Forgiveness, Thankfulness and Remembrance
Chapter 2: The Drama Kids
-❄❄❄ September 6, 2017. 8:48 AM ❄❄❄-
The sound of the three screaming male students rushes into my ears, their laughter contagious like the first flu of the season and making a smile crack onto my face and a giggle roll out. One of them pauses to give me his attention, the others continuing their 'pursuit'. He has a goofy, rectangle smile that brightens his V-shaped face, and approaches me with the smile still plastered on his face. "Hi, are you new to the school?" Whoa, I didn't expect for his voice to be a little deep, as it is.
"Yes, I'm new here. I'm Young Eunju, a transfer from Canada. This is my last year of high school."
"Whoa, lucky. SGHS is a fun school. Are you in theatre?" As he speaks, the running students slow down and stand a little behind him to listen.
"Yes, but I haven't been on stage since tenth grade. My knees are bad, and I developed an irrational fear around that time. I finished the grade and overcame the fear, but I can't run or jump, now."
"That sucks." He frowns, but smiles again a moment later. "Well, you would surprised to find that lots of kids here are very understanding. Let me introduce you to everyone, hm?" I nod enthusiastically in agreement.
"First of all, I'm Kim Taehyung, eleventh grade, nice to meet you." He grabs my right wrist with his left hand and playfully shakes it, and I give a low laugh as I smile. He drops my wrist, still smiling, and points his left index finger to the incredibly handsome male student sitting on the couch with an adorable girl who looks to be Japanese. "This is Kim Seokjin hyung and his girlfriend, Hirai Momo. Seokjin is twelfth grade, and Momo is in tenth grade."
Momo gives a cute smile and waves, and Seokjin raises his hand a little and smiles. Taehyung turns to his friends behind us. "These are my best friends, Jeon Jungkook-ah, tenth grade, and Jung Hoseok hyung, twelfth grade." Hoseok waves with a wide smile, and Jungkook waves a little shyly. Taehyung nods to the three people sitting on the floor.
"At your feet are Kim Minseok, Myoui Mina, and Huang Zitao. They're in twelfth grade except for Mina, who's in grade ten." Mina looks to be Japanese as well, and while Minseok is Korean, I believe Zitao is of Chinese ethnicity. "Tao and Mina are a couple, but Minseok is just short."
"Hey!" Minseok jumps to his feet with a raised fist and chases a screaming Taehyung around Jungkook and Hoseok a whole rotation before landing a pound on Taehyung's back. He gives a shout and his face becomes red as he laughs and winces simultaneously. Smiling triumphantly, Minseok returns to his spot on the floor.
"I think I'm shorter." I giggle. "I'm 149 cm."
"Wow! I'm only 173 cm; you're so small!" Minseok smiles. "Are your parents small, too?"
"My biological mother is, yes. I was adopted with my brother, who's really tall, like my real dad. We're real siblings and were adopted together when I was five. Uh, I was six here, because of the lunar calendar."
"How old is your brother?" Taehyung asks as I stretch my left leg, which was getting stiff. I might have to sit down, soon.
"He's three years younger, so he's fourteen now. He turns fifteen in June."
"Did you come here alone?" Zitao asks.
"Yes, I came alone. Half of my things are at my host family's house. I brought the rest..." Wait... "...With me." I groan into a giggle. "I left my suitcase in the office."
"You really did." Haeun laughs. "I was going to say something, but it's best that you don't drag it around until you need to."
"Yeah, I'll just get a few things from it before class starts."
"Do you know where the dormitories are?" Hoseok asks.
"Yes, they're just across the street from the front entrance." I hiss and stretch my right leg behind me, then my left.
"Are you OK?" Hoseok asks, taking a step forward.
"Yeah, I just need to sit down. Stupid legs." I huff and pull off my backpack, then take out a small, light blue, 3x3 foot blanket. I unfold it, set it on my waist, then sit down as I usually do: with my legs criss-crossed.
"Do you not know how to sit with a skirt?" Momo asks.
"No, I know how. I just want to be comfortable. Even though my legs will go numb, after a while."
"She does what she wants." Haeun comments.
"Essentially." I reply. Hoseok and Taehyung laugh, and join me on the floor while Jungkook sits on the stack of chairs against the left wall. "So, who is the drama teacher?"
