Patches
- Uh-oh—the school is calling about Joon.
- You know what that means: trouble.
- Joon's been ditching school so much that the school's worried he'll flunk out.
- Who gets the call? Young Ju.
- But she doesn't get what's going on with Joon.
- He's not around anymore (just like Apa, by the way), and she doesn't know where he goes; when he is home, he locks himself in his room and just draws a lot—stuff like X-Men drawings.
- He's so different from when he was seven years old (there's a picture of him at that age above his desk), all smiley and cute; now he's got a shaved head and dresses in black all the time.
- Young Ju decides to talk to Joon about his whole teen delinquent act.
- But Joon's not into her whole lecture about staying in school and just wants to know that she won't tell the parents about his absences.
- This doesn't stop Young Ju from badgering him about where he goes when he's not in school.
- He just says he's goofing off with his friends, but Young Ju wants him to get good grades like their parents expect.
- Anyway, Joon's not easy to talk to, so Young Ju finally says she'll have to tell the parents if he doesn't do better in school.
- Which—of course—angers Joon.
- So he totally lashes out at Young Ju and accuses her of being a nerdy, friendless freak.
- But all Young Ju can think about is how angry Joon is, how old (in a sad way) he seems, and how different he is from what Apa and Uhmma want him to be.
- He's just this guy, hunched over his desk with bloodshot eyes—so tense and so tight.
- When Young Ju goes back out to the living room, all she can do is finger this hole in the old sheet covering their couch.
- They're not going to get a new sheet, so Young Ju gets out Uhmma's sewing kit to patch up that hole.