Space Oddity

[xgraces-blog]

          there were similarities between grace’s hometown of williamsburg and many of the larger towns in lake county. the largest town, clearlake, had the biggest similarities: roughly the same population, the same size… and yet, everything felt so different. the winters were milder, and it rarely ever snowed; the summers, while not as hot as she initially expected, were almost always a touch too sticky and uncomfortable, unlike the ones she’d endured back home. there was more of a relaxed vibe in clearlake that williamsburg didn’t seem to have, and everything was either too bright, too blue, or not green enough. grace always felt like she was in some sort of twilight zone.

and that was when she was in a somewhat familiar environment. all grace really knew about alaska was that it was cold and that it snowed a lot. the culture shock would’ve been even worse for tegan. forget twilight zone; the whole world must’ve felt like it was flipped on its axis. grace’s momentary homesickness felt silly in comparison. 

she wanted to look at tegan again, but she was afraid she was giving away her thoughts in her expression. tegan wasn’t the type who wanted pity.

[sent 4:38 pm] lmao my parents don’t speak it either 😂😂 they’re not korean!!!

[sent 4:38 pm] spent my first few years in an orphanage in korea though, and it’s not like i learnt english until i got here. the problem is i really don’t remember much 😓😓😂

[sent 4:39 pm] honey. oh, honey!!!! this room is going to be SO special you’re not going to recognise it and we’re going to get the best grades. all generated by our beautiful, inspiring room 🙏💙👑👍

[teegsferdinand-blog]

Fairbanks, Alaska was far from anything that Tegan had encountered since coming to Angelwood. She didn’t miss the few hours of sunlight they got up there in the middle of the winter. It was no wonder why Alaska was the setting for many horror movies. It wouldn’t surprise her if she ran into something horrific back home. The relaxing nature of the place was much more than anything she thought she could handle. She wasn’t used to it.

When she’d called home during the first week to ask her mother to send her some tank tops, it had been as if she’d asked her to send her a three-headed dog. It just wasn’t something that she was used to having to buy up in Alaska. She definitely didn’t mind the change, though. Her dream was to get out of Alaska as soon as she could. This had just happened quicker than she thought possible.

Tegan sat down cross-legged on Grace’s bed. She wan’t usually one to get into someone else’s personal space, but she didn’t think her roommate would mind. Her eyebrows raised as she looked at the newest texts from her roommate. How does one respond to being told the person they’re speaking too was adopted? Tegan wasn’t exactly tactful but she was by no means rude.

“I didn’t know you were adopted...that’s pretty awesome. I mean, it’s not awesome that you’re adopted. It’s just cool that you got adopted by people who sound like they really care about you, you know?” Tegan rambled on, trying to cover herself. When she was sure that she hadn’t offended the other girl, she let out a little laugh. “Oh? Our room is going to be that inspirational is it?”

[xgraces-blog]

          grace took a deep breath and exhaled, nodding slowly. she remembered tegan mentioning she was from alaska when she first moved in. and as far away as virginia was, alaska had to be further. it was attached to canada, wasn’t it—the other side of canada? she wasn’t totally sure, she wasn’t super great at geography. all she knew was that, like grace, it didn’t mean weekend trips meant you could go visit home. it was too far.

although, grace had to admit, it didn’t make total sense to send your child to boarding school if they weren’t going to go at least into another state. granted, california was quite big—much bigger than virginia—and east coast kids were notorious for being in boarding schools, but even fletch would be going to their father’s old school in connecticut, which was a reasonable distance away. she guessed there were kids that were troublesome or their parents wanted them were clingy, but still. there were prestigious day schools. and military academies.

[sent 4:35 pm] it sounds familiar to me but then when you get all technical it’s just 😅😅

[sent 4:35 pm] but thank you! helping me means having a better looking room 😄

[sent 4:36 pm] i will show you the picture and your mind will be blown. my room back home looks so good 😭😭😭

[teegsferdinand-blog]

         It had been yet another thing that had separated her from her roommate the year before. The other girl had often went home for the weekend without telling Tegan, leaving her by herself for the entirety of the weekend. Long weekends and holidays were things that the blonde lived for now that she was in the continental United States. It was the only time she got to go home for her family and some days it was all that kept her motivated to get up and go to class. California was different from Alaska in almost every way imaginable. From the climate to the people, it was like entering another world every time she stepped off a plane. Her mother, however, was never anything less than encouraging. Always telling her that the opportunities that would come from attending Angelwood were well worth the distance for the majority of the year. “Right...It doesn’t sound familiar to me at all. I guess that just comes from not meeting anyone who’s ever spoken it up in Alaska.” Tegan couldn’t help but grin at her roommate before nodding her head. “Our room looking good will make for a way better work environment too, you know! But my room back home was nothing special...”

