“Am I just being dramatic?” I ask my sister after I show her the song that I wrote. I sat at the piano and faced her.
“I think you’re being dramatic. But I love the song.” She plopped down on my bed. “I also think you should talk to him. You can’t just ignore him for the rest of your life. You go to the same school for god's sake.”
“I know.” I sighed. “But I’m sure he’s upset at me now.”
“You should still try to talk to him. You shouldn’t let a bully get in the way of your friendship with him. Although I know you like him. I can see it in your eyes.” She chuckles.
“You’re right.” I sigh. “I’ll talk to him on Monday.”
“Ok good.” She clapped her hands. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Jennie and I walked to the edge of the staircase as my mom answered the door.
“Hi Taehyung!” My mom said cheerfully. My sister glanced at me and I blushed. Did he come to talk to me? “If you’re looking for Olivia, she’s upstairs. I can call her down if you want.” My heart skipped a beat for some reason. Maybe he wasn’t upset at me.
“No, that’s ok.“ he quickly said. “Just tell her I said hi. And that umm…I hope she does well on the tests next week.”
“Of course!” My mom replied.
“Ok. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Bye now.”
“Bye.” She closed the door and I smiled. He came to wish me luck on the test.
“See? He’s not upset at you.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “But he didn’t want to come inside.”
“He still came.” She points out.
“Yeah.” I sighed as I walked into my room.“Do you and Jin really have to leave on Monday?” I ask, sitting on my bed.
“Yes.” She sat next to me and stroked my face.
“Why? You know dad only does that stuff to me when you guys aren’t around.”
“No. I was awake the other day when he punched you.” She replies.
“And you didn't say anything?” I looked at her, hurt.
“I’m sorry.” She replied remorsefully.
“You just let him hit me?” I say, starting to raise my voice.
“I said I’m sorry.” She said, trying to hug me. I pushed her away.
“You’re not sorry or you would’ve said something.” I crossed my arms.
“I’m so-“
“Just go.” I looked away from her. She sighed and walked out of the room. I rolled my eyes and walked to my piano. If my own sister won’t stand up for me, I guess I’m on my own. “This is the last song I’ll write about you.” I sang, playing the chords to my song. “I need to move on and I think you do too. You were all that I wanted, you know that you still are, cause I’ve been alright, yeah, but you showed me better.” I stopped when a sob arose in my throat. It choked me. I don’t know why I suddenly became so emotional. Maybe it was the fact that my sister let my dad beat me up. Maybe it was the fact that Taehyung didn’t even bother to come inside. I honestly didn’t know why the tears were streaming down my face. I didn’t know why I wrote an entire song about Taehyung. And I for sure didn’t know why I let Yuna ruin me and Taehyung’s friendship. I climbed onto my bed and hugged my pillow. I tried to be as silent as possible. I didn’t want my sister or mom to come in here. I just wanted to be alone for the rest of the evening. Then, there was a knock at the door.
“Honey, dinner is ready.” My mom said. I sniffed and wiped my nose.
“I’m not hungry mom.” I replied, playing with the tassel on my pillow.
“Are you sure, sweetie?”
“Yeah.” I said. “I’ll come down later and warm it up when I’m hungry.”
“Ok.” She walked away. I walked to my bathroom and washed my face. I can’t pout about this. I have to focus and study for the test on Monday. I have to get an A or my dad will be *ed. If I don’t, who knows what he’ll do. It won’t be good, I can assure you. I changed into an oversized sweatshirt and biker shorts before hopping in bed and turning on the TV. I put on my favorite K-drama and curled under the covers, snuggling my pillow.
I woke up to the sound of my own snoring. It was pitch black in my room so I checked the time. It’s one thirty. I wiped my eyes and walked downstairs. I heated up the rice from dinner and walked onto the porch in the backyard. Taehyung’s house was three houses down and I could see it from our backyard. The lights in his room were on. At one am? I pulled out my phone, sat on the porch swing, and texted him, because why not?
Me: Hi
I closed my phone, not really expecting him to respond. I began eating my dinner while humming my favorite song. It’s called in the stars. I don’t know why I love that song. It’s just so relatable I guess. My mom’s rice is better when it’s fresh, but preheated it’s pretty good too. Suddenly, my phone rang. Taehyung was calling me. My heart started beating faster as I picked up the phone.
