It's A Fine Line

14: Cast away

It had been almost three weeks since I went to Ikigai to watch Bangtan perform. That night no matter how hard I tried I couldn't fall asleep. Images of Jungkook flashed through my mind the entire time. His smile, his laugh, his gaze. All of it.

I didn't understand what that boy was doing to me and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. I kept warning myself not to be so taken by him because most of the time people tended to break the trust we have in them.

Yesterday was the day my cast was taken off.
It had been seven long and difficult weeks and I was glad it was finally over.

I could walk without the aid of those blasted crutches although I should've maximised my use of them. Like I should've "accidentally" hurt people with them. Only after I no longer needed them did the other uses come to mind.

Oh well.

For some unknown reason, Mrs Kang still hadn't given us our tests back. Which made me wonder : how badly did everyone do?

It was possible she would give it to us today but I didn't expect anything.

I walked into Math and sat at my normal seat, at the front. I smiled at Jungkook, who returned the smile, when he entered. He sat at the back of the class.

"As you all have probably noticed, I've been delaying the returning of yout test scores. The marks were much lower than I expected. You all need to work much harder," Mrs Kang said disappointedly.

I turned my head to look at Jungkook's expression. He looked concerned. So I mouthed a don't worry to him and he half smiled in response. The worry was still evident on his face.

"If you have a poor mark for this test then I don't want you feeling dejected. You just need to work harder. And if you've done well than keep it up," she continued.

Mrs Kang handed out the test sheets and suddenly I felt a little worried about my own results. The test was hard. Maybe I was one of the students that didn't do well.

I held by breath unconsciously when Mrs Kang placed my paper face down.

"Good work," she whispered.

I turned the paper around to see a bold 90% written at the top in red.

"Oh, thank God," I sighed as I placed my head on the desk. I was relieved. Just because I generally had good marks didn't mean I didn't get anxiety everytime there was a test or exam.

We were allowed to keep our papers with us so we could redo them and perfect/improve our understanding.

Once the bell went signalling the end of the period, everyone rushed out to get to the cafeteria for lunch. Either their marks were suffocating them or they were just really hungry.

I first went to my locker and took out my chemistry textbook. Jungkook was behind the locker door and I only noticed him when I closed it. His sudden arrival shocked me and I jumped back in fright.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked with my hand over my fast beating heart.

"A lot. Why?"

"Next time you should say that you're there and not scare me like that."

"It wouldn't be a surprise then, would it?"

"Whatever."

Again with the whatever, Senthu. You need to stop letting his horrible vocabulary influence you.

"How did you do in the test?" I asked after calming down.

Jungkook's expression soured and then slowly turned melancholic as his head drooped.