8 8/26: Last Year of Blue Winter High - Chan-hee Jung

As Ali & I went on our way to get some breakfast, I started to think back to earlier this morning. When I got into the house, the lamplight in the living room by the couch was on, causing me to curse to myself. Mother wasn't thereby it though with a stern look on her face. I looked around in the living room, then the kitchen, but I didn't find her. 'Maybe she went back to bed & forgot about the light,' I then think to myself. I start up the stairs & keep walking until in front of her room door.

I take a peek inside her room, & there I see her sitting on the edge of her queen-sized bed. Her Korean bed cover was hanging off the front of it like she'd been throwing it around & then threw it back on the bed messily. Her bedside lamp was on to her left on the little white bedside table, shining its light in every single part of her room, despite how dim the light bulb was. I could see that the look on her face was a terrified one. She had her hands balled together in hugging fists. Her top half was rocking back & forth like she was in a rocking chair, while her right foot tapped furiously on the floor. All of this told me one thing: she was upset. Upset with me.

If she was angry, she would be pacing around the room or even the house. Maybe that's why the lamp downstairs was on.

"Mother," I say hey to her, finally breaking the tensing air & the silence in the house. When she looks up at me, I can see then that her eyes were red. She finally stopped rocking & tapping. She put her hands on her thighs, which now I notice she was still wearing her silk pajamas, not that I was expecting her to be wearing something else than that. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, the length of it reaching only a little ways past her neck. She must've been rummaging around through some things. 'So she knows I snuck out. Dammit.'

"Where have you been, Chan-hee? Huh?" Mother asks me in a raspy but curious tone. She then stands up from her bed & looks at me with an angry look in her eyes. If looks could kill, I would be dead at that moment. "I've been worried sick about you. I had come to wake you at after 5, but when I went into your room, you weren't there."

She now starts to walk toward me as she keeps talking. "Just please tell me, where did you go, Chan? Where? WHERE??" Both of her hands are on both of my shoulders from shaking me hard. At that moment, I knew how she was feeling. I felt it, too. I felt a feeling of tears starting to well up in my eyes, & I could feel the rage coming from her. "I went out with one of the girls for a sleepover. I forgot to tell you about it, even though I had some type of feeling of what you would think about it. I'm sorry." I half-lie to her in her face. I was truthful about being sorry for what I'd done, but I lied to her about where I'd been. I couldn't just tell her that I went out with my boy best friend to go get some drugs, which we almost got caught doing. She'd go nuts, be completely angry with me. Probably would even send me back to South Korea.

But I did it to keep Khalil & I safe, though.

"Honey, you should've told me. You know I would've let you go, now that you're 17, even if you did have to go school the next day. Just don't let it happen again, ok?" she says, holding one of her hands to my cheek, brushing back some hair.

"Yes, Mother," I reply, adding my promise to her that it wouldn't. We hug each other tightly at that moment. When we let go, she then tells me, "for now on, you tell me EVERYTHING. No secrets. Also, you wake every morning at 5:30."

I nod my head at her before I turn around & walkout. I walk down the hall to my room & close the door behind me. In between getting ready for school, Khalil sends me a text.

Khalil: My mom is so angry at me & now I'm grounded for a month. Only get to stay out for football practices n games. At least she didn't decide to kill me & still doesn't have a clue about what we did. U ok?

Well damn. I got it easy then compared to Khalil with his mom. At least now I know she's strict. Never make her angry, noted.

Me: Mom just told me to tell her everything & not to do it again. Guess it's just a lucky girl thing. U bout ready for school?

He doesn't text me back until I have on my outfit for today. All I had left to do was my hair.

Khalil: Wow, ok. Really unfair. Anywho, if Ali asks about me, just tell her I'll drive myself to school.

I text him back a thumbs up & then go through a lot of choices for my hairstyle. My final choice ends up being a braid coming down on my right side until it stops at my waist. It looks even better since the bottom half of it is dyed pink. I look at the time on my phone which says 6:55 A.M. I already know that Ali's ready to go. I grab my BTS themed bookbag & make sure everything I need is there. I grab my headphones from off the charger on the dresser & place them around my neck. I also grab my purse after putting my bookbag on my shoulders in front of me.

I run out of my room & down the stairs. I find my mom sitting on the couch, watching the Korean news. "Well, I'm going out now," I tell her. She leans her back far enough to look at me before saying, "alright then. Have a great day at school, & don't get into any trouble."

I chuckle at her comment as I reply with an ok. I go to the front door, grab my house key that's by the lamp on the table, & say goodbye to my mother in Korean.

When my eyes adjust to the outside light, I already see Ali about to get into her car. And here we are now, in her car, getting closer to where we're going to get breakfast from. We go to a diner, which I can never remember the name of but can remember what it looks like, & get three sausage, egg & cheese sandwiches to go. When we get back in the car, Ali asks me if we should go get Khalil.

"No!" I reply a little bit immediately after she asks her question. "He texted me that he woke up a little late & that he would drive himself to school."

"Oh, ok then. Can you text him that we got him something to eat then?"

"Yeah, sure."

I do what she asks me as she drives to our school. We're there in about 15 minutes at 7:30 A.M. We're a little early, so we decide to wait out until it's 10 minutes to 8.

At 7:40, Khalil shows up in his black Chevy Cruise beside us. I roll down my window as he turns off the engine & rolls down his window, too. "Sup, big sleepyhead," I say to him, subliminally reminding him of what we discussed earlier. He puts his elbow on the door where the window used to be, & says "sup, sleepy crybaby." He starts to smirk at me while I frown my face back at him.

"Sleepy crybaby? Where'd you get that from?" Ali asks behind me as she's giggling in between.

"Oh, just came to mind since she called me a big sleepyhead. No reason else why."

I would really love to smack that smirk off his face & then curse him out in Korean, but I'm not gonna start up another argument between us. It's not worth it, for one, and two, it's a brand new day. I do not need to be upset on my last first day of school. I mentally take a deep breath, & physically put on my best fake smile.

"So what classes do you guys have for this year?" I ask them both. We show each other our classes, seeing if we have any of them together. Only one, I find out. And luckily it's our last period, too. When it finally hits 7:50, we've talked about college shopping, scholarship searching, going to our senior prom, graduation. I already know in my head graduation is going to be my favorite day. Wearing cap & gowns, getting diplomas, & throwing our caps into the air like we're part of the 'High School Musical' cast. I plan to make that day a lot more special by recording the whole day with my camera.

It's a good thing my uncle bought me one of those good cameras for my 15th birthday. Back then, I was taking photography classes, mostly because Mother made me do it. I ended up enjoying it, though, so I guess I have to thank her for that. They taught me everything I needed to know about cameras & pictures, which all contribute to the perfect selfies I take. Then I took video & film classes after photography. My knowledge of cameras was completely changed when I completed those classes.

"Alright, guys. We gotta go. Other people are starting to pull in," Ali says. I looked in the rearview mirror & saw a bunch of other cars parked. I let Khalil get out of his car first as I grabbed my bookbag & purse. Just as I almost had a grip on the car handle, Khalil instead opens the passenger door for me. I first give him a blank look, but then I went ahead & got out.

"Thanks, dude," I tell him after he shuts it & faces me. He looks around me to see if anyone was watching us before saying, "you're welcome. I only did that as a gesture to thank you for coming with me earlier. I guess I can still repay you somehow if you need anything."

"I'll let you know if I need anything now that I know that," I say with a smirk on my face.

"Whatever, Chan. You and your evil ways."

I laugh a little at the comment before telling him to come on. Khalil turns around & we catch up to Ali to walk up to our school. 'Blue Winter High School'.