“Hi.” I said, answering the phone.
“Hey.” He replied. Then there was an awkward silence.
“Dude, say something.” Someone says in the background. Anger filled me. He didn’t come over earlier to wish me good luck. It was a dare from his friend. He’s not calling me now because he wants to, it was a dare from his friend. I rolled my eyes and hung up on him. I slammed my phone down on the seat and fumed. He didn’t really care about me. A tear slid down my cheek as I walked back inside. I quickly finished eating and then went back to my room. I can’t worry about him any longer. I have to focus on school. I don’t need boys to distract me from what’s important. I closed my eyes and cried myself to sleep.
I didn’t wake up again until noon on Sunday. I sat up and stretched my back. When I walked downstairs, the house was empty. There was a little note on the counter.
Olivia,
We all went to the store to get groceries. I just figured you didn’t want to go so I let you sleep in. We’ll be home at about 12:30. Love you.
-Mom
I threw the paper in the trash and walked to the pantry to get a snack. I grabbed microwave popcorn and threw it in the microwave. I have to study a little bit more for the test tomorrow. The doorbell suddenly rang. I rolled my eyes. It’s probably Taehyung. I walked to the door and peeked out the window. It was Lia. I opened the door.
“Hi!” She smiled. “Do you want to study together for the test tomorrow?” No one’s ever asked me to study with them. At least not at this school.
“Umm…sure.” I smiled awkwardly. She stood there and walked back and forth on her heels.
“Are you gonna let me in?”
“Right. Sorry. I’m not used to having people over.” I stepped to the side and let her inside. “You can sit there until my popcorn is done. Then we can go upstairs to my room.”
“Ok!” She smiled. I went to the microwave and grabbed the popcorn.
“Let’s go.” I led her upstairs to my room.
“Can I have some?”
“Yeah, sure.” I handed her the bag as I grabbed my notes from class.
We spent the rest of the afternoon studying for the test. When we finally finished, we talked about the most random stuff. Our evening was filled with giggling and laughing. I had a great time with her. My mom invited her to stay for dinner and she agreed. Mom let us eat in my room and we watched the Train to Busan. We both became attached to the little girl, Su-an, and her father. We sobbed at the end of the movie.
“I am never watching that again.” She said after we finally calmed down.
“Me either.” I said, still hugging my crying pillow.
“I’m glad that I can finally stop hanging out with Yuna.” Lia said. “I’m so done with her.”
“Well, I’m just glad to have another friend besides Taehyung.”
“Did you guys get into a fight or something? You ignored him all last week.”
“Yeah….Well, I made a mistake and regretted it. But now I don’t”
“What do you mean?” She asked.
“I don’t know if I can fully trust you.” I replied.
“I promise I won’t tell anyone.”
“Still.” I sighed.
“How are you going to make friends if you can’t trust them?” She pointed out.
“Good point.” I replied. “Ok fine. I was getting sick of Yuna constantly bullying me about Taehyung so we broke off our friendship. I felt like it was the dumbest decision I’ve ever made because I really like him.” I’ve never admitted that out loud before. It felt nice to finally voice how I felt about him. “Then he came by yesterday to wish me good luck on the test tomorrow. I woke up at one am this morning and saw that his lights were still on so I called him. He answered and we sat awkwardly in silence for a second. Then I heard one of his friends say ‘say something’. So I figured it was all a dare or something.” I rambled. It felt good to tell someone about this situation. Someone other than my mom.
“I don’t think he’d do that.” Lia says thoughtfully. “Taehyung would always hung out with us at lunch even before he dated Yuna. At one point Jimin dared him to kiss her. We all knew they liked each other but Taehyung didn’t want to. He said he doesn’t complete dares like that because he doesn’t want to get the other persons hopes up like that. So I don’t think it was a dare.”
“Maybe you’re right.” I shrugged.
“You should talk to him tomorrow.” She suggests. “It’ll make you feel better to know the truth.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “Thanks for staying over.”
“Anytime. I live literally around the corner.” She chuckles. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school.” She picks up her bag and I walk her downstairs.
“See you.” I waved as I closed the door behind her.