[  A P P R O X I M A T E L Y  T W O  W E E K S  A G O
F I R S T  D A Y  O F  S C H O O L  ]

“ALRIGHT, FRESHMAN’S! FOLLOW ME, this is the entrance of the school.” Daejeon’s Prep trusted (and favorite) student Kang Jiyoon, leads a small pack of freshman’s on their first day of school through the strongly disliked entrance ceremony and tour of the school. She’s heard complaints here and there about everything from ‘why is this walk so long?’ to ‘why doesn’t the girl’s bathroom have an attendant?’ Each question seems to grow in an imagination. What school—no matter the budget they have—has a bathroom attendant? Jesus, rich kids are such spoiled brats—it’s the only thing going through her brain as she poses a smile on her perfectly pink lips and adorns her arms on the sides of her primly placed school uniform. “This way, this way!” She calls as she fast walks her way inside the main corridor of the established school.

All but one person follows into the crowd of swarming first years pushing their way inside. Oh Haeyoung. Just before the group reached the entrance of the school, she received a text from her best friend saying “step 2 the side, sry if u get hit. I <3 u!” Thus meaning one thing, her best friend was about to do something stupid…again. After sighing, and shaking her head profoundly, Haeyoung began nudging her way to the side—away from everyone else. Out of the corner of her eye, Haeyoung catches her red headed friend wafting in front of the window a floor above them—holding a bucket of substance in his arms. A slight gasp leaves as she nudges the person still next to her. A short auburn-haired girl looks up at her confused. “Move!” Haeyoung grits as she pushes at the girl’s arm. The other merely furrows her eyebrows; forcing Haeyoung to grab the girl’s arms and push backward—shoving them both out of Jooheon’s way.

Just seconds after, a bucket of honey pours over the group of student, right before a pack of flour. Gasps of shock and screams of disgust are heard as Haeyoung glance over at the crowd. The girl next to her stares in awe as a hand slides over —she glances to the window, only spotting a brief wave of red hair before it’s gone. The girl latches her hands around Haeyoung’s arm—causing the latter to jump. The girl with puppy dog like eyes pats Haeyoung’s hand, “You’re a saint!” Haeyoung stares back at the girl in shock. Did someone just say something nice about her? And it’s a girl. It’s not like she did anything that deserves such words. She was just trying to get away and pulled the other girl with her sense she was blocking her path. “Honestly, I’m wearing my favorite shoes today,” The girl points to her favorite red vans with a pout. The girl gasps again, “And my hair! What if it got in my hair?” Haeyoung watches in confusion as the girl runs her hand through her hair and keeps her other hand wrapped around Haeyoung’s arm.

“Okay.” Haeyoung whispers with a nod—as she tries to push her off of her.

The girl doesn’t budge and continues to keep herself connected to Haeyoung—in awe fitted look on her face. “I’m really thankful…” She glances down at the brown nameplate clipped onto Haeyoung’s shirt before looking back up at the dancer. “Haeyoung. I’m really thankful, Haeyoung!” The girl takes a semi-step back, still keeping herself attached to Haeyoung. She points down to her own nameplate with a grin. “I’m Jaemi, Choi Jaemi! I owe you a thousand!” Haeyoung lightly nods her head, slightly tilting it. The girl just doesn’t get it. Haeyoung wasn’t helping her, she was helping herself.

“Sure.” Haeyoung murmurs as she pushes her gaze back to the window; but, Jooheon was gone. And on his tail, is Kang Jiyoon—a mission on her mind to catch Jooheon and force him to apologize to the poor freshman boy he drenched in honey and flour. She was actually quite happy that the incident happened (it got her out of the never-ending tour of freshmen brats) but that doesn’t mean what he did was right. That’s why she’s fast-walking in the halls towards where she thinks he might be. And, she’s right.

Jooheon, the idiot, stands in front of the teacher’s private restrooms with a chair in one hand and a red rope being pulled out of his backpack in his other hand. Jiyoon comes to a stop a foot behind him with her arms crossed over her chest—watching him idly. He places one plastic blue chair on the left side of the door before he turns to the side and walks into a nearby classroom. Jiyoon lifts up an eyebrow in wonder as the red head comes back out with another chair, “What exactly are you doing?” She voices—catching him off guard to the point he pauses halfway to the restroom, holding the chair in his hand as he swivels head toward her.

