final. (1/2)
out of sight, (not) out of mindft: jiyong & chaerin-- To say chaerin isn’t the least surprised is an absolute understatement.
When her father announces that they would be moving to another continent again, Chaerin merely (and usually) nods her head and says; “I’ll go pack my bags now.” before leaving the living room. She has been expecting this to be fairly truthful, for days, no, weeks in fact. Moving is, to Chaerin, something as common as drinking water. Whenever her family has to shift, her feelings are practically numbed and she would almost always be ready to move.
And that would explain why Chaerin has no friends after her third shifting. A loner; you could call her that and she would give no damn. Cocky, snobbish, arrogant—Chaerin is used to having those words hurled into her face. They could call her however many names they want, but nothing would piqued Chaerin’s interest to mix around.
After all, she would eventually leave a few months after, and Chaerin is aware that once out of sight, she would be out of their minds as well.
Chaerin finds herself in a classroom smaller than the one she had in America a week later. She stands in front of all the curious eyes shooting fearful glances at her—probably because of her blond hair—and bores her eyes onto each and every one of them without smiling. “My name is Lee Chaerin.” She says in the flattest tone, and the students in the classroom merely stare at her in return. She doesn’t add anything else in her sentence, and after an awkward silence, she is ushered to the empty seat at the back of the classroom by her impossibly oh-so-cheerful teacher. “Isn’t it amazing to have a transfer student from the States? I hope everyone treats Chaerin well, alright? Now let’s start our lesson,”
Chaerin barely settles down when she is poked by the side and a grin is thrown to her direction. “Heyo, Chaerin-sshi. My name is Jiyong. Pleasure to meet you,” A male student extends a hand for Chaerin to shake, only to be ignored by the latter.
“I love your hair color. Are students in the state allowed to dye their hair that way?” Jiyong’s grin doesn’t falter as he slowly retracts his hand. “Maybe.” Chaerin shrugs and pretends to focus on what the teacher is writing on the blackboard.
Jiyong chuckles softly. “Ah, you don’t want to talk, do you?”
“No,” replies Chaerin monotonously, her eyes fixed in front.
“This is interesting,” She hears him say under his breath. “You have a nice name, by the way.”
Chaerin ignores him.
It is White Day and Chaerin hates it. She finds the whole concept of White Day stupid, and for once, she wishes she is back in the States. The sight of candies and chocolates made her sick in the stomach the moment she steps into the school grounds. Half wishing she could just play truant that day, Chaerin drags her feet across the corridor and growls when she finds a bunch of students huddled around her locker.
“I’m sorry, I appreciate your gesture, but no I can’t accept your candy, Seunggi-sshi—“She hears a voice belonging to a female student surrounded by the group of boys by her locker, and Chaerin debates whether or not she should just scream for them to move over or to observe the drama in front of her. “And you too, Jinwoon-sshi, so sorry, maybe you should give the candy to another person…” The female student gives an apologetic smile before squeezing her way out of the group of boys and walking away. “She never accepts any of our candies now does she?” One of the boys groaned just as another lets out a sigh.
Chaerin takes a step forward tentatively and prepares to shout at them to scoot. She jumps in her sneakers when her shoulder is tapped a few times. “I see you’ve met the queen bee of our school,” Chaerin gazes imperiously at the male student behind her who is grinning yet again. When she shows no recognition of knowing him, the student blinks his eyes rapidly and points at himself. “Jiyong, remember? From yesterday? Your seatmate?”
“What do you want?”
Jiyong shrugs. “Just thought I should say hi. That female student earlier is basically the famous Kw—“
“I really don’t care.” Chaerin takes a few more steps towards her locker upon realising the group has dispersed. She mentally sighs when Jiyong doesn’t leave and instead continues to linger around her presence. “I just thought I should show you around and tell you about our school hierarchy.”
Chaerin slams her locker door shut after shoving her books inside and faces Jiyong. She glances ruefully at him. “You clearly have no life,”
“I was just trying to be friendly.” Replies Jiyong haughtily, grin faltering slightly. Chaerin sighs. “Right, okay. I truly appreciate what you’re trying to do here but I really don’t give a damn about what is going on with the student body.”
There is a slight pause before Jiyong nods hesitantly. “Alright then. But at least now you know who the bitch of the school is.”