“Ugh, did you see Nayeon today? Who the hell does she think she is?! I swear, just because you g-get a decent makeover doesn’t make you a…”

The words trailed off as Jihyo zoned out of Sana’s rant. Her eyes wandered the cafeteria from her end of the long table. She glanced occasionally to Mina, attentively listening to this spoiled brat about the not-so-ugly geek of the school decide to treat herself for once. Geez, anyone with a pair of eyes could see that the older girl was pretty, but she just happened to start shining.

Whoopie.

Jihyo sighed, trying to seem like she’s still listening to Sana’s grating high-pitched voice. She’s only here because her and Sana were friends since childhood. Ever since the older foreign student began filling her role as school queen once puberty rolled around, Jihyo stayed with her side as a guard from jealous girls and lusting boys. Rarely would they come for Jihyo personally, but that’s only because she doesn’t flaunt around her “cuteness” and bat her eyelashes, subtly straighten her back, and very gently raise the pitch of her voice around the “popular” boys.

She stopped herself before her mind wanders to Sana’s backbiting.

“Psh, at least she still hangs around the ugly crowd,” Sana spat. “Where she belongs, with that no-life loser, Mo-”

Jihyo was only able to see red before she realized that someone was pulling her back. She blinked before looking down at a curled up girl. Her hands were on her face as she wailed like a banshee. It took a few seconds of steady breathing before Jihyo realized that the girl on the ground was Sana. She spotted a glint of scarlet just beneath the popular girl’s hand, causing Jihyo to quickly look to her hands. Her palms were clean, albeit slightly sweaty, but turning them reveals sore and slightly bloodied knuckles.

Jihyo pursed her lips and breathed in deeply.

She felt the arms slip off, causing Jihyo to jump to their owner. Mina looked back with wide eyes, agape. She couldn’t tell if the youngest of their trio was fearful, but all Jihyo got was a thumbs up. Jihyo turned to a sudden form moving past her to pick up Sana. The old man looked down at her and furrowed his eyebrows.

“Did you do this?” Mr. Ok looked between the two girls in awe. “You should probably head to the principal’s office before Ms. Lee-”

“Alright people, break it up.”

“Too late…”

Jihyo was wrenched by the wrist as she was dragged away, presumably to the principal’s office. She looked to the teacher grabbing her and winced a bit. Of course, it had to be Ms. Lee Sunmi, the hard-as-nails-against-a-chalkboard teacher to bring her there. The girl had a feeling that her permanent record will go worse than she expected.