His features relax when he realizes it’s just Jiyoon, “Noona, you scared me,” He states with a smile as he continues walking to the door—placing the chair next to other but on the right side. “The teachers are such pest; you know? Idiots really. And I’m not biased with who I mess with—well,” The boy pauses (just before he’s about to slip the rope through the door handle and tie the chairs together) and looks over his shoulder at Jiyoon grinning. “I’d never prank you noona, you’re too cute.” A small laugh leaves his mouth when Jiyoon stammers out a scoff and ducks her head over her shoulder—hiding her slight blush. Curse his flirting, he’s too good at it. 

“Shut-up.” She murmurs as she looks back to watch as he loops the rope through the door handle and around the metal chairs of the legs before tying it to the handle to the door just a few inches away from where the chairs are cluttered together. Jooheon lets a sigh of content leave his mouth as he takes a seat on one of his chairs and crosses his arms over his chest. Jiyoon shakes her head, what a mess. He’s created a mess. No, he is a mess. There’s no way around it. The red head in front of her is an undivided and downright disarray.

She takes a step closer to him and frowns, “I’m going to have to turn you in.”

“Noona, come on,” He pouts as he comes to his feet and claps his hands together in a praying formation. “let me go, just this time, okay? It’s not even that big of a deal; it’s just freshman initiation. It happens every year—it happened my year, and it probably happened your year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and blah blah blah…you get it?” He sits back down in the chair, leaning backward, and stretching out his feet with a blissful smile.

Jiyoon shakes her head. As the number one rule follower of the school, it’s her duty to actually force the other students to obey the rules as well. “I can’t do that, Jooheon.” The boy grates in aggravation as he pivots his heads around his shoulder and straightens himself up with a sigh.

“You’re busting my balls, man.” He groans to which she scoffs.

Jiyoon shakes her head, such disgusting words from such a cute boy, “Sorry?” 

“Oh come on, it’s totally legal tender, I mean—” Jooheon cuts his speech off as he rises to his feet. Jiyoon’s face contorts into one of confusion as the red head stalks toward her and grabs her by the hand. She clams up, air bloating into her cheeks as he twists her around and brings her with him. She tries to push herself out of his grip but fails miserably as the boy interlocks their fingers together. Jiyoon doesn’t realize what’s going on—though who would—until the two of them pass by a grumbling Coach Jung who’s heading directly to the private restrooms. 

She gasps and glances at Jooheon, “Are you kidding me?” 

Jooheon shrugs his shoulders just as a ‘yell’ circulates through the halls—and he takes off, dragging her with him. If this was a part of a drama, Coach Jung would have multiple ‘bleeps’ covering up the legion of cuss words slopping out of his mouth. Then there’s Jiyoon who won’t stop saying ‘oh my gosh’ over and over again. Jooheon, on the other hand, just navigates himself quietly through the halls. Helping her jump over the numerous pairs of stairs, hurling her down the halls that he suspects the coach won’t follow them into, before slinging the both of them into the adjoining closet. The two of them are breathing raggedly, and the sound bounces off the walls of the room once he shuts the door close. Supremely unaware at the fact they’re hiding, and when hiding you keep silent—Jiyoon hammers out a bunch of disputes. 

“Oh my god, let me out—right now! This is irrational—undeniably and unequivocally outlandish. This is, this—this is just not wholesome—” The girl is finally stopped when Jooheon, with a huff of irritation, precipitously places a hand over . Sometimes, the girl can get ‘slightly’ on his nerves—she just doesn’t know how to handle his types of situations. For him to be able to angle his eyes out the crack in the side of the door, he shuffles her backward to where her back hits it. And with his hand still over , Jooheon leans over her right shoulder to look out the crack. He looks both ways—left and right—before sighing in liberation. Coach Jung isn’t there.

He takes a step back, and also removes his hand off of before resting his back up against the shelves and stuffing his hands in his pockets. Jiyoon lets out a breath of release as her hand reaches up to be placed over her heart. Damn, is it pounding hard. Maybe, just maybe, that was a little too close. She could smell the orange that he ate this morning every time he took a breath. That’s how close they were. She’s not sure if that smell will ever go away. “Noona, you look a bit red.” Jooheon comments after he whips his gaze around the older girls face. 

Jiyoon’s cheeks flush a darker shade of pink as she runs a hand down her features. God, it just keeps getting more mortifying as the seconds tick by. A sulk leaves as she crosses her arms over chest and turns her head to the side—the more she looks at him, the hotter he gets. Which, just isn’t good—not at all. “Here.” The boy reaches forward—bucking himself off the wall—and pulls at a strand of her bow: loosening it just a bit. She freaks and slaps at his hands; but, the boy only snickers. “Noona, do you like me?” Jiyoon scoffs as she shakes her head, just as he takes a few steps forward—one of his hands coming up to rest on the door above her shoulder. Once more, Jiyoon is enveloped with the smell of orange—it becomes more and more intense as his face endlessly moves closer and closer. Till the door flings open—and the two are sprawled on the tiled floor of the hall. Instead of standing in the janitor’s closet doing whatever they were doing. 

