Choi Minji stepped out of the car. It was close to 9pm at night. She told her cousin Hyeri to wait here for her until she came back, and her heel and left.

She walked in the direction of the local newspaper office. In her hand was a USB containing a text document of Woohyun and Hana’s conversations during senior year, and she intended to exploit this for her own personal gain.

Last night, while Hana and Woohyun had their ‘make-up, let’s-be-friends-again’ session, Minji had been listening. To every word. She hoped Woohyun had forgotten that she had bugged his phone. But she hadn’t.

Their conversation left her furious. Something exploded inside of her; something so raw and untamable that it lead her to act when she wasn’t thinking – turning over Woohyun and Hana’s conversation to show to someone, anyone, that she still had some power.

Sure, she was head cheerleader. But she had lost Woohyun and the respect of many of the girls in her team for letting him go. Even if it was out of her control. Showing this would just cement her position as captain of cheerleading, and paint a message to say that no one messed with her. She had failed the alumni; the previous head cheerleaders that had a mantra to marry the captain of the football team. She had failed it. She failed herself.

Acting with fury always proved to be regretful. In her rage, Minji did not think of how this action would impact upon herself. If word got out that the captain of the cheerleaders did something so immature, so rash, she would surely lose her position. She, as well as the college, had an image to maintain. An insecure leader was not one of them.

She climbed the steps and entered the office. It was a cramped space, with papers and coffee cups littering the floor. Minji spotted the larger desk at the back of room and picked her way delicately through the debris.

“Hello,” she spoke prettily. “Are you the editor?”

She shot him a dazzling smile. He was not much older, if not the same age, as her. This shocked her for a second, but she remembered that it was simply the local paper, not the national one.

He had a bored look on his face. It was late, and he had been working all day.

She drew back, shocked that her charms did not work on him. He was one of the few on the planet that seemed to be immune.

“Yes,” he answered in a monotone voice matching his expression. “How may I help you?”

“I have some information,” she revealed, holding out the USB whilst picking through the mess of papers on the corner of his desk and perching on it.

“Regarding what? Is it from a credible source?” He questioned, attention directed on the email he was replying to and not the girl sitting on the edge of his desk.

He knew about her from the way she tried to charm him by smiling. He knew those…types. The popular, cheerleader types from high school. The ones that thought they were all that. The ones who tormented him throughout high school by laughing at his confessions.

He was in no mood to play along with her. He also knew that they only way to get her to piss off was to act like he was interested.

“Of course it is,” Minji blinked. “I got it straight from – “ She stopped herself before she admitted she hacked into his laptop and transferred the data through several offshore servers before sending it back to her own laptop.

“It is from a reliable source. It is regarding the captain of the state football team – Nam Woohyun.”

“Wow,” he said, attempting to disguise the sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Nam Woohyun.”

The editor wracked his brains, trying to think of where he had heard that name before. Was it the kids behind him in the line for McDonald’s this morning, chattering about how he broke up with his girlfriend or something?

“That’s right,” Minji said eagerly, sitting up straighter. “Nam Woohyun. This is a different side of him. The cheesy, corny, gross side.” She the USB at him.

“Wow,” he said again, this time not caring if his sarcasm dripped through.

So it was the guy the kids behind him were talking about. He had broken up with his high school girlfriend so he could date the head cheerleader – some kind of social code he had to follow, but he didn’t like her and broke up with her. And now there was some great scandal about it.

Why? He wasn’t sure. But he wasn’t about to ask the girl sitting in front of him – from his deductions, this was the cheerleader he had broken up with, now looking for some sort of petty revenge by giving him information. Didn’t she know that this would backfire on her later?

“You can do whatever you like with this information,” she said, slapping down the USB. “On two conditions.”

He looked up at her, mustering his most interested expression.

“It didn’t come from me. And you must write about him and her in the most degrading, disgusting manner. And, in return, your newspaper will gain more readers! Win-win situation. Do we have a deal?”

I nodded, sticking my hand out to shake hers.

Pleased, Minji shook his hand forcefully. “Write well,” she said before leaving.

As she descended the stairs from the local newspaper office, the editor turned and tossed the USB into the trashcan behind his desk.

As if he was going to run such a bogus, boring story. She should have approached a different newspaper. Nobody was interested in the love life of a nobody in the greater society. Sure, if she had given the USB to the sports magazine, maybe. But definitely not a newspaper that focused mainly on daily events and personal ads.

Chuckling to himself, that a cheerleader could be that dense, only confirming his suspicions, he turned back to the email he was replying to. It was to his grandma.

Minji climbed back into the car and motioned for Hyeri to drive. Her cousin shifted the car into gear and drove off suspiciously.

“Where were you?” She questioned, not appreciating that Minji had made Hyeri cancel her date with Chansik to help her run this ‘errand.’

“Newspaper office,” Minji replied shortly.

“Doing what?” Hyeri asked again, getting irritated.

“None of your business,” Minji said in a smug voice.

Hyeri swore and slammed on the brakes. “You tell me where you were, right now, that was so important I had to cancel my date, or I won’t drive the car.”

Minji turned to glare at her cousin. “Don’t you forget, I’m your cousin. And I’m older than you. Don’t you dare disrespect me by questioning me. Don’t embarrass yourself by even thinking that you’re important enough I have to explain myself to you. Now drive.”

Hyeri put the car into park. She swore again. “God, I can’t believe it. You’re such a to me, even though I have done everything you have asked me to? You asked me to break up with Chansik because he was too closely associated with Hana. I did. You made me cancel our date tonight. I did. You made me act cold and y in front of Hana, when I actually like her and think she’s cool. I did. So this is how you repay me? Thanks. Thanks a lot, unnie.”

“Don’t play sarcastic with me, Choi Hyeri. Start the car right now.” The finality in her voice was not to be messed with. Grumbling and cursing, Hyeri started the car and drove off.

After a silent and tense journey, Hyeri arrived at Minji’s house. As Minji left to get off the car, Hyeri caught her wrist.

“Minji,” she said in her hardest, most polite voice. “I’m not stupid. I know what you were doing at the newspaper office. You were giving evidence of the conversations you stole between Woohyun and Hana to the editor to publish.”

“Aw, well, do you want a medal for figuring it out? Let go of me,” she shook the younger girl’s hand off. “Now.”

But she held on.

“No,” she spat. “I’m never taking orders from you again. Ever. God, I don’t even know why I did in the first place. You’re such a bitter, miserable . And just to let you know…I’m telling Woohyun. Everything.”

And with that, she let go of her cousin’s wrist and put the car in reverse gear. Giving Minji one last fleeting look, she sped out of her driveway and onto the road home, and for forgiveness.