[xgraces-blog]

          she couldn’t help but smile back at her roommate, grateful for the fact she hadn’t been too awkward about her bout of homesickness or her decorative requests. grace really liked having tegan as a roommate. she couldn’t say that her other roommate was bad; they’d reached an understanding by the end of the year, but they were so drastically different that it always felt awkward. tegan wasn’t like that. they weren’t very similar, but she understood. 

tegan was a journalist—or, at the very least, an aspiring one. grace hadn’t actually read any of her material, but she knew that tegan wrote. a lot. grace could even remember times when the laptop’s dim light and the sound of her clacking away at the keyboard had stirred her out of sleep. now that she was used to it, she thought it was kind of calming, but it had taken a few nights to get used to. grace thought it was kind of cute. 

grace tilted her head when she saw tegan yawning, reaching for her phone again as she heard the other girl talked. it would give her a head start on replying.

[sent 4:33 pm] you’re tired. korean too much for you today? z_____z

[sent 4:33 pm] i like to decorate!!! i’ll totally show you pictures of my room back home later.

[sent 4:34 pm] i’ll keep that in mind roomie. i’m lucky to have you 😘😘😘 you’re great!!

[teegsferdinand-blog]

          Tegan gave her roommate a sympathetic look. “You know...it’s ok to be sad about being here. I feel that way too sometimes, i mean my whole family’s up in Alaska. You know how far that is from here?” It was something that Tegan hadn’t talked about with her other roommate. She doubted the other girl even knew where she was from until halfway through the semester when she went home for Thanksgiving. Grace was just one of those people, few and far between, that was easy for her to relate to. One of the guidelines she’d set up on their first day of being roommates was how she sometimes stayed up late to write. She was planning to start a journalism or writing club if she could get permission sometime. It was the one thing she was passionate about and something that connected her to her mother even when they were states apart. She’d gotten more used to having Grace as her roommate, though, and found herself going to sleep earlier than usual to accommodate the other girl and her schedule. The blonde let out a snort of laughter at the next text message. The other girl’s use of emojis was something that she thought would always be amusing to her. “Korean might be too much today. We’ll have to see after we put up the fairy lights. I would totally love to see a picture of your room, though!”

[xgraces-blog]

          it was very clear that tegan was not comfortable with the idea of a weeping roommate. even if grace was totally not weeping (and she wouldn’t, ever, unless something really bad happened or it was the weeks leading up to her final art assignment). grace wanted to let her know she wasn’t actually crying, but it was hard to when her communication skills relied on people looking at her.

when the other girl looked up, grace gave her a smile, taking the box of fairy lights from her. she opened it quickly, deftly untangling and unwinding the lights inside. she sniffed a few more times, but was glad when she found she didn’t need to do so anymore.

please, let her think i have allergies.

after all, it wasn’t like she wasn’t glad that she was at boarding school. angelwood was definitely an experience. not everyone was super nice, but everyone was reasonable and grace hadn’t found it difficult to fit in. no one had questioned why she couldn’t talk; they’d just accepted it. it got to the point where her roommate totally forgot she didn’t. not to mention everyone was all sort of a little weird, most of them with their own passions. it wasn’t like her old school, where everyone just wanted to be rich or enter the upper class, or whatever.

[sent 4:40 pm] okay this is what we have to do

[sent 4:40 pm] i have some command hooks in my drawer so i’ll get them. i have a design i wanted in my sketchbook so we should check it out to see if they’re doable?

[sent: 4:41 pm] when it comes to decorating and art, you must know that i’m an overachiever. #doitfortheart

[teegsferdinand-blog]

       Tegan smiled at Grace, an attempt to be reassuring, before she went about opening another box of fairy lights. She would have to go out to town sometime and buy some of her own sometime. It had been another thing she’d never thought of bringing and it seemed like a great idea. Tegan wasn’t usually one to openly compliment other people but she thought her roommate had great artistic vision. Maybe that’s why she’d asked her to be her roommate in the first place. Who better to be your roommate in a strange place than a fellow artistic spirit? Sure, they used different medias to communicate but it was the thought that counted. The fact that the other girl couldn’t talk didn’t seem to matter that much when it came down to the greater scheme of things since she found her own ways to communicate. In fact, Tegan was willing to bet that she’d had longer conversations with her than she did the whole previous year with her last roommate. Grabbing the phone off the bed next to her, she stifled a yawn as she opened the new text messages. Nodding her head as she read them, she set the phone down again and continued unraveling the lights in silence for a moment. “You really thought a lot about this whole decorating thing. More than I did, anyway. Good for you.”  She smiled at the other girl before giving her a thumbs up. “Yeah, get out your sketchbook. I wouldn’t mind checking out your design for our room to see if we can actually accomplish it.” The blonde looked around the room, “If it’s stuff close to the ceiling, though, one of us might need to stand on a chair.” She couldn’t stop herself from laughing, “Maybe that’s why we get along so well. We’re both overachievers!” 

