annyeong | im jaebum

5회

It was lunchtime and I was sitting with my closest friends, Ari and Mona.

"I can't believe he ditched you like that!" Mona said, taking a bite of her salad angrily.

"I can." Protested Ari, "The boy will sleep with anything that has legs. You can't trust someone like that."

"Who was he with?" Mona inquired, turning to me and taking a sip of her straw.

"I don't know." I answered. "She had brown hair..."

"-Short or long?" Ari cut in, as if the minuscule bit of information completely changed the scenario.

"Long. Very long."

Ari sat back in her chair, satisfied with my answer. "Sarah Vandam. They dated about a year ago but have been on and off ever since. Figures he'd be with her."

"No way." Mona gasped, "I thought he was with Tasha last year."

"That's why they broke up." Ari smirked, lifting her water bottle to her lips and taking a satisfied sip.

I dozed off of the conversation, not as enthralled by the drama as my friends, and found my eyes wandering. A mop of shaggy brown hair attached to a tall, fit boy waiting for his lunch caught my eye. I looked him over, not recognizing him as one of the few people that actually risked eating food from the cafeteria. I once heard a rumor that their "special sauce" contained some form of bodily fluid, and honestly, from the taste of that stuff I would not be surprised if it were true. Most people with half a brain stayed far away from the school lunches, so he was either really dumb or he was new to the school.

As the thought crossed my mind, he turned his head, giving me a better view of his face. He had a chiseled jawline, one that some would find intimidating, but his soft lips and warm green eyes overruled the sharp feature. He flashed his teeth into a familiar smile as he went to order his lunch, and all of a sudden I felt as if I had been struck by lightning.

I went stiff, all emotion drained from my face.

He's back.

Mona picked up on my sudden change in persona and gave me a confused look. "What?"

Ari scanned my face then looked around the room to find where I was gazing, her eyes landing on a brunette in a button up shirt, waiting in the lunch line.

She turned back to me. "Mateo is back?"

I looked down at the ground.

Mateo Reid was my unrequited love since the 7th grade. Ever since the day he kicked a soccer ball at my face and knocked me out in P.E, I have been head over heels for him.

I was never one to be shy around guys, what they thought of me never really crossed my mind, but with Mateo I was a whole other person.

It was like Mateo was Medusa, but we didn't even have to make eye contact for me to turn to stone.

Over the four years that we have known each other (or I have known him, for that matter.) we have only ever had two real conversations. (Of course, one being the time he apologized for knocking me out with the soccer ball,) But the other was in the tenth grade when I went after school to go pick up a jacket I left on the field during PE.

It was around 9:00 pm, too late for the Football team to still be practicing, and too early for any types of drug deals to go on that I didn't want to awkwardly interrupt.

Mateo was practicing his shots alone on an empty soccer net when I showed up to reclaim my clothing.

I had walked around the perimeter of the field, looking for the item while simultaneously trying (but unknowingly failing) to stay out of his eyesight.

After silently freaking out for not being able to find my jacket, he finally went up to me and asked if I needed help.

I was so shocked at his sudden acknowledgement towards me that I had to repeat myself three times because I was talking so quietly.

Luckily when I was finally able to speak audibly, he knew what jacket I was talking about and was able to point me to it.

After that day I always tried to go back to the field in hopes that I would see him again, but he was never there.

Finding ways to see him, though, became virtually impossible when he left in the middle of last year to teach soccer somewhere in South America.

No one had really heard from him since then until today.

"Jessie must be thrilled to have him back." Ari commented.

I made a face at the mere mention of Jessie's name.

Shortly after I discovered my love for Mateo in grade 7, he started dating a girl named Jessie Thomas.

Jessie Thomas was the Regina George of Dougherty Mountain Middle School, minus the pink clothes. She was a complete bitch, but for some reason she had Mateo completely under her spell.

Their relationship was the most scandalous thing at the time, for Jessie was in the eighth grade and Mateo was in seventh.

Now, four years later, Mateo and Jessie were still a thing, although they took different routes for high school; Mateo going to school with me and Jessie to our rival school.

One would think a relationship that has been together as long as theirs would throw me off at the slightest, but no such thing has happened.

"How can he just come in the middle of the the school year like that?" Ari asked.

"I know, right? I wonder if he'll have any classes with us." Mona added.

I felt my cheeks start to rush with color and tried to hide my face behind my sandwich.

"Oh my god!" Ari pointed at me, "You're totally blushing!"

"Aww, you're totally still into him!" Mona smiled.

I shook my head vigorously in denial, but the growing smile on my face was contradictory.