“And what exactly were you two doing in the janitors closet, together?” Coach Jung barks—his ruler smacking against the wall, as the two students scurry to their feet.  Jiyoon begins to stutter together different words to create sentences that don’t quite amount to anything. The whole time Jooheon chucking at her nervousness—finding it rather cute. “Speak correctly, Miss Kang.” Once again, Coach Jung smacks his ruler against the wall—causing her to jump. Never once has she been in trouble: not once. She’s a good kid who got wrapped up with a messy kid named Jooheon.

Said boy bows his head respectfully to the coach—catching the older man’s attention. “, Mister Jung—we were having ,” If there’s ever been a time where Jiyoon wanted to crawl into a hole six feet down and covered with dirt, that time would be now. Her face is now the color of a ripe tomato, her hands clammy, and her voice diminishing to a small whine of ‘why me?’. Even their coach looks rather shocked and appalled. Because who in their right mind says something like that? Of course, it’s not like Jooheon has a ‘mind’ in the first place. “I mean, dude, I know you’re old and all—like fourteenth century old, say ‘what-up’ to King Sejong for me, ‘kay?” The idiots makes that shooting gun hand movement with a smirk. Causing their coach to shake his head and grumble in protest before Jooheon continues. “But, dude, is , it’s not even that big of a deal. It happens, you know? It’s natural, like how tiger cubs leave their mom at the age of two—natural, you see? No need to freak out.”

“I’m not sure what I find more insulting. The fact that you think I grew up in 1418, or that you think I actually believe any word that just came out of your mouth,” Coach Jung drags his gaze away from Jooheon who’s merely laughing—to a completely and utterly annihilated Jiyoon. “I expected better from you Miss Kang.” Jiyoon, once more, begins to apologize but Coach Jung cuts her off, “The two of you have detentions for the next week.” With that, their coach waves his ruler in front of their faces as a warning; before, walking off. 

Jooheon sighs, once the coaches figure disappears from the hall, and pats Jiyoon on the head, “Awesome way to start off the semester, don’t you think?” The girl groans in disgust before stalking off with her hands over her chest (probably to go find Hyunwoo). Jooheon would probably follow after her and pest her; but, he thinks it would be better to go visit his best friend—to make sure she didn’t get coated in honey and flour. That was the only downside to the prank, he didn’t want to get Haeyoung—hence the text. Maybe he could’ve warned her a bit sooner; but, he can’t be too biased.

Haeyoung feels like a discomforted ball of vexation. She stands at her newly chosen locker, and who chose the locker directly next to her? The supposed girl she “saved” from the annual first year prank. She wasn’t even trying to be a nice, it just happened. And in all honesty, she never means to be a nice—and never wants to be a nice. The rare times it happens, is either a mistake (exhibit A: the mess she’s in now) or if she pities someone (exhibit B: she’s always nice to Hyunwoo). “You know, you’re really pretty, Haeyoung.” The girl beside her comments as she leans her head against her locker door.

Haeyoung nods her head, “Okay.”

“So you agree, you think you’re really pretty?” Jaemi asks, her head swiveling to look Haeyoung in the eye. The latter merely scoffs as she shuts her locker door, does it matter? Of course she thinks she’s pretty—which is why she nods…again. Jaemi shuts her own locker and links their arms together, “Do you think I’m pretty?” Haeyoung—with the brief patience’s she has left—brings her pointer finger up to Jaemi’s forehead and pushes her backward. Giving herself some space to breathe.

They’ve known each other for approximately ten minutes. Why is she clinging to her? “Best friend!” Before Jaemi can even think about hugging Haeyoung, the dancer is enveloped in the arms of her red headed idiot. His arms circle around her shoulders and he nudges his head into the crook of her neck—much to her dismay. “I got detention!” He pouts, to which she rolls her eyes. Is there a day where he doesn’t have detention? Over summer he had detention because he decided to ride one of those drivable lawnmowers on the field where last year’s seniors were graduating with a flag sticking out the back that said “Principal Junghwa? More like Principal Jung-HA!” and he ducked taped a boom box to the hood of the lawnmower that played Wrecking Ball the minute he passed by the makeshift stage and when he was leaving it switched to Never Gonna Give You Up. And he still wonders why Principal Junghwa hates his guts.

