On the way she detoured and decided to stay a while at the park. She played on the monkey bars, releasing some pent up energy and anger at her harsh words. Momo sat on the swings and swung as high as she could, trying to forget the earlier events. She felt free as the air rushed through her clothes but her mind still unilaterally returned to the conversation. Thinking back, she wondered if she had misunderstood Jeongyeon. There wasn’t solid proof that Jeongyeon was innocent but neither was she an angel.

She recalled that there were multiple times that Jeongyeon had wronged her but none of them had been major incidents. Perhaps that was just the other girl’s personality as she had never shown a tendency to be a malicious person. To add to that, there was Mina’s voice for Jeongyeon. She had been adamant that Jeongyeon was innocent especially as Mina had been present when Jeongyeon had pushed her aside and even more when they had discovered her vandalised locker.

All these thoughts were swirling around in Momo’s mind as she tried to figure out her next move. Worst of all, she feared that she had done irreparable damage to her friendship. She decided that thinking about it would only worsen her ability to form a solution. She walked home as the sun set and was glad that the streets were empty. Having had some time to think, there was one thing she could take from her altercation with Jeongyeon.

It would seem that Jeongyeon wasn’t the hateful person Momo thought she was and could’ve been a familiar face around if not a friend. However, now there would be little chance of that happening. The thing was that Momo had pondered all the facts and she was confident that Jeongyeon was not the one who had taken her belongings and destroyed her locker. That she had answered that question gave her no comfort as it meant someone else was still out there who meant harm to Momo. Groaning in frustration, she vented out her feelings and screamed aloud. Somewhere a door closed and Momo winced as she forgot that people could still hear her.

She hurried home and once again felt the oppressiveness of the empty house. She checked her phone but there were no new messages from either Mina or Sana. She let out a sigh and leaned her face on her hand. Just when everything was going right, it had to go downhill. She sighed again and yawned. “Might as well make up on lost sleep,” she thought. She slipped under the covers and lay on her side. Hugging a pillow and alone in the house, she felt small and irrelevant. Feelings which sleep could only help so much.

~

For the next few days, Momo tried to approach Jeongyeon to try and offer an apology for her words but was rebuffed multiple times by Jeongyeon ignoring her or surrounding herself with the school’s many idol trainee sheep. Momo finally stopped when the other girl finally acknowledged her presence but didn’t say a word. Instead she looked at Momo with an expression of utter disdain and superiority that any words she had to say were stuck in . Jeongyeon had then walked away and Momo had felt too scared to try and apologise for fear of facing that look that made her feel like an insect.

On the other hand, Momo had made up with Mina after forcing herself to confront her friend. She had grabbed Mina and forced her to recognise the remorse and regret expressed in her eyes that she felt at her actions. Then she had gotten onto her knees and kowtowed before Mina pulled her up with a laugh and all seemed to be fine once again. Things were still a bit tense when they touched on subjects such as their project’s progress and the fact that Jeongyeon did not attend any of their classes together, though things eventually melded back to their normal state though the vandalism to her locker and belongings continued.

After a week of absence, with only a fortnight remaining till their end of term presentation, Jeongyeon turned up to class but spent the entire period chatting to one of her friends, Mi sun and made no effort to do any work. This continued on for the next two lessons but then a remark was made in the blend of conversation that piqued Momo’s interest. Jeongyeon was again talking to Mi sun but made a surprising comment.

She had held her friend’s hand before saying, “You should go to the bathroom. Your hands have been smelling strangely for the past week or so. It smelled like dog and now like old farts. Wash your hands, apply some hand lotion and make sure you don’t touch any trash or trashy people,” with a pointed glare at Momo who had glanced over. Momo ignored the insult but was instead replaying the comment over and over again in her head. She had the day before discovered her latest pair of indoor slippers missing and her locker stink bombed. She was thinking of possible conjectures before Mina prodded her to get her attention. They continued working but Momo couldn’t help shake of the feeling that the comment held particular significance.

