"So her name is Marie?" Kim Seo sat under the tree in the courtyard, he was sitting beside Vinh and the little girl who he figured out was named Marie. She sat in front of Vinh, leaning into her while the older girl played with her hair.
Marie did not respond, glaring at the older boy with blue eyes. Kim Seo didn't mind, he found it funny and adorable, almost like how Cameron glares at him. Speaking of him, the boy was getting grabbed at by Loire.
"I said stop touching me!" Cameron pulled away from her, holding his shoulder close to himself.
"Then let me see," Loire defended, pulling back.
"No, you're just going to hurt me more!"
"Hey, I would never-"
"OW!" Cameron fell back, evading the girl's hands when she pulled at his lifeless arm. He growled at her, tears in his eyes.
"Wait, is it dislocated?" Loire looked concerned now, all jokes out of her features.
"What's it to you?" Camron responded, looking down and away from everyone. They continued to stare, questions forming in their eyes.
Loire wanted to continue and help, but she didn't know how to help. So she stopped bothering him, moving away and closer to Vinh and the little girl who stared back at the boy. They didn't know what to do either, it's not like they wanted to help him. Vinh was too busy with Marie to care.
That left Kim Seo, the tall one stood up and walked over to the boy. Cameron noticed his actions, fear running through him, he tried to escape by moving back but his injured arm stopped him. Kim Seo was already next to him, noting how he was further away from the rest of the group that stayed under the tree.
"Running away? You won't get very far with a dislocated shoulder." He shook his head, a mocking smile on his lips.
Cameron ignored him, moving back. Only Kim Seo was already there, he grabbed the boy's shoulder roughly, earning a cry from the latter. He continued to fight back, but every move he made, it just caused more pain to spike up. He couldn't just give up though, he didn't want to be hurt anymore. Knowing Kim Seo, the boy would have fun in bringing him pain.
"L-Let go!"
"Shush," Kim Seo shushed him, crouching down, he used his other hand and grasped the boy's arm and shoulder at the same time. Without so much of a word, and Cameron still fighting against him, this time only slightly. He pulled up quickly and aggressively.
A loud snap was heard along with Cameron letting out a scream, falling back to hold onto his shoulder. The older boy released him, shaking his head before dusting himself off. "There, wasn't so bad there."
"Fuck you!" Cameron looked back at him with red teary eyes, a threatening glare directed at the boy.
The boy on the receiving end did not care, he moved over and went back under the tree where the others were. Still, Cameron glared at him, trying to breath and grab onto his bearings. It was still painful, the feeling of the strong boy snapping his shoulder back into place made the young boy feel sick.
He stayed on the ground, breathing deep and slowly until the pain subsided.
While the boy did that, Loire had turned her attention to Kim Seo. "How did you know how to do that?" She looked up at him in amazement.
Kim Seo rolled his eyes, a smirk on his lips. "I just learned how to do it. It's not that hard when you don't hesitate." The boy looked at Loire and then to the boy, "if I hesitated, it would have hurt more. I would have messed up."
"Where did you learn to do it?" Loire kept going, moving closer.
The boy started to feel annoyed, he didn't feel like sharing his personal experiences. But he knew the smaller girl would not leave him alone until she got an answer. "I grew up somewhere harsh, I was taught how to fix wounds, clean things, bandages, pop back dislocated limbs, even how to stitch things."
Vinh was the one to look at him next. "Where did you grow up?"
He knew where this was going, and again, he didn't want to share. "Somewhere shitty. I can't exactly explain it. Or I could get myself killed."
"Psh," Loire rolled her eyes, dropping on her back with a laugh. "Where would you have to grow up where someone would want to kill a 17 year old?"
"Correction, I was 14 at the time." Kim Seo shook his head, irritation clear in his features. "-Have you ever gotten stabbed before?"
The question caught the girl off guard, a look of fear in her twitching lip. Soon, it disappeared and a smirk was playing with her features instead. "Is that a threat?"
"Take it that way if you want, I just don't want to talk about it anymore." Kim Seo responded quickly, leaning back onto the trunk of the tree and closing his eyes. He ignored the girl that tried to talk to him, it was until she knew he was not going to respond that it went quiet.
Quiet for about 1 minute, Loire shot up and spoke loudly. "What the- where did Cameorn go?"
Kim Seo opened his eyes for that, it was true. The small boy had fled, nowhere to be seen. He laughed out loud, silently admiring the boy's ability to run away even now. Loire looked around in irritation, calling out for Cameron until Vinh spoke up.
"He went back inside. No point in yelling."
"Why would he leave me?" She pouted, giving an exaggerated sigh and slumping her arms forward. "That's not nice."