[xgraces-blog]

          after she’d been adopted, grace had been very lucky. her mom and dad were extremely well off, and they had everything they wanted—except for a child. and although grace didn’t know what she’d done to charm them, she was so grateful she had, because they had given her everything she had ever needed since. clothes, art classes, boarding schools… she’d never taken them for granted, and she was known in her family as being the thrifty one. her father loved it, saying she would’ve been good as a banker or something. ew.

thinking about her family while she was at school often lead to sharp pangs of homesickness in her chest. she tried to put them out of her mind while she was at school, but they always found a way to sneak back in. she wondered what they were doing now—maybe fletcher, her younger brother, was coming back from lacrosse practice. her dad would still be at work and her mom would probably get takeout on the way home—

okay. no more thinking about her family. grace sniffled.

remembering she wasn’t alone in the room, she looked up at tegan, hoping her eyes weren’t watery or anything lame like that. she ended up turning to the wall that the other girl had motioned to. it would be a good place for fairy lights. then, she pointed to the boxes of fairy lights and posters and photo frames on her bed.

[teegsferdinand-blog]

         Tegan had gotten used to being isolated from people due to living in Alaska her whole life. The closest family member, besides her grandmother and mother, had lived a 2 hour plane ride away. She missed her mother a lot, probably less than most students missed their own parents, but it wasn’t something a weekly Skype session couldn’t fix. Growing up, she’d always wanted the freedom to do things on her own so living in a dorm as an independent was a breathe of fresh air. It was easy to see that her roommate probably didn’t feel the same way about her own family. Knowing she wasn’t the most tactful of people, Tegan avoided the subject of family whenever she was able to. God forbid she say something that would offend someone’s parents. Then she’d have to hear about it for minutes and who would want that. Sniffling on the other side of the room snapped her out of her thoughts. The blonde got up off her bed and made her way over to the box that Grace had pointed at, careful to avoid eye contact in case the other girl was crying. “Okay, you wanna help me untangle these if I need it? Or at least unpack it?” Tegan turned around and handed one of the boxes of fairy lights to the shorter girl with a sympathetic look on her face.

[xgraces-blog]

          grace was very much an overpacker. she’d been told off for it on multiple occasions, but she couldn’t help it. she just never knew what she needed half the time, and even if she packed everything besides the kitchen sink, she still forgot something important. it was a lose-lose situation.

having parents that had been to boarding schools before, however, had curbed some of her nervousness. they told her that the student and their parents’ comfort was their priority—and that was particularly true of angelwood more so than the schools her parents had attended. grace knew now that if she had forgotten anything, the staff of angelwood would make sure she wouldn’t be without for too long, as long as it wasn’t contraband. they catered to her every need, even more so than other kids because they did consider her to have special needs.

in any case, freshman year had been a learning curve for her, and she’d learnt very quickly what she did and didn’t need for school. grace had somehow arrived at angelwood with half the stuff she’d brought the year before, but she’d found she’d brought everything she’d needed. the only thing she hadn’t gotten around to yet was decorating; she’d been so caught up doing actual school things and running her blog that it had been further down her to-do list than she would’ve liked.

but decorating didn’t come easy to her. plus, she was super short.

grace’s new roommate tegan was someone she’d only known in passing, but she was really nice to live with. apparently she had had a bad experience with her old roommate, and grace was glad she was enjoying rooming with her instead. the only thing was that tegan liked to talk sometimes, and grace had to often locate her phone in order to send the girl messages because it wasn’t like she understood asl yet. 

[sent 4:35 pm] oh, me too u__u you’re not alone, sister!!!

[sent 4:35 pm] and done deal, as long as you promise to help me with one thing???

grace made sure her puppy eyes were activated as she sent her final message.

[sent 4:36 pm] can you help me with my decorations??? i can’t hang my fairy lights EVEN WHEN I’M STANDING ON THE BED.