Jaemi eyes connect with Jooheon’s red hair, and she wheezes— boisterously. Red hair? Like the hair color she saw above the window right after the first years got splashed with honey and flour. Now Choi Jaemi is not a Nancy Drew type; but, she’s about ninety percent sure that the kid in front of her—latched onto Haeyoung—is that person. “You! You threw the flour at the first years!” She screeches—with her newly bought thick biology textbook, she whacks Jooheon side making him jump and hide fully behind Haeyoung.

“I get that I’m famous and all; but, there’s no need to become a crazed obsessive fan.” He laughs with a grin as he tightens his grip around Haeyoung’s shoulder. Jaemi gives him a real nasty look; but, the boy only gives her an adorable smile.

Haeyoung huffs and slaps at the boy’s hand, “Shut-up Jooheon.” Jaemi, once more, gasps as she realizes how the two are standing in front of her. This “Jooheon” is wrapped around Haeyoung like they’re either best friends, dating, or siblings.

“You know each other?” She asks—very confused. How can someone as sweet as Haeyoung be friends (or whatever) with this, this ignorant fool? It doesn’t make sense—at least not to her.

Jooheon nods his head, “We’re twins, how could you not know?” The boy ducks his face closer to Haeyoung—to where they’re plastered cheek to cheek—and changes his expression to match Haeyoung’s grumpy one (a pout and everything). Jaemi glares at him just as Haeyoung shoves him off of her and fixes the collar of her uniform. The turd had managed to wrinkle it when she was compiled underneath his arms. Jooheon sticks just standing closely—taking her books out of her hands and holding them himself. “We’re best friends; but, I think the better question is who are you?”

“We’re friends.” Jaemi states as she wraps her arm around Haeyoung’s—glaring at the red head who glares back. Jooheon just isn’t one for sharing his best friend with others. Especially girls; because, he knows how much closer a pair of girls can be compared to a boy (him) and a girl (Haeyoung). And he’s not going to lose his best friend to some rude girl who doesn’t know anything about Haeyoung. At least not like how he does.

Frustrated, Haeyoung pushes the both of them off of her—and straightens her shirt out once more. When done, she turns on her foot to face the both of them who squabble next to each other and star wide-eyed at her. She scoffs in their direction as she steals her books back from Jooheon—whom pouts in return, she only shakes her head. “I’m heading to class, don’t follow me.” The two go to protest; but, she leaves them with one last scowl before heading off. Soon after, the two dissipate from each other’s sides—sending a glare each other’s way before doing so.

“I seriously don’t know why you insisted on taking geology instead of physics.” Kihyun mocks as he slips his free hand through his hair. Hyeryung shrugs her shoulders as the two walk side-by-side to their third period class: geology. For some reason, during summer before class choosing, Hyeryung called him up at nearly two in the morning ranting about how he has to take geology with her; but, not telling him why. Thus, the two of them are taking the stupid class taught by an ill-tempered old man.

She shifts her books around in her arms and tilts her head to the side to get a good look at him. “It’s simple really,” She begins but the boy only rolls his eyes—nothings ever simple with Hyeryung. “One of my favorite movies is Cinderella, and who created Cinderella?” She gives him a look, waiting for him to answer. He only rolls his eyes at her.

“Disney?” He guesses to which she shakes her head.

She would probably go as far as smacking him on the back; but, her hands are full. “No, no, no. The Brother’s Grim, you baboon-,” Kihyun would probably look upset about her calling him such a term—he’s known her too long to find that insulting. She never purposely insults someone.  “And do you know what their inspiration for writing was? Do you?” With a sigh, he shakes his head, and Hyeryung continues with her explanation. “Well, philologically they were inspired by their lawyer friend; but, for many of the ‘Disney’ stories, they were inspired by nature. Hence why Ariel turns into ‘sea foam’ at the end of her story. And seeing as geology is the study of solid earth; what better than that, to have a connection with the Brother’s Grim? I mean, I could end up becoming an amazing writer like them, well, without all the horror and character deaths.” 

“So, what you’re saying, is that you forced me to take a geology class because of your obsession with Disney movies?” Kihyun questions with a side glance, as the two find themselves at their lockers.

