XSYKOTICA

I
Trouble Maker

 

 

The day hadn't been as boring as she had expected - in fact, it was... interesting.

 

First, as soon as Ibara woke up, a little commotion had erupted from her bedroom. She'd sat up so quickly, Ibara head-butted her cousin Sun Ah, who was trying to wake her up, in the nose. The poor girl had a sore nose all morning. Next, when Sun Ah and she were walking to the university, a blue Mustang nearly drove her to death. As the over-protective cousin she was Sun Ah threw a rock at the expensive car and shouted: "I hope you crash!" The stone had left a permanent scratch on the Mustang. Ibara had hoped the owner hadn't heard or noticed that, because, well... she knew how rash rich kids can be. And trouble had always been favored them. When they had arrived at the university, the girls had learned the car owner was actually studying in the same school. Sun Ah wanted to personally throw a rock on that rich scum, but Ibara had held her back. Instead, they'd sneaked to the other entrance of the university, afraid that the scum might actually run after them.

 

And now in chemistry class, Ibara had trouble in her hands... literally. On her right, she held a vial of smoking purple liquid. On the other was the same, but orange. Ibara didn't really know what to do. She wore full scientist's gear - safety goggles, rubber gloves, laboratory coat. She looked like a professional scientist from Oxford, except her level of logical thinking is a lot lower. Glancing around, the sight of other chemistry students concentrated on their own vials of liquids, Ibara decided to watch.

 

Shake the vials there, pour the liquid to the other here... That's what she's been doing the whole time! Except, Ibara noticed, that their vials weren't smoking like hers do. There was clearly something wrong. But she decided to try. After all, that's the reason why chemistry was invented. Plus, if Ibara'd be the first to finish, she'd have an A on this output. Assuming, of course, if the vials wouldn't explode and fry her whole output.

 

As the first drop of purple liquid touched the orange, Ibara closed her eyes tightly. She waited for any signs of heat coming from the vials; an explosion; screams of classmates. Nothing.

 

Finally, her eyes fluttered open. Nothing had happened. Ibara frowned at the vial in front of her. Was there something wrong? "Aish. Maybe I poured the wrong dose..." she muttered. Shaking the purple vial, Ibara concentrated, beads of sweat trickling down her forehead. She counted three seconds as the purple liquid poured to the orange. The orange-purple liquid rose to higher and higher. Ibara was nearing! She was!

She was startled as someone far from behind her exclaimed gleefully. The remaining purple liquid poured down on her rubber gloves, and some mixed liquid shot towards her lab coat. Ibara wanted to curse.

Especially when the A’s taken away from her.

Turning to the sound of the excited voices, the professor was already praising a girl for doing such great work. The rest, well, they had messed up, too. Can’t help it when you were sooo concentrated with a peaceful silence then somebody just shrieks, “I win!”

Ibara felt something shaking uncontrollably in her hands. She realized it was the vial of full liquid. Her eyes widened as smoke spread upwards; it smelled like fire. Ibara frowned at the stupid vial. Too late to realize that any second the thing in her hands could explode any second…

 

“Aiish…” the girl grumbled. She trudged down the hallways of East wing, allowing her worn-out sneakers to screech on the floor. She was on a bad mood. After that piece of crap (vial of crap okay?) exploded, not only her output was burned. Her laboratory gear smelled like burnt crap, it was shredded. Ibara thought of how she’d get a new one, since that wouldn’t be the last time to use a lab gear. But the worst part: her professor thought that she was a trouble maker who knew nothing but to make things go boom. They had called a hazard cleaner whatever they’re called and immediately they’d sent her out of the class.

Ibara wasn’t usually a troubled kid. Sometimes things just go out-handed, she cheered herself.

She waltzed into the comfort room. Her face seemed better now, thank goodness. A while ago she looked like someone had drawn her crap all over her face with a charcoal. Now her cheeks were back to its normal rosy blush.

The phone buzzed in her sling bag. A text from Sun Ah saying, “It’s still 15 minutes before lunch! Where are you anyway?”

“On my way to the cafeteria,” Ibara texted back, and stashed her phone away.