[sent 4:36 pm] so pleaaaase help me tegan, i’m really too small to do this on my own :( 

[teegsferdinand-blog]

                       Tegan hasn’t grown up ‘poor’, exactly, but the past few years had proven to be more financially successful for her mother than she was used to. That meant more clothes. Admittedly, her wardrobe wasn’t as fancy as some of her classmates, but it was more than the blonde was used to when she was younger. Not having any family members attending the school before her left her with big expectations.  Looking up the school on a whim after hearing about it on the internet had turned out as one of Tegan’s better ‘get-out-of-Alaska-quick’ schemes. The staff and most of her fellow classmates had been as nice and accommodating as she’d expected. The few exceptions, however, had succeeded in making her freshman year a near living hell. In fact, there had been a few nights where she’d taken her blankets and slept on one of the couches in the common area.  Sophomore year was already shaping up to be better than the year before. She was finding time to write article to send home to her mother for proofreading. Tegan was deadset on finding out if there was a journalism club on campus and if there wasn’t already, she would try to start one.  One of the only problems Tegan noticed with her new roommate was the fact that she found herself forgetting she couldn’t actually talk back. Sometimes the only thing that would stop the blonde in the midst of her rambling was her phone buzzing. She would have to ask her to teach her some sign language one day. It had always been something that had piqued her interest, anyway. Tegan picked up her phone and scanned the messages from the shorter girl before looking up at her. “Ok what do you need help with.” She squinted a little at the girl as she stared at her with puppy dog eyes after the messages were sent. “Seems easy enough. Besides, I like fairy lights. Do you have them unpacked yet?” She motioned to the spot on the wall where she thought the lights would look the best after she’d read the texts.

[teegsferdinand-blog]

             It was surprising how much Tegan didn’t think of once she was accepted into Angelwood. As someone who could almost be considered ‘hyper-prepared’ on an everyday basis, it was a near shock to her system once she realized how unprepared she actually was. The excitement of being accepted into such a good boarding school that she had no family attachments to was a big thing for the Alaskan. Whatever God there was coming down himself and saying ‘Tegan move your ass’ could not have made her pack faster and that had been her first problem. At least being unprepared her freshman year had prepared the blonde with what to expect in her sophomore year. She’d been more prepared with clothes and decorations for her side of her room after being embarrassed and sending home for more clothes last year. Still, she was more minimal in her decorative style than anything. The girl she was rooming with this year, Grace, was someone she got along with at least. It was more than she could say about her roommate from the previous year, who she’d fought with more than anything, so it was a pleasant change. The course work, too, was something that promised to make Tegan’s year even better than the last  The blonde was standing on her bed talking over her shoulder at her roommate as she attempted to hang a poster on the wall above her bed. “I have homework in pretty much all of my classes this weekend. I could cry.” Tegan turned around and faced her friend before sitting down on her bed, finally satisfied with the placement of her poster. “Would you wanna help me study for Korean later, by the way?”

[joowonjustin-blog]

Justin snorted before smiling. “Whatever you say, Tegan.” He didn’t doubt she was right though–anyone that inquisitive about anything probably had a very high intelligence. No one could ask that many questions and get away with it if they weren’t smart. Shrugging, Justin said, “There are plenty of pretty faces around–we just tend not to be distracted by them. I think that says more about our self-control than the school aesthetics.” 

“Everything is more straightforward than poetry is,” Justin said with a sigh. “But it sounds pretty. Kind of like a song, except a super complicated one.” He began packing away his empty lunch container. “It would make sense though. You’d need a special kind of thinking to understand poems.” Enjoying them was one thing; understanding them was another.

He couldn’t help but adjust his glasses and run a hand through his hair. “I don’t think they’ve talked to her since they kicked her out,” he admitted. “My mother doesn’t like to mention them–but that’s how I understand it to be like.” With a sigh, he added, “It’s meant to be my culture too, but it’s not like I get it either. It’s not a good thing… but there are still families who relent and support their daughters and grandchildren. My family just isn’t the type, I guess.” As much as he hated to admit it, he could understand that. It was like cutting off the bad branches of a tree in order to help it grow. 

Justin waved her off. “You can try, but it’ll all be in Korean–I’ll paraphrase for you later.” Hesitantly, he pulled the phone out of his pocket. He stared at it for a few moments before he looked up at the blonde. “Should I?”

[teegsferdinand-blog]

Tegan grinned and pointed at him. “Exactly. Whatever I say is right.” She didn’t want to push the topic any further in case it would cause her to go off on a tangent. She knew, and so did he, that she tended to be more crafty than anything. “I don’t mind not being distracted by pretty faces. I can appreciate them, but at the same time it doesn’t bother me at all.” The blonde just shrugged her shoulders. “That may be true, but I never had the patience to try poetry. There’s a reason I’m not a musician, Justin.” She crushed up her empty cup when she finished her tea. “You need a special kind of thinking to do anything, really. Even writing itself is complicated. Don’t underestimate it.” ”Your grandparents sound like real assholes,” she said before she could stop herself. She clicked her tongue. “Too bad that your grandparents couldn’t be one of the good kinds of people who support someone.” Tegan couldn’t imagine doing that to someone in her own family. Tegan nodded and pulled out her little notepad. “Right, of course that’s alright.” She tapped her fingers on the table. “Do you want me to dial the number for you if it’s too difficult or what?”