~

She made sure the next day to closely monitor her locker and surroundings from a distance. During the day there was no suspicious activity. She decided that her current problem required special attention and made up a reason for staying behind at school. Mina was quite sad at walking home by herself but accepted the lie without argument. Momo followed the Mi sun who had funny smelling hands and was excited when the girl was lingering at school, only to find out that she was meeting with another of the idol trainees for after school activities. Undeterred, she watched from a window as the girls danced to some pop songs.

Whilst there was nothing eye-catching, Momo had a wild thought that Jeongyeon was indeed talented for her ability to dance and sing compared to the lacklustre performance she had seen today. Suddenly, a door opening interrupted her thoughts and Momo made a quick dash to duck into an adjoining corridor. She peeked around the corner and felt a surge of adrenaline as she followed the girl who had exited the room. However, her body deflated when she caught sight of the girl’s face and saw that it was not Mi sun but instead the other girl; Soo-eun. She walked to her locker and grabbed her bag, heading home.

The next day Momo was extremely surprised when she found her locker had received a deposit of an apple core and rotten bananas. Ignoring the smell, she used a tissue to throw them in the bin. Unsure of herself, she decided to continue with her course of action from the day before. She walked into class and sat down at her usual seat in the back. She leaned back in her seat and half-paid attention to the teacher. She thought over everything that had happened to her in the past few days and groaned in frustration as she did not have a single idea of how and when her life could return to calm. She winced as she noticed that her groan was noticeably loud. The whole class was staring at her and Ms. Kim made an amused comment.

‘If the material really is that hard, you can always ask some questions after class. For now, groans and moans should kindly be refrained from.’

The class looked back to the front and Momo covered her face with her hands as her face reddened from embarrassment. When her face returned to normal, she turned her attention to the board and focused on the teacher’s voice. At break time, Mina was laughing at Momo’s lapse and Momo sheepishly grinned as she accepted the justified criticism. However, she went sober as she noticed to the side that the pair of girls from the day before were looking in her direction and seemed to be laughing. Seeing the laugh reminded her of the injustice of her locker’s situation and her fall out with Jeongyeon and she made a promise to herself that she would get down to the heart of the whole affair.

When the final period came around, Momo was glad that it was their joint class for the project. She worked hard for most of the class on designing the choreography but then on a random impulse she walked up to Jeongyeon. She greeted the other girl and then asked her about her day and her progress on the project.

‘Hey Jeongyeon. How are you doing? How are you going with your recital practice? Oh and I noticed you painted your nails, cool!’

She walked away before a shocked Jeongyeon could recover her senses and respond. She was glad she walked away when she did as she took a quick look behind her and saw Jeongyeon’s friend, Mi sun, with an angry expression on her face. She ignored it and kept her head down for the rest of the period though she caught Jeongyeon throwing her a few confused looks.

After school, she again made another excuse to Mina about having something to do and felt guilty about lying to her friend but she comforted herself by thinking that she had a greater purpose to fulfil. She waited as the two idol trainees went to practice again. She followed them and stood outside waiting for something to happen. If what she thought was true, Jeongyeon’s angry friend would make a move soon. She rolled her eyes as she listened to the scratchy voices of the two girls inside and jumped as she caught sight of a reflection behind her. She spun around and saw Ms. Kim looking at her funny. She gulped and was saved by Ms. Kim’s kind question.

‘How are things nowadays? I noticed you are friends with Mina now so that’s a good thing. And do you know when Sana’s is returning? Her presence is missed somewhat.’

‘They’re fine and Mina is a great person, she’s really fun to be around. Sana told me recently that she won’t be back till next term.’

She looked around nervously after she had answered. Ms. Kim, curious, asked her, “Are you doing something wrong again?” She looked behind Momo and saw into the room where the two girls were still practicing. She sighed and then told Momo to follow her. Momo walked behind, worried as they neared the staffroom. She was told to stand outside and waited with anticipation as Ms. Kim disappeared inside. With some relief, the teacher came out carrying a waste basket and told Momo to help her dispose of it, saying she might as well do something useful. Momo grudgingly accepted the task and walked towards the back of the school where the bins were.