During the next day of school, the vice-principal called me into her office to ask me to show Ji-Hun around. I'd given her a small smile, not sure if I should be happy or annoyed at being assigned to do something like that. It meant I would miss some classes, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.
"I guess I'm showing you around," I muttered, spotting Ji-Hun in the reception of the vice principal's office as I stepped out. He looked up, giving me a toothy grin before getting up from the red sofa with his backpack. He was wearing blue faded jeans with a white and gray check shirt that had the first few buttons undone to expose a gray tank top.
"Did she give you a hall pass?" he asked as I opened the door that led into the hallway. I walked out, humming a small yes in reply as he closed the door behind him.
I followed him to his locker, waiting for him to put away his books so I could go ahead with showing him around. I sighed, thinking about the notes I wouldn't be able to take. I bit my lip, deciding that I would text Ben and ask him to help me take notes, or I could miraculously bump into him in the crowd of students and ask him then. Yeah, that would do just fine.
I gave a sigh of relief when Ji-Hun shut his locker. I had started to get a slight headache from the noise students were making in the hallway and I was more than desperate to leave.
"Let's go then, I don't like being in crowds," I complained as Ji-Hun tucked away his key. For a straight minute, I thought his eyes held some sort of worry but I narrowed my eyes at him to make sure I wasn't imagining things and it was gone just as fast — odd.
I lead him out of the school building for a short trek to the school's basketball/volleyball court. The bell for the start of classes went soon after, the sound faint to us because of the distance of the school building from us and its brick walls.
"I can't believe I'm missing class," I sighed, using a hand to block out the sun from the screen of my phone as I composed a text to Ben asking him to help me take notes. Ji-Hun shrugged beside me, stopping at my side as he waited for me to complete my text. He kicked stationary rocks about with his jean sneakers as he waited for me. I soon put my phone away and made it clear that we could keep going.
"Here we are," I said as we got to the gates of the basketball court.
"It's locked," I sighed, spotting the lock on the blot.
Ji-Hun hummed, before laughing lightly at the situation. "We can see everything from here, I don't see how that's a problem."
I chuckled, understanding his point. I looked through the wire gate and into the court. The basket was leaning forward from its pole. Its condition was probably subject to the number of students that tried to show off by grabbing onto the ring to make a stylish basket. The blue and white paint on the clay floor of the court was both fading and chipping, but the important lines were still very much visible.
"If we're done looking at chipped paint can we go somewhere else?" Ji-Hun asked, earning a smile from me. He came off as sort of cocky and friendly all around. I liked it.
I showed him the soccer field next. We hung out by one of the goalposts as we chattered away about nothing in particular. It was weird being comfortable around anyone but Aiyana and Ben. Ji-Hun had a habit of jumping from topic to topic and he also picked the right time to make jokes.
We headed back to the school building soon after, making the long journey to the third floor to check out the labs. We couldn't enter the chemistry lab because seniors were having a lab class at the moment but we got to enter the biology lab.
Ji-Hun messed around with the skeleton, making it stay in silly poses. When he got bored he headed over to disarrange the organs of the school's human model. A small part of me wanted to tell him to stop touching things but the part of me that was amused by the puns and jokes he made while inspecting one of the model's organs was much stronger.
We headed for the physics lab next. The lab technician was around so we had to sit through a talk about the lab equipment. The way the balding man's eyes shone as he discussed with Ji-Hun made it obvious that he'd taken an immediate liking to him. Ji-Hun was curious and actually asked questions. He didn't look bored and seemed to actually enjoy the talk. It was the same in the home economics and food and nutrition labs. I couldn't help rolling my eyes when the teacher handed him a muffin for no reason whatsoever.
When we were about done wandering from lab to lab I decided to lead Ji-Hun back to the hallway. I sighed when he stopped suddenly before turning to give him a glare.
"Look, we're done looking at the labs, okay?" I said as I watched him wander down the hall.
"We didn't go to the art room," he said, stopping at the door of one of the three art studios in our school. I paused, tightening my jaw at the thought of going in there. I didn't need to be reminded that I was a lot less talented than my twin brother.
"Can we not?" I asked, partially pleading. Ji-Hun raised a questioning brow at me. He was clearly confused.
"Is there any particular reason why we shouldn't?" he asked as he placed his hand on the knob of the studio door.
"I..." I started, thinking of something to say, but all my possible answers would have me making mention of my brother, and I didn't want that.
"Never mind," I sighed, walking up to him. His confused frown was soon replaced by a smile before he hurried ahead of me by turned the knob and heading into the art room.
I made a mental sigh of relief when I peeped into the art room and my brother was nowhere in sight. For once his schedule favored me.
"Good morning sir," Ji-Hun said, directing his greetings to the man who was sitting on a donkey at the far end of the studio. He was working on a cardboard with ink but it was hard to tell what exactly he was doing from where I was standing.
"Good morning," the man replied, not taking his eyes off what he was doing. He didn't even bother asking why we were there in the first place. The art teacher was just as detached from reality as my brother. To be more specific, that's how my whole family acted. They barely acknowledged the existence of anyone but themselves. Maybe it was an artist trait, I wasn't sure.