[joowonjustin-blog]

Dropping his fork, he patted her shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m sure you’d be the smartest if you applied yourself.” He couldn’t help but smile a little before adding, “Also very true. Unfortunately, not everyone has self-control like we do. But you know–I generally aim to impress.”

He nodded slowly. “No I understand that–it’s too complicated for me after a period of time, as well. It requires too much thought. Unless you’re passionate about it or you have the time, it’s hard to decipher.” Looking over at her he couldn’t help but ask, “Do you think we’re too logical for things like poems?”

He shook his head. “Like I said, it’s not like I talk to them often.” They’d first contacted him on his sixteenth birthday; even today, Justin and his mom had no idea how they’d gotten their number. They shouldn’t have known where they’d gone. It had been a polite “Happy sixteenth birthday, Joowon-ah, best wishes,” and an inquiry into his studies. He told them he was doing well–of course–and he watched his mom preparing herself to talk to them as they wished him good health before hanging up. They had never offered him anything to work with, or given him any incentive to learn more about them. 

He looked at his watch, trying to figure out the time difference. “It’s practically morning in Korea,” he said. “Do you think I should call them now? Maybe you’ll be able to write about this instead of your prison experience.” 

[teegsferdinand-blog]

Tegan rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. “I meant besides myself. We both know I’m pretty much a prodigy.” She couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “You know maybe it helps that we don’t have any distraction by the pretty faces around us. Lucky us.” ”Poetry is actually my least favorite part about English class, you know? I just can’t get into it as much as I can get into reading into logic in books and everything like that.” She took a long sip of her tea and clicked her tongue in thought before shrugging. “It’s entirely possible that that is exactly the case.” The blonde pursed her lips and wrinkled her nose. “Of course. But they talk to your mom even less don’t they? I can’t imagine never talking to your kid again no matter what they did especially if it’s because of some sort of disrespect to the family thing. Seems selfish to me. I mean but it’s not my culture so maybe I just don’t get it.” She clenched her jaw and gritted her teeth. “I mean call them now if you want. I can write down things they say if you want? That way you can tell your mom if they say anything super important?”

[xgraces-blog]

xgraceling oh, that’s fair enough!!!! i protect my phone quite a bit because it’s how i communicate with people ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ it’s not exactly a journal but i can’t really whisper and tell people my secrets that way!!! [4:39:04]

xgraceling well…. unless they understand asl. then i can just sign it [4:39:35]

She sent her messages in rapid succession, shaking her hands as she prepared to send another one. Grace knew that her texting speeds scared other people, but it was just because she was used to it. She was also really fast at typing, but nothing bet her speed on her cellphone. 

xgraceling so you aspire to be just as successful as her, right? (¬‿¬) or do you have a different interest in journalism??? [4:42:11]

Grace looked up from her phone as she heard the other girl speak again, and smiled. The anonymous gossip column was one of her favourite parts of the entire school paper–she nodded, tilting her head as she did so. Her whole demeanour changed completely when the novice reporter basically admitted it was her; Grace’s jaw dropped and she pointed back at her, trying not to be too enthusiastic, before returning to her phone. 

xgraceling: you mean to say you wRITE THE ANONYMOUS GOSSIP COLUMN [4:44:20]

[teegsferdinand-blog]

Tegan smiled a little bigger and nodded her head. “I completely understand! I used to write in an actual journal when i was younger too. I still do sometimes and I actually have a little lock on it so I guess it makes sense!” She nodded appreciatively, “I’m glad we cleared this up.” She could really appreciate the girls typing ability, it could probably even beat her out if they had some sort of contest for it. “Yeah, I really do! I don’t know. I’m aiming for the same kind of stuff that she does at the moment but I have so many years to change my mind before I actually have to pick a solid career, you know? Things can change.” Tegan almost let out a giggle at the girl’s facial expression but caught herself and covered her mouth with her hand, even though her shoulders still shook with laughter as she nodded. “I guess you appreciate my work then? Some people don’t! So I’m really glad to hear it.” She tapped her chin with her pointer finger. “You know. You type really fast. Have you ever thought about writing for the paper?”

