by Zhu Hsia
“You don’t have to speak out the words, dimwit. Just voice it out in your mind.”
She took a deep breath and tried to do what he said.
“Stop… calling… me… stupid…” She did it! It was so strange.
“Why are you talking so slow? Are you retarded or something?” Mun Oh jeered.
She rolled her eyes as she imagined him laughing his head off somewhere while he made fun of her… mentally… or in his mind… whatever you called this thing.
“Okay, so just tell me the questions. I’ll do my best to answer,” Mun Oh said in a business-like tone.
She hesitated for a moment, thinking that whatever this was, it was still considered cheating. Then again, she didn’t really want to fail the exam. Besides, this was the best way to cheat ever. Nobody except for Mun Oh and her would know about it. Unless, of course, that pest tattled on her.
She stole a glance at the teacher and realized that she was watching her in a weird way. She sat up straight, thinking she might’ve looked a bit suspicious, and held the test paper to her face under the pretense of reading it.
“I only have ten questions for you,” she started to say… in her mind. “I’ll answer the rest by myself.”
She swore she heard him laughing… in her head. This was by far the weirdest and most mind-boggling thing she had ever done.
“Don’t be all modest and almighty now. I know you don’t know anything.”
“You think I just go to school to bully losers?” she retorted, a bit affronted.
“Well, yeah.”
“Shut up! I study too, you pest!”
“If you don’t want me to help you, then fine. It’s not my loss…” Mun Oh threatened.
“Just… just ten questions. That would be all.” She paused. “I don’t want to be unfair to… to the nerds in my class who spent all night studying.”
Mun Oh seemed to be at a loss for words. Or maybe he was just cracking up silently.
“Hello?” Hyeon Jin asked. “You still there?”
Mun Oh chuckled. “What are you saying ‘hello’ for? This is not a telephone.” He sighed. “Let’s get this over with. You’ll have to treat me later. I’m hungry.”
“What?”
“First question, please…” Mun Oh interrupted.
Abandoning all attempts to argue, she stared at the test paper once more and randomly picked ten questions, then mentally recited them to Mun Oh. She then silently hoped and prayed that she would be able to squeeze out decent answers from her brain for the remaining ninety questions.
•••
Mun Oh felt pleased with himself as he walked round and round the small park in front of Hyeon Jin’s school, waiting for her to finish the test. As much as he wanted to call her ‘stupid’ for refusing to let him answer everything, a bigger part of him was pleased with the way she handled things. It was far from what he’d expected from a human. He always thought cheating was something humans did with no remorse. But she was something else.
“Pardon me if I disturb your moment of bliss, but I have a message for you,” a voice said from out of nowhere.
Instinctively, Mun Oh jumped back a few steps and went in full alert mode.
“Easy… I’m not gonna fight you.”
“Show yourself, coward!” Mun Oh yelled.
Han Kyung dropped down from one of the nearby trees looking all smug, his trademark Cheshire cat smile plastered on his face.
“I thought I made it clear that I would never see your ugly face here again… ever,” Mun Oh said, taking a threatening step towards him.
“Who said I came here to see you? I was merely sent to give you an ORDER,” Han Kyung retorted, obviously fighting the urge to attack the arrogant boy before him.
Mun Oh snorted. “An order?”
“Your father said your presence is needed this weekend. On your birthday.”
“And why would I follow this order?” Mun Oh asked.
Han Kyung gazed at him, with the smug expression still on his face. “Because they already know about the girl… the human girl.”
Mun Oh remained silent for what seemed like forever. He didn’t even realize he was alone in the park now, for Han Kyung had already muttered a sarcastic “Good luck” and then fled.
•••
Shin Erin and Hyeon Jin were on their way to the almost-deserted school cafeteria to grab a quick snack before heading home.
“So, how did it go for you?” Shin Erin asked, placing an apple on her tray.
A skinny guy with bad acne stood next to them in line. He was very calm, even while the three guys next to him were deliberately taking everything on his tray. He simply refilled his tray with everything they took, again and again. Hyeon Jin eyed him with disgust as she took a sandwich and placed it on her tray.
