Kang-Dae Maxilmillion Park's Story

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Amanda was up rather early than usual today, maybe because Summer break was finally over and it was her Senior year of high school and she was ready to get it started and over with. She reviewed herself over in the mirror before giving herself a reassuring nod then grabbing her purse and keys, heading out of her room and down the stairs. Amanda waltzed into the kitchen, happily as her mother and father stared at each other then back at her as she sat down at the table. "What?" She said with the shrug of her shoulders as her eyes bounced between the two of them. "Someone is mighty happy to be going to school today. What's the occasion?" Her father grimaced as she laughed while shaking her head. "Well, it's my Senior year so why wouldn't I be happy?" She sang then looked at the time. "And if I sit here and chat, I'm going to be late." She said while grabbing herself a banana and a small bottle of Orange Juice and walking outside the door and getting in her car.

After a few or so minutes of driving, she had finally reached the school and went to her newly assigned parking space. She pressed the button for her convertible top of her 2013 GT Mustang to be snapped back in place. She rolled her windows up then turned off her favorite Taylor Swift song, which was "Trouble". She got out of her car still singing a few of the lyrics from the song until she felt two arms being wrapped around her waist. "Uhmm, hello to you too, Scott." She scoffed while removing his arms from around her waist as she continued on walking. "Your not going to treat me like that all year, are you?" Oh, Scott was so dreamy. He put the Holy into Hollyfield Prep. Blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect, whiten teeth and a swimmer's body. Amanda always liked him but pushes him away every chance she gets. "I might." She playfully winked at him while taking her sunglasses off as she entered the building.

Her eyes fell upon someone with blue looking hair and rolled her eyes as she knew that it was Kang. She walked over to him and wrapped her arm around his. "Kang, promise me that you are not doing every color of the month again with your hair." She said with a plead tone in her voice. Amanda laughed a little then waited for his comment as she stopped by her locker, pulling him over towards her. "I'm listening. I thought you were through with that stage in your life." She looked at his hair then shuddered and rolled her eyes. "So, how was your Summer? Oh and did you hear that Miss Patterson quit and we got a new English teacher?" She grabbed her notebook and binder then sat her purse inside of her locker, closing it while gripping her books close to her. "Can't wait to see this new English teacher." She said with a slight eye roll then smiled brightly while bouncing a little bit. "Speaking of English, please tell me that you have it first period with me." She said while biting her bottom lip, hoping he was going to say yes.

The warning bell rung as she waved for him to hurry up and answer her question.

Kang-Dae’s summer had been like a paradise. He spent it mostly with his long time girlfriend Akanke. She had graduated from her high school during the summer. Currently she worked as a hair dresser and dance instructor in her town. She moved in with Kang-Dae during the summer and when she wasn’t at work she was spending it with Kang-Dae. Kang-Dae had spent some of his summer at summer school to earn more credits. During the summer Kang-Dae’s school offered courses for students that could go towards graduation. A lot of the courses that Kang-Dae took over the summer where courses that not only he needed to pass out of Hollyfield, but also college courses. At first it had just been to get out of Hollyfield early but then he picked up a couple fun courses and like horseback riding and ball room dancing. This summer he had took a level two chef class and level five mechanics class with his regular college classes. He surprised Akanke with breakfast in bed and a little metal locket he made. When summer school finished the couple went traveling. Kang-Dae took her to Paris, Hong-Kong, and lastly his home in South Korea. His parents had just adored Akanke.

Yes. The summer had been beautiful, a never endless playlist of love songs and sweet kisses. He had woken up this morning to a cold bed but the smell of cooked fish in his nostrils. He padded into the kitchen to find his girlfriend. Akanke had a shift at the hair salon today. So she was dressed to impress. Her makeup was a perfect smoky cat eye paired with peach lip gloss. Her long hair had been twisted up into an elegant up do with a few strands escaping to trail down her neck. She wore leather black leggings, black ballet flats, and black tank top under her black uniform apron. She set breakfast in front of him coffee, a grilled salmon omelet, and a small tomato salad.

As they ate breakfast Akanke would pat nervously at her hair. During the summer Kang-Dae had wanted to dye his hair, Akanke being the nice girlfriend she was had decided to do it with him. Both choose a color that would fit the other. Akanke had chosen a bright blue for him and Kang-Dae had chosen a light blue for her. Akanke was still trying to get used to the unnatural color. Kang-Dae felt the light color brought out her tan skinned nicely.

