When I finally returned to school after a few days of absence due to 'incidents' that had to do with my dad's 'charity work', I was greeted with heartwarming welcomes from everyone. I was already briefed by Hana that she told the school I was sick, so once I got back everyone was asking me if I was feeling better. I thanked everyone and showed that I was completely fine now, in fact, feeling good enough to join the beep test during PE class.
As expected of Jenn (by now), I outlasted pretty much everyone except Hechan. It was a bit of a surprise for me though as I didn't expect him to care to give his best during class exercises like this. I think at some point he was ready to intentionally slack and drop out, but then noticed I was well up for it and decided to give me a challenge. This really spurred me on because as my previous self, there was nothing I could compete against Hechan, but now I had a chance to defeat him in at least this one thing.
It wasn't to be though, as the class finished before either of us gave up so we became the joint 'winners' and got praised by the PE teacher, and then were rewarded with the honor of bringing the training cones back to the gym storage room. Man, that stupid PE teacher got on my nerves.
So as everyone else in the class was heading back to the classroom to be ready for the next class, Hechan and I stayed behind collecting the training cones scattered around the gym and moving them back to the storage room. All the while I did not say anything to him and didn't even give him a glance. I absolutely couldn't stand this guy and he was one person that I would never forgive till my dying day, and beyond.
"Hey, so how have you been?"
As we collected all the cones and started to walk to the storage room Hechan tried to initiate some small talk, which I simply chose to ignore.
"So you feel better now?"
Just talk to the cone, bastard.
"Hello-", ok, he was literally talking through the cone now using it like a megaphone.
"Boo!"
I was startled as he suddenly brought the cone toward my right ear and shouted. That really gave me the creeps.
"Cut it out"
"Hey, what's wrong with you?"
"That's what I want to ask"
"I'm just tryin' to talk to you, princess"
"Don't call me that. Seriously"
"Well, at least now you are talking", Hechan replied with a smirk.
I then became determined not to give him any reaction and walked into the storage room holding the cones. Hechan followed me from maybe a meter behind. I was starting to feel somewhat uncomfortable here for some reason.
Then the inevitable happened. When I was at the far end of the storage room putting the cones back on the shelf I heard the door slam shut. I immediately turned behind to check but the room was already dark with no light coming in. What is Hechan planning now?
All sorts of possible scenarios were flying around my head and none of them were pleasant, and some of them were outright frightening.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Baah!", I let out a short scream as Hechan suddenly appeared on my side and asked me.
"Wha-, what the hell are you doing? We are done here, I'm gonna get out now"
"I don't t think we can, it looks like someone closed and locked the door from the outside"
Come on, give me a break. Just how much more anime cliche could this get? But this was worse because now wasn't the sweet case of the male and female MCs getting trapped together, but it was Hechan the bully and me the bullied in a locked room.
"Cut it out. What are you playing at? Open the door right now"
"I can't. I had nothing to do with it"
"Like I'm gonna believe that"
"You can think what you want, but it really wasn't me", Hechan just shrugged.
I was trying to get my phone out to make a call then realized that I left it at the locker when I got changed for the PE class.
"Do you have your phone with you?", I asked Hechan
"No. I left it in the locker. We can't bring the phone to the gym remember?"
Why the hell do you have to be so compliant with the school rules all of a sudden?
"Ok, I will believe you. It was an accident. Nevertheless, stay away from me"
I was trying to talk calmly and assertively but deep inside, my heart started to get filled with fear.
"Hey, aren't you being a bit too cold?"
"Seriously, just stay away"
"What have I done wrong for you to always give me the cold shoulder?"
Well, hundreds of things. You've done hundreds of things that I wish I could forget but can't and still haunt me at night sometimes. You will never know that person is me now.
I couldn't really say that though of course so I decided to turn it around.
"How about you? Why are you so nasty to other people?"
"Huh? Me? When?"
"What?! I mean like, with Donsu, you already forgot?"
"Ah, him. He tried to kill me and I just protected myself that's all"
"Put it this way, why did he try to stab you?"
"Cuz he's just a crazy piece of shit"
"YOU drove him mad. You know it, everyone knows it, but no one's saying it"
It must have been Jenn's innate fiery nature that made it possible for me to confront him like this. I would have never imagined I'd talk and challenge him like this before.
"I didn't mean it in a bad way"
"What. The. FUCK?"
"Woo~, I like it when you swear"
"Shut the hell up. I'm done. There's no point talking to someone like you"
"We could be here for a long time though. Might as well keep ourselves entertained"
I felt that there was not-so-subtle innuendo here and it creeped me the fuck out, as if a swarm of some disgusting insects were slowly crawling towards me and soon I'd feel them all over my skin, the feeling of disgust for the inevitable horror.
"I want out now, like right now"
"Why so in a hurry?"
"Don't get any closer. I'm gonna scream"
"I don't think anyone can hear you from here though"
"You try anything, you will be dead meat"
"You are gonna grind me?"
"Uh-. Disgusting"
:Pfft:
Then Hechan let out a short muted laughter, not in a theatrical way, but as if he found something really funny and couldn't hold back from reacting.
"What's so funny?"
"You are just too cute"
"Shut the hell up"
"Exactly, you are so cute when you are like this"
I then made quick strides to the door and tried to push and pull but it just wouldn't budge.
"You really wanna get out now?", Hechan asked.
"Right. I don't want to spend a single more minute with you here"
"Aye, I'll open the door for you then, princess"
"So it was you after all! You had it locked!"
"No, no. I did no such thing. It must be locked from outside"
"Then how are you gonna open it?"
"Just watch, and you can thank me later"
Hechan then started kicking the door with full force. Each time he kicked there was a loud thump, but after maybe ten or fifteen kicks I could start to hear a creaking sound, and after about twenty more kicks, the door broke by the hinges and it fell open.
"Pheww, that was hard, but I guess this saved our little princess here?"
"Thanks. And drop dead"
"Cute"