EARLIER -- AFTER LUNCH

"Dara! Psssst! Dara!" Bom half whispered, half yelled while leaning down on her desk. She was continuously tapping her shoulder and Dara could just pray to Jesus to make her stop. But she was an atheist so her half-assed prayers weren't answered. 

"Psssssssssssssssssssssssssstttttttttttttttttttt. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaa" she whined while still tapping her shoulder. 

Dara suddenly grabbed a hold of Bom's finger and pressed it with the same amount of force that it would take to pulverize a brick. Bom stood up due to Dara angling her finger down. She quickly sat back down when Mr. Han -- who was both their homeroom teacher and science teacher -- threw a marker at her direction. Damn, teachers are getting so violent and angsty these days. No wonder he's losing his hair. 

Dara looked back while still holding tightly on Bom's finger. Daesung was excused out of class since he was feeling out of the weather. Dara smiled at her and Bom gave her an awkward smile in reply. She knew what she was getting herself into, but she still did it. Dara leaned her face closer to hers and held up her now purple-ish looking finger. 

"We will talk about this after school." she cooed while pressing harder on Bom's finger. 

"B-b-b-but, I need-----"

"Ah ah ah." Dara interrupted. "Nope. After. School."

"But Dara-yah-----"

"Am I making myself clear?"

The look on Dara's eyes turned serious and menacing. Bom pursed her lips and nodded rather aggressively. Dara then let go of her finger and lightly slapped Bom's right cheek before facing back to the front. Bom slowly took her victimized finger to her face and nursed it while blowing on it to make it feel better. She closed her eyes and started shakily singing 'Kumbaya My Lord' to her finger poor finger. A folded piece of paper suddenly hit her forehead making her snap her eyes open. Her eyes darted to Jiyong who was looking at her impassively. He gave her a small nod before facing the window. Bom raised a brow at him and slowly opened the piece of paper. 

I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen.

"What.. the is going on?" she mumbled under her breath.

NOW -- AT A SEEMINGLY EMPTY MOM&POP RESTAURANT JUST A FEW MINUTES AWAY FROM SCHOOL

"WHAT THE IS GOING ON?!" Bom yelled at the top of her lungs not caring about the elderly folk who gasped at her in surprise. 

"I.. I'm sorry, but can you tone it down? Imo and samchon are going to kick us out." Jiyong looked back and discreetly pointed at the two distraught-looking couple at the bar area. 

"Yeah, can you shut your mouth for a second? Geez, let me order first before you go bat crazy." Dara whispered as she flipped through the menu. 

"Jiyong-ah... Oh, sorry. Can I call you that?" Seunghyun sat nervously on his seat while trying to avoid Jiyong's eyes. 

"Ah, y-y-yeah. I don't mind. Call m-me whatever you like." 

Dara looked at Jiyong blankly before pinching his side making him wince in pain. "Y-y-y-y-yeah. C-ca-call mm-m-me w-wha-whatev-ver y-you la-luh-like. Talk properly. Do you have a stick stuck up your or something?"

Jiyong looked down in embarrassment and pursed his lips tightly to stop the forming sob that he was close to letting out. Seunghyun and Bom looked at him pitifully while sending daggers to Dara who sat next to the broken-looking boy. 

"Will you cut him some slack?" Bom kicked Dara's shins under the table. "Jiyong-ah, it's alright. Don't let her get to you."

"Yeah, don't be fooled by those doe eyes and sweet smile. She's actually," Seunghyun leaned to him and whispered to his ear,  "a total beotch." 

"I'll take that as a compliment." Dara slapped Seunghyun's face away from the now giggling Jiyong.

"Waahh, you look so handsome when you smile. And your giggle is so cute too!"

"YAH! Bom-ah!" Seunghyun whined at her. 

"You should smile more, Jiyong-ah!" She ignored the idiot to her left.

"Are you guys ready to order?" The owner lady suddenly chimed in making them straighten up and act as casual as they can. 

"Sorry about earlier, imo. Bom-ah is just having her off days. We didn't mean to disturb you guys." Dara said with the most calmest and apologetic look that she had in her arsenal. 

"It's no problem Dara-ssi, knowing you, you'll be the one to straighten out this troubled child right here." She put her hand on Bom's shoulder while shaking her head. 

"Yah, imo. What's that supposed to mean?" 

"Imo, I'll have the usual. Bom and I can just share. This little girl right here needs to have a diet." Seunghyun draped his arms on Bom and she gave him a hard pinch on the . 

"So , Bommie----"

"I'll get the corn soup with a side of a cob of corn." Bom interrupted.

"Way to make people know where you get your fat from." Dara snickered but it was quiet enough for their imo not to hear. 

"I'll get the salad." Jiyong said monotonously.

"Interesting." Seunghyun nodded at the seemingly bored Jiyong.

"Can I please get the beef burger with bacon and fries on the side?" Dara smiled. 

"Okay. I'll be back in about 15 minutes or so. Just wait until then. And Bom-ah, control yourself, arasso?" The owner pointed her fingers to her eyes and pointed them back at Bom. Bom replied to her by sticking her tongue out and pouting her lips at her. 

"Soooooo....." Seunghyun glanced at Jiyong only to be met by his piercing gaze making him look somewhere else. 

"What do you wanna know?" Dara took a sip of her water. 

"Start from the beginning, princess." 

Dara suddenly bolted up making everyone in the table flinch. She put her hands on the table and leaned forward to Bom. "Don't push it." she whispered menacingly. Bom gave her a 'stop-staring-at-me-like-that-or-I'm-gonna-piss-myself' look and Dara sat back down. She evened her breathing and was about to talk but Jiyong interrupted her. 

"I saw her notebook on the floor and I picked it up."

"Which notebook?" Seunghyun asked.

"That notebook." Dara scowled. 

Seunghyun and Bom shared a long 'oh' before looking back at Jiyong. 

"Wait... Now that I think about it, I had that notebook inside my bag... which had a safety lock in it. Why the hell would it be 'on the floor'?" Dara asked herself, confused. 

Jiyong shrugged and continued telling his story, "People never really went up to me or talked to me. And I wanted to talk to people for so long but I never had a good enough reason to talk to them... To you guys... Plus, most of you are scared of me so I just drifted away to lessen your fear for me." His voice started to quiet down and everyone looked at him knowingly. He was right. They never really bothered talking to him. Not even a single greeting or a smile. They always avoided him because of his bad reputation around school. They looked at him apologetically knowing that they were a part of his struggles in socializing. "So when I found Dara-ssi's notebook-----"

"Yah, are you only gonna call me 'Dara' when you're being strangled by that she-man over there?" Dara pointed at Bom who was about to slap her hard on the arm but she was too quick to avoid it. "No need for formalities. Hell, I don't even use them on you." 

Jiyong gave her a genuine smile making Bom and Seunghyun swoon on their seats and clasp each other's hands. "So when I found Dara's notebook I was happy. Now I had a perfect excuse to talk to someone. And I was lucky too since I noticed that it was Dara's, the school butterfly, our reliable sc