| Fan Fiction |
by Take_Flight
“Then this town will be flooded” Ri In pointed out, killing the engine.
“And we won’t have to report to work” Nadine told her, getting out of the car.
Ri In slammed the door. “I see someone has the Monday blues” she commented, as they walked up the stony steps to the entrance of the school’s main admin building. Nadine was about to turn to the right to head for the teacher’s room but Ri In pulled her arm. “The teacher’s room this way ma’am” Ri In reminded her.
Nadine gave her a sheepish smile. “I really need a map for this place. It took me half an hour just to get to the Art Room during my first week here”
“That’s because Park Yoochun was pulling your leg” Ri In told her. “I told you not to listen to him the moment you got here. He’s a prankster and I know that deep down, you had a minor crush on him when you met him for the first time”
Nadine rolled her eyes. “Okok, stop nagging. Why do you get so agitated everytime his name is being mentioned anyway?” she asked, as they climbed up the stairs to the second storey, where the teacher’s room is.
Ri In puffed out her cheeks. “Doesn’t matter. It’s in the past anyway” she mumbled.
“The past? What? The two of you use to date? Let me guess, you guys used to make out at the back of the library! How come I didn’t know about this?” Nadine asked, her voice echoing at the empty corridor.
“Ssssh! The walls here have ears!” Ri In hissed, pinching Nadine’s arm. She looked around the area to see if anyone was lurking around.
“Ouch! There’s no one here except for us. Can you let go now before you tear my skin away?” Nadine said, slapping her friend’s hand.
Ri In let go and sighed. Nadine rubbed the sore spot and gave her a sly look. “Soooo…aren’t you going to tell me about it? The librarian and the musician. How classic” Nadine teased.
“I’ll tell you in the library. It’s much safer there. See you later” Ri In said quickly and hastily walked down the corridor and disappeared at a corner.
“What…aish. I bet no one in the school knows about it” Nadine muttered as she stepped into the Teacher’s Room.
“Know about what?” Leeteuk asked, appearing out of nowhere. Nadine was so startled to see him that she accidentally hit a stack of papers sitting on a cupboard beside the door. The papers scattered everywhere and Leeteuk let out a high-pitched laugh.
“My papers!” Jun-Hee exclaimed when she emerged out of the pantry, which was beside the Teacher’s Room, separated by a glass sliding door.
Nadine got down to her knees, apologizing profusely but the Math teacher simply swatted her helping hand away. “No it’s fine. I can handle it myself. You should watch where you’re going next time” Jun-Hee snapped as she stood up, clutching the papers to her chest. Nadine and Leeteuk watched as Jun-Hee walked away from them and dumped the papers on her desk.
“Seems like I’m not the only one having the Monday blues” Nadine whispered to Leeteuk. Both of them strode over to the mezzanine floor of the vast rectangular room where they were seated. As they were climbing up the timber stairs, Nadine glanced down at Jun-Hee who was stacking the papers in a neat stack. She then ran her fingers through her shoulder length dark raven waves and started massaging her temples.
“Don’t worry about her. She got the blues almost everyday” Leeteuk told her in a loud clear voice.
Nadine gave him an alarming look but Leeteuk waved his hand and settled by his desk, which was near the full height window, overlooking the school field. “You’re not the first one who’s been treated that way” he told her. “Rumour has it, she became that way ever since her divorce. Now she lives alone with her ten cats” he added with a gleam in his eyes.
“Ten cats? Are you kidding me” Nadine asked, giving him a deadpanned look. She went over to her L-shaped desk, just beside Leeteuk and dumped her laptop bag and coat on the table. Even though she’s been here for a month, her table was already cluttered with Art books, colored markers, a stuffed giraffe (a welcome gift from Leeteuk- he thought Nadine was from South Africa) and stacks of drawings and English essays to be graded. But nevertheless, Nadine was enjoying every bit of her dream job.
“Okay, so she didn’t have ten cats, but she has a three year old toddler, who sounds like ten cats when he cries, and trust me, you don’t want to hear him cry. And two goldfishes” Leeteuk was saying.
“That’s not a nice thing to say” Nadine chided him. She switched on her laptop and waited for the system to start. She remained silent after that as she doodled something on the small notebook in front of her.
“I know what you’re thinking. How can someone so young go through so much hardship? What I heard is that she got married at a young age, husband got sick of her and left her before the baby was born” Leeteuk told her.
Nadine’s laptop beeped indicating her to key in the password. She thought about what Leeteuk said as she pressed the ENTER key. “The man who left her must be a complete jerk. Jun-Hee must have suffered a terrible fate till she end up like this” she muttered.
Leeteuk leaned in closer. “Did you say something?” he asked.
Nadine shook her head and took out her planner from her bag. “Nope. I just remembered I need to go to the library for a while. I need to take some books for today’s Art lesson. I see you later at the morning assembly” she told him.
On the way to the library, Nadine noticed several students streaming in and making their way to their respective classrooms. Iseul High School was equivalent to the size of four football fields, which accommodates 32 classrooms, 6 labs, a two-storey library, a huge cafeteria. a music room, a wood workshop and an Art studio. When Nadine first stepped in, the Art studio was a grimy place. It was as if no one touches it for centuries. She got to know from her Art students that it was rarely use as Art classes are normally held in their own classroom. When Nadine asked why the studio was not used often, the Headmistress only reply was that it was too big a chore to clear the mess up; and it was up to Nadine whether she plans to use it or not. Nadine then took the decision to clear the room ASAP before the term started along with a few students. To her surprise, she found out that the school has never had a real Art teacher to lead them. Jun-Hee got the job as a temp at first but she soon give up as it was not her forte, so she passed it to Sun Ye, the Science teacher, and in the end it landed to Yoochun. Since Literature and Music are considered under the Arts, he was given the job but he didn’t do it well as there was too many classes to handle. When Ri In got to know about the vacancy, she immediately informed Nadine and next thing she knew, she was in the plane flying to Korea on Christmas Day, where her new life awaits.
“Speaking of Ri In, she owes me a story” Nadine thought as she crossed the bridge that link the admin building to the library. Something told her to look down and she did, and she saw Jun-Hee standing near the recycling bins beside the library, taking a smoke. Nadine watched as Jun-Hee threw the butt on the floor, stamped on it and then kicked it into a small gutter. She then walked off with her head down, hands stuffed deep into her coat pockets. Nadine felt her heart sinking thinking about what happened earlier. “Damn that Leeteuk” she cursed under breath.
Somehow, witnessing Jun-Hee in that miserable state reminds Nadine of……herself.
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squeeness : as requested. cheers! =D