"The teacher is Mrs. Do." Taehyung answers. "She's talented and patient, but she's playful, too."
"Does she have kids?" I ask.
"Yes, she has a son in twelfth grade and another son in university." Minseok answers. "The youngest son goes to this school. His name is Do Kyungsoo, I'm friends with him."
"Him and 11 other boys, including me." Zitao slyly comments, raising a hand.
"Are you part of some top-secret club or something...?" I ask. Everyone bursts into laughter, Haeun having to kneel and sit mermaid style.
"No, we just have a really big circle of friends." Zitao answers.
"It's more like a hexagon plus us seven guys and the nine girls." Jungkook comments.
"Oh, that's right. There's a vest-" Zitao begins to count on his fingers.
"A... a bulletproof vest." Jungkook adds, clearing his throat awkwardly.
"-And, a pretty, swirly thing."
"It's a 'T-w' for TWICE!" Mina protests, playfully hitting Zitao's arm. "We come once through visuals and twice through vocals!"
"TWICE is a band you girls have?" I ask.
"Yes, and it's the cutest and best thing in all of Korea!" Momo exclaims.
"Sonyeo Sidae, or SNSD, are cute and talented too." Mina says. "They're from our rival school, Inhun High School. We're friends with them, and other students are friends too. But, some of the sports teams don't get along."
"Are there nine girls in SNSD, too?" I ask.
"There was," Mina answers, lowering her shoulders. "But, our beloved Jung Sooyoun, or Jessica, went missing two years ago."
"What was the last anyone heard from her?"
"She told some of her SNSD friends that she was experiencing chest and muscle pain all over her body. Some people think she jumped off a bridge, but others think she was kidnapped by a male student who went missing around the same time. It took a lot of time for everyone to move on from that."
"I can see why, that sounds horrible." I sigh. "Do you girls keep in touch with them?"
"Yes, we see them often." Mina answers, and I nod in reply.
"Hm... does this class perform for younger students?"
"Yes," Taehyung answers. "Grade tens perform for the rest of their grade during a double block. A limited amount of other students can come by free tickets given by the class. The eleventh and twelfth grade class perform for their grade during a double block too, and again the following day at the same time. If there's no school the next day, the show is moved a day back."
"Cool. Do you have a school play, too?"
"Yes, it does." Taehyung nods.
"What else do you like, besides drama?" Minseok asks.
"I wrote a book over two years." I answer. "It's a fantasy with historical and mythological references everywhere." Minseok gives a 'mm' as he nods, Hoseok joining his gesture of interest. "There's also a lot of 4th Wall breaking." I break out a goofy smile, and giggle lightly.
"About how many times is the wall broken?" Seokjin asks.
"Oh geez, um... I never counted. But, there's at least twelve, for sure."
Haeun laughs. "You said there was at least 5 in every episode, and there's thirty nine episodes, so there's
plenty of wall breaking."
"Thirty nine episodes, wow." Minseok awes. "If they were to be filmed, would the episodes be an hour long?"
"Yes, they would be an hour long. There's also a two hour long epilogue."
"In other words, the story ends with a movie?" Tao asks, smiling and chuckling. Wow, a smile is a good look on him. I stare for a moment, then remind myself that Mina is right there, and look away.
I giggle and nod, then heave a sigh. "It would be cool if it was turned into something, here. Dramas here are really great."
"I would watch that." Minseok says, Hoseok and Taehyung nodding enthusiastically in agreement.
"Hey, Eunju," I look to Haeun as she speaks. "We should head back to the office."
"OK." I reply, standing up and adjusting my skirt behind my blanket. Haeun holds some of it behind me, as she stood and fixed her skirt faster than I did. I refold the blanket and put it back in my backpack, then rezip it and put it on my shoulders. "It was really nice to meet you."
"Hey, what classes do you have this semester, Eunju?" Minseok asks. That's a small sign that he may like me, if I ever saw one.
"I have AWSM, then Visual Arts on the double block. Then, I have Theatre Performance Tutoring and Languages. My homeroom teacher is Mrs. Mok."
"Lucky, Mrs. Mok is great." Taehyung says.
"Oh, you're tutoring my class." Jungkook says, smiling a little and pointing to himself.
"Oh, cool!" I reply, smiling back.
