Flawless Attraction

Chapter 5 - Attraction

Taehyung POV

I turn on my cell and call home before attraction class to see how my brother and Amanda are doing. Baghda isn't too happy because Mark and Amanda were making out while he was supposed to be working on an assignment.

Was it too much to hope that my mom would take a day off from hanging out at the country club to transition Baghda? She knows that Mark literally hates everyone except Amanda.

I should be focusing on school. Julliard College, is my main goal so I can go to a college with Mark and spend some time with my favorite brother. After giving Baghda some suggestions I take a deep breath, paste on a smile, and walk into class.

"Hey, babe. I saved you a seat." Chanyeol motions to the stool next to him.

The room is arranged with rows of high lab tables for two. This means I'll sit next to Chanyeol for the rest of the year and we'll do the dreaded senior attraction project together. Feeling foolish for thinking things wouldn't be okay between us, I slip onto the stool and pull out my heavy attraction book.

"Hey, look. Park's is in our class!" a guy calls out from the back of the room. "Jimin, over here, ppaleun (fast)"

I try not to stare as Jimin greets his friends with pats on the back and handshakes too complicated to reproduce. They all say "hyeongje" to each other, whatever that means. Jimin's presence catches every eye in the classroom.

"I hear he was arrested last weekend for possession of meth," Chanyeol whispers to me.

"No way."

He nods and his eyebrows go up. "Way."

Well, the information shouldn't surprise me. I hear most weekends Jimin spends drugged out, passed out, or doing some other illegal activity.

Mrs. Epperson closes the door to the classroom with a bang and all eyes move from the back of the room, where Jimin and his friends are sitting, to the front where Mrs. Epperson is standing. She has blonde hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. The woman is probably in her early twenties, but her glasses and perpetual stern expression make her look way older. I hear she's tough now because her first year teaching the students made her cry. They didn't respect a teacher who was young enough to be their older sister.

"Good afternoon and welcome to senior attraction. This is a new class. It teaches you how to behave in the real world." She sits on the edge of her desk and opens a folder. "I appreciate you picking your own seats, but I make the seating arrangements . . . . based on reviews from past teachers."

I groan along with the rest of the class, but Mrs. Epperson doesn't miss a beat. She stands in front of the first lab table and says, "Park Chanyeol, take the first seat. Your partner is Im Jaebum."

Im Jaebum is co-captain of the varsity soccer with me. He flashes me an apologetic look as he slides onto the stool next to my boyfriend.

Down the list Mrs. Epperson goes, students reluctantly moving to their assigned seats.

"Kim Taehyung," Mrs. Epperson says, pointing to the table behind Chanyeol. I unenthusiastically sit on the stool at my assigned place.

"Park LaJimin," Mrs. Epperson says, pointing to the stool next to me.

Oh my God. Jimin . . . my attraction partner? For my entire senior year! No way, no how, SO not okay. I give Chanyeol a "help me" look as I try to avoid a panic attack. I definitely should have stayed at home. In bed. Under the covers. Forget not being intimidated.

"Call me Jimin."

Mrs. Epperson looks up from her class list and regards Jimin above the glasses on her nose. 'Park Jimin," she says, before changing his name on her list. "Mr. Park, take off that bandanna. I have a zero tolerance policy in my class. No gang-related accessories are allowed to enter this room. Unfortunately, Jimin, your reputation precedes you. Dr. CL backs my zero tolerance policy one hundred percent ... do I make myself clear?"

Jimin stares her down before sliding the bandanna off his head, exposing raven hair that matches his eyes.

"It's to cover up the lice," Chanyeol mutters to Jaebum, but I hear him and Jimin does, too.

"jasin-eul segseu idong" Jimin says to Chanyeol, his hard eyes blazing. "dagchyeo."

"Whatever, bro," Chanyeol says, then turns around. "He can't even speak English."

"That's enough, Chanyeol. Jimin, sit down." Mrs. Epperson eyes the rest of the class. "That goes for the rest of you, as well. I can't control what you do outside of this room, but in my class I'm the boss." She turns back to Jimin. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Ne," Jimin says, deliberately slow.

Mrs. Epperson goes down the rest of the list while I do everything in my power not to make eye contact with the guy sitting next to me. It's too bad I left my book bag in my locker or I could pretend to look for nothing like Jin did this morning.

"This sucks," Jimin mumbles to himself. His voice is dark and husky. Does he make it that way on purpose?

How am I going to explain to my mother I have to partner with Park Jimin? Oh, God, I hope she doesn't blame me somehow for screwing this up.

I glance at my boyfriend, deep in conversation with Jaebum. I'm so jealous. Why couldn't she sit me by him?

It'd be cool if God gave everyone a Do Over Day and you could yell "Do Over!" and the day would start new. This would definitely qualify for a DOD.

Does Mrs. Epperson actually think it's reasonable to pair the captain of the soccer team with the most dangerous guy in school? The woman is delusional.

Mrs. Delusional finally finishes assigning seats. "I know you seniors think you know everything. But never think of yourself as a success until you can walk around with the things learned in attra--"

Jimin raises his hand.

"Jimin," the teacher says. "Do you have a question?"

"Uh, Mrs. Epperson, are you sayin' the president of the U.S. isn't a success?"

"What I'm saying is . . . money and status aren't everything. Use your brain and do something for mankind or the planet you live on. Then you're a success. And you'll have earned my respect, which not many people in this world can boast about."

"I got things I can boast about, Mrs. Epz.," Jimin says, obviously amusing himself.

Mrs. Epperson holds up a hand. "Please spare us the details, Jimin."

I shake my head. If Jimin thinks antagonizing the teacher will get us a good grade, he's sadly mistaken. It's obvious Mrs. Epperson doesn't like smart-asses and my partner is already on her radar.

"Now," Mrs. Delusional says, "look at the person sitting next to you."

Anything but that. But I don't have a choice. I glance over at Chanyeol again, who seems pretty content with his assigned partner. Jaebum already has a boyfriend or I seriously would be questioning why he's leaning a bit too close to Chanyeol and biting his lips too many times. I tell myself I'm being paranoid.

"You don't have to like your partner," Mrs. Epperson says, "but you're stuck together for the next ten months. Take five minutes to get to know each other, then each of you will introduce your partner to the class. Talk about what you did over the summer, what hobbies you have, or anything else interesting or unique your classmates might not know about you. Your five minutes start now."

I take out my notebook, flip to the first page, and shove it at Jimin. "Why don't you write down stuff about yourself in my notebook and I'll do the same in yours." It's better than trying to have a conversation with him.

Jimin nods in agreement, although I think I caught the corners of his mouth twitch as he hands me his notebook. Did I imagine that twitch or did it really happen? Taking a deep breath, I wipe that thought from my mind and write diligently until Mrs. Epperson instructs us to stop and listen to each other's introductions.

"This is Im Jaebum," Chanyeol begins, being the first to speak.

But I don't hear the rest of Chanyeol's speech about Jaebum and his trip to Italy and his experience at dance camp this summer. Instead, I glance down at the notebook given back to me by Jimin and stare at the words on the page with my mouth open.