“….and then we were at this nice rest area that had the best takoyaki I’ve ever had! I always wanted to try Japanese takoyaki, but I’m pretty sure it’s just as good as the ones in Korea. And then we were about to leave, but I started to get hungry after the takoyaki and wanted to get lunch. I was thinking of either getting jjajangmyun or jjampong and I can say Chinese food is one of my favorite foods, but American food is pretty good too, especially hamburgers. Which made me think if I’ll ever go to the states one day and try a real hamburger. You know, like those giant hamburgers that they sell at Itaewon. Do you think everyone in America eats hamburgers or is it just a few of them? That reminds me this one time I went on a field trip in kindergarten to a theme park and…”

 

Yuri’s mouth just kept going on and on while Taeyeon was poking her spaghetti with her fork. Ever since they hung out in Yuri’s room yesterday, everything was going great. Taeyeon helped herself to reading a few of Yuri’s comics while Yuri continually asked Taeyeon many questions like where she was born, what’s her favorite color, and if chickens could fly, would they taste better? It was amusing for a while, but now as Taeyeon was sitting at the cafeteria she realized that once you get Yuri interested in a topic, she will go all out and talk for a long time.

 

“…and if learned anything from that day, it’s to never trust an unni with white pants because you never know what she’ll do. So does that answer your question?”

 

Taeyeon finally looked up at Yuri with a tired look on her face. “All I said was ‘why do they have to mix in peas with the spaghetti’ and for some reason, you took the liberty to give me a speech of your entire life”

 

“Hee hee hee, was that your question? I thought you asked why you were so lucky to have a good friend like me?” Yuri showed off her signature grin as she was lightly chuckling.

 

Taeyeon’s mouth was slightly open as she stared dumbfounded at the younger girl. “If that’s the case, then what did an unni with white pants, American hamburgers, and talking pigs have to do with friendship?”

 

“Mmm, I don’t know. I guess I got sidetracked. Hahaha!”

 

Yuri was chuckling to herself and Taeyeon felt like banging her head onto the table.

 

I swear this girl is going to make my heart explode! She’s so crazy! And yet, I find her comfortable and funny.

 

With that thought, Taeyeon was giggling alongside Yuri. Yuri may be a little silly at times, but Taeyeon knew that she was a true friend. Even if she was a little kkab, especially when she was doing some over eccentric dance to a Shinhwa song yesterday.

 

*BAM* the laughter was cut short as the two girls turned to their right to see a somewhat punkish looking girl throwing a short scrawny guy onto one of the cafeteria tables. The guy ended up on his back on the ground while having milk and ketchup stains on his shirt.

 

A small crowd of people were surrounding the two. Taeyeon didn’t know who the guy was, but she was all too familiar with the girl who was hovering over her victim.

 

“You might want to wipe that ketchup on your face!” In a flash Tiffany crouched down and delivered a clean right punch to the poor kids face. From the spectators perspective it looked like ketchup was smeared all around his nose, but everyone knew that it was a fresh shed of blood. Tiffany held onto the defenseless boy’s collar as she mercilessly wailed on the kid’s face until two faculty members had to pull her off.

 

“Let go of me! That is gonna pay!” The feisty girl was being dragged out of the cafeteria while trying to attempt her escape. Yuri was staring quietly as the wild mushroom was being taken against her will. Right behind them, a blonde girl was following Tiffany with a bored look on her face as she was trying to wipe a ketchup stain off of her skirt.

 

Once the yelling started to die out and the dazed, bleeding guy was helped to his feet, the cafeteria was buzzing with talk about how the wild mushroom just mercilessly beat up that first year.

 

“My god, I wonder what he did to deserve that. She was literally going all UFC on him. Probably refused to give up his lunch or something. What do you think Taeyeon? Taeyeon?”

 

Yuri noticed that her new best friend was nowhere to be seen. She looked around the cafeteria but couldn’t make out her short friend anywhere. It wasn’t until Yuri noticed the table was slightly shaking and Yuri knew exactly where Taeyeon was.

 

She peaked her head under the table and as expected Taeyeon was there with her eyes tightly closed, her hands cupped against her ears and was shaking slightly waiting for the scary girl to go away. 

 

Yuri grabbed Taeyeon’s wrist and shook her slightly. “Taeyeon, it’s okay. She’s gone now. There’s no need to hide.”

 

Taeyeon opened her eyes slowly and saw a friendly, familiar face. “Are you sure?”

 

“Yeah she’s gone. Don’t worry, she probably didn’t even notice you”

 

Taeyeon relaxed her shoulders as she lowered her hand and let out a long sigh. Taeyeon didn’t move an inch until Yuri finally had to ask “so are you coming back up now?”

 

Taeyeon knew that Tiffany was probably in the principal’s office by now, but she didn’t feel like it was safe to come out yet. “Not yet. Maybe a few more minutes. It’s actually a little comfortable down here. Just put a blanket over the table and we’ll have a fort.” Taeyeon said with a grin on her face.