"Go after him then," Vinh responded once again, turning her attention to the girl in her lap. She stroked her head, watching her breathe in the comfort. Loire turned to her, thinking and going over what the older girl had told her in her head.
"What about you guys?"
Kim Seo looked over to his friend with the child in her lap. "I'm going to leave when she does." Vinh looked over to him, a question in her eyes that he could not read. Kim Seo looked up to Loire, "go on. Run along with your boy."
"Damn right he's my boy." Loire said confidently, finally running off and into the building.
It was finally quiet, just the two older ones and a child outside under the tall oak. It was quiet, silence running through them in small steps. When the bell chimed, the pair knew it couldn't last forever, that's why Vinh finally decided to speak. "We should go back in."
Kim Seo turned to her, "what about the angel?"
"I will meet with her next lunch break, but I know that I can not stay with her forever. The teachers are probably looking for her anyway."
"So you plan on leaving her here?" Kim Seo sat up, staring back at his friend.
"I will take her to where the smaller students are getting their tour, let her go off and then head back to class." Vinh swung her head to Kim Seo, a slight challenge in her expression. "Both of us need to head back to class."
"Right, right," Kim Seo laughed to himself, sitting up with a grunt.
Vinh followed after him, holding Marie close to her chest while the small child snoozed peacefully in her arms. Without so much of a word spoken, the pair headed to the school doors. Kim Seo could tell that Vinh didn't want to let go of the little girl, but she set her down with a heavy heart.
Marie looked up at her, her bright blue eyes were wide. "Vinh! Vinh-"
The girl bent down and placed a kiss on the little girl's forehead. "Go, I will see you soon." With that, she turned to walk away.
Kim Seo expected the child to follow, but to his surprise, Marie did what she was told. Looking back to Vinh's moving figure, her eyes teared up. Still, the child ran to the teacher that was currently surrounded by more children.
The boy didn't stick around to watch, turning his head, he followed behind Vinh, they were heading back to class. But it was going to be a far walk, they were in the main building, so traveling across the courtyard again into the Delinquent Cord was a bit longer to travel. Kim Seo thought for a moment, catching a glimpse of Vinh's suddenly exhausted expression.
"Didn't realize you were so good with children." The boy lifted his hands behind his head, giving off a calm demeanor compared to the girls stressed on.
She was tempted to ignore him, but after learning about his abilities to help injuries, she felt somewhat compelled to explain something about herself. She wasn't fearful about him telling other people, she had no reason too.
"I had a lot of siblings before I was brought here. From 5 to 16, I took care of them and made sure that they survived." Vinh sighed, her body suddenly releasing all of its tension. "By taking care of them, I learned how to deal with children. Little infants, I knew how to make them feel safe, how to take care of them."
"Which is why you're very good at having things on hand huh?" Kim Seo smiled at her, she turned to him, a raised eyebrow in question. "I saw the list. You came up with every possible outcome, every possibility that something got wrong. You're always at the ready." The boy pulled her closer, an arm around her shoulder. "Plus, I saw all the shit in your backpack. A bit paranoid, aren't you?"
"I have to be ready for everything." She responded. Her body was still relaxed, feeling Kim Seo's comfort ingulf her.
"Well you do you, your anxiety helps me in the end at least."
"Wow, thanks."
"Course," Seo Kim gave a smug reply, the conversation ending when they ended up back at the opening where the Delinquent Cord was.
The pair moved from each other, rolling their eyes when the guards came forward. "Hands out." They said with gruff, expressionless faces. The pair didn't respond, fighting wasn't part of the question, the guards always did this. They had nothing to hide, so they did what was told.
After being scanned and given the go ahead, the guard near the door called a teacher and the pair entered. Before the guards could stop them, they made their way up the stairs to their classroom. The guards called after them, Kim Seo called back. "Class, Mr. Tul, heading there now."
The guards still yelled after them, but the pair was already up the stairs and outside of their classroom. It was stupid, the guards did end up giving up though. Calling the teacher once again to tell them, they exchanged a few words before they agreed to call Mr. Tul and make sure the students went to class.
The phone rang in the classroom, Mr. Tul was just finishing putting down the worksheet he decided not to pass out when he picked up the phone. At the same time, a pair of students walked in. The teacher ignored them, noting that it was Kim Seo and another girl he doesn't bother to remember.
The officer on the other end was quick, asking about two students while describing them. Mr. Tul rolled his eyes, he listened for a while longer before forcing a calm tone in his voice. "Yes, yes, the students made it to my class.. they are here now.. alright, alright.. thank you." He hung up, setting the phone down while he rolled his eyes.
