#Tae's POV...
Sunday I woke up feeling like I'd been sick with the flu. Like I'd had one of those bad, convoluted, unexplainable fever dreams.
And what I've figured out about bad, convoluted, unexplainable dreams of any kind is that you've just gotta shake them off. Try to forget that they ever happened.
I shook it off, all right, and got out of bed early 'cause I had eaten almost nothing the night before and I was starving! But as I was trucking into the kitchen, I glanced into the family room and noticed that my Appa was sacked out on the couch.
This was not good. This was a sign of battles still in progress, and it made me feel like an invader in my own territory.
He rolled over and kind of groaned, then curled up tighter under his skinny little quilt and muttered some pretty unfriendly-sounding stuff into his pillow.
I beat it into the kitchen and poured myself a killer bowl of corn flakes. And I was about to drown it in milk when my Papa came waltzing in and snags it away from me. ❝You are going to wait, young man,❞ he says. ❝This family is going to have Sunday breakfast together.❞
❝But I'm starving!❞
❝So are the rest of us. Now go! I'm making pancakes, and you're taking a shower. Go!❞
Like a shower's going to prevent imminent starvation.
But I headed down to the bathroom, and on my way I noticed that the family room was empty. The quilt was folded and back on the armrest, the pillow was gone…it was like I'd imagined the whole thing.
At breakfast my Appa didn't look like he'd spent the night on the couch. No bags under his eyes, no whiskers on his chin. He was decked out in tennis shorts and a lavender polo shirt, and his hair was all blown dry like it was a workday. Personally I thought the shirt looked kind of girly, but my Papa said, ❝You look very nice this morning, Joonie.❞
Appa just eyed him suspiciously.
Then my Abeoji came in, saying, ❝Jinnie, the house smells wonderful! Good morning, Joon. Hi there, Tae,❞ and winked at me as he sat down and put his napkin in his lap.
❝Je-nn-ie!❞ my Papa sang out. ❝Break-fast!❞
My sister appeared in a triple-X miniskirt and platform shoes, with eyes that were definitely of the raccoon variety. My Papa gasped, but then took a deep breath and said, ❝Good morning, honey. You're… you're …I thought you were going to church this morning with your friends.❞
❝I am.❞ Jennie scowled and sat down.
Papa brought pancakes, fried eggs, and hash browns to the table. My Appa just sat there stiff as a board for a minute, but finally he shook out his napkin and tucked it into his collar.
❝Well,❞ my Papa said as he sat down, ❝I have come up with a solution to our situation.❞
❝Here it comes …,❞ Appa muttered, but my Papa gave him a glare that shut him down cold.
❝The solution is …,❞ my Papa said as he served himself some pancakes, ❝… we're going to invite the Jeon's over for dinner.❞
My Appa blurts out, ❝What?❞; Jennie asks, ❝All of them?❞; I put in, ❝Are you serious?❞; but my Abeoji heaps on another fried egg and says, ❝That, Jinnie, is a marvelous idea.❞
❝Thanks, Dad,❞ he says with a smile, then tells Jennie and me, ❝Of course I'm serious, and yes, if kookie and the other two boys want to come, they'll be invited.❞
My sister starts cracking up. ❝Do you know what you're saying?❞
Papa smooths the napkin into his lap. ❝Maybe it's about time I found out.❞
Jennie turns to me and says, ❝He's inviting the core of Piss Poor over for dinner — oh, this is something I really woke up expecting!❞
My Appa shakes his head and says, ❝Jinnie, what purpose does this serve? So I made some stupid cracks last night. Is this the next phase in my punishment?❞
❝It is something we should have done years ago.❞
❝Jinnie, please. I know you feel bad about what you found out, but an awkward dinner party isn't going to change anything!❞
My Papa ran syrup all over his pancakes, popped the top closed, licked his finger, then locked eyes with my Appa. ❝We are having the Jeon's over for dinner.❞
And that, he didn't have to tell him (Rm), was that.
Appa took a deep breath, then sighed and said, ❝Whatever you want, Jinnie. Just don't say I didn't warn you.❞ He took a bite of hash browns and mumbled, ❝A barbecue, I suppose?❞
❝No, Joon. A sit-down dinner. Like we have when your clients come over.❞
He stopped chewing. ❝You're expecting them to dress up?❞
Papa glared at him. ❝What I'm expecting is for you to behave like the gentleman I always thought you were.❞
Appa went back to his potatoes. Definitely safer than arguing with Papa.
Jennie wound up eating the entire white of a fried egg and almost a whole pancake besides. Plain, of course, but from the way she was glutting and giggling as she ate, it was obvious that at least she was in a good mood.
Abeoji ate plenty, even for him, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking. He was back to looking more granite than human. Me, I'd started tuning in to the fact that this dinner could be more than awkward — it could be trouble.
Those rotten eggs were back from the grave, 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠❟ 𝐋𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲 right over my head.
Sure, Abeoji knew, but no one else in my family did. What if it came up at dinner? I'd be dead, fried, cluck-faced meat.