"I have Languages this afternoon too, Eunju." Zitao says, raising his right hand a little.
"Oh? What language are you studying?" I ask.
"Mainly Korean, but a bit of English, too. And, you?"
"I've been learning Korean for four years, so I'm learning Mandarin, now."
"Wow, that's a big step." Zitao tilts his head a little, nodding. "I might be able to help you, when the teacher is busy."
"That would be great." I smile a little. "I could try to help you with your English, too."
"I'd like that, too." Zitao nods a bit.
I huff and look to Haeun. "Well, let's go. Bye, everyone."
"Bye!" Hoseok exclaims, waving enthusiastically. Taehyung and Jungkook join the waving fest.
"Bye, Eunju!" Minseok says with a cute, little smile and wave.
"Bye, Eunju." Zitao adds, smiling.
"Bye, Eunju!" Momo exclaims.
"Bye, Haeun. I'll see you in P.E." Mina says, she and Momo waving along with Seokjin who wiggles the fingers of a raised hand. Haeun and I wave back as Haeun pushes open the door we entered in, and it swings behind us. We take a left up the main hallway to the office, and sure enough, my suitcase was still there. I take out my closed, black zip-up binder, then re-close my suitcase.
"That's really all you need?" Haeun asks, following me back down the grade 10 hallway.
"Well, it has my pencil case inside, and my purse is in my backpack. I only ever carry my purse and binder at school."
"Ah," Haeun tilts her head a little. "You're going to put the rest in your room. Gotcha." We climb the stairs near the entrance again and walk to Mrs. Mok's classroom. "So, I'll see you in the Visual Arts room, then Eunju?" Haeun asks, tilting her head a little.
"Yeah, I'll see you there, Haeun." I smile to her, and she returns the gesture before she walks away and I enter the classroom. "Hello, again." I greet Mrs. Mok, who is looking at Facebook on her computer.
Mrs. Mok turns to me. "Hello, Eunju. Anywhere in the front." I nod in reply, then take a seat in the third of four desks from the window. Yeah, I ain't no main protagonist who's gonna take a window seat. Then again, I wonder who is the main protagonist... ah, fuck my imagination for looking at people in the eyes of an author. It's still fun, though.
-Forgiveness, Thankfulness and Remembrance-
The sound of the three screaming male students rushes into my ears, their laughter contagious like the first flu of the season and making a smile crack onto my face and a giggle roll out. One of them pauses to give me his attention, the others continuing their 'pursuit'. He has a goofy, rectangle smile that brightens his V-shaped face, and approaches me with the smile still plastered on his face. "Hi, are you new to the school?" Whoa, I didn't expect for his voice to be a little deep, as it is.
"Yes, I'm new here. I'm Young Eunju, a transfer from Canada. This is my last year of high school."
"Whoa, lucky. SGHS is a fun school. Are you in theatre?" As he speaks, the running students slow down and stand a little behind him to listen.
"Yes, but I haven't been on stage since tenth grade. My knees are bad, and I developed an irrational fear around that time. I finished the grade and overcame the fear, but I can't run or jump, now."
"That sucks." He frowns, but smiles again a moment later. "Well, you would surprised to find that lots of kids here are very understanding. Let me introduce you to everyone, hm?" I nod enthusiastically in agreement.
"First of all, I'm Kim Taehyung, eleventh grade, nice to meet you." He grabs my right wrist with his left hand and playfully shakes it, and I give a low laugh as I smile. He drops my wrist, still smiling, and points his left index finger to the incredibly handsome male student sitting on the couch with an adorable girl who looks to be Japanese. "This is Kim Seokjin hyung and his girlfriend, Hirai Momo. Seokjin is twelfth grade, and Momo is in tenth grade."
Momo gives a cute smile and waves, and Seokjin raises his hand a little and smiles. Taehyung turns to his friends behind us. "These are my best friends, Jeon Jungkook-ah, tenth grade, and Jung Hoseok hyung, twelfth grade." Hoseok waves with a wide smile, and Jungkook waves a little shyly. Taehyung nods to the three people sitting on the floor.
"At your feet are Kim Minseok, Myoui Mina, and Huang Zitao. They're in twelfth grade except for Mina, who's in grade ten." Mina looks to be Japanese as well, and while Minseok is Korean, I believe Zitao is of Chinese ethnicity. "Tao and Mina are a couple, but Minseok is just short."