“Hey, I asked how your exam was,” Shin Erin repeated, a hint of annoyance in her voice. She didn’t like being ignored and having to repeat herself.
Hyeon Jin shrugged, still watching the loser beside her as he refilled his tray tirelessly. With an annoyed sigh, she snatched away the guy’s tray. The three guys who were relentlessly taking the food away turned silent as they all shifted their attention to a vexed Hyeon Jin.
“You know why you’re so skinny and pimply?” she hissed at the loser, who shook his head. “Because you let these jerks take away your food until you run out of time to eat and you end up not eating at all, so you lose weight. Then you go home and stress over not being able to eat at school because of these three dumbasses, and we all know that stress causes pimples. So there—you become a skinny loser with acne.”
The three guys looked seriously affronted, while the skinny guy stared at her. Before anyone could react, however, a booming voice suddenly filled the air.
“LANGUAGE!”
Everybody except for Hyeon Jin turned to look at the cafeteria’s entrance. It was Mr. Muscle, the other history teacher. Nobody noticed his arrival, but he probably thought it was another one of Hyeon Jin’s “bullying” moments.
“Hyeon Jin,” he said in a tone of near-exhilaration.
She rolled her eyes and shoved the tray in the loser’s chest as she turned to face the bald history teacher. He was not even her teacher, but he knew her well nonetheless.
He eyed her with that “you’re-wreaking-havoc-again” look before speaking.
“Detention. Two hours.”
“Wha—?” Hyeon Jin gasped. She was surprised, even though she usually spent two days a week in detention.
“What did she do?” Shin Erin asked irritably. Hyeon Jin felt pleased to have her as her best friend.
“You want to join her?” Mr. Muscle asked.
“Of course not! I was just asking… you know,” Shin Erin said right away with a slight chuckle.
Hyeon Jin made a face at her. Okay, maybe sometimes Shin Erin could be a mean best friend. But you couldn’t blame her. She kept her record clean, despite her occasional bullying and mean girl acts here and there.
The bald teacher glanced at the three guys. “Anyone want to join her in detention?”
The three guys shook their heads in unison. The skinny guy with acne still looked shocked, as though being in the center of it all was the most memorable thing that had ever happened to him.
“I’ll let you finish your food, Hyeon Jin. I want you in detention in…” he glanced at his wristwatch, “...five minutes.”
“Wait!”
Everyone turned to look at Shin Erin, whose eyes widened. She immediately shook her head.
“It wasn’t me,” she said defensively.
“That was me,” the skinny guy with acne said, raising a shaky hand. His voice was so squeaky and soft that it could’ve been a girl’s voice. He slightly bowed his head upon realizing that all eyes were on him. “I… I just… It wasn’t her… Umm… Well, I wanted to explain…”
“I don’t have time to listen to your stuttering all day, Mr. what’s-your-name. But it seems to me like you wa
nt to join Hyeon Jin in detention,” Mr. Muscle said. “Fine. I’ll see you both in detention.” He turned and marched out of the cafeteria.
“Look who’s in trouble…” the three guys said in a singsong voice. Hyeon Jin threw them a dirty look and they scampered away, chuckling in unison. Maybe they were triplets or something, she thought.
“Hey, let’s eat,” Shin Erin said casually, as though nothing happened.
Hyeon Jin hissed at her. “I’m not hungry anymore. I’ll just get this detention over with.”
“You’re coming early to detention? Are you sick or something?” Shin Erin asked, genuinely surprised.
“Shut up. Go straight home, okay? I didn’t see your boyfriend today; no one will probably take you home.”
“Which boyfriend? The cute guy from the other section… or his buff cousin?”
“The buff cousin,” Hyeon Jin said, rolling her eyes. “And they have names, you know: Ki Bum and Jae Bum.”
Shin Erin shrugged nonchalantly. “How come you know their names and I don’t?” she mumbled to herself.