[xgraces-blog]

Beaming, she took the phone. It surprised her that it didn’t have a lock screen. Grace guarded her phone with her life–it was her baby, her biggest communication tool. Most of the things she said were done through her various chat apps and texts. She couldn’t imagine what she’d do without a smartphone; heck, she couldn’t remember what her life was like before the iPhone was common. She navigated through the apps’ add contact screens with ease; if anything, Grace was a seasoned professional.

Holding up a finger, she made sure she added the other girl’s account on her own chat up, quickly pulling up a screen and typing out her answers.

xgraceling i don’t think i know so much about her personally（ﾉ´д｀）but those magazines are quite well known! so it means your mom is really good (✿◠‿◠)  [4:35:04]

That felt much better. Her reply had come a lot faster than it had when she had been writing. She relaxed a little, no longer feeling as pressured. She gave the girl another thumbs up–even if she no longer needed to, before typing out another message.

xgraceling you’ll be great!!! i read the paper quite often because it’s a way for me to pick up some of the school gossip OTL [4:36:48]

xgraceling i always think it’s written well and since you’re in charge of it… i guess that shows the influence of your leadership and direction!!!!!（＞ｙ＜） [4:37:54]

[teegsferdinand-blog]

Tegan pointed at her phone, “I’m an open book. Nothing to hide so no lock screen, you know? Not that people with a lock screen have anything to hide. Plus maybe I’m just a little bit lazy, you know?” She watched with a sort of shocked appreciate as the girl clicked through her phone so easily. Honestly, Tegan couldn’t even type that fast on her phone. She worked much better on a computer and even an old type writer that her mother had gotten her for her previous birthday.  “Oh that’s ok, you know. Most people don’t even know people by name when they read things in magazines. Their names aren’t exactly in the biggest print in the word. But yeah I’d like the think my mom is quite a good writer!” She was a little surprised at how quick the girl was typing out her replies but it was as easy as having a normal spoken conversation. ”Oh thank you so much! You’re too kind. Actually...you know the ‘anonymous’ gossip column?” She looked around to make sure no one was looking in her general direction before pointing at herself and smiling proudly.

[joowonjustin-blog]

“I never said I wasn’t one of the smartest in our friendship group, Tegan,” Justin said with a raised eyebrow, “Just that I wasn’t the smartest person in the entire world. Does this mean you’re acknowledging the fact our friends aren’t as smart as they think they are?” He had an inkling of what she was trying to do, and he appreciated it. “I never let the peasants win. Who do you think I am?”

He nodded, taking the opportunity to shovel down more food as he did. “I suppose. Poetry’s complicated, isn’t it? Normally I’m a person of few words, but poetry is entirely another level.” Poetry was very much an occasional thing for him. It was beautiful, yes; but Justin often couldn’t handle the vagueness and the different meanings embedded into such a limited amount of words. Give him something straightforward any day. “It’s all genetics,” he said with a nod. 

“It’s not like I know if they speak English or not,” he pointed out with a shrug. “So it’s possible that they won’t because they can’t.” It was possible they knew a little bit, but it would probably be polite words at best. Still, he had no idea–but that was a common theme when Justin was thinking about his family. “But anyway. It’s probably best to stay out of jail. They don’t like you selling your story while you’re still there.” 

[teegsferdinand-blog]

She shrugs her shoulders. “You’re just the smartest person I know and we both know that are friends, while not complete idiots, have their moments of stupidity. Some more than others.” She smiled at him and patted his shoulder from across the table. “Exactly. You don’t let me down!” Tegan couldn’t help but roll her eyes a little as he shoved food in his mouth, but she nodded in response. “Poetry might even be too complicated for me, you know? Poetry is a lot of rhyming and you have to go a lot into hidden meanings and everything. I like to think I’m more straight-forward.” She knew for a fact she wouldn’t be able to spend more than 5 minutes thinking of a deeper meaning for a poem so why even try. “You don’t even know if they speak English? Jesus Christ....” Tegan snorted “Very true so I might be safe. But if I go to prison I can write a book like that lady who wrote Orange is the New Black you know?”

[joowonjustin-blog]

Justin couldn’t help but snort. “I don’t think I’m the smartest,” he admitted, his tone blunt, “But I don’t think it would be a stretch to call myself an extremely hard-worker. I’m also pretty resourceful.” And lucky–luck had a lot to do with all the connections he had in the business world, and for the circumstances he found himself in. Of course, he’d worked hard too, but it was a lot more important than he liked to give it credit for.

One look at his best friend’s face made him feel guilty. It must’ve been obvious that he had been daydreaming. He didn’t want her to feel bad about it. The insight had been interesting and important for him to hear. He couldn’t go around believing that all grandparents were terrible just because his were. “Poems? Seems a bit… short for you,” he said with a chuckle. “You’re more into exposes than obscure meanings, aren’t you?”

