Usually Jin was anxious when the professor gives out the grades, but this time, Jin was not really anxious for her own grade. Rather, she was more anxious about Vernon's.
Jin did no more than glance at her grade: 94%. She didn't flip through it to see what questions she got wrong; she was more interested in seeing Vernon's expression when he got his grade.
When professor gave Vernon his exam, Jin examined his expression to deduce what he could have gotten. He looked satisfied. He was smiling slightly. As soon as he looked at the grade he averted his eyes to meet Jin's. He winked at her.
Jin blushed and looked away from him. She wondered what the wink meant.
He could not have possibly gotten 100%, could he? she thought. He couldn't have. She couldn't even manage to get 100%, so there's no way in hell that he could have.
She found out what he got later in that day. She was in the library doing readings when she felt someone tap her shoulder. It was Vernon with the test paper in his hand. He sat down beside her, a grin on his face.
"Aren't you curious?" he asked her, raising his eyebrows obnoxiously.
"Not really," she lied.
"Liar," he responded, "I bet you're wishing that it was 100%."
She narrowed her eyes. What an absurd thing to say, she thought.
"Here," he handed it to her.
She glanced at the paper. 78%. She let out a sigh of relief. It was stupid of her to worry in the first place.
"That's like 50% more than what I thought I would get before last night. I don't usually thank people, but I will thank you, Frostbite. My mom will be proud." He strangely did not seem sarcastic this time.
"You're welcome," she replied with a bow.
"What did you get?" he asked.
"None of your business," she responded.
"100%?"
"None of your business," she repeated.
"My money's on 100%."
"I'm not going to tell you," she said.
Vernon grinned at her, but then he suddenly leaned in and kissed her cheek.
Jin's mouth hung wide open in surprise at what he just did. She blushed and touched her cheek.
"A deal's a deal," he said to her with a smirk.
"What?" she was so confused.
"The deal was: full marks, I get a kiss. I never said who it was that has to get the full marks, or if getting a kiss means giving one or receiving it."
Jin jaw still hung open; she didn't know what to make of this trick or lie or whatever it was that Vernon had just pulled.
"I didn't get full marks," Jin felt the need to say for some reason.
"You didn't? Aw." he reached out and wiped area the on Jin's cheek that he had kissed. "Now it's gone," he said. He winked at her and then stood up and left.
Jin was still in a daze. This was literally the first time a guy other than one of her relatives had kissed her.
She was so frustrated and flustered all at the same time. There were so many emotions inside of her, and she needed to something to help her channel them immediately.
She put down her readings and took out her diary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Diary,
Something so weird happened.
It's actually not that weird, but it was so weird for me. Vernon kissed my cheek. He tricked me, I think. I don't know what he did actually. He said that the deal we made about getting 100% and getting a kiss was not about me giving him a kiss or something. I don't know if it's true or if he's just being obnoxious as usual.
Oh God, I hate him.
He kissed me, and when I told him I did not get 100%, he used his thumb and wiped it off my cheek and then left.
I don't why he did that? Is it part of his flirtatious nature? Did he just want to annoy me as much as possible?
It felt so weird when it happened. On one hand, it made me angry that he just did it as if I were his doll that he could touch and kiss whenever he felt like it. On the other hand, it was a kiss. And those things always make you feel nice, no matter who they're from.
I blushed. It felt shy. I felt ridiculous. It's not that I like him (I actually hate him), but he confused me.
I'm probably making a big deal out of this. It's just a stupid kiss and he probably just did it to be annoying and to uphold his Casanova status.
I hate him.