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 Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:41 am
Evan wasn't the most popular at school. He had his own little group of friends and he was usually seen with someone at his side, but when he was assigned a project, no one he knew was available. The teacher had decided to pair him up with someone he had never met. At least he had seen the boy around, but he never did talk to him. He couldn't even remember the boy's name. Though that didn't stop him from asking the boy to meet him in the classroom after school.
The teacher left some materials he felt would be helpful when Evan asked if they could use the classroom. He had used some time to research the subject and hoped the other boy would be able to pull his own weight. Evan wasn't about to do all the work.... And he wouldn't let his partner completely take over either. He brushed a blond lock of hair from his face, a small smile settled on his lips. He sat in his regular seat, flipping through a book while he waited for his partner.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:55 am
Jinju hated having to come in after class for any reason. Circumstances had him working part time at his family's store, and missing a day hurt the family. But he had to keep his grades at a B average or better or else he'd have to quit the job and move into the dorms. So Jin was stuck. At least World Civ was an easy enough class, and he and his partner had been lucky on the lot they drew. He pushed the door open to the class and looked over to the only figure in the room.
He knew who Evan was. That mop of blond hair was hard to miss. "Hey." He announced his presence, hoping not to startle the boy as he closed the door and walked over. "Evan, right?" He didn't know why he asked, he knew it was Evan. Jinju set his bag down and sat in the desk in front of Evan, sitting in the chair backwards looking at the too-tall blond. "Guess we'll be working together for the next few weeks." He wondered how much this guy knew about the region they were assigned; India and Sri Lanka.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:10 am
It took a second for him to realize his partner had entered. Evan turned to the door, cursing his bad memory. "Yes..." he answered slowly, watching the boy make his way to the desk in front of him. "I feel horrible about saying this but I can't remember your name." He tried his best to keep eye contact and a smile, but his embarrassment caused him to stuff his nose back into the book.
"But it'll be a pleasure working with you! I think we could make this fun." He smiled, peaking from the book slightly to look at the boy. Evan's material's were already out on the table, highlighted with what he deemed was important. "I have some stuff here." He slid the papers over to his partner, "I don't really know where to begin." His eyes scanned the paper from where it rested before it settled on his hands.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:20 am
He watched the boy's embarrassment. Jin's dark eyes glinted a little mischievously. Oh, this should be fun. "Jinju Darsha." He offered his name. He didn't take it personally when people didn't know who he was. He tended to keep to himself since he was busy either studying or working. And he was short, so he often got lost in the crowd of students.
"We should start with the history. Religion is the basis for most of the culturally relevant festivals and holidays." Of course, that was true for many cultures. He didn't look at the papers as he folded his arms on the back of the chair he was in and looked at Evan. "And the languages that evolved from the region would be important too. Maybe touch on mythology too. Of course any wars or social revolutions that occurred would be important too." He thought a moment more. "Could probably also bring in food from the region. Agriculture and the like, and give everyone a snack." That may have been buttering up everyone for a better grade, but hey, if it worked...
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:34 am
"Alright Jinju. I'll make sure not to forget it!" He nodded slightly, trying not to make himself look like too much of a fool. With his eyes away from his hands, they were on Jinju, who didn't take the paper. He slid it back over to himself pulling a pen out of his pocket. The blond haired boy continued to listen to his partner as he went on with wonderful ideas, writing them down as he went on.
"This is a good plan you have here." He specially enjoyed the possibility of food. "I'm not that good of a cook, do you know someone who could make it." He didn't want to be left out of their project, "I'd do my best to help out of course!" He was already falling behind in effort. At least he wouldn't have to worry about picking up Jinju's slack.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:51 am
"You can call me Jin, if you'd like. I almost prefer it." He said softly to the other. He was glad his partner was willing to listen to ideas too. Of course, Evan had said he didn't know where to start. "I know a place where we can get some stuff." He rested his chin on his arms and watched Evan write furiously. When he had all that Jin said down, he reached into his own bag and pulled out a notebook and pen and started writing. "It wouldn't be too hard to structure our presentation like this..." Jin turned slightly sideways and started writing down bullet points that they could cover, and when to introduce the food, of course.
He was actually... kind of glad Evan had drawn their country from the professor's "Hat of mystery" as he called it. This would be easy. "Did you know Egyptian belly dancing and Spanish flamenco dances both have origins in India?" He asked idly.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:14 am
Evan laughed, nodding again. "Ok Jin. That's much easier to remember." It wasn't as if he would forget his whole name anyway. As the other boy talked over their project, Evan couldn't do much more than agree to the direction Jin was taking him. He added his two cents in where he could or where he thought it was needed.
Jin's question threw the blond boy off his train of thought. The only time he had thought of belly dancing was when his mom decided to take up a class in it, though the interest didn't last too long. The latter of the two he had seen on occasion on TV or some random place. "I didn't know anything about that." His eyes sparked with interest, "Do you know a lot about this stuff?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:22 am
"I know a little bit about it." Jin glanced away a little. He looked a little bored, and he was trying to hide that he was a little flustered by this. His family was from Sri Lanka, so he actually knew a great deal about it. He could probably give their whole presentation in Sinhala or Tamil. Actually, that could be fun. Maybe he'd bring it up later. "You're on board with the food thing, right? You think that would be a good idea? think you could find something that sounds interesting? Maybe find a couple ideas of what you think the class might like and we'll see about making one of them, or buying it." Oh no, they wouldn't be getting pre-packaged 'ethnic' food, but he threw the idea out there.
