♡ Chapter 1 ♡

"I'm comin’, I'm comin’! Keep your claws in, umma," Jungeum called, stuffing an off-brand strawberry pop-tart into . She flung her favorite pink and blue shoes at the door and hurried to the kitchen, frantically searching for her lunch.

After about ten seconds without success, Jungeum decided her only option was to ask for help, "Umma! Have you seen my lunch?"

Her mother entered the kitchen sporting a short pencil skirt, an extremely low cut blouse, skinny high heels, and some very bright pink lipstick. Without even giving Jungeum a glance, she swept past her, "Aren't you old enough to make your own lunch? I'm busy, too, you know! Hurry up, I'm only driving you because it's the first day of school."

Jungeum scrunched her face and raised an eyebrow, silently looking her mother up and down as the adult grabbed her equally ty purse. How the hell could you even drive in those shoes? No, Jungeum corrected herself, how could you even go in public looking like such a ?

Sighing and shaking her head, Jungeum reached into the cupboard, grabbed a bag of chips, and tossed it into a brown sack. That'd be enough for lunch. She probably wouldn't eat today, anyway. The whole purpose of lunch was to socialize, and, well, who was the new girl going to socialize with?

When she heard the door slam shut, she haphazardly rolled the top of the bag shut and scurried over to her shoes. She slipped them on in one--no, wait, five or six--very fluid clumsy motions and hurried out the door.

She was met with an expression from her mother that was very similar to the one that Jungeum had shown earlier. The older woman scanned her daughter’s attire, taking in the clashing prints of her patterned tights and her monster themed jumper. When her eyes befell the brown bag tightly held in Jungeum's hands, she looked away and shook her head as if in pain.

When her mother had finally recovered from her apparent shock, she rubbed her temples and murmured, "Such a weird kid... How are you even my daughter?" She let out a sigh and then slid into the car. "Get in. Or I'm leaving you here." She gave Jungeum a look of disgust, "And put that bag somewhere no one can see it."

As slowly as she dared, Jungeum opened the car door and threw her lunch onto the dashboard for the whole world to see. She successfully ignored the pathetic glare that her mother gave her, all the while plastering a smug little smirk on her face.

The car ride was completely silent; it did absolutely nothing to calm Jungeum’s “new girl” nerves. She was actually relieved when they pulled up to the school. With a graceful hop to the ground, she snatched her lunch, exited the car, and left her mother behind. Thank God that she would be walking for the rest of the year.

As soon as she was steadily on the ground, the knot in her stomach disappeared. She reached to adjust her backpack straps and finally realized that she’d completely forgotten pretty much everything she’d need for the day- a lunch, a backpack, and her confident attitude. Luckily, the latter could be gotten anywhere. With a smirk, Jungeum began to-in essence-strut toward the lobby of the building.

The young high school girl fed off of the strange looks she received from her peers. Those es didn’t know what hit them when she made it to the homeroom. At first, the familiar judgmental stares were all she felt, but when she took no notice of them, the looks changed. Half of them thought she was insane, but that also meant the other half didn’t. That was how Won Jungeum saw things.

“Hello, loves,” were Jungeum’s very first words to her class- the people she might be spending the rest of her year with. Everything all depended on her mother’s job. “Seems like a party here,” she raised an eyebrow and looked around at the students all somewhat conservatively dressed and softly murmuring to their friends. So these kids were the quiet kind. She sauntered to a seat and threw her feet on the desk. Looks like it’d be a while before she even bothered with making friends.

As the remaining free time ticked by, tired looking students filed in and sat at desks in familiar positions. One seat was left open, the one just in front of Jungeum was still occupied by her feet. She was beginning to hope that she’d be left alone like this for the remainder of the year. Who’d make friends when you’re just going to leave anyway?

Unfortunately, just before it was time for class to start, one final student hurried into the room. His hair was slicked back, his white shirt was tucked in, and his pink bow tie was tied perfectly. He wore a matching pink belt and his glasses were ridiculously large for the size of his face. Jungeum narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized his choice in fashion. After a moment, her neutral expression darkened to a glare. No way in hell was this nerdy kid taking her footrest.

A girl behind Jungeum chuckled and whispered to her friends, “That’s what Myungsoo gets for being so late all the time. Hah. Now he has to deal with the weird kid. Well, loser with a weirdo is a perfect match.”

Jungeum hadn’t really cared until that last bit. Loser? She examined the boy, Myungsoo, once again. Beneath his bulky glasses resided a rather pretty face, and his shirt secretly revealed a delicious looking body. Sure, he was pretty girly looking... and his clothes didn’t flatter him very well, but in no way was he worthy of the label “loser.”

Her anger flared instantly. What a ! Picking on the poor kid! He was obviously not very comfortable with himself either. Why would she tear him even farther down like that? Jungeum turned around and gave her death look in the direction of the voice. When the girls noticeably withdrew, she faced Myungsoo and flashed him a bright smile. She tapped the chair with her foot and gestured to the desk with a nod, “Want a seat?”

Myungsoo looked at her with a shocked expression and then slowly shuffled to the seat. While still managing to avoid her gaze, he never once took his eyes off of her as he plopped into the chair. Regrettably, he was so busy making sure that she wouldn’t beat him up that he completely forgot to check whether she’d moved her feet or not- and she hadn’t.  With a loud, “Ouch! Shi-” Jungeum just barely rescued herself from being amputated from her ankle and down. Great. Just great. It was going to be a wonderful first day at her new school.