Later, as I was brushing my teeth, I considered bribing Jungkook. Getting her on board so that nobody brought up the subject of eggs. Or maybe I could sabotage the dinner somehow. Make it not happen. Yeah, I could — I stopped myself and looked in the mirror. What kind of wimp was I, anyway? I spit and headed back to find my Papa.
❝What is it, honey?❞ he asked me as he wiped off the griddle. ❝You look worried.❞
I double-checked to make sure my Appa or Jennie wasn't lurking around somewhere, then whispered, ❝Will you swear to secrecy?❞
He laughed. ❝I don't know about that.❞
I just waited.
❝What can be …,❞ he said, then looked at me and stopped cleaning. ❝Oh, it is serious. Honey, what's wrong?❞
It had been ages since I'd voluntarily fessed up about something to my Papa. It just didn't seem necessary anymore; I'd learned to deal with things on my own. At least, that's what I'd thought. Until now.
He touched my arm and said, ❝Tae, tell me. What is it?❞
I hopped up to sit on the counter, then took a deep breath and said, ❝It's about Jungkook's eggs.❞
❝About him… eggs?❞
❝Yeah. Remember that whole chicken-hen-salmonella disaster?❞
❝That was quite a while ago, but sure….❞
❝Well, what you don't know is that Jungkook didn't bring eggs over just that once. he's been bringing them over every week…or about that, anyway.❞
❝He has? Why didn't I know about this?❞
❝Well, I was afraid Appa would get mad at me for not telling him (jk) we didn't want them, so I started intercepting them. I'd see him coming, get to him before he rang the bell, and then I'd toss them in the trash before anyone knew he'd been here.❞
❝Oh, Tae!❞
❝Well, I kept thinking they'd stop! How long can a stupid chicken lay eggs?❞
❝But I take it they have stopped?❞
❝Yeah. As of last week. Because Jungkook caught me chucking a carton in the trash outside.❞
❝Oh, dear.❞
❝Exactly.❞
❝So what did you tell him?❞
I looked down and mumbled, ❝I told him that we were afraid of salmonella poisoning because their yard was such a mess. He ran off crying, and the next thing I know, he's starting to fix up their yard.❞
❝Oh, Taehyung!❞
❝Exactly.❞
He was dead quiet for a minute; then very softly he said, ❝Thank you for your honesty, Tae. It does help to explain a lot.❞ He shook his head and said, ❝What that family must think of us,❞ and got back to cleaning the griddle. ❝All the more reason to have them over for dinner, if you ask me.❞
I whispered, ❝You're sworn to secrecy on this whole egg thing, right? I mean, Jungkook told Abeoji, so he knows, but I don't want this to spread to, you know, Appa.❞
He studied me for a minute, then said, ❝Tell me you've learned your lesson, honey.❞
❝I have, Papa.❞
❝Okay, then.❞
I let out a big sigh of relief. ❝Thanks.❞
❝Oh, and Tae?❞
❝Yeah?❞
❝I'm very glad you told me about it.❞ He kissed me on the cheek, then smiled and said, ❝Now, didn't I hear you promise you'd mow the lawn today?❞
❝Right,❞ I said, and headed outside to trim the turf.
That evening my Papa announced that the Jeons would be over Friday night at six o'clock; that the menu included poached salmon, crab risotto, and fresh steamed vegetables; and that none of us had better weasel out of being there.
My Appa muttered that if we were really going to do this, it would be a whole lot better to barbecue because at least that way he'd have something to do, but my Papa positively smoked him with his eyes and he dropped it.
•
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So. They were coming. And it made seeing Jungkook at school even more uncomfortable than usual. Not because he gushed about it or even waved and winked or something. No, he was back to avoiding me. He'd say hi if we happened to run into each other, but instead of being, like, right over my shoulder anytime I looked, he was nowhere. He must have ducked out the back doors and taken roundabout ways through campus. He was, I don't know, scarce.
I found myself looking at him in class. The teacher'd be talking and all eyes would be up front … except mine. They kept wandering over to Jungkook. It was weird. One minute I'd be listening to the teacher, and the next I'd be completely tuned out, looking at J…Jungkookie.
It wasn't until Wednesday in math that I figured it out. With the way his hair fell back over his shoulders and his head was tilted, he looked like the picture in the paper. Not just like it — the angle was different, and the wind wasn't blowing through his hair — but he did look like the picture. A lot like the picture.
He grew his hair. Long hair suits him…he looks marvelous. I haven't seen someone who looked good like him with long hair.
Making that connection sent a chill down my spine. And I wondered — what was he thinking? Could he really be that interested in root derivations?
Hirai Momo caught me watching, and man, she gave me the world's wickedest smile. If I didn't do something fast, this was going to spread like wildfire, so I squinted at her and whispered, ❝There's a bee in his hair, stupid,❞ then pointed around in the air like, There it goes, see?
Momo's neck whipped around searching for the bee, and I straightened out my focus for the rest of the day. The last thing I needed was to be scorched by the likes of Hirai Momo.
That night I was doing my homework, and just to prove to myself that I'd been wrong, I pulled that newspaper article out of my trash can. And as I'm flipping it over, I'm telling myself, It's a distortion of reality; it's my imagination; he doesn't really look like that….
