Chapter 2
My forehead was beaded in sweat and my palms were literally sweating as I sat in the examination hall. Today was the first day of the first half of examinations and as usual here I was fretting. This was just not a good time for me. And I'm not actually that bad, just my grades have blatantly refused to up themselves no matter how hard I try. My sister has straight A's and I'm wallowing in the pool of Fs and cracking up Ds. It's like she inherited the good looks and stole the brains as well. Ugh so annoying to have a super cool sister!
The first session was about to begin, and we had already taken our seats. The music teacher Mr. Song is supervising today. Don't be fooled he's one of the strict teachers. He's known to give quite the Fs. The dreaded bell finally rang, and I stared at the answer sheet right in front of me. I couldn't even bring myself to touch it.
My hand began to shake uncontrollably and even my baby hairs were drenched in sweat and sticking to the side of my face. I wiped my brow and with the back of my hand and finally managed to pick the dreaded pencil. I looked at the questions and began to answer... Ok I read the first question and instantly skipped to the second one. After an hour of beating myself up, I had at least managed to answer half of the questions. I stole a quick glance at the clock hanging at the corner of the room. It was just about another 30minutes to the end of the session.
I sighed in defeat, looking at the number of unanswered questions and immediately feeling overwhelmed. The sound of boots approaching distracted me for a second and I turned to the doorway. Someone walked in with all the swag in the universe. I mean if he was our classmate, wouldn't we know? More specifically, wouldn't I know? Maybe not since I've been busy staring at the school walls all the time now. I don't know anyone anymore. But he's a new boy, I think, handsome too and has clear brown eyes. His beautiful soft looking lips were enough to make me drool on the paper.
Scratch that! What the hell was I thinking? Maybe my brain had stopped working. Or maybe not, as I mentally slapped myself.
I mean I'm supposed to be writing an exam here.
I dropped my head and began to chew the tip of my pencil instead. God knows the only thing I was wondering was why a new boy was writing exam with us. I mean who joins in the middle of the school year and at exam time? Did he even learn? Did he hope to pass without coming for a single class? I arrived at one answer. He must be the son of Zeus. My head was filled with thoughts of the strange new boy.
The more I thought of him, the more curious I got. Really? just concentrate on your paper you dummy.
And that's the third time I chided myself. With that last note to myself, I worked diligently on my paper once again. More like pretended I was busy answering the questions, but I was basically staring at my sheet. I took another look at the clock, 15minutes to go and this nightmare would soon be over. Somewhere along the line of me desperately hoping the bell would ring, someone dragged their table and earned the attention of half the students. I turned around to see the new boy on his feet, walking majestically towards Mr. Song to hand over his answer sheet.
Uh-oh!
I looked at the clock again. No way!
Someone's got to be kidding me!
He walked in 30minutes ago and answered all questions in 20?
I mentally cursed my brain for being so slow, as I looked at his side profile. Just then he turned to look at me and did a very unusual thing. He smirked at me, and my eyes automatically widened!
Not only was hot and smart, but he was also arrogant. The bell rang after forever. Finally, it was over. I looked around and saw the sassy girl from earlier. She had a smile directed at the arrogant new boy and he was smiling back.
Birds of a feather!
My eyes met with the new boy's briefly as I got up to exit the exam room and oh my God, he just winked at me. Perhaps I hallucinated this time. There were murmurings here and there and I focused on those instead.
I decided to leave Ariana behind like she always does. I had an after-school job to get to and she was most likely chilling with her friends by now.
Ariana had organized a fund raiser a month before exam and had raised money for her concert ticket while I was still working a part-time job to raise money for mine. the difference in favoritism even among us was undeniable.
I was pretty much sure I would not get a single donation if i tried to raise funds.
My employer, a middle-aged woman called Peyton, had scheduled my part-time job for after school and she's paying me a good amount considering workdays are minus weekends.
As I exited the main gates of the school, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned my head just a fraction to find out whatever it was. The next moment was a blur, and I was suddenly on the floor of the school's exit.
What the hell just happened? I wondered as I tried to recollect everything that happened seconds ago. I tried to slowly get up but only succeeded in igniting a sharp pain that shot from my right thigh to my knee. Instinctively, my eyes glanced down to my knee and widened at the scratch lining the side of my lower thigh. I hissed a little and sat back down, stretching my fingers to grab my bag but I failed.
I frowned when I saw a pair of boots stop right in front of me. It was the new boy; I'd recognize those boots anywhere. My bag was picked before I could reach for it again and I straightened up to stare at his handsome face. Mr. newbie handed the bag to me, but I was unfortunately too busy staring into his brown orbs to barely register that he was handing my bag over to me.
He grabbed my hand and shoved the bag into it hurriedly while I was looking at the way his hand was wrapped around mine, subconsciously I realized that his big hand was making my hand seem very tiny now. He waved his hands in front of my eyes and finally succeeded in bringing me back to reality.
He smiled softly and I did the most abrupt thing I could think of.
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Chapter 7 “Eon Jin" Someone called and I turned from my locker to find a girl. She had beautiful brown eyes and long chestnut hair. It was the girl from last week. The one who had taken over Ericka's locker. She caught me staring and pierced me with a venomous stare. To be fair, she did look like a snake, that was not metaphorical in the least. I must have forgotten I was on her hate-to-associate-with list and quickly averted my eyes while closing my locker. I heard her pink heels as she walked away. Taking a deep breath, I headed for the classroom when someone bumped my shoulder into the locker. The person didn't even bother to apologize. When I turned, I saw someone in a hoodie slip into the crowd of students and disappear. I got to the entrance of the classroom before my slow brain realized that I had forgotten to grab my books. So, I headed back. Halfway there, I heard hushed whispers and murmurs. Curiosity got the better of me and I inched closer to the voices. I rounded the
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Chapter 95TH FEBRUARY 1984 “Maybe we can do something at swim team for our final project”, Daniel Wong said as we headed for lunch. I smiled lightly at the idea. It was actually one of the best we’ve been able to come up with over the last couple of days and I wasn’t about to dismiss it. Somi giggled excitedly, and for some reason I think the rest of us knew exactly why. Ritz however remained silent as our pack of four settled into a not-so comfortable silence. To be honest, I’m kind of glad that I’m not alone anymore (even if it’s only been for a couple of days). This project has really taken my mind off so many things, including Jeongguk. We’ve been dating in secret for some months now and he’s been very good to me. Occasionally, he does fly into a jealous rage and then devour my lips when he manages to catch me alone, like the time he found me in the Math teacher’s office giggling about a not-so funny Dad joke. He had given me a stern disapproving look and then during lunch, he
Chapter 10 I sighed when I entered our shared bedroom. Ana was seated on her bed, swiping videos on TikTok. Earlier on today, Ariana had been feeling down with a cold and I had to go through the whole day switching clothes and attending all her classes. I scoffed unbelievably at how naïve I had been and how Mom had manipulated me. It was all her idea because she didn’t want her favorite daughter to miss a class. Anger bubbled inside of me, and I tried to suppress it. I can't believe I spent the whole day pretending to be Ariana and all for what? so she could go get herself all dolled up? Now that I look more carefully, I can see that she’s in black cargo pants: something she hadn’t bothered to add to her wardrobe previously. One thing was clear to me, Ariana was just a selfish brat with whom I unfortunately share the same face. Sadly, I as an elder sister was willing to stick my neck at a guillotine for her. I ignored her as best as I could and slipped my cover over my head. I had