Growing Up in Ferngrave [A Seventeen Fanfiction]

Chapter 4: Second Grade and Frogs

It seems that around this time Wonwoo's arrival into our small town had begun a trend.  During the end of our second grade year, another Korean boy was introduced to our class.  His name was—

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  "Seokmin!" The cheery boy with the big smile waved from his stance at the head of the classroom. "Hi, everyone, my name is Seokmin Lee!"

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  Lee Seokmin.  One of the three Lees that had just moved into the neighborhood.  And when I mean one of the three, I am not referring to three Lee brothers—I'm referring to three different Lee families.  The other Lees had children that were around my age at the time too, except one was a year younger and the other was a year older.  I distinctly remember Lee Chan eating mud outside of his house as I was going to school one evening; he lived near mine and Mingyu's houses.  Lee Jihoon, a small but blank looking boy, quickly built a reputation around his third grade classmates as a bully, despite his size.

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  As the usual, Wonwoo and you hung back quietly near Seungkwan and Mingyu, who were currently peeking over one of the school's playground's fake shrubs (they were only fake during the end of the year, because the gardener always took an early leave for summer—it would later be find out that it was because he had a skin condition that worsened around the summertime).  They were spying on the new kid, Seokmin, and you couldn't help but be reminded of the year previous when Wonwoo was the new student.

  "Theokmin.." Mingyu hissed his name into the air as if it were something to be cautious of.  Seungkwan wasn't any better and had a full sneer on his chubby face.

  "Lee Seokmin."

  "Where do you think he movedth from?"

  "Look at the way he styles his hair—he's a city boy! You can just tell from here. I bet he's from some big place."

  "My dad thayth Loth Angeleth ith a big thity."

  "Ugh—Los Angeles—," If you didn't know any better, you would've thought that Seungkwan almost looked envious of the new boy, who was still unsuspecting and happily speaking with a few kids that were picking bugs out of the weeds. "—he probably thinks he's so much better than us."

  Mingyu gasped, completely affronted at the thought. "Doeth he?"

  "I bet he does."

  "Why don't you go and ask then, if you think that way?" Wonwoo finally interjected into the conversation cleanly, furrowing his brows as he crouched near you, playing with the sand on the ground.  From above, Seungkwan turned absolutely red with outrage and, daresay, a little embarrassment.  While Mingyu tended to vex him the most out of the lot of you, Wonwoo's rare cutting remarks reached deep into Seungkwan's soul and literally stabbed him at the core.  Well, that's how it felt to Seungkwan anyhow.

  So, with a toss of his neatly combed head, Seungkwan scoffed. "Fine." Before you or Mingyu or Wonwoo could say anything else, the small boy began to stomp over towards Seokmin, who was now pretending to dance around an ant hill, evicting laughter from your classmates.

  "Oh no! Why did you thay that, Woo?" Mingyu whispered in terror, before grabbing both you and Wonwoo and booking it after Seungkwan.  Wonwoo only shrugged in response and seemed completely unapologetic. 

  "What do you think he's gonna do?" You wondered aloud as the three of you hung back some steps, watching as Seungkwan stood in front of Seokmin with a set look and hands on his hips.  Seokmin smiled, although he looked puzzled at what the boy in front of him looked so serious for.