LGHTNOVELBOOK Lie Again!
Chapter 8
<Chapter 8. 10 Reasons Why I Can’t Love You (2)> “Today too?”
Jin, who had been chewing on her sandwich while diligently writing her essay with one hand, suddenly threw down her pen and began tearing at the grass. Her hands, pulling and throwing the grass, were filled with anger. Amanda, leisurely eating her sandwich and watching Jin, whispered to Ruth. “Today is a double hit.” Ruth glanced at Jin, nodded, and whispered. Jin, with her hands now covered in dirt, raised her middle finger at the essay, flipping it off. Dustin, watching the scene, quietly pulled out his phone and started recording. It was a rare lunch break on a day when the rain that had been falling for a while finally stopped. Jin and the other kids, exhausted from the humid, hot day, were sitting by the lake behind the dormitory, eating their lunch. The occasional breeze pushed away the muggy air. While others sat in the shade, enjoying the clear weather, Jin, with a gloomy expression, clutched a bundle of papers on her lap. Three weeks into the new term, the teachers, as if they had given enough time for adjustment, began throwing essays, homework, and pop quizzes left and right. Jin felt like a frog being hit by a stone and busily worked through the tasks she had to do. Just as she had barely started to adjust, a large hand grabbed the back legs of Jin the frog. The owner of the hand, annoyingly enough, was Butterfield, who was smiling smugly. “What’s the matter today?” Joey lay down using Dustin’s leg as a pillow and asked. “He doesn’t like dogs dying.” Ruth made an exaggeratedly sorrowful face, shaking his head as he grabbed Joey’s arm and lay down. Amanda and Dustin also threw the sandwich bag away somewhere and laid down on someone’s body. Jin had been holding onto Mrs. Haide’s Spanish essay for five days. She had written an essay on the topic of ‘Day of the Dead,’ but the problem was the evaluation method—peer review. The score given by her partner would directly determine her essay grade. And Jin’s partner was Butterfield. ‘The story is so cliche.’ ‘Does it have to be a person who dies?’ ‘I didn’t mean to kill a dog.’ Butterfield had rejected every story Jin submitted. Amid the flood of upcoming assignments, Jin had to endlessly revise her Spanish essay. Evan Ruth, who took the same class, had already finished his essay long ago. But Jin wasn’t just sitting back and taking it. As much as Butterfield criticized her work, Jin kept rejecting his essays in return. They were in a game of chicken. If one of them didn’t turn the wheel first, they would end up crashing into each other. Thanks to that, the people around them were watching the situation with great interest. For the past week, this was how things had been between them. Whenever Jin happened to run into Butterfield in the hallway, she would smile, only for her expression to harden moments later. In contrast, Butterfield would flash an even brighter smile at her. His smile was so irritating that it made Jin’s fist clench in an attempt to ignore it. Butterfield’s antics continued whether someone was with him or not, and it made things quite difficult for Jin. Whether he was engaging in friendly physical contact with someone or having a conversation face-to-face, whenever Jin walked by, he would stare at her and smile. As a result, Jin had to endure the glares of girls who, with Butterfield’s hand resting on their shoulder or waist, shot her looks filled with discomfort and judgment. Eventually, a strange bet started circulating within Crawford. Would Butterfield succeed in charming the new transfer student, or would Jin make the school’s hot guy fall head over heels for her? The athletic group, including Jonathan Hanson, would cheer and shout at the top of their lungs whenever Jin and Butterfield were in the same space. The students, startled by the loud noise, looked for the source of the sound and whispered something when they saw Jin and Butterfield in the center. Jin would leave the room with a cold face every time that happened, without showing any reaction. But it wasn’t enough to calm those who were excited about the interesting issue that had been around for a long time. Jin had to become a hot topic, tangled with Butterfield. Even though she spoke not a single word to him except for what was absolutely necessary, that’s how it turned out. Wherever she went, there were always people who recognized her. Some looked at her with eyes full of expectation, cheering her on, while others cast judgmental glances, whispering behind her back. She was utterly sick of this situation. All she had wanted was a few decent friends, a normal routine, and just the right amount of fun—so how had things ended up like this? Jin drew lines on the essay she was writing half-consciously—about the tragedy of the ant family. Jin glanced at her friends. The children were lying on each other’s bodies, joking around. Jin, sitting alone, hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should lie down with them—but gave up. It felt like she’d just be intruding. Instead, she set down the stack of papers she had been holding and looked up at the sky. The sky after the rain was a deep, cloudless blue, stretching endlessly above. The grass beneath her skin felt soft, and the breeze was cool against her face. She could hear the sound of swans flapping their wings on the lake. Ruth, who had been enjoying the weather with his eyes closed, spoke softly. “I have a suggestion.” “What…” Amanda murmured without opening her eyes, her voice drowsy from the warmth of the sun. “Call me Evan too. There are three Evans in this school, but only Butterfield gets called by his first name while Corticut and I are stuck with our last names. Isn’t that a bit unfair?” “His last name is long, Lucy.” Amanda raised her elbows and rested her head on her hands to tease Ruth as he grumbled. “Why do I have a nickname based on my last name?” “Then should I call you Evanna, Evangelina?” “Ah, it’s annoying.” Ruth plucked some grass and tossed it at Amanda’s face. Joey, watching with sparkling eyes, gently tried to soothe him. “I’ll call you Evan from now on, Lucy. The real Evan will be Butterfield.” “I want to be called the real Evan too…” In the end, laughter erupted. Jin chuckled softly as she listened to her friends’ conversation. It was a rare, relaxing lunch. If only school life could stay as peaceful as it was right now. Jin silently prayed that this peace would last. However, contrary to her prayer, Jin’s peace was shattered as soon as the next class began. Jin, who was opening the door to the chemistry lab and entering, stopped in her tracks. Jin scanned the entire classroom while standing still. There was no place to sit. Except for the one next to Butterfield. ‘Even if I tried to get involved on purpose, it wouldn’t happen like this.’ Jin pretended to be nonchalant as she casually moved her feet. Butterfield, lying down, turned his head and smiled at her. The deep dimples on his cheeks were annoying. For the past week, Jin had been making constant efforts to avoid getting involved with Butterfield, except in Mrs. Haide’s class where the pairs were assigned. Securing the seat furthest away from Butterfield in chemistry was just an extension of those efforts. Sitting as far away as possible from Butterfield’s seat, or choosing the spot furthest from him if he hadn’t arrived yet—thanks to these efforts, Jin could avoid feeling uncomfortable, as long as she endured Spanish class. But why was the seating arrangement like this today? Jin sat next to Butterfield, ignoring the gaze that was pressing against her left cheek. Jin kept her eyes lowered, flipping through her book. Butterfield didn’t say anything either—he simply rested his face against his arm, watching her. It was obvious he was doing it on purpose, fully aware of how uncomfortable it made her. One kept staring intently, while the other stubbornly ignored it. Time passed slowly between them. A loud, prolonged bell rang. Just in time, Mr. Ross walked in, allowing Jin to finally escape the uncomfortable gaze. “Today, we will do the experiment as we talked about last time. It will count toward the evaluation score, and it will involve handling dangerous reagents and dry ice, so safety is the top priority when conducting experiments. Be careful with your partner.” Mr. Ross kept emphasizing safety as he announced the start of the experiment. Without a word, Jin picked up a pipette. Butterfield glanced at what she was doing and then found something to do on his own. The experiment was long and complex. Jin and Butterfield didn’t say a word to each other throughout the experiment, but the difficult experiment that required cooperation forced them to communicate. As Jin dropped the solution, Butterfield pressed the stopwatch button. When a reaction appeared in the flask, Butterfield stopped the stopwatch, and Jin, who was watching him, recorded the time. Nonverbal conversations continued between the two. Experimental tools crossed, arms touched, and hands touched. Jin, trying hard not to be conscious of it, hurriedly moved to finish this phase as quickly as possible. She scribbled the experimental results—obtained by punching away on her calculator—onto her record sheet, then abruptly raised her hand. Mr. Ross, seeing Jin, approached them. Once he approved their work, they would be able to leave this place. “Hmm. I think you should think about it one more time.” Mr. Ross skimmed through the experiment report and handed the paper back to Jin. Jin suppressed the growing frustration inside and began the calculations again. Jin could feel Butterfield’s gaze from the side. Her face flushed with heat. Suppressing her embarrassment, Jin continued with the calculations, but then a hand slid out from the side and took her experiment log. The large hand, with veins protruding along the back, was surprisingly delicate. “You really can’t hide your gaze.” Instead, from the diagonal front seat, Pablo mumbled something as he tapped on his calculator, and through this, Jin heard a voice. It was Butterfield. “What?” “Why don’t you listen to what I say when you like me so much?” Butterfield, while writing in the experiment report, lightly clenched and opened the hand Jin had been looking at, as if he knew exactly where she had been looking. Jin, who was caught looking at him for a moment, bit her lips to hide her embarrassment and tried to pretend not to know. “Not everyone likes you. And I’m one of them. You annoy me.” Butterfield, who had been staring at Jin as she snapped back, flashed a slight smile at the corner of his mouth. “I’m annoyed by you too. A girl from who knows where. I don’t even know what you’ve been doing, and all the so-called friends you have, they all have their issues. There’s not a single thing I like about you.” Butterfield delivered his words with a pretty smile, like a dagger to the heart. As the words pierced her directly, Jin felt the heat rise in her head. On the other hand, her mood gradually turned cold. “What makes you think you’re so great? You look good on the outside, but inside it’s a mess. Half-hearted in everything, with no real interest, and playing with other people’s feelings is the worst. You’re just like a child who didn’t receive love.” As Jin spoke, his bright smile gradually cracked. Jin felt an inexplicable pleasure as he watched his always smiling face harden. “What did you say?” The increasingly tense atmosphere was calmed by someone’s low voice. “Stop.” Before he knew it, it was Mr. Ross who had approached. “What did I tell you about being careful? What are you doing with dangerous chemicals in front of you, both of you?” Only then did Jin look around. The other lab kids were already looking at Jin and Butterfield and whispering something. Jin squeezed her eyes shut and sighed deeply. Rumors will spread again. Instead of giving the two a detention for not following the safety rules, Mr. Ross ordered them to clean the chemistry lab for a month. “Mr. Ross, but…!” “Should we raise it to three months?” Jin, who had been resisting, could only nod slightly at Mr. Ross’s firm words. “It’s better if you don’t think about skipping. If one of you is missing when I unexpectedly come to the chemistry lab, the deadline will only be extended.” Jin and Butterfield were forced to clean the chemistry lab for a month. Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and
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