I Had a Bad Case of Diarrhea! (Three-sided Story)

[Character List]

First Person: Synthie. “I” is a typical highschool girl who is at the period of adolescence. She secretly likes this Chemistry teacher at school. She is so overly in love with him that she goes to school for the sake of meeting him every day. Mondays and Wednesdays are her only favorite days, which she takes Chemistry on! She always sits in the front row, staring at the teacher. By the way, she is also an ambitious girl who wants to change up this conservative society into a more equal one.

Second Person: Mr. Liu. “You” is a passionate Chemistry teacher who seems to be cold on outside, but actually adores his students a lot. He wants to provide the best education for his students per every single lesson. He feels discouraged and caring at the same time, looking at the students dozing all the time. He appreciates those who sit in the front row, listening to him seriously.

Third Person: Lete-junior. “She” is one of the indistinctive, featureless students in the Chemistry class. She has no point in taking the class, other than sleeping. She never wakes up, even if the teacher shakes her violently with his hands. She is only awake when she smells some food around her. Apart from her indifferent attitude toward all the classes, she is currently the top student in more than 5 subjects.

[Summary]

It seems to be a usual Wednesday morning. Synthie is in the Chemistry class, sitting in the very front row as usual. The class starts and almost everyone starts to doze; especially Lete-junior, snores as loud as an angry bull. Synthie is the only one awake, writing down all the things that Mr. Liu talks about. Suddenly, Synthie feels something wrong with her stomach. Ignoring her desire to go to the toilet, she keeps listening to Mr. Liu’s sweet voice. She feels volcano inside her stomach. Just by moving a little bit, BOOOMMMM!! That is loud enough to wake up Lete-junior, which means it was unbelievably and unbearably loud. Synthie pretends as if it is done by someone else, but she is the only one awake in the class. Unfortunately, Mr. Liu makes a complement on Synthie, for waking up everyone in class, even Lete-junior. Synthie becomes very depressed and starts to think of how embarrassing it is, for the whole day. Mr. Liu considers it very cute, and starts to adore Synthie even more.

Today is such a wonderful day because it is Wednesday. On every Monday and Wednesday of the week, I have got Chemistry class for two hours in a row. For Wednesdays, it is even better since I can see Mr. Liu, my dear Chemistry teacher for the first and second period in the morning. Beginning the day with Mr. Liu’s sweet voice makes me enjoy the rest of the day.

Right after I hear the bell rings, notifying the start of the first period, I run, as fast as possible, to get my seat in the very front row in Dasan-218. Yes! There is only one seat left in the first row, which would soon become ‘my seat’. I quickly throw my backpack, hoping it would land in the accurate place. After I claim the seat to be mine, by putting my bag there, I start to approach Mr. Liu’s desk with short and quick steps. For how many hours have I been waiting for this moment? How many times have I imagined myself popping up a conversation with Mr. Liu since last Monday? And this is the time!

*      *      *

“Good morning Mr. Liu!” You suddenly hear an energetic voice behind your back. You can feel someone approaching you in a hurry. You don’t need to wonder or guess who that is. You already know the answer. It’s Synthie probably, no actually, for sure. You greet her with a usual big smile all over your face. She smiles back with a normal morning conversation, starting from “Whacha doin’, Mr. Liu?” You can’t get yourself from falling for this cute little girl who wanders around you every second.

“Did you do your homework today?” You have to ask her a planned question just to break the ice. Don’t know why, but there is always this awkward atmosphere formed between you and Synthie. You hope Synthie does not feel the weirdness.     

*      *      *    

The starting bell has rung 5 minutes ago, but Mr. Liu has not begun his lecture yet, which is blissful for Lete-junior to sleep even a bit more. Lete-junior, expecting Mr. Liu not to start talking about this dang acid-base equilibrium, lies her face down. Few minutes later, Mr. Liu begins the lecture passionately. Lete-junior is already dreaming of eating baked potatoes for lunch.

Her eyes are all closed; she can’t see anything around her. Her face is down; nothing around her can see her.

*      *      *

Everyone in the class is sleeping, but of course I am not. How could I ever think of sleeping in the Chemistry class where Mr. Liu is giving a lecture? Even just one second is too precious for me to lose right now. I don’t even feel proud of myself for being the only one awake in the whole class of twenty students. It is my duty to listen to Mr. Liu’s explanations on acid-base equilibrium, mixed with his mellow voice.

Suddenly, I feel some strangeness on my stomach. This pain is something I have never gone through before. Have I eaten something unusual this morning? No. There is no way for me to eat something weird only except the possibility of cafeteria lady putting some DDT in the Checks-Choco cereal box on purpose. Since that is hopefully not the case, there should not be any problem with the food.

*      *      *

You are not even surprised at how Synthie is the only one staring at the whiteboard. Her two bright eyes follow your hands wherever they go. You wonder whether she understands what you are talking about. Frankly, that does not really matter. You are just pleased with her being the only one awake. Every time you have to find your students dozing in the class, you get angry at this reality of rotten education system in Korea. What they want is only the result, not the process of getting the results. Students don’t consider school lectures seriously, but they rather study by themselves at night. That’s what makes you so mad.

Perhaps, you are overly frustrated for that now. Perhaps, that is why you never notice Synthie’s dying face right in front of you right now. You start to write down the equations for polyprotic acids. Right after you close the board-marker cap, BOOOOOOOOOOM! Was that part of some secretive air raids by North Korea?

*      *      *

Oh my lord. Did that just happen? That just did happen. I regret myself for not going to the toilet right after the first pain on the stomach. I keep writing, as if nothing has happened. Okay, Synthie, calm down. Nothing has happened. You have never passed the wind. Even if someone has done that, it’s not you. I try to ease my mind, but I quickly notice they are all lie.

Unfortunately, every single student in the class is staring at me; even Lete-Junior is awakened with shocked face. What should I do? I hope at least Mr. Liu does not notice anything. I can’t look at his face right now. Everything fades out, and I can’t feel anything.

*      *      *

At first, Lete-junior thinks it is all part of her dream. Since she has been dreaming of her being in the World War II in 1940s, that makes sense in some way. When she finally wakes up, she notices the sound has come out from a certain person. Then she notices who it is. She finds Synthie lying down her face, but she can still see Synthie’s face being as red as the tomato that she had for this morning.

Lete-junior waits for something else to happen, but the awkward silence seems to continue forever. Then Mr. Liu finally opens his mouth.

“Let’s all appreciate Synthie for waking up everyone! Thank you Synthie.”

Oh wow. Lete-junior, even herself feels embarrassed for Synthie.

*      *      *

All I can think of now, is that I want to get the heck out of this shoot class. Tear drops begin to fall down, but I don’t even try to stop it. How can Mr. Liu say such a thing? Is it that difficult for him to just pretend as if he hasn’t heard anything? Thanks to the bell, the class ends. All the other students seem to remember nothing else than to leave, right after they hear the bell rings. I try to run out of the classroom, but someone grabs me hard. It’s Mr. Liu.

I make my typical angry face, tacitly telling him how much I feel insulted now. Mr. Liu does not say anything either, but gives me a big hug. Seriously, it is not like I have planned it or anything, but I start to cry again, as loud as possible. Mr. Liu only hugs me harder, without any words. I know it is funny, but human emotions are sometimes funny. Guess that hug worked, quite a bit.

But still, what's embarrassing is embarrassing.

I secretly promise myself not to commit such an accident ever again. Never.