Ryujin walked up to her locker the next morning, her head had ceased throbbing, she had regretted banging her head on the table soon after she had done it yesterday, and her mood had improved slightly since yesterday. Only slightly though. She was almost positive that once she would see Hyunjin her mood was going to worsen. Just thinking about him caused her muscles to tense and her fist to curl into a ball. Hate was as feeling that Ryujin very rarely felt but she was quite sure that it was exactly what she was feeling about Hyunjin.
"How am I going to get through one period with him?" Ryujin whispered to herself.
Ryujin was seriously contemplating skipping Music Literature when Chaeryeong approached her cautiously. She turned to look at her and, if her mood had been better, she would have probably laughed at the nervous expression on her best friend's face. Instead she nodded at her curtly and turned back to her locker, this time she decided to open it.
"Hey," Chaeryeong said quietly, she decided to go cautiously in case one wrong word could set off Ryujin.
"Relax Chae, you won't be able to set me off," Ryujin told her calmly, Chaeryeong gave her an odd look and wondered if she should venture into a very delicate subject with her friend.
"Okay, so I'm guessing that Hyun-" Chaeryeong stopped talking when Ryujin shot her a vicious look by just uttering the first syllable of Hyunjin's name.
"Don't even go there." Ryujin warned her and Chaeryeong wondered if she should tell her what they had first class.
"What do we have first?" Chaeryeong winced when the question burst from Ryujin's lips.
"Uhm-" Chaeryeong said bracing herself for an explosion.
Ryujin turned to eye her best friend suspiciously, "Lee Chaeryeong!"
"Music Literature," Chaeryeong replied and waited.
Ryujin stared at her and than turned back to her locker stuck her head into and let loose a bloodcurdling scream. Chaeryeong winced as the occupants of Drean High stared at Ryujin, who still had her head in her locker.
"Done?" Chaeryeong asked after a moment and Ryujin pulled her head out of her locker and stared at her.
"I swear to god Chae-" she started and this time it was Chaeryeong giving her a warning look.
"Look Ryujinie, I know you're not ecstatic about being partnered with Hyunjin, okay that was an understatement," Chaeryeong conceded when her best friend shot her another look, "but I don't get why you're going on about it. I mean you've worked with heaps of people you don't like; you got partnered with Betty once for god's sake! What's the difference between them and Hyunjin?"
Ryujin slammed her locker shut with a loud bang. People standing next to her locker jumped and she ignored them as she walked past, "what's the difference? There's a huge difference, an enormous difference, a monumental difference between him and them, Chaeryeong!" Ryujin exclaimed.
Chaeryeong just nodded and waited for her to continue, "what's the difference?"
Ryujin did not reply, mainly because she was completely and utterly stumped. She knew what the difference was but she could not put it into words; it was one of those things where she knew what it was but there was no way that she could put it into words. She just didn't like him. Period.
"Forget it," Ryujin muttered when she saw the Dance Elites approaching.
Hyunjin looked up and silently groaned when he saw Ryujin walking in his direction. He seriously didn't like that girl. He barely knew her and already he was well on his way to hating her. Both times he had spoken to her, he had argued with her and now he was meant to work with her for three weeks? He ran a hand through his hand as he heard Jeongin say that Music Literature would be their first class today. Scratch the three weeks; Hyunjin wondered if he would come out of one period with her in a good mood.
Ryujin was sitting at her desk, tapping the desk impatiently, her fingers drumming in a relentless pattern. Hyunjin was late. What a surprise. Every once in a while Master Ailee would walk past and shoot her a worried look. She ignored the looks, because every second that past, her anger grew. As much as she hated the guy, she wanted to get a good mark on this project, considering Master Ailee had announced to the class that the project was worth close to half their mark for the term. Finally Hyunjin ran into the classroom completely out of breath.
"Sorry I'm late, I ran into Master Yunho and he wanted to run over something with me and he kept me for longer than I expected," Hyunjin apologized breathlessly when Master Ailee swooped down on him. She eyed him and than nodded. Hyujin smiled at her and than turned to Ryujin. Her expression told him everything that he needed to know. Uh-oh he thought as he approached her. This wasn't going to be pretty.