“Are you ready for school?” Akanke asked.

Kang-Dae shrugged. “I’m ready to see my friends but not the rest of those stupid fuckers.”

Akanke understood him. She had gone to school with some stupid people also.

After finishing breakfast Kang-Dae showered with his favorite old spice body wash, washed his hair, and styled it into a messy frohawk. He wore his uniform with the tie loose, the top two buttons unbutton, his shirt untucked, his pants were shoved into black combat boots. He had thrown a vest over his short sleeved shirt with the school’s symbol on the front. He wore a big silver hoop in his left ear (one he knew Akanke had the matching one in her right) and a dangling blue feather earing in his right ear. He grabbed his bag and the lunch Akanke made for him.

The two hoped into his car, a custom black Cadillac CTS V 2014 with all black interior and one way black tinted windows , Kang-Dae dropped her off at her job stole a kiss, and went to school booming Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe.’

“Talk too motherfucking much, I got my drink I got my music
I say - Bitch don't kill my vibe”

Kang-Dae grabbed his bag and walked into the building when he was spotted by one of his two friends on campus Amanda. The girl had become like a sister to him, just as Ash was his brother.

“Amanda I’ll do what I want with my own hair. Akanke dyed her hair to match mine. I will change the color whenever I damn please also! If I want pink poka-dots then I will have dotted hair.” The words were said in a teasing tone.

Amanda and he had started being friends in sophomore year when he changed the color of his hair every month. At some point he had done tiger stripes. A smile settled over his face when he thought of his summer. He showed Amanda the new tattoo on his left wrist. The cursive words Akanke in black decorated his wrist. “My summer was great. I spent it with Akanke. You also know I went to summer school, and traveled. Yes I have English with you. I also have lunch, free period, and gym with you. I believe Ash has those same classes, you also know besides those classes I’m talking business and math classes. I know that we have a new English teacher my mother told me, something about letters.” Kang-Dae took out a stationary set from his bag and opened the red box to show a paper with cherry blossom print, three pens, and three different colored ink bottles. The paper smelled strongly of cherry blossoms. “Mom used it as a chance to buy a shit tone of stationary kits. I think I got fifty of these now.”

He closed the box when the bell rang and both he and Amanda went to class where they found their friend ash sitting at a table with four seats. Kang-Dae and Amanda sat down next to Ash, as they waited for the teacher to arrive. Before the tardy bell run Scott, Amanda’s fan boy sat in the only open seat in the room, which happened to be right across from Amanda. Before anyone at the table could tell him to move the teacher walked in.

Amanda walked to class with Kang then sat at a table with four seats, with their friend Ash. "To be honest, Kang, I don't think this Askank or whatever is the best girlfriend for you. But who am I to come between true love." She said with a serious tone while looking at Scott, who just happen to sit across from her. She rolled her eyes and sighed then looked towards Kang, shaking his head. Ash started writing on a piece of paper then threw it towards Amanda. "Really Ash?" She balled up the paper then got up and tossed it in the trash can. The note read 'Here comes your little puppet'. As she was walking back towards her seat, the teacher had walked in. Amanda froze as she stood their curly the end strands of her hair with a playful smirk spreading across her face.

"I think I might have a new play toy." She winked towards Kang.

"Hello class. I am..." The teacher then turned around and started writing on the chalkboard. "Mr. Daniels." He said while turning back around towards the class with a smile. Amanda raised her hand then leaned back in her seat when she was called upon. "So, you married? Kids? We need details about you." Most the class laughed but the others just gave her a look. The teacher had a serious look on his face then placed his hands down on the desk. "That is really none of your business." He said. Amanda rolled her eyes then huffed while leaning back in her chair.

As class went on, with Mr. Daniels calling roll and marking who was there and who wasn't, with a few minutes he proposed a question, which was extra credit for those that participated. "Okay, class, who knows what a Pen Pal is?" He asked while looking at most of the confused faces in the class. "Anyways, this is not mandatory but I will offer extra credit for those who are willing to give it a shot." Mr. Daniels bit his bottom lip in anticipation, wondering who was going to step up first. "I'll do it!" Amanda said excitedly as he nodded his head with a smile. "Oh, I should let you guys know that we will be writing to the kids over at Riverview." All the kids exclaimed when he said those words and he tried to calm the class down but to no avail.