But there he was. The boy in my math class, two rows over and one seat up, glowing through the newsprint.
Jennie barged in. ❝I need your sharpener,❞ she said.
I slammed my binder closed over the paper and said, ❝You're supposed to knock!❞ And then, since she was zooming in and the paper was still sticking out, I crammed the binder into my backpack as fast as I could.
❝What are you trying to hide there, baby brother?❞
❝Nothing, and stop calling me that! And don't barge into my room anymore!❞
❝Give me your sharpener and I'm history,❞ she said with her hand out.
I dug it out of my drawer and tossed it at her, and sure enough, she disappeared.
But two seconds later my Papa was calling for me, and after that, well, I forgot that the paper was in my binder.
Until the first period the next morning, that is. Man! What was I supposed to do with it? I couldn't get up and throw it out; Wooshik was right there. Besides that, Hirai Momo's in that class, and I could tell — she was keeping an eye out for wayward bees. If she caught wind of this, I'd be the one stung.
Then Wooshik reaches over to snag a piece of paper like he does about fourteen times a day, only I have a complete mental spaz and slam down on his hand with mine.
❝Dude!❞ he says. ❝What's your problem?❞
❝Sorry,❞ I say, tuning in to the fact that he was only going for lined paper, not newspaper.
❝Dude,❞ he says again. ❝You know you've been really spaced lately? Anyone else tell you that?❞ He rips a piece of paper out of my binder, then notices the edges of the newspaper. He eyes me, and before I can stop him, he whips it out.
I pounce on him and tear it out of his hands, but it's too late. He's seen his picture.
Before he can say a word, I get in his face and say, ❝You shut up, you hear me? This is not what you think.❞
❝Whoa, kick back, will ya? I wasn't thinking anything….❞ But I could see the little gears go click-click-click in his brain. Then he smirks at me and says, ❝I'm sure you've got a perfectly reasonable explanation for why you're carrying a picture of Jeon Jungkook around with you.❞
The way he said it scared me. Like he was playing with the idea of roasting me in front of the whole class. I leaned over and said, ❝Zip it, would you?❞
The teacher hammered on us to be quiet, but it didn't stop Wooshik from smirking at me or doing the double-eyebrow wiggle in the direction of my binder. After class Momo tried to act all cool and preoccupied, but she had her radar up and pointed our way. She shadowed me practically all day, so there was no real window of opportunity to explain things to Wooshik.
What was I going to tell him, anyway? That the paper was in my binder because I was trying to hide it from my sister? That would help.
Besides, I didn't want to make up some lame lie about it. I actually wanted to talk to Wooshik. I mean, he was my friend, and a lot had happened in the last couple of months that was weighing on me. I thought that if I talked to him, maybe he'd help get me back on track. Help me to stop thinking about everything. Wooshik was really reliable in that arena.
Luckily, in social studies our class got library time to do research for our famous historical figure report. Momo and Jungkookie were both in that class, but I managed to drag Wooshik into a back corner of the library without either of them noticing. And the minute we were by ourselves, I found myself laying into Wooshik about chickens.
He shakes his head at me and says, ❝Dude! What are you talking about?❞
❝Remember when we went and looked over his fence?❞
❝Back in the sixth grade?❞
❝Yeah. Remember how you were down on me for wondering what a hen was?❞
He rolled his eyes. ❝Not this again….❞
❝Man, you didn't know jack-diddly-squat about chickens. I put my life in your hands and you dumped me in a bucket of bull.❞
So I told him about my Appa and the eggs and salmonella and how I'd been intercepting eggs for nearly two years.
He just shrugged and said, ❝Makes sense to me.❞
❝Man, he caught me!❞
❝Who?❞
❝Jungkookie!❞
❝Whoa, dude! & Jungkookie!?❞
I told him about what I'd said, while ignoring the suspicious signal on me about calling Jungkookie and how almost right after that he (jk) was out playing weed warrior in his (jk) front yard.
❝Well, so? It's not your fault his yard's a mess.❞
❝But then I found out that they don't even own that house. They're all poor because his dad's got a retarded brother that they're, you know, paying for.❞
Wooshik gives me a real chumpy grin and says, ❝A retard? Well, that explains a lot, doesn't it?❞
I couldn't believe my ears. ❝What?❞
❝You know,❞ he says, still grinning, ❝about Jungkook.❞
My heart started pounding and my hands clenched up. And for the first time since I'd learned to dive away from trouble, I wanted to deck somebody.
But we were in the library. And besides, it flashed through my mind that if I decked him for what he'd said, he'd turn around and tell everyone that I was hot for Jeon Jungkook, and I was not hot for Jeon Jungkook!
So I made myself laugh and say, ❝Oh, right,❞ and then came up with an excuse to put some distance between him and me.
After school Wooshik asked me to come to his house and hang for a while, but I had zero interest in that. I still wanted to slug him.
I tried to talk myself down from feeling that way, but in my gut I was flaming mad at the guy. He'd crossed the line, man. He'd crossed it big-time.
And what made the whole thing so stinking hard to ignore was the fact that standing right next to him, on the other side of the line, was my Appa.