Whispers and murmurs surround us as Jackson, Jungyeon and I sat facing Nayeon sunbae in the cafeteria. Jimin had joined us and she was looking curiously at Nayeon sunbae enjoying her meal along with us.

“So,” Nayeon sunbae finally broke the silence, “You guys all seem pretty tight. Am I making things awkward?”

“No! No…it’s just, we haven’t really hung out with you before and…”

Jimin kicked me in my shins from across the table. “You are basically saying it's awkward!!!” she said it with her eyes without even muttering a word.

“You are sort of cool. We aren’t.”

We all turned to see the words come out of Jungyeon. Her messy short hair and bangs did nothing to cover her glaring eyes. That sentence may have been a bit too real. As Nayeon sunbae glanced back at her, it almost felt like two kings of the jungle were about to have a showdown.

“Not really, I was just older,” Nayeon sunbae noted pleasantly, “But now it makes little difference. We are in the same year. You guys can speak banmal to me.”

“Jinja?!” Jimin and Jackson both gasped, looking at each other.

“Yeah why not?” Nayeon sunbae said, flashing a smile at them. Jungyeon looked away.

“Um….Sungjoon sunbae??”

I turned to see a girl with huge eyes looking right at me, biting her lips.

“Hmm? Annyeong Jihyo-shi.”

Park Jihyo.

The star student of Jin Young High School. Grades. Check. Sports. Check. Extra Curriculars. Check. She seemed to be better than everyone at everything. Not to mention she was also super friendly and charming. But…a lot of people didn’t seem to like that. The fact she seemed so talented and kind rubbed a lot of people the wrong way – people that were jealous of her. I still remembered last year when she first came as a first year and shined so bright that people started teaming up against her. They would not eat with her and called her things like “ugly” or “fat”. It got to the point that once I saw her crying secretly near the recycling bins when she ate her lunchbox away from the cafeteria.  So when someone ridiculed her in the hallway, I could not take it anymore.

“YA!” I cried, walking towards the tormentor, “That’s enough.”

“What’s that have to do with you?”

“Nothing, besides my conscious,” I retorted, “Don’t mess with my friend.”

Jihyo looked at my words, surprised. At least that’s what I thought. Her eyes did look even bigger at that moment.

“When are you guys friends?”, the hater laughed, “I mean who wants to be friends…”

The person pointed at Jihyo, “…with this??”

“Well we are now,” I looked at the bully straight in the eyes, “Because I would rather relate myself to people with a life who’s going places than a person who’s main interest is to hurt people because they themselves are going nowhere.”

I turned around and placed my hands on both of Jihyo’s shoulders and guided her away.

From that day onwards, we became friends.

“You’re running for Student President?” I said, surprised but not really since it’s such a ‘god’ Jihyo thing to do, “That’s crazy but…how can I help?!”

“Well you got a lot of friends and you…you’re just a great sunbae for the campaign team and I would really, really love you to join!” Jihyo continued before grabbing my arm and pouting, “Come on, Sungjoon sunbae ya…”

“It’s not like you have anything to do anyways,” Jungyeon added grumpily, picking a drink from the drinks machine nearby. Since the exchange with Nayeon sunbae during the meal, she had been in a bad mood.

“I don’t like her. I think there’s something off about her,” was what she said when Nayeon sunbae went to the bathroom.

“I guess…I can help,” I responded.

“YAY!!!” Jihyo laughed, flashing me a toothy grin before heading back to class at the sound of the school bell, “I’ll KakaoTalk you more details later!!!”

I waved at her as she disappeared into a crowd of second years heading down the stairs.

“She’s not bad.”

My jaws dropped. Youngjae walked by sipping a soda. The only and best male cheerleader of the school looked at my baffled expressions.

“What? Of course, I’m talking about Park Jihyo,” he barked, “I think she’s into you.”

“Where did you get that from?”

“Well she wants you on her campaign team….”

“Uhuh…”

“And you know what campaign teams do?”

“…Campaign?”

Youngjae knocked me on my head lightly. “They spend a lot of time together! God, how do you even get good grades??”

I laughed it off. “Nah, friends do that too.”

“Not between guys and girls, okay?” Youngjae said, suddenly acting like he knew his .

“I swear Junior and the guys have corrupted you,” Jungyeon groaned before heading back to the classroom.

I bid Youngjae goodbye as I chased after Jungyeon.

“You know,” she spoke without facing me, “Youngjae might be right. Jihyo’s not bad.”

“WHAT????” Not Jungyeon too….

“Maybe you should go after her,” she continued, “She’s better than Im Nayeon.”