Chapter 12
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"There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing."
-Aristotle
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Rian POV
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I watch in horror as Jungkook rushes out the door. Swallowing, I turn around and face the red headed Jenny. I widen my eyes- I could've sworn there was steam popping out of her ears! Calm down, Rian. There's nothing to be afraid of- you're stronger than she is. Just have a little confidence...
"Rian Lee!" Jenny grits her teeth, digging her nails into her palm. "I told you not do go near him! You ruin everything!" He stomps her foot.
"It wasn't my fault" I say confidently, with my chin up high. "I just tripped. He's the one who helped me. It's his fault"
"Don't you dare talk about him like that!" She snaps. After taking a deep breath, she opens her mouth and quietly says, "I already warned you. But now you went to far"
I smirk- so what? It's not like she's going to make a petition, force everyone to sign it, and kick me away from this school.
Before I could say anything, the sound of a door closing woke me up from my thoughts. I turn around and see Jinyoo, with hands in pockets, slowly walking here with curious eyes. Jenny bit her lip, and without finishing her sentence, she pushed past me and left the room.
"Is everything OK?" Jinyoo asked. I roll my eyes and run my fingers through my ponytail, feeling exhausted.
"Yeah. I'm just tired... Let's go get something to eat. I'm starving" I mutter, swinging my backpack over my shoulders.
"Yeah, about that... I can't. Sorry, I have to go somewhere..." He paused for a moment. "I have to practice with my other team members. They are really serious about winning this thing..."
I sigh- the competition doesn't start until a long time. I nod in acceptance and we both walk out of the room. As we part ways, I walk to my dorm to change- I can't stay in this smelly sweatshirt and sweatpants for the whole day! After I change back to my school uniform, I rush to my locker, hoping to not be tardy this time. The hallway was starting to look empty, so I know the bell was going to ring in any second.
As I take out my notebooks for my English class, my phone does a sudden beep. I turn it on and look at the text message from Jenny:
You'll have a surprise waiting for you...
I frown- what the heck is this? Before I could do anything, the bell suddenly rings, causing my to groan. I was late- again. Shoving my phone into my backpack, I run to my class.
As I quietly enter the room, I raise my eyebrows in shock- the classroom was empty. Am I in the wrong class? I look at my schedule but I was correct- where was everybody?
I close the door and walk around the classroom, hoping to see any signs or trace of students. As I walk around, I make my way to my desk, and to my surprise, there were words written all over it:
Move back to America!
No one likes you!
You're so annoying and ugly... get lost!
Two-timer!
I cross my eyes- I know Jenny did this. This must be the "surprise" she was talking about. But what I don't know is if she was the one who forced everybody, even the teacher, to leave this room...
I sigh- that doesn't matter now. I turn around and walk away, but something on the floor catches my eye. I look closer and see my song lyrics- notebook all alone on the floor. I widen my eyes- that's impossible!
No one knows about my song lyrics notebook but me- I didn't even tell Jinyoo about it. This was so private- I would die if anybody reads it! Biting my lip, I bend down to grab it. But as I reach for it, it moved.
People may call me crazy, but my eyes are way to young to be seeing things. I stare as the notebook slide across the carpet, through the hole under the door. What was going on? Is this a trick? Without hesitation, I stand up and run towards the door, and see the notebook right in front of me. I reach down to grab it, but it moved again. I sigh- I bet Jenny's doing this. She probably tied a string on it to play with me.
I bet she wants to blackmail me, by showing the whole school my most private thoughts.
I crack my knuckles and my neck- I have to get that notebook! I slowly make my way towards the notebook that was sitting silently in front of the gym's door, as if I was a ninja. When I was close enough to grab it, I jump towards it, but it was too fast and it slided into the Gym. I sigh- doesn't Jenny know I had enough? I run inside the Gym, but freeze- there was a enormous crowd in front of my eyes.
I squint and look around- why was everyone giving me a mean look? I swallow, and after looking thoroughly, I see Jenny at the center of the crowd, holding my notebook and giving me an evil look.
"Hey! Give that back" I mutter as I make my way to her. Suddenly, I feel a hard hit behind my back. My uniform suddenly felt wet. I spin around, and another water balloon is thrown at me. I raise my arms over my head to protect myself- what was going on?