Hyeryung’s eyebrows clash together, “I mean, I’m not-not saying that?” After popping his locker open and shoving his books in—Kihyun takes his knuckles and lightly pushes at the girl’s head. She sticks out her tongue in his direction, and he only rolls his eyes back at her. The two keep rather silent as they grab for the exact books they need for their next class. Just after shutting his locker door, a precipitous compression to the left side of his head catches Kihyun off guard. Before he knows it, the whole left side of his head is soaked with water—along with parts of his white button up, navy jacket, and the gray notebook in his hand. 

“You lummox!” Hyeryung shouts the minute she spots Jooheon laughing his head off.

The red head furrows his eyebrows, “What the hell does that mean?” 

“It means you’re stupid!” The girl shouts back—and blows a raspberry toward him. Jooheon huffs and turns away, stalking off. Hyeryung’s face transforms into one of worry as she drops her books to the ground and begins to worry over Kihyun’s soaked shirt. “Oh, he’s such a spunk bubble—honestly! Are you okay? It doesn’t hurt, does it?” Her hands trace over the side of his head; before, he’s poking at the wet spot on his shoulder a few times. With the little smidge of pride he has left, Kihyun pushes her hands off of him.

“I’m fine, head to class—I’ll be there soon.” Hyeryung goes to oppose; but, the boy is already stalking off to the men’s restroom, ignoring her looks of protest. She leans down—grabbing her books—and with one last sigh, heads off to their class. Man does she want to smack Jooheon up the head for messing with her best friend again. Kihyun barely ever gets a break with his home life, the last thing he needs is Jooheon bullying him by throwing a water balloon directly at him on his first day of school. Last year was bad enough.

“That was definitely not one of his best pranks, if you ask me.” Hyeryung glances to her right to see that sweatpants-uniform wearing sophomore who’s a sister to that pretty boy in her grade. Hye had heard somewhere that the girl looked up to Jooheon. Though what person would do such a thing? Jooheon’s a giant pest to a lot of people, how could you actually like him without vomiting in your mouth once every two seconds. “I still might use it though.” Hyeryung scoffs, and disappears into her class—away from that mess.

The girl, on the other hand, crosses her arms and begins to think to herself. She could definitely use that prank. It was stupid, just throwing a water balloon perfectly at some one’s face; but, it’d be pretty hilarious if she did so to her brother. Her brother always has those funny shocked faces. He always looks like he gets mauled by cats or something. And that’s pretty funny to watch. Unaware of her surroundings, Jiwon walks directly into someone. She was about to sputter out a ‘my bad’ but when she catches the sight of who it is, she refrains from doing so and instead plasters a sickened look on her face.

“Oh look, Sabrina the teenage .” She sticks out her hip and crosses her arms over her chest as she watches the female gather her belongings from the floor before standing back up to face Jiwon with an equally revolved look on her face. Needless to say, the two females don’t’ get along. “I forgot that you were entering Daejeon this year, I guess it’s because I don’t really care.” Haeyoung rolls her eyes, if she truly didn’t care, she wouldn’t comment about it. Isn’t that the rule of thumb? “How’s the first day going?”

The two awkwardly start walking next to each other as Haeyoung fixes her stack of books back to the way they were. And effortlessly moves her hair over her shoulder to slip out of her face. “It’s been fine.” The two stay quiet for a second as a sudden laugh finds its way out of Jiwon’s mouth—catching Haeyoung’s slight attention. 

“I ran into Minhyuk the other day, he gave me a ride home—I didn’t realize he only had his learners permit until I realized how y he drove and the fact that his chauffer was in the passenger seat.” Haeyoung shifts her gaze away from Jiwon—knowing full well that the latter only wants to see a rise out of her. Haeyoung heard, a few months back, that Jiwon had become “close” (not in the normal context) with Minhyuk during her freshman year and his sophomore. Seeing as Jiwon and Haeyoung didn’t get along while they were in middle school—it’s only natural for the older to use Minhyuk as a tactic against Haeyoung to both annoy her, and see if Haeyoung will cough up to the fact she likes Minhyuk. Though, Jiwon’s pretty damn sure Haeyoung does like Minhyuk. 

Haeyoung comes to a stop in front of her class, “Good for you Jiwon, little known fact though,” She glances toward the sophomore and hardens her gaze just as coldly as ever. “I don’t care.” Jiwon scoffs as she watches the female enter her class—slamming the wooden door behind her.

“Yeah right.” The girl scoffs as she comes to a stop next to her locker. Standing next to his own, is Hyunwoo—who lightly nods at the girl with a small smile; before, stuffing his face into the book he was previously reading. Jiwon pops open her locker and shoves a bunch of unused papers inside. “What are you reading?” She asks—after glancing with him.

