In dire need of a recommendation letter for college, Jimin made a deal with her homeroom teacher. She needs to convince Minjeong, a girl from her class who still hasn't showed up to class yet, to come to school, in exchange of said letter. It should be easy on the paper, right? Except that Jimin is an awkward mess, and Minjeong is an emotionless brat. Who has long eyelashes and a pretty face.
Jimin had always been what people commonly call a ‘perfect student’. Perfect grades, outstanding athletics. Everybody around her sang her praises, and was certain that she would get into any high school she wanted.
However, the cruelty of life gave her one fatal weakness. The commonly known and deeply dreaded flaw called anxiety.
In fact, Jimin absolutely cannot stand pressure. And because of this, as soon as she has to take an important exam, or anything that involves a potentially crucial change in her life, her insides get all jammy and she ends up messing everything up, crumbling under the heavy weight of stress.
Hence why, she unfortunately had to enroll in her backup choice. Her current high school wasn’t bad per se, but it still wasn’t what she had aimed for. And not what everybody around her had thought she could get either.
Jimin heaved out yet another sigh, wallowing in self pity and depreciation. But suddenly she felt a finger poking her back. Jimin let out a shriek from surprise, and whipped her head to the back, seeing that the culprit was none other than Ms Park, her homeroom teacher.
“Sorry for scaring you!” she brightly said, as if she hadn’t almost killed one of her students mere seconds ago. “I know that you plan on becoming the class representative, right? And since I honestly think that you deserve the position, and since no one else is running anyways, could you please do me a favor?”
Jimin hasn’t been in this school for long, but she already knows that her homeroom teacher, Ms Park Jihyo, is a menace for society, despite her scary looks at first glance. This woman is the embodiment of passion and excitement. A real human-battery!
“You see, there’s another student in your class who enrolled recently, but she hasn’t come to school yet! I’ve tried speaking with her multiple times, but she never answers.” Ms Park let out a deep sigh. “I completely gave up! But then, it hit me! Maybe she’ll open up to someone her age instead of a teacher like me?”
Jimin squinted, already knowing where all of this was going. And she was obviously against it! Hell, she had never tried to persuade someone before, let alone someone who never bothered showing up at school, and who is probably a delinquent.
“Ma’am I-”
“If you’re able to bring her to school, then I’ll write you a letter of recommendation to any university of your choosing!”
Okay, now they could talk. Not bothering to hide her interest, Jimin subtly raised a brow, nodding for the teacher to continue. Ms Park grinned, probably expecting this outcome.
“This is a trade, Jimin.” A smug. “And not a bad one, wouldn’t you say?”
Honestly, despite her crippling anxiety, Jimin is afraid to think that she may actually be more mature than her homeroom teacher. Because who in their right mind makes such a shady deal with one of their students? But at the same time, getting a recommendation letter would surely boost Jimin’s chances to get into a great university. It could be the perfect chance to redeem herself from her past failure.
So with a determined gaze, Jimin straightened her posture, her eyes boring into her teacher’s. “Alright. All I have to do is persuade her, right?”
She said, with an unfamiliar surge of confidence. And how wrong she had been! Because Jimin somehow forgot about her crippling anxiety!
And now, she found herself standing right in front of this mysterious girl’s front door, not knowing what the hell she should do to get her out of there! She tentatively raised a shaky finger towards the bell, and slowly pressed it. She waited for a bit after that.
“If she doesn’t come in five seconds I’ll-”
The door slowly opened, making Jimin’s heart jump in her ribcage. A tuft of blonde hair emerged from behind it, followed by, honestly, one of the cutest faces Jimin had ever seen. Chubby and fluffy-looking cheeks, doe eyes and a perfectly sculpted nose.
“Yu Jimin?”
Jimin’s eyes slowly widened, not quite understanding what was going on. Was she supposed to know this…
“Oh!” A flash of recognition passed through Jimin’s face. “Kim Minjeong! We went to the same middle school, I remember now!” Minjeong looked a tad surprised, but chose to stay silent instead, inviting the raven to come inside.
And that’s how Jimin found herself sitting down right in front of ‘mysterious girl’, who’s actually Minjeong, a girl she vaguely knew from middle school. Only from a distance though.
“I thought you’d have gone to a better school, Jimin,” bluntly said Minjeong, not an ounce of emotion on her face.
Ouch, that definitely sting. However, Jimin couldn’t falter, she had a mission here! “I just didn’t want to go too far from home,” she chose to awkwardly say, before deciding to just jump the gun and go for it. “I’m not here for that though! Since I’m the class representative, I don’t want anybody to be missing so… that’s why I came here to find you.”
7 likes from Antares, JadeHare, kryphtot, NakkoMinju, TheReturnofTheBlueBird, Fimssera, and SinsWithPleasure.