Jungwoo rubs her eyes gently to make the blurriness go away instead she made it worse. Then she took what seemed to be a yawn and sigh at the same time.

She scratched her hungry empty belly and then began slowly closing her eyes, almost falling into a slumber.

That is when she remembered about school. In just a second she cracked her eyes wide open and her mind drove wild.

She pulled off her covers and began running around her room, picking out her clothes, bookbag, and makeup. As she messfully had her uniform on, she plopped down right infront of her mirror and began to carefully paint her lips.

She was nervous but excited for school. Happy for a new year with more students so more friends. But nervous that the shuddering bullying cycle would start up again.

She hated every moment of it but she gritted her teeth and smiled as she came through her home's front door. She did not have the heart to tell her parents, they were already struggling enough with low income. She worried she would just add another burden onto their backs so she simply swept it under the rug.

She took a sigh as she finished putting on mascara. She looked in the mirror and analyzed her frowning face, smiling softly right after with saying in a joyous voice

"It will be alright... yeah.."

Jungwoo was sure of never letting them look down on her again. So over the long break, she gained confidence and love in herself then learned karate from her cousin. Unfortunately, the highest she got ranked by her cousin was a blue belt but jungwoo was still proud of it for her effort.

She checked the time once again, running at full speed now to grab her bookbag and left hurriedly out the door.

 

 

                                                      -♡-

 

The sun beamed against the roof of the houses beautifully, illuminating a warm feeling to it. The male birds chirped to ensure everyone around that they were alert, alive, and on defense at their territory. And Jungwoo with sweat running down her forehead as she ran to the bus station, trying to tye her hair into a tiny ponytail.

"Oh god I bet I look awful"

She dared not to look so she swiftly pulled her black hoodie over her head.

As she turned right on a street corner, her heart felt as it were pumping right out of her chest.

There only a few yards away, she sees that her bus has just pulled over to pick up some students, whom are wearing the same uniform as her, and others going to work or traveling for the day.

They all quickly pile on, some going slower than others. One girl waiting at the stop does not realize it until the driver honks. She looks up and quickly walks over but stops right at the door to look at Jungwoo running.

The bus stayed put until jungwoo swung inside to the 2nd door of the bus which was at the tail, if you would call it.

Some eyes dart to her direction to have a closer look at the running girl, others look off into the distance or either down at their phone.

She scurried into a seat that was right behind the entrance. 

Kshh... 

As the two doors began to close in sync.

Jungwoo promptly took her bookbag off and laid it on her lap, now making herself comfortable in the orange plastic bus seat.

Then laying her heard gently on the clean looking window as she looked out to see the now whole visible orange looking sunrise. 

Squeak! Humm... The bus went on to its normal route to reach the next stop.
 

                                                      -♡-

 

After 30 minutes of a long peaceful silence, the bus came to a hault on a street corner. Almost half of the people in the bus exit out of both doors, most of which are students.

Jungwoo swings her backpack around her as she stands up while holding onto a pole nearby. She waits for most of them to get out so she can leave last.

As she does so to go to the door and down the steps, she feels a presence awfully close to her from behind but doesn't look back out of fear to confront someone.

Her mind forgot about it instantly as she saw Songhee and a couple of her friends, making her heart skip a beat.

They look almost like a gather of vultures preying around Songhee. She hoped to have crept past them without getting noticed since they had been looking down at they phones.

But that idea was soon disappeared once Songhee looked right to her direction then after the others craking up their heads in sync.

She felt her body froze up but then she noticed the smiles, smirks, and chuckles on their faces so she turned around.

That is when she remembered about the awfully close presence. It was a guy who looked familiar but she forgot the name of.

She squint her eyes at him, trying to recollect and pin point who he is from all her long discarded memories from last semester.

She jumps back a bit when he finally looks down making a smirky smile to after he had made "funny" faces while pointing at her.

He almost lets out a chuckle when he noticed her jump back, this made Jungwoo give him a disgust face before turning back around. 

She felt confident in her head but with every step she took, her fear grew a bit more just to pass by Songhee & her group.

Her mind went blank as she walked right passed them, she could literally feel their eyes almost burning right through her. She knew she heard scoffs and giggles here & there but she didn't care.

All she wished for was that they would not say a word to her, and with that her wish came true. No remarks or loud comments degrading her, just the continuous chatter amongst them about grades, clothes, & break.