Hyunwoo shows off the cover of the book: an outline horse filled with the color of red galloping over what looks like a miniature outline of a city. Jiwon squints her eyes to read the yellow text and grins after doing so. “Ah, I love that book! The way he,” She clenches her fist and shuts her eyes—a hardened look crossing her features. “catches all that fricking rye.” A chuckle escapes her lips as her eyes snap open and she drops her fist. Hyunwoo merely laughs—awkwardly, and not actually finding it funny. Kindly, he bows the tip of his head; before, leaving—probably because he doesn’t find her company all that…comforting? 

As Jiwon continues to chuckle to herself over her ridiculous pun, across the hall is Jaena who’s head is buried deep into her locker. A Nikon camera in her hands, with her fingers pressing against the buttons to flip through the pictures she’s caught. There has to be something, she thinks to herself. Most of her pictures are just kids talking, empty halls, and snarky teachers gossiping. Just when she’s thinks there’s nothing, there’s something. In one picture, there stands two girls—each of braided their hair, though one has blonde hair and the other brown—if she zooms in just a pinch, she spots her new story. There, in the back, leaning up against one another and smiling like a newlywed couple: Mister Park and Misses Kim, both are science teachers. It’s rather juicy when you take into account that Misses Kim hooked up with Coach Jung just last month.

Jaena’s lip curls in the right corner, as she grabs for her eighty-five millimeter lens and connects it back onto her camera—before slinging it around her neck and letting it hang there. After grabbing for her books, she heads off to her class—the semi-smile still on her face. She nearly has a skip in her step as she walks down the hallway. With a few more pictures, and a little snooping—she ought to have her story for her website. The school newspaper, that’s another adventure. Maybe something along the lines of “Will Chef Vivian be coming back to work for Daejeon?” or maybe something about the basketball team—eh, who knows? She’ll get there sooner or later.

“Chubs, I haven’t seen you in a while!” Before Jaena can dash away, a slithery boy’s arm snakes around her shoulder—pulling her close. She glances up, finding Jooheon with plastered red hair. She assumes over summer he must’ve dyed it. He looks ugly, she thinks to herself. Jooheon shakes her body a bit as a content sigh leaves his mouth. “How’s my favorite piggy noona been?” Jaena in a breath—will that stupid nickname ever go away? Ever since Jooheon appeared in her life, he’s made it his best effort to tear down her confidence by nitpicking at her weight. Sure, she’s not the ‘thinnest’ girl on the planet; but, she’s not obese or fat. Her mom just says she has thick bones, and that she hasn’t lost her baby weight. Even then, why does Jooheon have to point it out? She gets he’s a ‘bully’ in some context; but, where does he come off pointing out her weight?

With a huff, she shoves his arm off of her and turns her gaze down the hallway—her smile far forgotten as a frown replaces it. “That’s none of your business.” She murmurs which only makes him laugh—as does her pushiness. As she picks up her pace, Jooheon does too—following after her to bug her, like always.

“Noona, look!” Hoping he’d give up, Jaena glances over her shoulder to look at him. Regretting it immediately as a scream resonates from . There, on top of his hand, sits a spider. Bugs. She hates bugs! Holding her books tightly and securing her camera, Jaena runs for it. Leaving a cackling Jooheon behind, she finds herself sprinting down the hallway and swerving around a corner—knocking directly into the nearest person. Knocking the two to the ground—theirs books heading in each and every direction. Jaena just knows, that if Jooheon was here—he’d be laughing like crazy.

An immediate apologetic look forms on her face, “I’m so sorry!” The girl she knocks over nods her head as she begins to gather her books—Jaena helping her out feeling guilty. After handing over a few of their books—and exchanging others. Jaena bows her head in apology. “I’m truly sorry.” 

“It’s fine.” The girl quips, moving some of her hair out of her face. Jaena instantly recognizes the girl when she does so. Not many people know her, she’s considered invisible actually. Jaena’s not sure why; but, it probably has to do with her timid nature. She hides in the shadow of her cousin and allows people to refer to her as ‘Hoseok’s Cousin’ and then—in Jaena’s opinion—probably badmouths them in her head. 

Just before Sora can disappear, Jaena sticks out her hand. “My names Jung Jaena, you’re Sora, right? Park Sora?” The short girl glances at the other, and tilts her head to the side in wonder. It’s not normal for someone to know her name. Even in her former yearbooks, they’d say ‘Best of Luck, you!’ instead of ‘Best of Luck, Sora!’ Unknown to Sora, Jaena has claws of steel that digs into people and their secrets—including her. She knows nearly every person’s name, except for the incoming freshman’s, as she’s yet to know them (besides a select few who have major connections to already attending students.)