"You're late," Ryujin snapped at him as soon he was in earshot.
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious" Hyunjin shot back.
Ryujin folded her arms a sour look taking residence on her face, "don't mention it."
Hyunjin took the seat opposite her, "what are we doing?"
Ryujin rolled her eyes, "you can have three guesses."
Hyunjin raised his eyebrows, "three guesses? What are you? Trying to be nice?" he replied equally sarcastic.
Ryujin scoffed, "if I was trying to be nice I would have given you more than three guesses." Hyunjin shrugged, which irritated her even more, he seemed so calm and cool.
"But if you weren't trying to be nice why didn't you give me less than three guesses?" Hyunjin countered smartly and Ryujin just shrugged.
Hyunjin knew he had her there and he silently congratulated himself for keeping his cool during this argument. Ignoring Ryujin pointedly, he pulled the sheet with the outline of the assignment towards him and began to read.
Ryujin waited while he read, her fingers resuming their drumming. Every now and then Hyunjin would shot her an annoyed look, which would cause her to drum louder, she was enjoying the chance to get under his skin.
"Will you stop that!" The speed to which Hyunjin slammed his hand over hers stunned Ryujin so much she couldn't speak for few seconds.
"Sorry," Ryujin replied tartly prying his hand off hers they glared at each for a moment.
"Sure you are," he muttered as Ryujin resumed the drumming, Hyunjin kept his cool for a moment longer and then repeated his previous action.
"What!?" Ryujin exclaimed desperately trying to pull her hand away from his.
"Give up will you! I am trying to find out what we're meant to do and if you keep doing that we're never going to get it done okay?" Hyunjin asked patronizingly
"I'm impatient okay? And we will get it done, we have three weeks of this to look forward to," Ryujin snapped back still trying to remove her hand from under Hyunjin's.
"Yeah, don't remind me, but we're not going to get to the research part until you let me read this!" Hyunjin shot back, neither noticing the classroom had gone quiet or Master Ailee approaching them a disapproving look on her face.
"Will you let go of my hand!?" Ryujin half-yelled frustrated with the fact that he wouldn't let go of her hand.
"Shin Ryujin! Hwang Hyunjin!" Master Ailee snapped at them and their heads both snapped up.
It was only than that they realized how close their faces had become and that both were breathing a little too heavily from rage.
"Yes?" Ryujin asked as Hyunjin slowly let go of her hand.
"Outside, now!" the voice master snapped at them.
Ryujin didn't answer, she picked up her bag and stomped past Felix and Chaeryeong, who were watching their two best friends with open mouths, Hyunjin right behind her. She folded her arms and half-turned her body from Hyunjin as he pulled the door shut.
"You know this is your fault," Hyunjin said simply, wanting to get under her skin more than ever now.
Ryujin spun to face him, "how is it my fault? You're the one that wouldn't let go of my hand!" she exclaimed and Hyunjin shoved his hands into the pockets of the jeans he wore.
"You're the one that wouldn't stop tapping the desk."
"Oh my god, you are impossible!" Ryujin cried out throwing her hands into the air.
"I'm not as bad as you," Hyunjin replied as Master Ailee opened the door.
"Shin Ryujin, Hwang Hyunjun, instead of putting you on detention I'm going to add to your project, I want two book reports, one on 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'Pride and Prejudice' and a film review of the adaptation of 'Pride and Prejudice. Am I clear?" she snapped at the two elite seniors who kept on shooting the other hostile looks through out the instructions.
"Yes Master Ailee," Hyunjin mumbled.
"Yes Master Ailee," Ryujin said and nodded.
Master Ailee nodded, satisfied, as the bell rang. She turned back to dismiss the rest of the class, leaving the two in the hallway.
"Next time don't be late," Ryujin finally said as their class began to file out. Hyunjin opened his mouth to respond and turned to find her already swallowed up in the crowd. He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath as his friends approached him as he thought about the arguments that they had just had. He didn't know why but he was keeping score but he was and at the moment it stood at Shin Ryujin - two and Hwang Hyunjin - two, they hadn't gotten to finish their last argument.