"Hey!" Minseok jumps to his feet with a raised fist and chases a screaming Taehyung around Jungkook and Hoseok a whole rotation before landing a pound on Taehyung's back. He gives a shout and his face becomes red as he laughs and winces simultaneously. Smiling triumphantly, Minseok returns to his spot on the floor.
"I think I'm shorter." I giggle. "I'm 149 cm."
"Wow! I'm only 173 cm; you're so small!" Minseok smiles. "Are your parents small, too?"
"My biological mother is, yes. I was adopted with my brother, who's really tall, like my real dad. We're real siblings and were adopted together when I was five. Uh, I was six here, because of the lunar calendar."
"How old is your brother?" Taehyung asks as I stretch my left leg, which was getting stiff. I might have to sit down, soon.
"He's three years younger, so he's fourteen now. He turns fifteen in June."
"Did you come here alone?" Zitao asks.
"Yes, I came alone. Half of my things are at my host family's house. I brought the rest..." Wait... "...With me." I groan into a giggle. "I left my suitcase in the office."
"You really did." Haeun laughs. "I was going to say something, but it's best that you don't drag it around until you need to."
"Yeah, I'll just get a few things from it before class starts."
"Do you know where the dormitories are?" Hoseok asks.
"Yes, they're just across the street from the front entrance." I hiss and stretch my right leg behind me, then my left.
"Are you OK?" Hoseok asks, taking a step forward.
"Yeah, I just need to sit down. Stupid legs." I huff and pull off my backpack, then take out a small, light blue, 3x3 foot blanket. I unfold it, set it on my waist, then sit down as I usually do: with my legs criss-crossed.
"Do you not know how to sit with a skirt?" Momo asks.
"No, I know how. I just want to be comfortable. Even though my legs will go numb, after a while."
"She does what she wants." Haeun comments.
"Essentially." I reply. Hoseok and Taehyung laugh, and join me on the floor while Jungkook sits on the stack of chairs against the left wall. "So, who is the drama teacher?"
"The teacher is Mrs. Do." Taehyung answers. "She's talented and patient, but she's playful, too."
"Does she have kids?" I ask.
"Yes, she has a son in twelfth grade and another son in university." Minseok answers. "The youngest son goes to this school. His name is Do Kyungsoo, I'm friends with him."
"Him and 11 other boys, including me." Zitao slyly comments, raising a hand.
"Are you part of some top-secret club or something...?" I ask. Everyone bursts into laughter, Haeun having to kneel and sit mermaid style.
"No, we just have a really big circle of friends." Zitao answers.
"It's more like a hexagon plus us seven guys and the nine girls." Jungkook comments.
"Oh, that's right. There's a vest-" Zitao begins to count on his fingers.
"A... a bulletproof vest." Jungkook adds, clearing his throat awkwardly.
"-And, a pretty, swirly thing."
"It's a 'T-w' for TWICE!" Mina protests, playfully hitting Zitao's arm. "We come once through visuals and twice through vocals!"
"TWICE is a band you girls have?" I ask.
"Yes, and it's the cutest and best thing in all of Korea!" Momo exclaims.
"Sonyeo Sidae, or SNSD, are cute and talented too." Mina says. "They're from our rival school, Inhun High School. We're friends with them, and other students are friends too. But, some of the sports teams don't get along."
"Are there nine girls in SNSD, too?" I ask.
"There was," Mina answers, lowering her shoulders. "But, our beloved Jung Sooyoun, or Jessica, went missing two years ago."
"What was the last anyone heard from her?"
"She told some of her SNSD friends that she was experiencing chest and muscle pain all over her body. Some people think she jumped off a bridge, but others think she was kidnapped by a male student who went missing around the same time. It took a lot of time for everyone to move on from that."
"I can see why, that sounds horrible." I sigh. "Do you girls keep in touch with them?"
"Yes, we see them often." Mina answers, and I nod in reply.
"Hm... does this class perform for younger students?"
"Yes," Taehyung answers. "Grade tens perform for the rest of their grade during a double block. A limited amount of other students can come by free tickets given by the class. The eleventh and twelfth grade class perform for their grade during a double block too, and again the following day at the same time. If there's no school the next day, the show is moved a day back."