He felt the student watch his move, eyeing the tall boy with tattoos, he held back a sneer. Kim Seo laughed silently, turning and sitting next to the others. It turned out that Damian and the others had started a bet, arm wrestling, the tall boy turned his attention to them. He greeted Damian, asking who was winning.
Vinh silently went to her desk, sitting down, she rested her backpack next to her feet. Before laying back down, she turned to see if the others were there. They were, Cameron was lying on the desk, hiding his face while ignoring Loire. The girl was talking loudly, playing with the bracelets that were scattered around her wrists.
She seemed to be talking to no one, the boy ignored her while looking dead in his sleep. Vinh felt pity when seeing him like that, remembering what happened outside, Vinh was good at observing others. The small boy was always the target of teasing, of bullying. He was always at the receiving end of jokes, pushed and pulled around by the older and stronger kids.
She didn't pay much attention to him. She also knew that there was no point in trying to help, to do anything. One of her own friends was always messing with the boy, Kim Seo loved to fuck with him.
-And, what could she do?
Cameron never really asked for help, he suffered the teasing alone. Yet Loire was there, but she was part of the testing so it doesn't count much.
"Stop ignoring me!" The girl put her head on his desk, lips in a pout.
Cameron grumbled from under his barricade of arms. "Fuck off."
"I will not! You can't make me-"
"Ughhh..." The boy put both of his hands around his head, cringing inwardly when his shoulder was pulled. He can still remember the feeling of Kim Seo pulling his arm with so much strength. It stung, a burning sensation that hurt so much.
He didn't want to move it much, he could still feel the slight sting.
"Awh, is the little baby crying?" The annoying voice of Damian caused the two to shudder. Loire was the one to look back at him, he leaned on his desk to look back at them, a smug grin on his lips.
The girl looked at him, turning an eye to his bruised cheek. She smirked, "how's your cheek? Must be painful with how red it is."
The reaction was quick, the twitch in his eyebrow paired with a hand flying up to hide his face. He realized what she was doing, puffing out his chest and deepening his voice. "You wanna talk about bruises? Look in the mirror! Your face is filled with them."
Loire scoffed, "these are my battle scars." She pointed to her face, a toothed smile while Cameron silently laughed. She ignored him, continuing to anger Damian. "-Proves that I can hold my own against 3 guys at once, unlike you. Getting bruised and beaten by a girl, it's pathetic."
The boy and his friends turned red with anger, taking in the words while Loire stayed in her seat with a smug smile. She felt smug, it is true what she said. The boys were pathetic.
"You little-"
"Don't get riled up over nothing," Kim Seo suddenly spoke out, putting his hand out to stop Damian from pouncing on the girl. Loire noticed that Cameron had flinched slightly when hearing him speak. "Weren't you just having fun fighting each other outside? Why let it turn serious?"
"The bitch is too smug," Damian pointed out.
"And you're not?" The reply was silencing. The group went quiet, Damian and his friends listened to Kim Seo, too afraid to speak up anymore, and the kids went back to their work.
Kim Seo stayed looking back, eyeing Cameron who never even moved to the commotion in front of him that started because of him. A smirk silently filled his features, seeing the small boy's legs shake from under the desk.
The teacher shuffled through the unused worksheet, silently cursing to himself for not even trying to put in an effort. He knew what the outcome was so why try? But it did make him feel useless, he couldn't do anything right.
In a haste, the papers dropped. He cursed, feeling like giving up entirely with making these. He crouched, leaving the view of his desk to grab the fallen papers. While he grumbled curses to himself, he finished picking up the last worksheet when a new thing caught his eye. It was a paper under all the worksheets, forgotten by his distracted mind.
Mr. Tul looked at him, holding it close to himself, he tried to read it through fuzzy vision. When he saw a familiar photo at the top, his eyes widened. With a quick hand, he fumbled around for his glasses on the desk, when he found them he forced them on his face. The man sat on his knees, clearly seeing the page and reading it. His eyes scanned the words, a smile slowly made its way on his lips, his eyes wide and pupils dilated.
Sweat fell from his chin, he was too excited, too happy. He forgot how to breathe for a moment, choking on his spit, he swallowed a mouthful.
He sat up quickly, putting the paper back on the desk, he pulled the phone out. He spoke quickly, a smile on his lips while he explained what he was hoping to do. The other end was silent for a while, until they mumbled a response.
Mr. Tul's eyes went wide, the grin stretching across his lips and to his cheeks. He put the phone down before standing up fast enough where the rest of the worksheets fell to the floor. He didn't bother picking them up.
"Attention everyone!" The yell was sudden, causing the classroom to fall silent. Mr. Tul didn't wait another second, "we are going on a field trip. A trip to Tail Creek Forest this Friday."