A Rather Frustrating Kid
"Have a good day. Don't cause any trouble. If you get into a fight with someone like you did yesterday, you're really going to get it."
"I already said I got it. That was all his fault."
"Whose?"
"This kid. A total idiot."
"Watch your language."
"Fine."
Even from the inside alone, the sedan looked expensive. Haley, seated in the passenger seat, started to prop her feet up on the dashboard — only for her mother, waiting at a red light, to shoot her a look so terrifying that she quietly drew her legs back in.
She kept grumbling even so, and her young mother could only heave silent, heavy sighs at the behavior.
"But Mom. When are we going back to America?"
"I don't know. Maybe when you stop fighting with your friends."
"That's a condition that only works on little kids."
"You are a little kid."
"I know that. I mean kids younger than me. Try a different approach. That one doesn't even make my ears perk up anymore."
"…"
Haley's mother closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them. When the light changed, she pressed her lips shut and drove on.
She pulled up in front of the main gate and delivered one last firm warning as Haley got out.
"Stay quiet today. If I get another call from your teacher, you're really in for it."
"I'll try."
"Hail—"
"Drive safe."
Ignoring her mother's angry call, she shut the car door and her steps quickened. It had started the moment she spotted someone.
"Hey!"
And that someone was none other than Yohan.
"Hi, Hail… Newman."
He had been about to use her first name, then remembered yesterday's warning and offered the greeting with an awkward look. She smirked, satisfied, and asked,
"Where are you going?"
"To class."
"Yeah?"
"Mm."
To Haley, Yohan was an extremely frustrating person. Those half-lidded, sleepy-looking eyes. That turtle-slow way of talking. Back home in New York, speaking like that would have gotten him teased for sure.
"What was your name again?"
"Yohan Lee. You can call me Gio—"
"No. From now on, you're Turtle."
"Huh? Turtle?"
"Yeah. Turtle."
"Why am I a turtle? I'm fast."
And on top of that, a state of mind that — put generously — came off as naive, and put less generously, looked plain dumb, especially for a nine-year-old. Haley figured plenty of people would get angry just trying to hold a conversation with someone this frustrating.
"Shut up. You never answered me."
"Answered what?"
"About not snitching from now on. That answer."
"Ahh."
"What do you mean, 'ahh'? Answer me right now."
"I'll think about it."
"You wanna die?"
"No."
Whether it was the way he talked, or the way he took every word at face value, or the fact that even under threat of death he still wouldn't simply say yes — for whatever reason, Haley looked into Yohan's pure, open eyes and scowled hard.
Was this how her mother felt dealing with her? It was like talking to a wall. At the same time, something stubborn rose up in her. A competitive urge to remake this clueless little kid however she pleased. She didn't know why the thought even came to her. Maybe it was because no one had ever treated her with that kind of easygoing indifference before. That, at least, was the surface reason she told herself.
"I'm going to be watching you from now on."
"You see me every day."
"No… are you stupid? It means if you snitch from now on, you die…!"
"I already don't want to die…"
"It's a threat! Is something wrong with your head?"
"I'm good at studying, though."
Even sarcasm bounced right off him. Frustrated, Haley pounded her tiny fists against her own chest. Then, suddenly, she remembered something she'd noticed every time she passed him: Yohan really, really loved ice cream. Whenever the friends he hung around with were eating some, he would make the odd request that they cut him just one scoop. At least, that was the Yohan she had seen so far.
It was one of those things — you don't particularly care about someone, but when they do the same thing over and over, it just stamps itself into your head. The kind of thing that happens all the time.
"You like ice cream, right?"
Following that memory, Haley asked, and Yohan nodded right away.
"Yeah."
"If you listen to me from now on, I'll buy you ice cream. One every day."
"Really?"
"Of course."
"Okay."
"Good. So from now on, when I fight, no snitching. Got it?"
"Wouldn't it be better if you just didn't fight at all?"
"The kids make me mad."
"But if you fight, someone needs to stop it."
"It's not even your fight. It's none of your business."
"Between friends…"
"We're not friends."
"But you're buying me ice cream."
"So what?"
"Can you buy something like that for someone who isn't even a friend?"
A little snort of laughter, half mockery, escaped from Haley's small nose.
"Sure I can."
"Yeah? That's pretty nice of you."
"Treating your employees well is what a CEO— wait, you're too little to get that. Just think of it as a boss and a subordinate."
"We're the same age. So does that make me the boss?"
"It's me."
"Why?"
"Because the boss is the one who buys ice cream for the subordinate…!"
"Is that how it works? Okay, then you can be the boss."
"Good. From now on, don't call the teacher or anything."
"Why?"
"What do you mean, why…! I'm buying you ice cream and I'm the boss…!"
