Stay Away
***Guide: lines marked with "*" represent the character's inner thoughts***
-Your POV-
"Y/N, you are going to be late for school if you don't get out of bed!" The smell of pancakes wafted through the air, making your mouth water and your stomach grumble.
You groaned, rolling over and checking the alarm clock on your nightstand. 06:00 stared back at your face, taunting you with a new day that you so dreaded.
School was a pain in the ass.
You reluctantly pulled on your neatly ironed uniform, catching a glimpse in the mirror of your messy bathroom of that oh-so-lovely bedhead and ran your fingers through your hair several times to get the knots out, not that they wanted to come out without a fight. Hair was a pain, too.
When you finally shuffled into the kitchen, your mother was already at the kitchen table, typing away on her computer with her hair still in rollers. Normally, she would have been already at work by the time you got up, but assuming that today was the first day of school, she had stayed back to at least make you breakfast. Breakfast. Now, there was a beautiful word.
"Y/N eat slower, goodness!" You glanced up, partway through your stack of pancakes to find her shaking her head, amused.
"What? I love pancakes!"
"I know you do, sweetie. That's why I made them for you, today."
"Thanks for the food, mom," you said as you got up from the table
"Y/N, make new friends. I won't be home when you get back so you should just make something to eat," your mother said as you slipped into your new school shoes. Your heart fell for a second. You did hate when she couldn't come home. Hiding your disappointment, you turned and responded to her encouragement with a weak grin through tired eyes that weren't quite open yet, and closed the door, taking in a deep breath of the morning air. A new year and a new school. Well, here goes...
It was growing lighter outside as you marched to the public bus stop at the corner of your street and took out the metro card from your bag. There were a few students already there, chattering away as they waited for the bus. You quietly slipped past them and sat down on the end of a bench and took out your phone.
Five minutes later, you detected movement from the corner of your eye as a new student approached the stop. It was a boy, and judging by his light grey and blue uniform, he went to your school. The whispering ceased and a few of the girls giggled shyly, making you glance up from your screen at the newcomer. And you immediately wished you hadn't. Maybe it was because it was early in the morning, or maybe it was because of the way the sun made his chestnut brown hair glow a soft orange, but either way, he was stunningly handsome.
*Nope. Not already, Y/N. Calm yourself, girl.
The boy didn't look back at you and sat interpreting a book in his hands like a dutiful scholar. A quick glance in his direction confirmed your assumptions. Such a perfect student. It was a guaranteed bet that he was the all-A type, too. You glanced at his gold-plated name tag pinned to the left breast pocket of his blazer. The name, Park Jisung, winked back at you, the shiny letters glittering in the morning sunlight.
*Park Jisung.
Even his name sounded perfect.
-
The bus arrived at your stop late, causing you to worry about the time. In fact, you ended up almost being tardy to school, and the homeroom teacher glared at you when you wandered in. Sighing while already regretting your day, you strolled over to an empty pair of desks near the window and placed your stuff down, slumping into your seat like a champ. Perhaps, no one would sit next to you. Good. You liked to have your space to yourself.
Your peace was short-lived. The chair next to you, which had remained blissfully empty, moved and you looked up, annoyed.
He studied you for perhaps the first time since you had observed him at the bus stop and gave a polite nod in greeting, "Hello, I'm Park Jisung. Nice to meet you-" his eyes skirted across your nametag pinned to the front of your uniform and smiled, "-Y/N. Are you new? I never saw you at the school before."
"Yes. I transferred schools over the summer because my mom got a new job," you replied, shyly.
"Ah, that sounds nice."
"I guess so," you responded, attempting not to appear so dejected. At the time when your mother held her old job, you had so much fun at school with your friends, and now you had to start all over, again.
It must have registered on your face, all the frustration, because Park Jisung gave you a grin that would have melted anyone's heart. But not yours.
"Don't worry, I'm assured that you will make new friends, here."
"Right," you halfheartedly replied.
The rest of the day was filled in with classes. More classes. And, yet again, more classes. Every time the door to the classroom would open, a new teacher would step in to begin the next subject. Everyone around you dutifully took their notes, but you stared out the window, wishing for school to end.
"What luck..." you thought you heard your desk partner mutter under his breath as he pulled out his math book during the last period of the day. His expression was clouded over and sullen.
"Are you okay?" you frowned.
Jisung nodded his head, his smile dismissive, "I'm fine."
I don't think you are, you wanted to say but decided to stay silent in the end.
Like all your classes, this class began with the teacher telling the students to take out their notebooks for a review lecture. On the first day of school. You sighed, disappointed but not surprised by the rigor that was expected of you.
Let's just hope I don't disappoint myself or anyone else, today.
"Students, do we all remember our equations from last year?"
Oh for the love of cheese.
"Yes, ma'am!" No, ma'am.
*Why is math the last class of the day?
-
The school bell signaled the end of the day, causing chaos as students hurriedly gathered their belongings and scrambled for the door. You stayed behind, not willing to be trampled by the stampede that rushed by the classroom. Besides, you were in no hurry to get home.
"Y/N..."
You looked up from your desk as Jisung stood over you, his backpack already slung across his shoulder. He hadn't talked to you all class, and now his expression was blank. Unreadable.
"If I were you, it would be best to stay away from me."
You shivered and watched, still in shock, as he turned around and walked away. Not one glance back, a lone figure on his way somewhere, anywhere but next to you. The boy that had been so kind to you on your first day of school didn't want you to stick around him.
If words were made of glass, they certainly couldn't have been any more transparent.
*Stay away from me.
*Or you die.
*Figuratively speaking. Maybe.
______________
-Jisung's POV-
Jisung stood at the corner of the street, waiting for the crosswalk light to go on. He fiddled with his fingers before looking at his phone and then fidgeted over his unkempt hair that was blowing everywhere in the soft breeze.
He remembered the first time he met the girl that he had probably just hurt and sighed, wondering what she thought of him.
-
Jisung walked up, an uneasy feeling growing in his stomach as he sat down on the bench next to her. The girl looked up and he pretended to be preoccupied with a book. She looked down at her phone and he glanced at her face, only for a second. He stole another glance in her direction when he found she wasn't looking and saw her shiny nametag pinned to her white school blouse and smiled to himself just as the bus pulled up to the stop.
Y/N L/N.
-
It was a pretty name.
She was- well she was...Jisung hesitated, struggling to think. Even the thought of her shut his mind down. He found himself blushing at how a girl could do such wonders.
*Perfect.
*Ah, yes. There we go. She's perfect.
*Just like....
He shook his head at the thought.
"I need to stay away from her. I need to stay away..."
He already knew he couldn't.