"Cool. Do you have a school play, too?"
"Yes, it does." Taehyung nods.
"What else do you like, besides drama?" Minseok asks.
"I wrote a book over two years." I answer. "It's a fantasy with historical and mythological references everywhere." Minseok gives a 'mm' as he nods, Hoseok joining his gesture of interest. "There's also a lot of 4th Wall breaking." I break out a goofy smile, and giggle lightly.
"About how many times is the wall broken?" Seokjin asks.
"Oh geez, um... I never counted. But, there's at least twelve, for sure."
Haeun laughs. "You said there was at least 5 in every episode, and there's thirty nine episodes, so there's
plenty of wall breaking."
"Thirty nine episodes, wow." Minseok awes. "If they were to be filmed, would the episodes be an hour long?"
"Yes, they would be an hour long. There's also a two hour long epilogue."
"In other words, the story ends with a movie?" Tao asks, smiling and chuckling. Wow, a smile is a good look on him. I stare for a moment, then remind myself that Mina is right there, and look away.
I giggle and nod, then heave a sigh. "It would be cool if it was turned into something, here. Dramas here are really great."
"I would watch that." Minseok says, Hoseok and Taehyung nodding enthusiastically in agreement.
"Hey, Eunju," I look to Haeun as she speaks. "We should head back to the office."
"OK." I reply, standing up and adjusting my skirt behind my blanket. Haeun holds some of it behind me, as she stood and fixed her skirt faster than I did. I refold the blanket and put it back in my backpack, then rezip it and put it on my shoulders. "It was really nice to meet you."
"Hey, what classes do you have this semester, Eunju?" Minseok asks. That's a small sign that he may like me, if I ever saw one.
"I have AWSM, then Visual Arts on the double block. Then, I have Theatre Performance Tutoring and Languages. My homeroom teacher is Mrs. Mok."
"Lucky, Mrs. Mok is great." Taehyung says.
"Oh, you're tutoring my class." Jungkook says, smiling a little and pointing to himself.
"Oh, cool!" I reply, smiling back.
"I have Languages this afternoon too, Eunju." Zitao says, raising his right hand a little.
"Oh? What language are you studying?" I ask.
"Mainly Korean, but a bit of English, too. And, you?"
"I've been learning Korean for four years, so I'm learning Mandarin, now."
"Wow, that's a big step." Zitao tilts his head a little, nodding. "I might be able to help you, when the teacher is busy."
"That would be great." I smile a little. "I could try to help you with your English, too."
"I'd like that, too." Zitao nods a bit.
I huff and look to Haeun. "Well, let's go. Bye, everyone."
"Bye!" Hoseok exclaims, waving enthusiastically. Taehyung and Jungkook join the waving fest.
"Bye, Eunju!" Minseok says with a cute, little smile and wave.
"Bye, Eunju." Zitao adds, smiling.
"Bye, Eunju!" Momo exclaims.
"Bye, Haeun. I'll see you in P.E." Mina says, she and Momo waving along with Seokjin who wiggles the fingers of a raised hand. Haeun and I wave back as Haeun pushes open the door we entered in, and it swings behind us. We take a left up the main hallway to the office, and sure enough, my suitcase was still there. I take out my closed, black zip-up binder, then re-close my suitcase.
"That's really all you need?" Haeun asks, following me back down the grade 10 hallway.
"Well, it has my pencil case inside, and my purse is in my backpack. I only ever carry my purse and binder at school."
"Ah," Haeun tilts her head a little. "You're going to put the rest in your room. Gotcha." We climb the stairs near the entrance again and walk to Mrs. Mok's classroom. "So, I'll see you in the Visual Arts room, then Eunju?" Haeun asks, tilting her head a little.
"Yeah, I'll see you there, Haeun." I smile to her, and she returns the gesture before she walks away and I enter the classroom. "Hello, again." I greet Mrs. Mok, who is looking at Facebook on her computer.
Mrs. Mok turns to me. "Hello, Eunju. Anywhere in the front." I nod in reply, then take a seat in the third of four desks from the window. Yeah, I ain't no main protagonist who's gonna take a window seat. Then again, I wonder who is the main protagonist... ah, fuck my imagination for looking at people in the eyes of an author. It's still fun, though.
-Forgiveness, Thankfulness and Remembrance-