“Um, yeah?” Sora murmurs as she comes to her feet—Jaena following in tow.

Sora ends up ignoring Jaena’s outstretch hand as she steps to the side—out of Jaena’s way—and begins walking. “You’re in Mister Tanaka’s Psychology class for first period, right?” Sora’s eyes gaze over at the other, and thin as she takes in the words. First, it was weird when Jaena knew who she was. But, now knowing what class she has…weirder.

“Yeah, uh—how did you know that?” She questions.

Jaena smiles, “I’m in that class too, I saw you earlier when exiting.” Sora’s eyes slip away from Jaena to focus on her path of walking. She feels no reason to continue the conversation—it’s not like there’s a point to it. Why even talk to her in the first place? Sora knows how she’s perceived in the school and the only time people ever ‘talk’ to her is when they want to get close to Hoseok, through her. Especially females, mainly females. It’s the reason she doesn’t have friends (other than Hoseok). She can’t trust anyone, in fear that they’re not who they say they are. All in all, she doesn’t trust anyone—and probably won’t until she leaves high school and makes an actual name for herself. A life where she isn’t just ‘Hoseok’s Cousin’. 

[  P R E S E N T  D A Y  ]

SORA STANDS IN FRONT of a standing mirror, ringing her hair out with a towel—her clothes are still red, obviously, and parts of her body still have red covering it—some places a substance like that shouldn’t be. She feels exhausted, the punishment weighing on her mind. Much like Jiyoon, Sora’s a good kid who follows the rules. The one thing she wants is to leave school as quick as possible—not get wrapped up in something that she doesn’t want. She’s not like her cousin. She tries not to cause trouble. This isn’t what she wanted. This would never be what she wants. She’s tired; but, more than anything she’s upset. How does someone mess up so bad that they get thirteen others involved in his own mess? It’s just ridiculous.

“Aren’t you related to that Hoseok-guy or something?” Sora glances to right, finding Hyeryung standing there—airing her hair out by flipping it around. When she notices the short girls gaze, she smiles. “I’m right, aren’t I? You two look a lot alike. I think it’s the nose.” The girl runs a finger along her nose before she pinches it—the whole time Sora stares at her like she’s the biggest freak to grace her presence. As Hyeryung continues to spot the similarities between Hoseok and Sora—Sora disperses to the door leading back to the gym and away from all the crazy females. 

Just as she reaches for the door handle, a body blocks the way out. By someone she used to know quite well. Jiwon flicks a hand through her ponytail, and twirls the ends of it. “We should talk about Hyungwon and Hoseok.” Sora would scoff; but, she’s really not in the mood. Overall, she’s not in the mood to talk to anyone that’s remotely related to the Chae family. Hyungwon and Jiwon especially. Not after what happened. No matter what anyone says; one thing is for sure, she will never forgive Hyungwon. And with Hyungwon comes Jiwon—they’re a package. You can’t just dislike one of them—you dislike both.

“I’d rather not.” She mutters in response—trying to step around the younger.

Jiwon blocks her off, and nudges her backward by pushing at her shoulder. “They’re issue is our issue,” The brunette sighs, particles of her hair blowing over her face and landing in —she swipes them away. “Look, Hyungwon wants to be friends with Hoseok again—can’t you, like, convince Hoseok to be friends with him? Make the process go faster and easier instead of having to deal with all of this?” Sora, somehow, manages to shove Jiwon’s arms off of her and crosses her arms over her chest—frustration running through her veins. Jiwon’s never been able to understand when to give up. Instead she just keeps pestering, and pestering until you either give-up or blow-up.

“Hoseok’s business, is not my own. If he doesn’t want to be friends with Hyungwon, then so be it. It’s not my job to force him to be friends with someone he hates.” With that said, Sora bypasses Jiwon and heads for the door—finally being able to leave.

Jiwon groans—why doesn’t anyone understand her? “You’re just mad because of what happened last year,” Angered, Jiwon lets out a puff of air as she narrows her eyes at Sora who stands there like a little girl. “Build a bridge and get over it, he hurt your feelings: boohoo. Cry me a river. This isn’t grade school, grow up!” With tears b her eyes, Sora fists her hands into her shirt and stumbles out of the locker room. It’s impossible to stand-up for herself. She’s too scared that it’ll backfire and the situation will just get worse. Jiwon’s sharp-tongue is enough to make her cry, imagine what would happen after she said something irrevocable—Jiwon would most likely stop at nothing. 