He ran a hand through his hair as his mind wandered again–it seemed to be something that happened often when he was in periods of distress–conjuring up the image of the two of them solved crimes as private investigators. He couldn’t help but snort. “I doubt we would be taken seriously, and we’d have to move into a place smaller than where I already live. No thanks.”

“They probably wouldn’t even address you.” He punctuated his statement with an eye roll. He regretted it when he heard what she had to say next, and he could feel his features soften into a small smile. “The fact that you would commit arson for me is truly touching,” he said, hoping she could hear the sincerity in his tone. “But I have a feeling all the interesting gossip in prison may also lead you into doing something that reckless.” 

[teegsferdinand-blog]

"You obviously don’t know the people that we’re friends with very well then.” She snorted and shook her head, “you’re resourceful and smart as a whip. Don’t devalue yourself. You do that and the peasants win.” Tegan didn’t want her friend to feel any more shitty than he probably already did. He was one of the few people that she couldn’t tolerate seeing sad. ”Poems are a bit short for me, but my grandma had a different gift I guess.” It was true. Her grandma didn’t have the patience that Tegan and her mother did when it came to writing. “I mean, I can get into obscure meanings when I read things but when I write, I’m more into exposing things. I guess I get that more from my mom than anything.” She raised an eyebrow. “You think they wouldn’t? Wow that’s kinda rude isn’t it?” She clicked her tongue and managed a small smile before she reached across the table and patted his hand. “Eh, shit happens.”

[xgraces-blog]

Grace smiled when she heard that the other girl had accounts on her favourite social media sites. That way, she would be comfortable with the interface and she could start communicating a lot easier. She held her hand out for her cellphone, hoping she didn’t seem weird, because all she wanted to do was type in her username into the “find friends” section. Maybe even her cellphone number too–she didn’t mind.

With no way to be able to respond to the other girl’s comment, she tried to make her face as expressive as she could. Her eyes widened and she nodded with a smile. Cosmo and Seventeen? It seemed like her mother was a reasonably popular journalist. That was really impressive. 

Grace took back the paper after realising she had another question to ask and she really couldn’t be bothered miming again. She scribbled as fast as she could, hoping that her writing was still legible:

That’s really awesome! ⊂((・▽・))⊃ That means your mom’s probably an amazing journalist. Do you want to be like her then, if you run the school paper?

[teegsferdinand-blog]

Tegan gladly handed over her cellphone to the other girl. She had nothing to hide on that phone and it was for a good cause. “The apps are all on the home screen if you want to put your user name in so I can friend you and we can talk that way if it’s easier!” She offered the girl yet another kind smile. She let out a short laugh when she saw the expression on the girl’s face. “Have you read any of her stuff then? Or is it just surprising that she’s written for those magazines?” Sometimes, Tegan found it hard to believe herself that her mother was as successful as she’s managed to be. The blonde squinted at the paper as it was passed back and she nodded slowly before looking up at the other girl. “Yeah! I mean I can only hope to be half as successful at being a journalist as my mother at this point.”

[joowonjustin-blog]

It wasn’t true that he wouldn’t ever feel like a failure, but Tegan was right. He’d would never feel bad for being successful, especially considering the circumstances he had come from. His grandparents would have to just accept that he had done something productive with his life. “I know I should be,” he said, as soon as his mouth was devoid of spaghetti. “I don’t have anything to be ashamed or disappointed about.”

He wiped his mouth as he listened attentively. It wasn’t something Justin liked to do, but he couldn’t help but think about what his life would’ve been like if they’d had that support from his grandparents. He thought about what it would’ve been like, to come home from school and stay with his grandmother and wait until his mom was finished with work. His grandfather would tell him to study hard. He’d–

Justin shook his head. Thinking like that was stupid. Besides, work was almost impossible to find for single mothers back in Korea, and there was no way his entire family would uproot themselves and move to the United States for his future. Something like that would never happen. It had never happened. “Your grandmother sounds like a nice woman,” was all Justin could say on the topic. He forced a small smile, adding, “You could’ve been a good lawyer or a detective. But you’d be a shady one–you’d be the one going through trashcans looking for evidence.”

“Technically, it would be your fault,” he pointed out, raising an eyebrow. “But I don’t think I’d blame you for that. I wouldn’t mind if you offended them on my behalf.”