As she got far enough that she felt an air of relief, she finally let out a nervous chuckle as she grasp onto her sweater. Imagining it as if it was her heart, trying to stop its loud vicious beating. 

She walkes across another street and straight towards the school gates as she hummed to a particular tune to which she written for a lyrics during the break.

Smiling gleamfully, she left a happy greetings to the school's administrators that waited out in the now hot dry sun and went onto her classroom.

 

 

                                                       -♡-

 

 

Eunwoo lightly patted Songhee at the top of her head, as he softly said,

"Hey, Songhee~ Wake up or else you will get in trouble"

She raised her head up as her hair dropped on the sides, covering her face.

"Eunwoo, come on let me sleep, I am tired"

She said with an annoyed voice but Eunwoo didn't seem to mind it, cheerfully responding with a grin

"Then why did you sleep late then? Were you watching that show again?"

"Whatever just let me sleep.."

She said burrowing her face into her folded arms again.

A slam came to Songhee's desk, shocked she jumped up, almost nearly making her fall out of her chair.

She looked up to her teacher, having his arms now crossed.

"Tsk tsk tsk, first in your class not knowing what you want after you graduate"

"And you think you can sleep in my class, not this year Songhee.."

Mr.Kim said with almost a digusted face.

Two kids ran down the halls with laughing loud screams by the classroom, making Mr.Kim to chase after to stop them.

Eunwoo had a annoyance clearly written on his lips but it turned into a concering one as he turned back to Songhee.

"What does he know? Don't be so down, it's only the first day.. let's go get some tteok-bokki after school, I found a really good place nearby that just opened up"

He leaned towards Songhee's face but before he could get any closer she got up from her seat.

"Sure, thanks Eunwoo, I'm gonna go use the restroom"

She said with a slight smile and went away after.

Just as she took a step out, she rolled her eyes.

How am I gonna get out of this one? I just want to sleep..

Songhee slowly blinked down the school corridors, carelessly walking. 

Eventually she bumped into someone but didn't have the energy by then to scold them so all she could muster up was just a few whispers.

"Aish.. kids these days, watch where you're going.."

 

 

                                                     -♡-

 

 

Jungwoo plopped down cheerfully in the very back seat by the windows, still humming to the tune.

She looked carefully around the room and that's when her heart sunk.

There at the classroom door she saw that familiar face from earlier again.

"Bambam! Hey yo, how've you been?" 

A large tall kid said, as he walked towards the door with arms out. 

Jungwoo looked at his face, almost captivated by his looks

if only he didn't have a personality like that then maybe I'd go for-

Just then they both made eye contact, making Jungwoo to hurriedly look somewhere else off in the distance.

maybe not, he is not THAT good looking anyways..

She thought sarcastically, grabbing her phone out of her pocket to distract herself in the mean time before class started.

There was a spread of light chuckles that flooded out in the classroom making the calm and warm image of the morning summer even more enhanced.

Kids laughed around, getting to catch up with each other on what happened over break and the gossips that went about. 

Already groups of students started to choose their seats, making sure they got next to their friends and the farthest from the teacher.

Jungwoo surfed through sites and social media, catching up with her favorite artists by watching their concert clips and other recent videos.

By then Jungwoo had her headphones in and joyfully watched with a beautiful grin at the videos, making her forget about the surrounding world.

Eventually the bell rang and this snapped Jungwoo back to reality.

She quickly paused the video and took the headphones out.

She noticed that Bambam sat down on the seat next to her, this came to her as a surprise.

One because they were not that much of friends with one another and secondly because he has so many of own that she questioned 'why didn't he sit with them?'

Her heart fluttered as she saw his face close again but this time she focused on his features.

He looked perfectly structured and she just could not take her eyes off of him, the way the morning sun gleamed on his face.

She wondered if it was just her nervousness of the first day, the way the light softly covered the classroom, or if it was actually what she was feeling.

Either way it soon went away again once he turned to her and made that smirking teasing smile he had on earlier.

She turned her face away immediately to hide her blush, stuffing her heaphones and phone inside her bookbag to distract her. 

Tap! Tap! Tap! 

The teacher lightly did so against the blackboard with the red inked pen he always kept inside his shirt pocket.

The kids in unison raise their heads at the teacher with full attention & awareness, hoping to not miss a thing already.

"Now I know everyone is still a bit sleepy since it is so early in the morning but you should have thought about that a few days ago to get an early night's sleep"

He walked down the aisles, tapping each student's desk who had their head down.

