annyeong | im jaebum

14회

"Erica?" Mona snapped me back to reality. "What are you so deep in thought about? You've been spacing out like this all day."

"O-oh," I muttered. I took my eyes off of the stained cafeteria walls that had been occupying my focus and looked back at my friends.

The only thing that had been on my mind lately was my dad. No matter how hard I tried, I just wasn't good enough for him. At this point, everything that I did was immediately written off as wrong in his head, and there was nothing for me to say or do that could change that.

Part of me wanted to get the weight off of my chest, but I knew that ranting to my friends wouldn't solve anything and would just interrupt their conversation at hand. I plastered on a smile to reassure their worried looks. "It's nothing."

They looked back at me in disbelief, but continued with their conversation, too preoccupied to go into depth about my current situation.

"Anyways," Mona went on, shoving her phone in my face. "What do you think about this one? Too pink?"

I gave a lazy glance at the dress on the screen and shrugged. "It's pretty."

"My ass, it's pretty." Mona scuffed sarcastically, sitting back in her seat. "You didn't even look at it!" She pointed at me accusingly then turned to Ari. "What do you think? Will Jay like it?"

Ari turned down the phone with one hand. "Prom isn't for, like, two months. Plus, he hasn't even asked you yet. Why are you already looking for a dress?"

"You never know what could happen." Mona slipped the phone back in her pocket. "He asked to meet up after school today. He said he has 'something to tell me.'"She put up two fingers to air-quote the last part.

"Oh shit," Ari said, "He's totally gonna ask you!"

"Right?" Mona beamed.

"Maybe I could get Chris to take me to prom..." Ari thought out loud.

She turned to me. "Then all we need is for Erica to get a date and we can all go together!"

"Haha, yeah." I laughed awkwardly, hiding my disapproval.

As much as I wanted to comply to their plan, I couldn't picture myself with a date in a million years. I could already see myself dancing alone while Ari and Mona got it on with their boy toys.

There was something about Ari and Mona, something that I had always envied in them, that could win anyone over. Aside from their looks, they were overflowing with charm and confidence. They could get someone to fall in love with them merely by watching them walk into a room. To them, finding a date to a dance was as easy as lifting a finger.

Being the polar opposite, it was always a struggle for me to open up to them about guy troubles. Every time I talked about liking a guy, they'd simply respond that I should just confess my feelings and ask him out.

As if it was that easy! They never understood the effort I had to put in to get noticed by someone. For them, all they had to do is make eye contact for the guy to fall in love, so why shouldn't it work for me, right?

"Hey," Mona held her phone to her face. "Why didn't you guys tell me that my mascara was rubbing off? I gotta go fix my makeup, come with?" She stood up and waved for us to follow.

Ari got up, and I just waved them off. "I'll save our spot."

They thanked me, then left the cafeteria.

I picked at my pasta with my cafeteria fork, watching the noodles squirm around, avoiding the dull tongs of the plastic utensil.

"Eric." Someone whispered in my ear, so softly that it made me jump in place. A small scream escaped my lips.

"Hey!" I turned around with a frown.

I was met by Jaebum, who was holding his stomach in laughter. 

I whipped out my hand and struck his arm with it.

"What was that for?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"You startled me!" I folded my arms. "You can't just sneak up on someone like that, I'm jumpy." I lifted my water bottle to my mouth and took a sip from it.

"Oh please, I wasn't even trying. If you wanted me to, though, I could make you do more than just scream." He winked at me.

I coughed on the water that had not yet made its way down my throat. "I did not need to hear that."

Jaebum placed his food on the table and sat down adjacent to me. "Why are you eating by yourself, anyways? Where are Maria and Alice?"

I stabbed my fork into a noodle. "In the bathroom, and those aren't even their names." I let the noodle slide down the tongs and drop back on my plate.

"Aren't you gonna eat that?" Jaebum asked me.

I shook my head. "Not hungry."

"Damn, Eric, what's up with you today? You didn't even laugh at my jokes in first period." He turned his torso towards me and looked me directly in the eyes.

"I never laugh at your jokes." I kept my gaze focused on my plate.

"Eric." His tone was serious.

I looked up.

"Was it really that bad?"

"Huh?"

"The test that we got back today in Korean class, did you really do that bad on it?"

I rolled my eyes dramatically. "You're such an asshole! Why did you come and sit with me
if you're just going to torture me?"

I couldn't tell what made me angrier: the fact that he was accusing me of failing a test, or the fact that he was right. Nevertheless, I wasn't about to tell him my grades and give him the satisfaction of being correct.

"Torture you? Oh, no! I would never." He put his hands over his heart as if it was paining him to talk. "I'm here to help you."

I pierced my fork into my food with a sharp force, deciding to ignore his comment. He was of absolutely zero help to me. A hindrance, at best. 

"Listen, Eric: you can deny it all you want," He scooted his chair closer to mine. "but we both know that you still need my help."

"I-"

"Shhh." Jaebum interjected. "There's no need to beg me, I'll make you a deal. Come to my house at 6 and I'll only charge you twenty dollars."

"As if." I lifted my left leg and crossed it over the right. "Besides, I thought that Friday was a party night."

"Party was cancelled. Guess I just have to study. Who knows? Maybe I'll throw in an extra ten minutes, on me." He gave me an alluring smolder.

"It's a no from me." I folded my arms, quoting Simon Cowell's tagline from American Idol.

"Silly, Eric. One no isn't enough to stop you from going to Hollywood." Jaebum stood up with his lunch, trying to get in a last word before I changed my mind. "See you tonight."