Jin closed his dark eyes, thinking a bit. "Do you live on campus?" It seemed like a random question, but Jin had a reason for asking.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:36 am
Evan let out a sigh. If Jin had said he knew more about it, the whole project would be simpler. He didn't take much notice to the other boy's slightly flustered movements, or the fact that he looked bored. He was too concerned about the project and getting the most done with the time they had. "I think that it's more than a good idea." He smiled, placing a thumb and index finger to his chin as he thought. "I'll look into that more. I hope there's something easy to make." Evan was likely to do something wrong trying to make it. Cooking was definitely not his strong point.
Jin's questions were making it hard for Evan to concentrate. "No, I don't." He answered with a furrow of his brow. "Do you?" It was worth asking a follow up question his partner was going to.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:44 am
Jin shook his head. "No, I don't either. I was thinking it might be easier to do this if we had access to a computer." Man, this was hard. He wanted a good grade, but he didn't know Evan that well... But... "Maybe after we get some research done, you want to come over or something?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:56 am
"You want me to come over?" He thought for a moment, brows focused as if to contain the thought. Evan's mom would be at work until late in the night. He'd be home before then, saving him the trouble of going home and leaving a note. He took a deep breath, gazing up at the boy. "I have nothing better to do, so why not?" He offered Jin a smile with bright eyes. He scooted closer to the table, allowing his chair to squeak in protest. "Let's get to it then." He went for a nearby book, opening it to look for information to help with their project.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 3:12 am
"I don't see why not. Neither of us live on campus, so we can't just go to our rooms or whatever. I'm not that far from here." He shrugged. "If not...that's ok." He shrugged and started writing again. Through the course of the afternoon, they figured out it would be best to do research separately, then meet at lunch, and when they had time in class to share notes. And in a few days, Evan would come over. It seemed to work out for both of them.
But as time went on, Jin sort of felt like he was cheating. Most of what they were working on, Jin knew fairly well. He felt like he was hardly doing any work! Even though he had already written a good third of their speech, it was still under heavy construction.
It was about a week after they had been assigned as partners that Evan was walking home with him after school. When they got to his house, Jin had to instruct his partner to remove his shoes as they entered. There was a note on a mirror in the front hall. "Seems my mom stepped out. She'll be back later. Gee mom, thanks for writing times on this." Jin kicked his shoes to the side of the door and lead Evan inside. He motioned Evan to follow him towards the kitchen. They could sit there and look at the recipes Evan picked.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 3:26 am
Evan had enjoyed the time they were spending together. Even though he was working himself to the bone, he did it to keep up with Jin. It almost seemed like his was one step ahead of him, and Evan wasn't going to sit back and do nothing. When the day came that he was able to go over to Jin's house, he was determined not to fall behind and work hard.
He watched Jin kick his shoes to the side of the door, but Evan placed his shoes next to Jin's gently. He quickly sped up to the boy, his blond hair bouncing along with him. It was easy to see how short Jin was when he followed behind him. Evan really hadn't really paid much attention until now.
Watching his partner, he moved awkwardly to a seat in the kitchen. "For the food..." He spoke up out of what seemed like a suffocating silence. "I think we should do something sweet." It wasn't just because he'd like that. "I'm sure the class would like a simple dessert." Maybe when Jin's mom had gotten back they could all try and make something.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 8:11 pm
Deserts would be a pretty universally good thing to have. Or even candies of some kind. He knew there were recipes around that were pretty simple, and hopefully Evan wouldn't mind them. Simple, and easy to make lots of. "Sounds good. Probably nothing with nuts. Some people are probably allergic. Did you find any interesting ones?" He asked, moving to the kitchen table. He was about to ask Evan if he'd like a snack or something when he heard the front door open.
"Jinju? Ninkal vottil irukkirirkala? Inta paikalai enakku utava varunkal!" He heard his mother call. Jin grimaced slightly.
"Please, have a seat. I'll be right back." He stepped away. "Varuvana..." Retreating into the front hall again, Jin tried speaking to his mother as she brushed passed him, nattering on about something. Jin kept trying to get her attention as they entered the kitchen.
Jin's mother, she was slightly taller than Jin, stopped and stared at Evan. "I told you my partner was coming over today after class. Mother, this is Evan. Evan, this is my mother." He tried introducing them as he set a couple bags of groceries on the counter.
"Oh. Working on your project? Jin, you should dance. Show some of the culture you're talking about."
"Motheeeeeer!" How embarrassing!
"What? It's not like you don't do it at the festivals all the time. You're not shy about it. You've always been proud! Stop acting modest." She scolded. "And maybe you should bring pictures of Aaccii and Aataa's home." Jin tried to hide his face in the bags. "Silly child. Evan, was it? We're glad to have you over. You'll stay for dinner, won't you?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 1:47 am
Evan thumbed through the book slowly, keeping his finger in between interesting looking pages. "I think I have a few." He brushed a stray blond lock back into his mop of hair, nodding with Jin's suggestions. "We don't need someone having an allergic reaction." His mouth watered over the dishes in the cookbook while he looked them over.
As he was just about finished, he heard someone call his partner from the front of the house. He listened a little closer when it sounded like the person wasn't speaking in English. Evan turned to Jin, an eyebrow slightly quirked before he was asked to sit. "I'll be right here when you get back." He took the book with him, his eyes following Jin as he walked out.
When he returned, tailing the person who had entered the house, Evan couldn't help but smile. It was entertaining to see Jin flustered. "Hello Mrs. Darsha. It's nice to meet you." His voice wavered a moment as he nervously reached out to shake his mother's hand. "Jin dances?" He glanced over at his partner, a look of disbelief on his face. As she continued, it just raised more questions. Evan turned back to Jin's mom, "If it isn't any trouble, I'd love to stay." He offered her a bright smile at the thought of some home cooked food.
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