"I need you to pay attention very closely because your first assignment of this year will be very much needed in your life..."

"Then after I will be listing the materials needed specifically for the subject introduced to you this year"

He coughed into his hand, trying to clear his dry old throat,

"So Physics this year will be a handful due to the school board letting me able to teach you how extensive I want to..."

"And just so you know I will be taking advantage of that fully"

He was always grumpy everywhere he went but for some reason he always got very cheerful and fascinated about Physics and it always showed in his tone of voice.

"Now I know you are all seniors, so it is all your last year... hopefully..."

Few chuckles of students spread out in the class.

He grabbed a stack of paper of his desk and handed a certain amount to each row.

"I am passing you back these so you could all write down your ideas of what career you want, colleges, what you look for into a job.. etc..."

As he got down to the last row he took a white chalk he had already hid in his pocket, and went up to the blackboard, writing what needs to be written by the students.

Writing the dot on the last sentence aggressively in order to emphasize his point.

"It is VERY crucial for you to know what you want to do by now, otherwise your life could literally go down the gutter"

He sat down in his chair in exhaust as it made a squeaking noise, showing the chair's old age and condition.

"So.."

He painfully rubbed his back as he took a sigh

"Any questions?"

He carefully looked around the room, hoping for no hand to raise but one did.

Before being even called on, Bambam blurted out

"So what if we have no idea?"

Several kids looked across the room to one another, sharing glances of their worrying concern they all knew they had but did not want to publicly announce.

Mr.Kim raised an eyebrow slightly, chuckling with amuse

"You will get no where in life if you don't, stop joking and start writing"

Mr.Kim looked down to the scatters of paper that were work he would soon assign to the students in a couple of weeks as he chuckled at the situation.

Bambam gave a questioning look around the room as his sighed

"Mm but I wasn't?..."

Bambam sat there for a bit and pondered already with the first question. Though his gaze soon traveled towards Jungwoo answering the questions swiftly.

He looked around to catch if the teacher were busy and he was so he took this as a chance to talk to Jungwoo.

"Pst.. pst~"

She glanced at him for a moment but went back to writing her answers again. He made a questioned face but softly whispered towards her

"Hey~ Jungwoo, right? Can you please help me out with this?"

She finally turned to face him but with a look like what?

"..But this is based on your opinion?"

He scoffed back,

"I obviously know that but I haven't really figured what I want, so can I just look at your answers so at least he won't scold me?"

Jungwoo was a big softie and basically everyone knew it to which many took advantage of when they needed 'help' on questions they did not have the answer to.

Though when something was needed to be said or either she firmly refused, she was very fierce about it.

"No, just think of anything, it's not that hard"

She said with annoyance as she looked down at her paper to focus once more.

But Bambam was one to not let things slide if things did not go his way.

"C'mon, just let me see it, it's not like any of this actually matters", snatching the paper from her, leaving a pencil line across the paper as she was still writing. 

Bambam was almost shocked with the anger she drew on her face and her now louder tone that expressed it once he took it away.

"Give that back." She tried to snatch it back but Bambam was took quick.

In the mist of the brawl, the teacher had came to take it away from both and scolded them to get out of the class.

Most of the students looked back, some chuckling and others staring Jungwoo up and down as if they had messed with someone precious to them.

She kept her head down as she walked out, trying to leave fast as possible. But just as they got out and the door shut behind them, Bambam pulled the back of Jungwoo's collar.

"You owe me an apology"

She shoved his hand back with an digusted face before turning away to sit down

"Shut up"

She drooped her head down and let out a sigh, her mind filling up with thoughts on how her parents would react when they would get the call from her teacher.

She shut her eyes as if to hide from the worries and consequences she hoped to not face. Though her family did not have much, she always tried her hardest to be the pride for her parents.

"Hey.." a soft mellowed voice chimed in, saving her from the endless thoughts pouring in.

She opened her eyes to see before her Bambam, she jumped a bit but not by shock but because her heart started to flutter again as his face was right in front of hers.

"Ah..." is all she could mutter.

A grin spread across his lips but he stopped himself first to ask concernly

"Um... sorry if I caused something that might affect you.. I can tell the teacher it was all me"

She felt almost breathless, not capturing the words all too attentively

"..oh... yeah sure"

He looked for a few more seconds, analyzing her face and this made Jungwoo's heart skip a beat as well as make her face burn up.