[teegsferdinand-blog]

Tegan couldn’t help but feel concerned for her friend even though he was showing no signs that caused for her to be concerned in an outright way.But the two of them were alike in so many ways that it was easier for her to tell when things were going wrong. “You really don’t have anything to be ashamed of. You’re a great guy and you’re the smartest guy I know..probably.” She felt bad talking about  how good it was growing up with a grandmother who loved her when it was something her best friend didn’t have. It wasn’t like she wanted him to feel left out or sad about it in any way, but it seemed to be the effect it was having on him, ”My grandmother is pretty great. She used to write poems! So I guess it all sort of runs in the family huh?” She lets out a laugh and slaps a hand down on the table, “well, if either of us fails at our chosen careers I know our fallback! Join together to be a sick detective agency. Who needs college when you can do that?”  She rolled her eyes and raised her hands above her head. “Well, it wouldn’t be completely my fault if they said something to upset me!” Tegan smiled at him, “listen. I would burn a house down for you if I had to, okay?”

[xgraces-blog]

Grace bit her lip. No, that’s not what she was trying to say–she had already figured that out. The information about her mother was new, however, and she tilted her head in surprise. She thought for a few moments as to how she could ask her question through mime, but found herself unable to do so.

Ears perking up at the mention of a cellphone, she smiled and nodded. Not wanting to disturb Tegan’s doodling, she picked up her art folio and flipped to the back page. She wrote a message as quickly as she could, but found that she was still extremely slow. Thankfully, she wouldn’t have to do this for much longer.

This is a list of some of the messenger apps I use. Just write your username next to one of them! I can just text you if you don’t have any of them. But that’s usually the way I communicate with people. If you don’t want to give me anything, that’s okay too! I can write, but it will just take a little bit longer! (゜▽゜;)

P.S. Which magazines has your mom written for? Maybe I’ve read some of her articles? 

Reading over the note as quickly as she dared, she ripped the page out of the back of her folio before sliding it across the desk to the other girl.

[teegsferdinand-blog]

She felt bad that she wasn’t able to pick up on exactly what the other girl was trying to tell her. She couldn’t imagine being in the position she was in, it would probably drive her mad after a little while. Tegan wasn’t the most vocal person in school by far, but not being able to do it at all would be something she wouldn’t be able to handlle. Tegan read over the message rather quickly and pulled her own phone out of her bag as she looked over the different messenger apps the other girl used. She had a fair amount of them that she used to talk to her own friends, so that would be easy enough. She turned the paper back to face Grace and tapped the paper next to the name of one of the apps. ”I have this one and the one below it. So either one of those and you can always have my cellphone number too. Whichever one is easier for you, it doesn’t matter much to me!” She smiled even bigger. “As for the last part of your note? My mom’s written for a lot of local stuff up in Alaska! But she had a few articles published in Cosmo and a few of those magazines that are on sale in the grocery lines! And she wrote for Seventeen for a few years when I was younger so odds are you’ve probably read at least something my mom’s written.”

[joowonjustin-blog]

He couldn’t help but smile at his friend’s concern. “Don’t worry,” he assured her. “There’s no reason for me to feel like a failure for being a success.” He reached over to pat her shoulder a few times. “But thank you for the compliment. I try not to be disappointing.” 

Justin mulled that over that for a few moments, pursing his lips. “Your grandmother?” Despite the mess going on between him and his grandparents, he was interested. What was it like to have grandparents who truly cared for you? “Was the she one who looked after you when your mother was busy?” He couldn’t help but add, “Well it’s lucky your mother got you into journalism. It’s hard trying to see you do anything else.” It was almost like she was born for it. The same could be said of him, of course, but he remembered all the comments people had made about how musically talented he was, and how he should pursue a career in music. But such a career wasn’t stable, nor practical. He wasn’t that great anyway. He took another bite of his lunch, before adding, “I definitely agree with you.”

“Yeah, you are, but you’re not my grandparents,” he said with a little sigh. “It’s the proper way to deal with it. But I’ll appreciate the moral support.” He couldn’t help but chuckle a little when he added, “I wouldn’t put it past you.”

[teegsferdinand-blog]

She rolled her eyes. “Yes I know that! There’s no way you would feel like a failure. You’re too proud of your success. Which you very well should be, my friend.” Taking another sip of her tea, Tegan flashed him a tiny smile before she swallowed her tea. “You’re welcome.” Tegan nodded her head. She knew it was an entirely different situation from what Justin was used to, so any questions he asked were expected from him. “Yeah, she was. I mean my mom was super busy a lot when i started to get a little older so my gram would watch me a lot.” She beamed at him and laughed. “I know, right? Can you imagine me doing something else? I can’t. I don’t think I’d be happy with myself if I picked anything else to do with my life.”  She shrugged her shoulders because it was true. She actually cared about him and she knew it wasn’t right to assume that maybe they didn’t care at all, but it didn’t seem that way at the moment. “If I offend them, then it’s not really my fault, you know?”