Before her cousin can find her, or anyone else—Sora leaves. There’s no point in staying around, there’s only going to be a fight. Maybe between Jooheon and the others. She doesn’t like fights, and would rather not be involved with something so petty. She’ll leave her cousin up to that matter—besides, he likes fighting. 

“Hey, are you in Misses Soon’s class? Second period, AP Literature.” Jiyoon asks Hyeryung as she folds her towel and sets it perfectly a top a beige bench in front of a set of dark green lockers. Hyeryung glances at her, and furrows her eyebrows together—thinking closely back to her class schedule. Even though she’s acing all of her classes, she’s usually too tired to remember her schedule.

After a second, she nods her head. “Yeah, I might be.”

“Well, I’m Kang Jiyoon.” Jiyoon sticks her arm out for the girl to shake—which she does.

“I know, you’re quite known around the school,” Hyeryung says. Trying not to insult the girl in the process. Everyone in the school knows Jiyoon as the crazy rule enforcer. Getting kids detention and in trouble for not obeying the laws of the school. She’s considered to be quite scary. “I’m Yoo Hyeryung.” The two shake hands, small smiles blooming on their faces. Maybe they’d be able to make a friend on the team. If Kihyun was here, Hyeryung would definitely show off how easy it is to make friends. The two girls proceed to clean-up their mess; before, heading out of the locker room side-by-side. They didn’t talk; but, they found the company nice. Neither of them have female friends, it may be interesting to actually have one.

Jaemi huffs as she brushes her hairbrush through her auburn locks—which are now tainted red. Whatever substance got thrown on her, has not only dyed it a bit red, it has also lightened her hair. It may be a mixture of the texture of her hair, her shampoo, and the substance. Either or, she’s mad. “Stupid Lee Jooheon! Haeyoung, how can you even be friends with that meanie?” She questions—glancing in the direction of the female who sits on the bench folding her towel.

“I’m not sure myself.” She murmurs to which Jaemi nods.

Once done with brushing her hair—now the color shifting into a dark blonde with red tints. How annoying. “Haeyoung! What do I do? My hair!” She cries, running over to the dancer who’s now standing, and shaking her arm—pouting. Haeyoung glances at her, her eyes narrowing, before she’s shoving the girl off and walking for the exit. As Jaemi follows after her with a whine, the two are cut off by Jiwon. 

“What?” Haeyoung asks—crossing her arms over her chest.

Jiwon shrugs, “How’d he do it?”

“How’d he do what?” She responds to which the former sighs.

Uncrossing her arms, Jiwon points to their uniforms. Specifically, the red stuff on every piece of it. “The prank! How’d he set up? How did he plan it? When did he plan it? What was the inspiration behind it? And what materials did he use?” Haeyoung huffs, she should’ve expected that. How many times has Jiwon come to her about Jooheon’s pranks? Too many to count. Apparently, the female believes Haeyoung is some sort of accomplice in every prank he pulls. Sometimes Haeyoung is; but, it’s usually the lesser of two evils and she’s usually forced to do so.

“Ask him yourself.” She chides, pushing past her and leaving.

Jaemi follows in tow, “Sorry.” She murmurs while bowing politely to Jiwon. She’s not one for being rude when she’s angry. She just wants to be respectful, and nice to everyone. Although, she’s not quite sure why Jiwon and Haeyoung dislike each other. But, she found out their dislike for each other pretty early on with her friendship with Haeyoung. It’s hard not to notice it. With a groan, Jiwon follows after—her main goal: find Jooheon and figure out how he did all that. It was too cool not to try and reenact.

As the boys and girls circle in the gym, one lone female is still left in the girl’s locker room. Nearly forgotten, and barely remembered. Jaena finishes drying her hair as she sets her towel on the bench. With a sigh, she throws her hair into a ponytail, grabs her belongings, and joins the group of people who tend to forget her. That’s okay, at least she has her trusty camera. Though, a camera can never compare to friendship—something she lacks. Because people like Jiwon believe the rumors that she’s manipulative. If only one person would believe her instead.

[ authors note ]  Oh man, that was a lot to write. I hope you guys enjoyed the flashback. Flashbacks will be a big part of this story, especially when it comes to people's relationships and what happened in the gym. Idk, when the third chapter will come out—but I've got such inspiration to write, that I just gotta. By the time you've read this, I probably already started the third chapter. My gosh, can I just say I love writing? lol Thank you for reading! I appreciate it. ^^