"Wow," Ji-Hun said, pulling me out of my thoughts. I turned to look at what he was observing and my throat went dry at the sight of the painting. I vividly remembered Caleb working on that painting. It was a complex painting done in contrasting colors with a vast central theme.
"It's in the surrealist style," Caleb had plainly told me as he'd wiped the blue and yellow splatters of paint on his cheek with the back of his long-sleeved shirt. It had been funny to watch, considering he'd only smeared it all over his cheek instead of effectively wiping it off.
"Hey, you're not saying anything. Don't you think this is well done?" Ji-Hun asked, turning back to me with a smile. I shrugged, heading over to sit on a nearby donkey bench. My mood was ruined and I wasn't the one to forge happiness.
"Hey, you didn't answer me," Ji-Hun complained, his voice sounding partially irritated. My disinterest in the painting must have ruined his mood- well, look at that.
"He's seen it before," the art teacher suddenly said, trying to explain my attitude.
'Oh," Ji-Hun muttered before walking to observe something else.
"Who makes these?" Ji-Hun said out loud as he ran a finger over a piece done in charcoal, asking no one in particular.
"The art students of course, but most of them are by Caleb," the art teacher answered from the corner. His voice was a lot clearer than before like he was expressing his pride. The side of my lip twitched in annoyance. Great, someone else to remind me of my brother.
"He's really good," Ji-Hun said. I knew I wasn't supposed to be offended. Heck, he didn't even know Caleb was my brother but I still felt as if he was silently comparing him to me.
After a few more minutes Ji-Hun and I left the art studio. We decided to stay in the library till the bell went for lunch. I got a text from Ben telling me he'd helped me take down notes as I'd asked.
"Do you have anywhere to sit?" I asked Ji-Hun as he got to the cafeteria's entrance, the place was already crowded with students, meaning there had probably been a free period for most students just before lunch break.
"No," Ji-Hun admitted, running a hand through his hair. I looked from him to the lunch table I shared with Ben and Aiyana, wondering if inviting him to sit with us was a good idea.
"Would you like to sit with me and my friends?" I asked, deciding it was no harm. A big smile made its way on Ji-Hun's face before he muttered a quick yes. He followed me to our table, waving awkwardly as Ben looked towards us with a puzzled look.
"I helped with your notes," Ben said, repeating what he'd sent me in form of texts over and over again.
"I know. You've told me already, remember?" I said, rolling my eyes as I settled down on my seat. I watched Ben's eyes move to Ji-Hun as he took the seat beside me. He was obviously curious as to why he was sitting with us. I kicked him from beneath the table to stop him from staring.
Aiyana coughed after Ben let out a cuss word beneath his breath after I kicked him. Aiyana didn't like people cussing and she coughed whenever Ben mistakenly lost himself and cussed in front of her.
"Why the long face?" I asked, placing my head in my palm. I hadn't carried any of my books with me, so I was stuck doing nothing.
"Nothing, I'm just stressed." She shrugged, drumming the newly painted nails of one hand on the cafeteria table as she scrolled through her phone with the other. I smiled, realizing she'd changed her phone case yet again. It was obvious it was from some sort of merch site.
"Is that a superfruit phone case?" I asked calmly as Aiyana lowered her phone. Her frown had been replaced with an excited smile.
"Yes!" She replied in excitement, taking the jacket of her iPhone to show it off at the center of the table. "It's Mitch at the back. They had Scott too and I couldn't decide which one to get so I got them both so I'll be changing it frequently."
I smiled as she chattered away, happy that my single comment could brighten her day. Aiyana was in love with a number of YouTubers and would gladly jump at any opportunity to discuss them.
"If you guys are done talking can someone please help me with this problem?" Ben asked, pushing his math note to the center of the table to take the place of Aiyana's phone case. She shot him a dirty look but took her phone case away anyway.
I leaned in to get a look at the question before signing with a shake of my head. "To be honest, I haven't figured out how to solve that question either. I was thinking of showing a different math teacher later today."
"Can I see it?" Ji-Hun asked, reaching out for Ben's notebook.
"The question is practically impossible," Ben whined as Ji-Hun took his pen and notebook from him.
"I'll try," Ji-Hun said with a smile as he started scribbling on the last page of Ben's note. I raised a brow as I watched him solve. He periodically stopped to cancel a line then continued from there. He eventually stopped altogether; drawing a double line under what I suppose was his answer.
"I think I've done it," he muttered with a smile as he handed Ben's note back to him. Ben gave him a look of disbelief before flipping to the back of his textbook to confirm Ji-Hun's answer.
"Shit," Ben started, looking up at Ji-Hun with a fat grin, "he's correct."
"Dude you're a genius," Ben said with a small laugh as he gave Ji-Hun's shoulder a friendly nudge.
"Hey Wyatt, what do you think?" Ben asked, noticing how quiet I'd gone.
"That's great," I muttered under my breath as Ben went back to chatting with Ji-Hun. No, it wasn't okay. I was the genius, and Ji-Hun knowingly or unknowingly had taken that away from me even if it was for a few minutes.