep updating at least once or twice a week for you all though. i just love this book so much it's impossible to stay away for too long !!!
til next time,
sage ♡