The bell rang and English was finally over as Mr. Daniels wanted the participates that were willing to try out the Pen Pal idea to stay after class. "Alright guys, I'll make this brief..." He said while handing the participates pieces of folded up paper. "That holds the name of your Pen Pal. Don't open them yet, wait til you outside of this classroom. You guys are dismissed." Amanda got up and basically stormed out of the room, furious that she had to write to those hoodlums from Riverview. Just thinking about made her skin crawl.

At her locker, she opened the envelope then raised a brow at the name. "Molly Ravin? What the hell kind of name is that?" She scoffed while closing her locker and turning towards Kang. "Okay, it's free period, so what do you want to do?" She asked him with a raised brow, not really caring who he got as his Pen Pal or not. "I am thinking about dropping this project, for real." She commented while shaking her head, leaning up against her locker. "Kill me now." She sighed to herself while waiting to see what Kang wanted to do.

Kang-Dae raised an eyebrow at Amanda. “Amanda you never think anyone is good for anyone, that Brad on the foot teams two year girlfriend? You said the same thing and they got married last year. So for you to say that my future must be bright. You also haven’t met A-K-A-N-K-E yet. It’s also pronounced ah-kahn- KAY and like the meaning of her name she is very loveable at first meeting.”

Then on second thought, looking at his only female friend, Amanda tended to do things that pushed people’s buttons. Akanke had a tendency for also over reacting. He loved his girlfriend but she wasn’t perfect just last week she had to be pulled off a girl in the mall. Akanke claimed she had started the fight, knowing her tract record it was believable, but that’s not how you’re supposed to act. So with the help of Kang-Dae they were slowly straightening out her character flaw. “You know what…No I don’t think you should meet my girlfriend…I can see you messing up her name on purpose and then her getting anger. “

Ash looked up at the mention of Akanke’s name having met his girlfriend over the summer already. “Are you guys talking about that fine diva you keep all to yourself!” Ash was clearly named after his coloring because the guy was pale, pale blonde hair, pale skin, and pale gray eyes. He was on the football team and had his own horde of fan girls, who all found him handsome.

Kang-Dae thought his friend was decent. He was also a heterosexual guy so he wasn’t attracted to his best friend at all. Best friend or not Kang-Dae still slapped him upside the head for talking about his girl like that.
Ash rubbed his head and glared at Kang-Dae.

That’s when Scott came to the table sending winks at Amanda that just made him look stupid. Who does that anymore?
Right after Scott (Amanda was trying to ignore his being) the teacher came in. He had all the female students’ eyes. Of course Amanda being who she was flirted with him, and Scott looked pissed glaring at the new teacher. There was a side to Amanda that was different than the one she always presented to the world. It was flirty and fierce. He didn’t know why she did it sometimes but she usually hated her flirty side.

Kang-Dae did not reply to the toy comment instead he rolled his eyes at her. Amanda wasn’t stupid enough to actually start something with the new teacher. It would not only ruin her but also the teacher for life, and Amanda was too nice to do something like that. If she was he would either drop their friendship or tell her she was being stupid. Kang-Dae did not deal with stupid people. They tended to make stupid decisions while you are with them, sometimes leading to very dire situations.

When Mr. Daniel’s told the class about pen pals Kang-Dae understood his mother’s stationary gifts. Of course Amanda was the first to raise her hand. Scott being her loyal puppy came second, the rest of the class followed after them. Kang-Dae last when Ash glared at him. Kang-Dae wasn’t upset that they were sending letters to Riverview. After all, his girlfriend and her friends graduated from there. What he was concerned about was that the stationary kit him mother bought would be probably wasted on someone who didn’t know the significance. Most of the paper was very expensive each piece made from hundreds of flowers. But his mother had bought multiply of the same ones so he should be good. She had also bought it with the intent that he would use it for school.

So Kang-Dae would just do that. When Kang-Dae saw the name on his slip of paper, Lucy O'Donovan, he knew who he was writing before he even started. Lucy was one of the few people Akanke had mentioned when talking about Riverview. She was one of the few people Akanke had like there, and that was saying something. Though the two hadn’t meet personally Akanke had ran into her a couple times. She said the girl was decent, which translated to ‘she didn’t try to start shit with me in the halls.’ Lucy was a known bad ass of Riverview , she had also helped create CD’s for the cheerleaders to work with. Some of which had been music she had done herself. When Akanke had played them he had been very impressed.

