STAY ALIVE [AOUAD]

12 The Change

"I knew he would leave me here! Urgh!" A girl murmured, pressing her back against a building's deteriorating wall. The duffle bag on her shoulder was packed with spray paints and brushes, that brought unwanted noises. No, she wasn't an artist, mind you. She had followed her friend along on an adventure, that being spray painting a dick on the local library wall. Everything was going well, the girl was watching him paint, laughing her ass off. Until two officers came, crying out how they'll catch them at last and save their jobs.

The boy fled the scene instantly, leaving behind the bag of paints for the girl to carry. And at the overwhelming moment, she had taken it, now hiding from the security and two policemen, in a run-down factory. "If I get caught I'm ruined! I can't have a criminal record! Mom will kill me!" She mumbled, unintentionally pulling on her unkempt hair. The footsteps of the men came closer as she panicked, even more, looking around for a space to hide. There was only a fence in front of her and nothing else. "Search there" She heard one of the men say.

Pulling the black hoodie further down her face, she threw the duffle bag across the fence and jumped along it. A loud groan was heard as soon as she landed, glancing downward to see that she had landed on top of a boy. "My my! I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed in surprise, stepping away from him. The dark-haired male grunted, standing up from the dirty ground and glaring at her. "He jumped over!" The policeman's voice shouted and the girl glances at the newly met boy and smirked.

The taller boy barely comprehended the situation, before she tossed the hoodie to him and ditched the duffle bag. He watched her run away, looking down at the hoodie. "Gotcha asshole!" The policemen yelled, looking down at him from the fence. "Shit- I didn't do-" The man was quick to cuff his hand, dragging him away. "Hey! That girl just tossed this stuff on me! I didn't do it!"

"Shut up! I swear teenagers are a pain in the ass" The boy rolled his eyes, running his eyes over the place, easily spotting the girl from before, leaning against the building and smiling at him. She mouthed the words 'i'm sorry' before walking away carelessly.

"Yoon Gwi-Nam huh?" A female officer repeated, scribbling the name in steady handwriting despite her exhausted expression. The boy, Gwi-Nam merely nodded, looking away to the window. "The library pulled back the complaint after someone paid for the damage, so don't go paintin' again kiddo, stay in school" Gwi-Nam glanced at the woman with an irritated face. If someone was going to pay them off, the girl had no reason to put him in this situation, yet here he is unable to prove himself justice. "You can go now"

He did not answer, picked up the stranger's hoodie, and walked out of the police station. "Yo! Unlucky buddy!" An oddly familiar voice chirped from before him, the same girl from before standing beside a bicycle. Gwi-Nam growled at her in fury, marching up to the female. The hoodie was thrown to her face. "Because of you! I had to go to the police station! And I'm only thirteen!"

The girl laughed, dusting the black hoodie and tossing it back to the boy. "I paid the library, and sorry for causing you trouble. I do before thinking. Take that as a souvenir buddy!" Gwi-Nam stared at the clothing in disbelief and faced the female again. But to his dismay, she had already paddled away in her cycle. "By the way, the name's Y/n!" She yelled out, disappearing to a corner. The raven-head sighed, looking around the place and waddling to the nearest bus stop. "Y/n, huh? Hopefully, we'll meet again asshole"

And they did, multiples time at that. Which included y/n tormenting the boy whenever and wherever. Gwi-Nam didn't seem to mind. Then came the end of school vacation and another meet up for them. It was more of a coincidence than y/n following him the next day. She had seen the boy at the local park and had decided on taunting him again. Gwi-Nam unknown of the female's scheme was moving to the swing set, sitting on a dusty yellow swing. His long legs were firmly placed on the sandy ground, while his arms laid loose over his thighs. Y/n's steps were silent as she approached, the dry sand sticking to her red converse.

"Boo!-" Gwi-Nam jumps back but stumbles to wipe his tears. Y/n paused quickly, feeling awkward that she tried to scare a kid who was crying already. "Lordy- why you cryin' bud?"  The girl shoves her hand forward, waiting for Gwi-Nam to take it. The boy's ear flushes pink as he takes her hand, standing to his feet. The embarrassment he felt was way over the clouds, but somehow he was convinced that y/n wouldn't waste her time telling everyone Gwi-Nam was crying. "It-its nothing, go home it's late" Y/n laughed loudly at that, placing both her hands on his stiff shoulders. "It's never too late to comfort a friend! Now tell me buds, who made you cry?"

Gwi-Nam rolls his eyes, pushing away y/n hands. "No one idiot, go away and I'm not your friend" Y/n snorts, nudging his side. "The day I got you in trouble, is the day we became friends"

Gwi-Nam sighs, folding his arms and sitting back on the swing. Y/n follows suit, sitting on the second swing and keeping her beady eyes on his slumped figure. "My dad... He bea-scolded me again for low scores. It's not my fault that the lessons are hard!" Y/n stayed quiet, ignoring the urge to ask further, knowing well that he's going through something she never had to. But that doesn't make her less of a person without troubles. Y/n leans back on the swing, pushing her leg on the sand and swinging forward. Gwi-Nam watches her for a second before he also began to swing.

"It's okay, one day, You'll be someone nice if you have nice people around you. My friend said so!" Gwi-Nam momentarily stops swinging, looking at the shorter girl's smile-etched face. "Really?" Y/n grins, puffing out her cheeks. "Really! My friend's never wrong! He's a genius!" Gwi-Nam smiles, resuming to swing, higher this time. "Who's your friend?"

"Why? You jealous?" Gwi-Nam blushes again, letting out an awkward scoff. "Of course not! I bet I'm better than him!" Y/n laughs again, sending happy chills down the boy's kidney. "It's late! I'm gonna go now, my flight leaves at eleven" Y/n states, jumping down and straightening her shirt. Gwi-Nam too follows but has a complex expression. "You're leaving?" The pre-teen nodded, digging her hands inside her jean pockets. "Yup, my parents got stuff to handle in Ilsan and I got school sooo"

Gwi-Nam's face turns sad as he sounded a little 'oh'. "It's okay buddy, I'll come back to study high school here! So we'll be friends together again-" y/n stopped when she felt the boy's lips on her cheek. "Y-yeah, let's be friends" Unable to give the girl a chance to reply, Gwi-Nam runs off with a reddened face and teary eyes. "Damn... Boys" Y/n mutters, placing a hand on her cheek and scratching her pink ears.

Changes are inevitable, especially the ones we never wanted.