When she arrived at the place, it was deserted. In another five minutes, though, the cafeteria would be jam-packed. She took advantage of the situation and went straight ahead to the line. But when she saw what beverage the canteen offered, suddenly her stomach churned… and suddenly she wasn’t thirsty anymore.

Orange juice.

Ibara suddenly developed hatred towards that drink. She settled for tuna sandwich, and a bottle of mineral water—not enough to feed her hunger, but she had enough orange for the day. Sighing, Ibara munched on her sandwich.

Ji Ibara. That was her full name. Her mother’s Japanese, and her father is Korean. Ibara didn’t like how her name sounded, but she supposed to be grateful. Her mother, Ji Yuka, raised her and Sun Ah for her whole life. Her father died long before she was born. When they asked about him, her mother would only shake her head and say she doesn’t remember. Ibara thought how hard it was to suffer amnesia. Not remembering your past, your anything… like your identity was taken away. The girl admired Ji Yuka greatly. For Ibara, her mother’s the best woman she’s ever met. Yet, with that hardship she’s been through… Ibara believed that the best people had the rottenest luck.

As for herself, she didn’t know. Ibara’d never get this far if it hadn’t been for Sun Ah and Yuka. They took care of her. The three of them rocked the house ever since she could remember. Sun Ah was an over-protective cousin. But she was impulsive, stubborn, and hard-headed. That feisty girl liked to judo-flip boys who tried to befriend Ibara. But aside from that, she herself was abnormal – in some ways…

“Can I sit here?”

Ibara jarred out of her thoughts, now her attention was on the guy who stared down at her. She’d never seen him before, but this school was big, like, huge and prestigious, and Ibara wasn’t exactly a social butterfly. His blank facial expression made Ibara shrink down a bit, because honestly, this guy’s scary. But she nodded awkwardly. The guy must have been starving, because as soon as he sat, he wolfed down the chicken and even had two orders of enchiladas. He ate pretty big for such a lean guy.

Now that she thought about it, this guy had awesome features. He was tall, muscular, and handsome. His messy almond-brown hair looked soft and silk-like. His sharp jawline hinged up and down as her ate. He had sharp eyes. And most importantly, he spoke rash, yet soft-spoken.

“Done checking me?”

Like now… Wait, what?!

Ibara’s cheeks burned. She gulped and stared down her empty wrapper of sandwich, embarrassed and ashamed at the same time. She had never checked out a guy before! Not even her own model best friend! Like gee, she barely stares at some guy for too long and now she had and she’s been caught!

Next to her, the guy smirked. She urged herself not to say anything, because she’d definitely stutter. Like whaaat?

A scream of her name made her stir. She turned towards Sun Ah who just walked in with Mi Yeong, their other best friend. They were smiling and waving at her, but when they saw a stranger beside her, the happy aura immediately faltered. Ibara could see the visible signs of Sun Ah’s super saiyan, and Ibara immediately thought: uh-oh.

She smiled nervously back at them, and turned to look at the handsome stranger beside her. He also stopped eating and was now staring blankly at the two girls who looked like they wanted to slit his throat. “Hey,” Ibara said. “Nice meeting you. Now if you don’t want to die, please get out of my cousin’s sight because she definitely wants to burn you alive.”

“I noticed,” he replied. Ibara tried to ignore his handsome voice. He didn’t even seem to be scared!

“Really,” Ibara pleaded. “I don’t even know your name—“

“It’s Oh Sehun.”

“Yeah, so Sehun, you don’t want to experience my cousin’s abnormality.”

“What abnormality?” came a new voice. I gulped and turned to Sun Ah, who had one arm around me. “Who’s this… feeble guy?” She glared at Sehun, who in return had a poker face on.

Ibara thought how he wanted a death wish. Sun Ah’s beaten up every guy who dared to come close to me. But Oh Sehun didn’t seem to be affected. Or maybe he was as abnormal as her cousin. The hostility didn’t seem to reach him.

“YAH!” Sun Ah screamed. “Is he your boyfriend?”

Boyfriend? Ibara opened to speak. Well, since he told Ibara his name, and even ate with her at lunch, then why not?

“Yes.” she answered calmly, hoping to ease Sun Ah’s  anger.

The next thing Ibara knew, metals dropped to the floor, jaws dropped, and Sehun stared at her in shock.