Hyeon Jin shook her head slowly. “You’re hopeless.” She was just about to turn away when she noticed that the skinny guy with acne still hadn’t moved from his spot.
He was twiddling his thumbs and biting his lips. Hyeon Jin poked him in the forehead, making him jump back in surprise.
“What are you still doing here?” she asked him.
“I… umm… You… I was…” he stuttered.
“What an eyesore…” She breathed out heavily and left for detention with the loser guy in tow.
Outside the school, in the middle of the park across the street, a guy wearing a checkered green-and-white jacket over a white shirt, jeans and sneakers was patiently waiting for someone. He looked lost and devastated, and he had the appearance of someone who needed to be someplace else. Yet he still waited.
Park Juno entered the detention room with a bunch of books balanced in his right hand and a bottle of water in his left hand. Out of boredom, he volunteered to be a student assistant, a.k.a. teacher’s assistant. This week, he was assigned to the detention room, so he ran errands for whoever was in charge. As he placed the books on the table, he saw that it was the young and vibrant math teacher. She smiled at him as he handed her the bottled water.
He was just about to exit the room when he caught a glimpse of a familiar face sitting at the back. She was leaning her chair back on its two back legs as she stared up at the ceiling, humming what sounded like a nursery rhyme.
Park Juno excused himself from the teacher and silently approached the girl. She didn’t look at him immediately, and she seemed to be immersed in her humming.
“Hyeon Jin…” Park Juno said.
No response. She was completely absorbed in her own little world.
“Hyeon Jin!” Park Juno said, quite loudly. That’s when she snapped out of it and blinked at him. It took quite a while before his face registered. She let her chair fall back on its four legs with a loud thud.
“What do you want?” she asked irritably, carefully avoiding his eyes.
“Why are you in detention?”
“None of your damn business.”
“Because of me…” a squeaky, almost-girly voice butted in.
Both Hyeon Jin and Park Juno turned to look at him. The latter appeared to be confused.
“Shut up, loser,” Hyeon Jin snapped at him. “And you, dork, get lost,” she said to Park Juno.
Park Juno sighed. She still hasn’t changed one bit, he thought. He studied her for a while and let out another heavy sigh.
“I’ll talk to you later,” he said.
Hyeon Jin looked up with interest in her eyes. “Really?” she blurted out, quite excitedly. “I mean… why? I don’t wanna talk to you,” she added in what she hoped was a nonchalant tone.
Park Juno smiled—that sweet, innocent smile. She had to look away or else she’d end up smiling back.
“I’ll wait for you at the gates.” He rushed out of the room, leaving a half-annoyed, half-excited Hyeon Jin behind.
“Ummm…” the skinny guy with acne gave a slight cough to get Hyeon Jin’s attention.
“What?”
“I just wanted to say thanks for helping me back there. And sorry for getting you in detention.”
It was her turn to stare at him. He spoke with confidence and in a very casual tone, though his voice still sounded squeaky and girly, and she wondered if he was still the same stuttering loser he was minutes ago.
The guy seemed to get a hint as to why she looked stunned. “I stutter when I’m nervous,” he explained. “I’m Bae Ji Hoon, by the way. You’re Hyeon Jin, right?” He offered his hand but she simply looked at it.
“Whatever…” she muttered under her breath. “I didn’t get myself in detention for you, loser. And I sure as hell did not help you back there. I was bullying you, stupid.”
“I don’t think so.”
“What did you say?” Hyeon Jin glared at him.
“You’ve bullied me before. Middle school, I think. You might not remember it since you’ve bullied a lot of nameless losers. But you didn’t just bully me like any other mean and heartless bully. You did something to me. I was a stuttering loser back then; I stuttered even when I wasn't nervous.” He paused to smile at her. “You told me that I would never get over my stuttering if I didn’t put an end to it myself. You said it’s simply… mind over matter. I contemplated your words back then, and before I knew it, I didn’t stutter that much anymore.”
They stared at each other for what seemed like forever. Hyeon Jin was simply speechless, while Ji Hoon seemed to be extremely happy. After a while, she cleared her throat and turned away. Ji Hoon swore he saw a flicker of joy in her eyes milliseconds before she looked away.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bae Ji Hoon,” she said indifferently.