He got up, dusting his knees off, as if there was any dust, then offered her a hand all with silence. Jungwoo placed her hand on his and at this moment she felt as though her heart would flat line at any second.

She swiftly let go once she got up, remembering the jerk he was last semester.

"Hey.."

He faced her as he closely stood near Jungwoo so much that it left her no choice but to lean against the wall. 

"..I've been meaning to tell you something..."

RINGGG!

The bell loudly roared through the corridors, announcing for lunch to begin.

Jungwoo felt relief, her heart truly could not take anymore. She glanced up to Bambam as he backed away a bit more as he glanced around to see if anyone saw him, noticing an almost frustration on his face when he did so.

"Y'know what? Forget about it.."

He left right after to walk towards his friends as Jungwoo stayed put, stunned.

She finally got her mind to focus to which she walked down quickly to the cafeteria.

 

 

                                                     -♡-

 

 

The rest of the time was just a hazy blur to Jungwoo. She could not get the thought of what happened earlier. Ah I wonder what he was about to say.. gently biting her lips with concern. 

She wondered as well as where to Bambam had left to as the seat next to her stayed empty the whole time after lunch.

Just as the bell rang, Bambam had made a grand entrance to all his friends and Jungwoo as he came back through the back doors. 

Jungwoo could not keep her off of him but she finally did once he reached to his seat to grab his bookbag.

"Bambam. Please come see me once everyone is out."

Mr.Kim demanded as he wondered as well to where he went off to. Some of his friends ooed at him as well as the girls chuckling.

Jungwoo was the last to leave as she tried to stay to watch the mess unfold between the two but she had tried to hurry once again in order to not get scolded by the teacher again.

"You too Jungwoo...stay."

She shut her eyes and sighed as she zipped up her bookbag and fearfully carried herself towards Mr.Kim. She was nervous more than ever, not only because of Bambam but Mr.Kim too.

"Ah.. Teacher if I may?" Bambam said before the teacher could speak a word. He nodded slightly, allowing Bambam to speak, 

"Jungwoo really had no part in the mess, it was really all me, can you please let her off?" He said with a straight face.

Mr.Kim thought about it first but then said slowly, still sounding unsure,

"Okay.. but I still need to talk to you about what happened after lunch"

"Yeah that's totally fine", he assured Mr.Kim.

"Jungwoo, I guess your free to go" and with that Jungwoo became joyful again but not yet. She still worried about the consequences Bambam would recieve but in way he was right, he started it 

"Ah, thank you Mr.Kim!" Bowing to him graciously.

She glanced up to Bambam once more before leaving but he kept his eyes somewhere else.

Jungwoo hurriedly left the room and sighed.

She walked down the stairs to where she came to a hault at the front doors and groaned with much annoyance.

The once hot sunny sky now covered by dark grey clouds as the rain poured down hard. Jungwoo did not give much thought to how the weather could have changed so quick but to more on how she was going to make it on the bus on time without getting wet. 

As if accepting defeat she tossed her bookbag over her head and ran out the doors with what seemed to be a sigh and a groan at the same time.

 

 

                                                  -♡-

 

 

Songhee pokes her head around the corner of the hallway. Hmm.. I don't see him.. I think I'm safe.. 

Just then in the distance she spots Eunwoo, she made a run for it to the stairs. Ah well, I don't need my bookbag that bad.. I'll just turn in my work late.. 

She swiftly makes it down the stairs , stops abruptly at the 1st floor doors. 

"Aw .."

She hesitates briefly about going back to get her bookbag but instantly runs out as she hears Eunwoo's voice nearby.

"Y'know what? it.." she whispers to herself as she goes out to head for the bus station.

And all along the way she complains, stepping in puddles of water and holding her hands above her head as if it will help.

By the time she reaches the bus stop, her clothes and hair were all soaked. She lets all her frustration out with a sigh as she plops down on the bus bench. She is relieved that she won't get much wetter thanks to the bus shelter.

Though she is angered once again when she is reminded by her clothes as they make squish sounds with the slightest movement. She brushes her hair back to calm her down before breaking down and places her head down in her cuffed hands. 

Just before she lets out a sniffle or such to indicate she is in distress, a voice calls out sweetly to her.

"Oh.. are you okay?"

She looks up to see Jungwoo standing there with a concern caring facial expression.