Kang-Dae had not artistic ability at all. This pen pal project would be very interesting to say the least. He had raised an eyebrow at Amanda’s dramatic reaction to the pen pal project. He didn’t know a Molly, and kept his thoughts about his pen pal to himself. Ash stood on the other side of Amanda laughing at her ire.

“I, am going to write out my letter to my pen pal in the library. If you don’t want the project go tell your new toy to give you something else. I’m keeping this.” After that he headed off to the library to start his letter and drink some tea in a thermos he brought. He didn’t really look to see if Amanda or Ash would follow they could do what they want really.

In the library he took out the stationary kit and his thermos. took a swig of peach tea before starting, wiped down the table the table of any debris. He set out a sheet of the cherry blossom paper and filled a pen with a dark pink ink. The words he wrote were elegant but readable script from years of calligraphy practice. His whole mind was on the letter. Once finished he reviewed his work. The letter was quite short.

“Hello, Lucy O'Donovan

My name is Kang-Dae Park, I am a student at Hollyfield. I have heard of you before this through my girlfriend Akanke. She graduated last year from Riverview and was on the cheerleading team there. She has told me that you are “awesome people” as she says since you made mix tapes and CD’s for the cheerleaders practice. If you don’t remember this that is fine, it was possibly a long time ago. Let our letters be a fun exchange. The paper I am writing on is a paper made from the pulp of a hundred cherry blossoms and smells heavily of the flower. It has a print of cherry blossom trees on it by one of Korea’s best artist. I ask you to please be careful when reading this the paper is very delicate.

Sincerely, Kang-Dae Park.”

The letter was short and by the time he was done the ink was dry. He blew on it and shook it out for good measure before folding it and placing in carefully into an envelope made of the same paper. He closes the envelope with a sticker of a cherry blossom. (The box held stickers also, very convenient.)

Once finished he gets up and takes the letter to Mr. Daniels, who’s surprised but relieved look has Kang-Dae raising his eyebrows. So Mr. Daniels had thought no one was going to do the letter? Well Kang-Dae’s homework was finished for the week in this class.

Kang-Dae narrowed his eyes at Amanada. He had not been overly pleased with her little spat earlier about RiverView. Kang-Dae didn't like stupidity. That included intolerance for others, but as someone who did their best to try to use the principles of tolerance he would simply over look her immature words. Amanda was still in high school after all, sometimes Kang-Dae forgot that his friends hadn't dealt with the life experience that he had. That they still hadn't grown up as much as him.

Kang-Dae had been on his own when he came to this school. He had no parents, no family, no friends, just some money in the bank. Sure that had helped make the transition easier but it didn't help him when he needed it. Money wasn't a parents advise, or a friends congratulations. So Kang-Dae had to make his own decisions and judgments. He was responsible for himself. He bought his own groceries, made sure his bills were paid, and that he knew how to cook for himself. This reason alone was why he couldn't get along with most of the kids at HollyField. The teens here acted like arrogant peacocks that felt they should have something because of a name or even because their parents were so and so.

It was the most stupidest thing Kang-Dae had every damn seen. Here in america the Park clan held no really value but in the east the Park Clan was royalty. Kang-Dae had to only step out side and a flock of people would be at his side trying to get his attention. Kang-Dae had world leaders calling him, celebrities invited him to parties, and companies wanted to use his image.

This was all because his last name was Park.

Since coming to America Kang-Dae had woken up, not being around people who constantly kissed your ass helped. So Kang-Dae understood the students at Riverview and related to them more. If the school had a better reputation Kang-Dae would of went there.

Amanda and Ash had grown up to a certain degree but they still hadn't really woken up. So sometimes Kang-Dae felt himself getting irritated with his friends. He wasn't one to bottle up his emotions, he would let it be known how he felt, so when Amanda asked her question he had curled his lips in a humorless smile.

"Yes I am. I find your view on others sometimes....judgmental. But I am also a guy who fucking hates everyone in this damn school so I don't give a damn." His smile stopped when he thought of the peacocks he went to school with....the pricks..

He unhooked Amanda's arm from his finding her to close for comfort. During the summer that had been his girlfriends spot. She had hooked her arm through his, so now he didn't want any girl holding him like that. He had allowed Amanda do it for awhile because she was his friend but the gesture had become uncomfortable.

Kang-Dae flicked her in the forehead. "Andy you need to fix that, or else you'll never get married."

He turned on his heel and headed to his next classes a double period of business math.