QUITE THE PICKLE

During one of my free lessons, I decide to take a stroll around the school premises. As I leisurely stroll down the hallways, I find myself standing in front of my friend's classroom. Out of curiosity, I peer through the doorway and to my relief, I discover that the teacher is not seated at her desk.

My ears perk up when I hear some shuffling and rummaging around in the storage room and I surmise that she must be in there, perhaps searching for some teaching materials. The room is muted and still except for the faint sounds of her movements coming from the storage area and the chatter coming from everyone else.

My eyes begin to urgently scan the faces for a familiar set of braids that belong to my dear friend. After a few moments of searching, I am relieved to spot her in the back corner, surprisingly sitting with Jodie. My initial joy turns into confusion as I notice them chatting animatedly and even laughing together. When they became so close again? I was unaware of any recent developments in their relationship.

"Excuse me," I quietly whisper to the nearest person who has a bed of blonde hairs and when he turns around, my face drops at the familiar sight of Michael. What is he doing here? I had no idea he was taking this class.

"Seong Jin." He rests his arms on his table and leans forward slightly, perhaps so he can hear me more clearly.

"Hello, Michael," I mutter through my teeth as I try to smile politely but it ends up feeling awkward on my lips so I immediately stop.

"You're not stalking me, are you?"

My eyes set into a flat look and I sardonically state, "Yeah, man, I definitely have the time to follow you around even though this is the second time we have run into each other in a while and the first time had nothing to do with me. You came to me."

"Is that how you rationalise that to yourself?"

I actually hate him so much. How the hell did I end up falling for someone like him? He just seems like such an absolute prick now that I am no longer mesmerised by his charming grin and those beautiful emeralds he has for pupils.

"Could you please tell Taylor to meet me outside for a quick second?" I ask him nonchalantly, dismissing his question.

"Uhm... why?"

My nose wrinkles in annoyance and I narrow my eyes at him for being nosy. "I fail to see how that is relevant. You don't need to know why I want to meet her if you only need to relay to her that I want to talk to her."

With an amused smirk, he slowly nods and then playfully leans closer into me to whisper, "Okay, SJ."

As soon as I hear him call me by the nickname he gave to me back then, my heart immediately skips a beat in surprise and my stomach fills with nerves. It has been such a long time since I last heard anyone call me by that name.

Despite feeling a little overwhelmed, I manage to stretch a stiff grin at him and thank him for his cooperation before slowly backing out of the doorway. Once outside the classroom again, I lean against the wall and take a deep breath and try to calm myself down. I wait patiently for the message to reach Taylor.

After what feels like an eternity, she finally peeks out of the doorway. When she sees me, her eyebrows flick up in surprise, and I cannot help but feel a little self-conscious about the reason why I have called her out here but I put on a brave face.

"Are you skipping class?" she muses, strolling out of the class to occupy the space beside me on the wall.

"No, I have a free lesson."

"Yeah, I thought so. I would have been proud of you if you did actually bunk one of your classes this year since it is our final year in high school."

I look at her in confusion and murmur, "You want to get me in trouble with your mum."

"What are you on about? My mum absolutely adores you. She thinks you can do no wrong."

"Which is why I have no intention to skip a class."

"Boring," she sings with her eyes rolling. "By the way, I completely forgot to ask you yesterday. How did your date with Kai go?"

"Found out he was allergic to tulips so buying him a bouquet of roses next time we hang out," I mutter under my breath and then purse my lips grimly. "I actually need to talk to you about something else."

First her eyes widen curiously and when she sees the severity in my hazel browns, she thins her gaze worriedly. "Okay..."

"I need your advice about this thing that I did or didn't do. I just need your help, I guess."

"Oh, this is serious, isn't it?"

"The most serious it will probably ever get," I say to her, looking very earnest.

"Okay, what is it that you would possibly come to me for advice? It has to be love problems. Normally you handle things your own way. I'm guessing because most of my ideas are too much for a jellyfish to handle."

"Quit calling me a jellyfish."

When she arches an eyebrow expectantly as if to gesture to me that I should spit out my problem before her teacher notices her absence, a shaky breath leaves my parted lips and I start explaining everything to her. After I have finished telling her my misfortunes, she stares at me for a very long time and I cannot tell whether she is surprised or she just does not care that I have just revealed to her that Dominic confessed to liking me.

"Taylor," I call and she snaps out of her reverie, but still she looks at me blankly. "Please say something."

She still does not answer and blinks a couple of times in bemusement. I watch her worriedly and wonder if she is okay. Did I just break her mind? Her remaining deathly silent is immensely concerning. As I have mentioned before, Taylor is a very expressive person. Her silence is a dangerous phantom that I would never want to encounter again. It was not enjoyable for me during that one week she spent with the popular kids to ignore me.

"Taylor," I call again, raising my voice to a higher octave to at least catch her attention.

She releases a loud breath and eventually turns around to face me. When I see her blank expression again, I purse my lip to the side nervously.

"Oh, God."

"What?" I question, eyes widening in a panic.

"You," she pauses to blink rapidly as if she cannot even begin to comprehend what she is about to say, "when exactly did you decide it was a good idea to choose the path of becoming a homewrecker?"

I rear back in shock and then I squint at her dryly. "What?"

"You were supposed to be the innocent guy who wades off shit like that. You just inadvertently helped Dominic to cheat on his girlfriend. I guess I was wrong to call you a jellyfish this entire time."

"Are you just not taking me seriously at all?" I muse, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. "I can honestly never tell with you."

When she bursts out laughing in hilarity, I roll my eyes upwards and then scoldingly glare at her for not seeing the severity in my problem. She walks back over to me and leans back on the wall beside me. "I still cannot believe you kissed him though. You do know that Jodie actually likes him, right? He is not just another toy to her."

"I didn't kiss him; he kissed me," is my feeble defence.

She remains quiet again and when I look at her, I see her thinking hard. Before I can enquire, she questions in interest, "So, what? Does he want you and him to be a thing now?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want you and him to be a thing?"

"I don't know."

"What about Kai?"

"I don't know," I reiterate loudly and defeatedly bury my face deep into my palms. When I peek up at her through my fingers, she arches her eyebrow dubiously at my response.

"You're in quite the pickle, Seong Jin."

I groan as a heavy feeling causes my stomach to sink into the depths of hell and tiredly I sink down the wall, staring at the opposite wall as if to communicate with the heavens. Seeing that my best friend does not have a way to help me perhaps the heavens will provide me with a solution.