"Then am I not allowed to stop the fights either?"
"What kind of subordinate frets over every little thing while the boss is working?"
"Fighting is work? That's impressive. But couldn't a subordinate who's worried about the boss still try to stop it…"
Come to think of it, that actually made sense. And somehow, it even lifted her mood a little. So Haley decided she would allow that much interference. Besides, a little kid like Yohan trying to hold her back would just wear himself out and give up anyway.
"Fine. Do that. Just never call the teacher. Got it?"
"Got it. When are you buying the ice cream?"
"After lunch."
"Thanks, Haley."
"How many times do I have to tell you not to use my name?"
"Got it, Boss."
Yohan nodded obediently and fell into step beside her. Haley looked at him with an expression of pure disbelief, then decided to just let it go and headed to the classroom with him.
But doesn't this mean I lost?
She had the vague sense that Yohan had somehow talked her into something. The puzzling feeling only lasted a moment, though. Right now, her head was full of nothing but picking up the unfinished fight from yesterday — the one Yohan had ruined by calling the teacher.
She couldn't stand losing. Especially not to a bunch of country bumpkins like these.
That was the fierce resolve currently burning in Haley's chest.
Having handed over an expensive cone of ice cream as a bribe, Haley watched Yohan's delighted face and figured he would now look the other way for her, within reason.
She soon realized that had been a complete miscalculation.
"Hey! Let go of me!"
After school, she had been about to approach the kid she'd fought with the day before when Yohan wrapped his arms around her waist, hoisted her clean off the ground, and carried her out into the hallway. His grip was so strong that no amount of thrashing got her free. All she could do, dangling in midair, was threaten him in the sharpest tone she could manage.
"If you don't put me down, you're on my list from now on…!"
"Why?"
"What do you mean, why! Who said you could just grab my waist whenever you want!?"
"I was trying to get you away from there…"
"Just put me down! Now!"
"Okay. Hang on… just a little farther."
"A little farth—? What am I, a piece of luggage!?"
"You're heavy, so I'm only going a short way."
"What!!?"
Haley could not hide her outrage. There didn't seem to be any malice in him, and yet every single word he said was perfectly designed to set a person off. Who was he calling heavy? The fact that his own arms were giving out never seemed to cross his mind. It was absurd.
Once he reached the spot he wanted and set her down, Yohan stood and took the scolding from the girl with her hands on her hips.
"What is your problem?"
"This morning you said instead of calling the teacher, I should stop you myself. It was obvious you were about to fight…"
"No… hey, Turtle."
"Yeah."
"If you keep living like that, don't kids call you dumb?"
"They don't, actually."
"What about your parents?"
"I don't have a dad, and Mom has never once said anything like that to me."
Yohan's straightforward answer left Haley oddly flustered, and her momentum faltered. Even as brash as she was, she didn't know what to say when someone mentioned missing a parent.
"You don't just come out and say stuff like that… wait a second. Doesn't a nun pick you up after school?"
"Yeah. She's coming today too."
"What about your mom? Is she busy with work?"
"No. The sister is my mom."
"Huh…?"
Haley's big eyes blinked a couple of times. She had just heard something that made no sense by her own understanding of the world.
"Nuns can be moms?"
"Of course."
"That's actually possible?"
"Yeah."
What Haley had meant was whether a nun was allowed to get married. What Yohan meant was that he thought of Caterina — who treated him with genuine care and was raising him — as another mother, and so he answered the way he did.
"Oh. I didn't know that."
Because the explanation was incomplete, Haley simply took his words at face value. And Yohan, who was — put generously — naive, and put less generously, a bit dense, didn't notice anything odd about the exchange either, so he offered no further clarification. On top of that, he had answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world, so Haley, who didn't know much about nuns to begin with, could only conclude that her own common sense had been wrong.
"Have you calmed down a little?"
"I was calm the whole time."
"For someone who was calm, you sure were yelling a lot. Today, instead of fighting with your friends…"
"They're not my friends."
"Okay. Instead of fighting with the kids, hang out with me."
"Why would I hang out with you?"
"It's better than fighting."
"What are we even going to do?"
"Want to play soccer?"
"What."
"You don't like soccer?"
"Nope."
"Oh…"
Haley's brow twitched. It started the moment she saw the look in Yohan's eyes.
Sports weren't just one thing. You could like baseball, or basketball, or American football. People were different. But Yohan's eyes were saying something else entirely: How can anyone in the world not like soccer? He was firing lasers at her with those eyes.
For a second Haley nearly lost it completely, but she managed to swallow her anger. If she blew up here too, she had the feeling she would somehow have lost again.
"Haa…"
She let the anger out in a long sigh, then decided to put some distance between herself and this utterly mannerless kid.