5 Dealing With The Enemy

"Why would I?" I shoot back, spotting a playful look in his eyes.

"I know you think I'm handsome; everyone does." Jun says narcissistically. I pull back my hair with a hand, pursing my lips.

"Yeah, don't get used to it-" I mutter under my breath.

"So you do admit it?" He interrupts, tilting his head sideways and smirking.

"Just leave me alone!" I pout while poking at my pasta. That sentence finally gets through his thick brain, however, not through to his coy smile. That expression stays plastered on his face.

Feeling peeved, I glance down at my food, inspecting it. The individual pasta pieces resembled the shape of a coil. Unlike a coil, however, the wired pasta part also extended horizontally to the center.

I took my fork and poked at the helpless pasta, its pudginess jiggling every time my fork came into contact with it. All the pasta was bathed in a red sauce with bits of beef peppered everywhere like sprinkles on a cupcake. The sauce itself was made of onions, tomatoes, and cilantro. All those ingredients combined made my favourite lunchtime meal that my mom would make me.

I finally move my fork down, stabbing some pasta onto it before devouring the few pieces on the utensil. I knew Jun was watching me eat like a pig, but I didn't exactly care. I skewered pasta after pasta on my fork until there was none left in the container. With my hunger satisfied, I bring my bag to my knees, packing my container away.

"You sure eat fast." Jun comments, beginning to stand up from the table after me.

"That just means I save more time." I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes and beginning to return to my locker.

He shrugs dismissively, packing his lunch and following after me through the cafeteria like a lost duckling. I round a corner out of the cafeteria before turning back, obvious dismay showing through my eyes.

"Why are you following me?"

"Allow me to explain for you." He says with hints of mocking in his tone. "We're locker mates, remember?"

I take a whole breath of oxygen as slow as I could to make sure he understood that I was not happy about it.

"Right. Don't walk behind me; that's just creepy."

"Do you want me to walk beside you?" Jun says, reaching for my hand. My eyes widen and I pull my hand away.

"I was thinking more 'out of my sight'." I retort.

Jun pretends to look hurt, quickening his pace so he walked right beside me.

"If you turn your head that way, I am technically out of your sight." He points to the right wall of the hallway, making me laugh a little at his stupid jokes.

He grabs my hand and I find myself not fighting back. Instead, I grab his hand with my other hand and wrap myself around his arms.

"Ok fine, we can walk together to our lockers." I mumble quietly, suppressing a smile.

We maintain this somewhat awkward position until we reached our lockers. It was only then that I realized what I was doing. I loosen my hands from his arm, turning red and opening my locker. I peep to my right, watching Jun as he closes his locker.

"Later Minji!" He called out behind him.

I lift my hand to my shoulder and do a small wave of acknowledgement back. After what just happened, I can't help but smile to myself. I put my lunch back in my locker and grab things for my next block.

I sling my bag over my shoulder and start walking the distance to the classroom. On the way there, I start recalling things from my lunchtime with Jun. He loves joking and is quite the pesterer. He's not ashamed of calling himself handsome and teases me constantly. I think that's something about the guy; not sure if it'll help me with what went down between him and Seoyun.

I slowly approach my classroom, yanking the door open and scurrying off to my seat. Seoyun and Dahyeong exchange glances with me and I nod, then they nod back.

"You should have joined us for lunch today! We were able to video call Joowon and Jewel!" Dahyeong says, shaking my arm.

It's been so long since I've heard from them. We were all great friends back then, along with Soobin, Jung Ahn, Jiyeon and Cynthia. We still are, but we don't see each other a whole lot anymore. We all split up to go to different schools; Joowon and Jewel went to Seoul Performing Arts. Soobin, Jung Ahn, Jiyeon and Cynthia go to Daegu High. And finally, Seoyun, Dahyeong and I go to Cheonju High.

"How were they doing?" I ask.

"They said that it was nothing out of the ordinary, though the school was able to set them up for the opportunity to sing at a few local events. They seemed like they were excited about it." Seoyun replies.

It's good to know Joowon and Jewel are doing well right now, it seems. I rest my head on my folded arms, allowing myself to lie my head on my desk. However, my glory seconds were short, as my head immediately shoots back up at the sound of Mrs. Han.

"Listen up class, I'm sure most of you know this, but we have new students in our school. If you're new in this class, raise your hand."

Every sound from Mrs. Han was as sharp as a needle and her expression chorused with disdain of the current generation. If looks could kill, I would have been buried a kilometre underground, left to suffocate to death a long time ago.

I scanned the class, spotting Jun and another guy raise their hand. I'm always in the same class as that goof, aren't I?

"State your names." Mrs. Han commands. She points at Jun. Not wasting a second, he starts to speak.

"Kim Wonjun." He says with his voice shaking.

I snort to myself; he looks scared of Mrs. Han. I veer my attention back to Mrs. Han, pointing to the second guy.

"Your name now."

"Park Youngsoo." The guy replies.

"Now class, as I mentioned last week, we are starting our partner projects." Mrs. Han's eyes seem to shift between both ends of the class as if she's taking a good look at us. "Since you made some poor decisions, regarding your choice of partners last class, I'll be picking them for you this time."

Everyone in the class grimaces with an obvious look of dismay on their face. For some reason, I don't care who I end up with, as long as they do their share of the project decently.

Mrs. Han proceeds to call the names of people. I shift my head upwards, catching a glimpse of people walking to the front of the class once their names were called as if they were slaves to the gallows.

"Kim Minji and Lee Dahyeong!" I whip my head around to Mrs. Han while getting out of my chair.

I glance at Dabin's direction, trying to get her attention. We periodically exchange eye contact and we smile together.

"I can't believe we got paired together! Doesn't Mrs. Han usually try to keep friends apart?" I ask, grabbing Dahyeong's arm and pulling it towards me.

"She must've seen how well we worked on the last project together." Dahyeong states, imitating a model by hair flipping. I give her a few slaps, trying my best not to laugh too loudly.

"And finally, Kim Seoyun and Kim Wonjun." Mrs. Han announces, closing her attendance list.

After hearing they got paired together, my jaw drops to the floor. Dahyeong stares at Seoyun, then me with shock filling her face, reaching for my chin and slowly pushing it back up.

I try to make eye contact with Seoyun, but she seems to be focused on Jun. I sense an air of anger filling the room and I look between Jun and Seoyun. The expressions between them weren't those of friends, strangers or people who have been hurt, no no.

They were of pure hatred.