As soon as Daehyun leaves your side, you instantly become painfully aware of the hushed gossip that circulates around the school, the judging words unsubtly making their way to your ears. You duck your head and attempt to block out the conversations, but you know it’s useless. 

You want to blame your dad for what he’s caused you, but you have to try to be patient with yourself. It’s only the second day. Are you going to be so weak as to give up this soon? No. You’re better than this. At least, you know you can be.

But thinking about what you had, and the easiness of life before change had occurred dampens your mood. It’s pointless to dwell on the past, but you can’t stop yourself. You let your mind imagine what your life would be like if your dad hadn’t gambled his money away. For one thing, you wouldn’t be walking these halls alone. You wouldn’t have to hear strangers discuss your life as if they know you. You wouldn’t have to feel insecure and sorry for  yourself, and you could go on living comfortably, waking up every morning to the smell of freshly prepared breakfast and taking for granted your beautiful, expensive clothes.

But if none of this had happened, then you wouldn’t have come to the realization that your friends aren’t really your friends. You would have never known that you’re not as high and mighty as you thought you were. You wouldn’t have learned how to cope with these things and how to survive in this social environment. You wouldn’t have lived in that horrible old house … and most of all, you wouldn’t have met Daehyun.

And if there’s one thing you don’t regret, it’s that.

Trying to keep a positive mindset, you finish the first half of the day quickly. You avoid people, and in turn they avoid you. At first, it hurts your pride to see that no one comes up to you anymore in an effort to get into your good graces, but you have to cast those thoughts aside now. It’s just futile to dwell on those things.

The thing is, your name isn’t the only word that’s been filling the halls. You catch Daehyun’s name, too, on occasions when you’re brave enough to eavesdrop. 

It’s only natural that they talk about  him. He has blond hair, something that not every person in this school would dare achieve. He walks like he hasn’t got a care in the world, and maybe to an uninformed eye, he doesn’t. His past is obscure, and people question his place here - what’s a blond boy doing at a ritzy school like this? - and speculate his character.

Because that’s what people do. They talk about things they don’t understand. They talk about things that are strange. They fear the unknown, and because Daehyun is an aberration, they fear him, too.

You suppose that, in a way, you and Daehyun make the perfect pair. There’s you, a girl whose lost her place in this world, and there’s Daehyun, a boy who quietly rebels against the standards set by  society.

Maybe this is why you can walk into the cafeteria with your head held high and take your seat across from Daehyun. He looks up at you as you set your tray down, but instead of meeting your eyes with surprise or amusement, he merely takes a bite of his food, as if your coming to see him is a common, every day thing.

“Hey,” you say.

“Hey,” he says back. He smiles. “How was class?”

“That’s what I want to ask you,” you retort, and he gives you a look of confusion. Before you can explain, a shout interrupts your thoughts, and you turn around just in time to see someone throw a piece of paper at your back. You search for the culprits and find them at a nearby table, laughing their heads off as they watch you stare at the paper that lies crumpled on the floor. After hesitating, you bend down, pick it up, and unfold it. 

“Put it in the trash.” That’s all it says.

A million emotions flare inside you. Anger. Disappointment. Annoyance. Hurt. Insulted. But what can you do? Daehyun stares at you, watching you as you stand up. Before you can begin to make the long trip to the trash can, Daehyun stands up, walks around the table, and grabs your hand that holds the note.

“What’s that?” he asks. Although his face is unsuspecting, his voice carries a layer of intensity. You let him pry the note from your hand and watch as he reads it. No emotion is relayed on his face, but you can tell by the way he crumples the note in his hands that he’s just as frustrated as you are. Instead of going over to face the guys, though, he simply smiles at you. “You have something to throw?” he asks you. You open your mouth to reply, but he continues, “I’ll come with you, then,” he says.

He waits for you to understand his words before he takes a step forward, accompanying you in the shaming act of going to the trash. You can’t begin to register Daehyun’s kindness, and you’re a little impressed as he accompanies you, acting as if this is just a regular, mundane thing. When you reach the trash can, he gives you the note, and you take it in your hands and throw it away triumphantly.

In a few seconds, Daehyun was able to change how you felt about bending to somebody’s orders. It’s no longer humiliating. It now feels like you’ve beaten something. Those boys. Your fear. And a part of yourself that you always hesitate to acknowledge. And Daehyun … he had helped you win.

You return to the table together and smile to yourself when you see that the guys who had thrown you the note are glaring at you for ruining their plans. Daehyun stops just beside their table, and with a nonchalant smile, he tells them, “If you have anything else that you need to throw, don’t hesitate to do it yourself.” With that he takes a seat, grabs his fork, and looks at you. “So, yeah. Class. How was it?”