“I don’t think you’re a bad person. But you can help people like me change in a different way, not like this.”
Hyeon Jin abruptly stood up and looked down at him with anger in her eyes. “I don’t need advice from people like you, okay? And don’t talk to me like you know me. You don’t know me.”
She grabbed her things and headed for the door. She didn’t care if walking out of detention again would mean suspension. That Bae Ji Hoon guy had clearly struck a nerve.
•••
“Shit, it’s raining. Where the heck is Big Feet?” Mun Oh muttered. He took shelter under a big tree with wide branches.
A minute passed. The raindrops were getting bigger now and the skies were turning into an ugly, murky color. Just when he was about to curse under his breath again, a solitary figure came stomping out of the school gates. She didn’t seem to mind the rain that was beginning to soak her hair and her uniform.
“Stupid big feet,” Mun Oh smirked, taking off his jacket and rushing toward her. However, before he could cross the street, another figure with an umbrella approached her.
The ex-boyfriend…
The bloodsucker’s heartbeat skipped. As he stared at the two figures up ahead, a certain emotion, something he had never felt before, slowly crept along every nerve in his body, crushing his heart into tiny little pieces and making him sick.
Park Juno handed a hanky to Hyeon Jin, who had her head down the whole time, and shared the umbrella with her. Before long, they were already walking away. As if that wasn’t enough, Park Juno’s other arm was wrapped around her shoulders, sending a shockwave of inexplicable emotions toward the bloodsucker who was watching them.
•••
“What happened? You were supposed to be in detention,” Park Juno asked the moment their coffee and donuts arrived. He had decided to take her to a nearby Dunkin Donuts to talk and let her clothes dry. She had been close to tears when he found her at the school gates.
“Nothing. Just wanna ditch stupid detention, as always…” she replied nonchalantly, folding her arms across her chest.
; Although Hyeon Jin was back to being snappy and sassy, Park Juno could tell that something was wrong. She was now eyeing the donuts in a strange way.
“Are you going to pay for those?” she asked, not taking her eyes off them.
“Huh? Yeah.” Park Juno was confused by the abrupt change in topic. “Why?”
Without a word, she grabbed one and took a bite. She stared outside, slowly chewing on the donut. The skies were clearing up now.
“What did you wanna talk about?” Hyeon Jin asked him.
“First tell me why you looked so dejected earlier.”
“None of your business.”
“Fine. Then I don’t wanna talk about what I wanna talk about anymore,” Park Juno replied firmly, staring at her.
“Huh?” Hyeon Jin said, staring back at him.
Their staring contest went on for about a minute before Hyeon Jin finally blinked and leaned back in her chair.
She mumbled “whatever” under her breath, although deep inside, she was dying to know what he wanted to talk about. She was quite hopeful that it had something to do with getting back together again.
Unable to stand the awkward silence anymore, she decided to say something.
“I cheated on the exam,” was what came out of her mouth, quite unexpectedly. She clamped a hand over her mouth after realizing what she had just said. Park Juno raised an eyebrow at her. She gave a half-shrug, suddenly realizing how light she felt after getting it off her chest.
“Mun Oh helped me with the answers. He told me to keep my mind open—you know: blank… then we talked in our mind… I mean, he was talking in my mind and I was talking to his. It’s like, I could hear his voice but only in my head, you know…” She paused, and then snapped her fingers as she finally found the right word to describe it. “Telepartying! That’s what we did. It was so cool.”
It was quite fortunate that Park Juno didn’t decide to take a sip from his cup at that very moment, for he surely would’ve sprayed coffee all over her face. He gave a slightly fake cough to avoid laughing out loud.
“Ummm… I think you meant ‘telepathy,’” he corrected.
“What?”
“'Telepartying' isn’t a word.”
She turned pink in humiliation as her mouth formed an “O.” She cleared her throat. “Well, whatever. At least you got the gist.”