As I was hit with eggs and water balloons, I hear faint laughter's. I trip on the floor and roll into a ball to protect myself. Jenny... this is too much... Stop it... I press my head and legs harder against my stomach as more eggs and water balloons were thrown at me. Where were the teachers? The principal?
I feel a tear roll down my cheek. As hard as I tried my best to not cry, I failed on holding in the tears. I sniff- when was this going to stop? Wasn't this too much? I should probably not get in Jenny's bad side anymore...
A bucket of water is suddenly poured over my head, and I hear more laughter's echoing through the gym's ceiling. Please stop... When was this going to end? It felt like hours of torture...
The thoughts of Jinyoo suddenly popped in my head. If he was here, he would barge in the room to help me. But that's not the case right now... I have nobody to help me. Stand up for yourself, Rian... Yell at those scumbags... none of them are any better than you... I keep on encouraging myself to do something, but my body won't move for some reason.. Jinyoo, please come!
Suddenly, the noise level becomes dead silent. I sniff and look up, curious to see what happened. Did a teacher finally come? No... Instead, I see a hand in front of my eyes. My heart stops.
The hand belonged to Jungkook.
I look up and see Jungkook rasing a hand to me, wanting to help. I swallow and take it, and help myself stand up.
"Are you okay?" He said softly, his eyes shining as he talked.
"Are you okay?"
The words rang through my ears as I stare at Jungkook's eyes. I don't realize that my legs were shaking furiously. I can feel the egg's yolk running down my forehead, but I ignore it.
Jungkook repeats the words again, causing me to flinch, waking me up from my thoughts. I nod slowly and carefully look around, studying everyone's surprised expressions. Even Jenny, who didn't look even slightly mad, had her mouth wide opened. They were all probably surprised, just like me.
Jungkook turns to the crowd and frowns. "I don't know why all of you are like this, but your actions are far much worse than Rian's fight at the cafe" He soon turns around to face me. Digging his hand into his pockets, he takes out a small towel- probably from dance class to wipe off his sweat- and starts wiping off the yolk that was dripping into my eyes, blurring my vision.
"Um... thank you" I mutter softly, feeling small as I stare at the floor. I look up to see Jungkook smiling, but that quickly washes away when Jenny's boots marched against the gym's wood floor to our direction, loud enough to echo across the whole room.
"Jungkook oppa- why are you helping her? She's an outsider!" Jenny said in Korean.
"Just because she's from America doesn't mean anything. She's still a person" Jungkook says softly and grabs my wrist. "Let's go" He leads me to the door, making me feel uncomfortable knowing that everyone had their eyes on me. Once we exit, Jungkook lets go of my arm and smiles.
"Thank.. you.." I stammer.
"You are welcome" Jungkook smiles bigger. He bows his head, and after an awkward silence, he gives me a friendly wave, and turns around to leave.
Just like that.
I stare as he walks away, feeling speechless. But after taking a few steps, he turns around to face me, and bites his lip. "Be careful..." He smiled as he nodded and walked away.
I stare as he disappears into the hallways, not leaving my eyes off of him for a second. Once the light swallows him up, I stand there frozen for a while, like the cowardly person I am. I guess I was still shocked. After finding the courage to tell my brain to go to the girls restroom, I take a deep breath, and with my fists closed, I take baby steps to the restroom, walking like a robotic penguin.
After I wash up, instead of going to class, I lock myself in the first stall I see. With the toilet seat down, I sit there, hugging my knees against my chest. I force myself to not get teary, so I just sniff.
I didn't know that Jenny would get that serious... I guess I really did underestimate her. Maybe I should stay away from Jungkook for now on? If I do, maybe the whole school would finally ignore me and pretend that I don't exist. That is much better than being thrown at with eggs and water balloons.
I dry off the unintentional tears that were rolling down my cheeks, and after washing my face once again, I leave the restroom and head to my dorm so I could change into something that wasn't smelly and wet.
Hoping that Jenny wasn't in the room, which she wasn't, I change into a comfortable oversized gray knitted sweater and black leggings. Quickly putting my hair into a low ponytail, I dump myself in bed and hide myself under the covers. I turn on my radio and listen to soft, soothing songs, as I drift off to a deep sleep.
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Picture of Rian looking at the text message that Jenny gave her~
And yes, lol, this chapter was inspired from a scene from Boys Over Flowers.
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