 

“Psh, you dork.” Yuri’s neck was starting to strain from peeking under the whole time. She decided to throw away any embarrassment and joined her friend under the lunch table with her lunch tray in hand.

 

“Oww, it’s so cramped under here. No wonder you like it down here, it’s like a home for midgets.”

 

“Yah! I’m not a midget, I just didn’t have my growth spurt yet.”

 

Taeyeon gave a small pout as she puffed out her cheeks and tried to give Yuri a death glare. Even though it was meant to be threatening, Yuri couldn’t help but to slap her knee as she was holding back a laugh.

 

“Pmph! Wow, you’re such a dork.”

 

Taeyeon relaxed her face and was giving Yuri a serious look.

 

“I know what you’re thinking and no I’m not scared, I’m just thinking about safety first. If she saw me then she might have came and knocked me out right here”

 

Yuri shook her head as she leaned forward toward Taeyeon. “No she wouldn’t because I wouldn’t let her. If you’d just let me help you, then you wouldn’t have to be hiding from her.”

 

Yuri had a point. Even though she had a great time at Yuri’s place, she still couldn’t get the mushroom out of her head. Even during dinner and bedtime, the images of Tiffany laughing as she was holding up her cell phone was repeatedly flashing through her head. Taeyeon would never forget the fear she felt trying to escape the old locker while at the same time knowing one of her deepest and darkest secrets might be shown to the whole school. She knew that Yuri would always have her back, but it would be best to just avoid Tiffany. At least for now.

 

“Remember what I told you yesterday? You don’t have to tell me what she’s blackmailing you with."

 

Taeyeon was happy that Yuri was so understanding, but what if she was to find out that Taeyeon had thoughts of sleeping with another girl? Would she see her as a freak? Would she leave her? Maybe even join Tiffany in ruining her life... Whatever would happen, it would be best to keep quiet for now and just deny it if it ever came up.

 

"It doesn't matter if she's threatening you or not, you just say the word and I’ll take care of her" Yuri said while scooping a big portion of spaghetti in .

 

Taeyeon shook her head. “No no. It’ll all be okay. Just trust me, okay? I’ll figure out something. Eventually…”

 

Taeyeon had no idea how she was going to deal with Tiffany, but hopefully an idea would come to her soon.

 

*sigh* “I hate this dreary atmosphere. You need to relax and enjoy your remaining months here! It may not be like your old school, but it’s still pretty fun here in Seoul. There’s a lot to look forward to like Christmas, the banquet, prom and a lot of other events. Don’t let one stupid mushroom ruin your last year.”

 

Taeyeon thought about it for a little bit. She was still thinking about the video, but maybe Tiffany won’t upload it. She was probably just bluffing. Hopefully…

 

Taeyeon nodded her head in agreement “Yeah, maybe. I need to try to enjoy my last year here. It might not be home, but it’s not a terrible school.”

 

Yuri clapped her hands and pointed at Taeyeon. “That’s right! That’s why as your honorary tour guide, I’m going to show you all the fun places we can go to in Seoul, starting with the mall!”

 

Hmm, the mall doesn’t seem that bad. It’s been a while since I’ve went shopping, plus I do need some new pants.

 

Nodding her head while sporting on an excited smile Taeyeon chirped in agreement “That would be awesome! Should we go this weekend?”

 

Yuri shook her head. “Nope, let’s go right now!”

 

Taeyeon’s eyes slowly widened as she thought Yuri was crazy.

 

“Right now? Yuri it’s only noon and we still have class. Plus I don’t want to get caught ditching on my second day.”

 

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. I know a way where we can sneak out from behind the school.”

 

Taeyeon continued to stare at Yuri with a look of doubt.

 

“Trust me, I’ve done it plenty of times and I’ve only gotten caught once.”

 

Taeyeon raised her right eyebrow while shifting her legs. “Once?”

 

“It was during elementary school. Long story short, if you’re going to ditch school don’t go to the circus.”

 

Taeyeon couldn’t help but to laugh in disbelief.

 

“We’ll be fine. No one will suspect a thing. Plus I don’t know if you noticed but…” Yuri peaked her head out of the table, “but we’re the only ones left in the cafeteria. We can totally sneak out of the school without anyone noticing. Come on! Just see it as a field trip! I’m telling you, we’ll be laughing about it in the future.”

 

Taeyeon was contemplating the idea in her head.

 

It could be fun since I’ve never ditched school before. As long as I don’t make a routine out of it, it should be okay. Plus it would help me get my mind off of Tiffany.

 

“Okay fine, but you have to promise me you’ll buy me ice cream when we get there. Promise?” Taeyeon stuck out her pinky, waiting for the black haired girl to do the same.

 

“Of course!” Yuri hooked Taeyeon’s pinky and pressed her thumb onto hers.

 

“We’re going to have a great time! What’s the worst that could possibly happen?”

 

********

 

Unbeknownst to the happy girls under the table, behind the cafeteria door a certain mushroom was silently listening to the conversation echoing through the giant room.

 

Beside the brunette, a blonde was leaning on the wall next to the door and was waiting there bored.

 

“Fany, I’m bored. You said after you sweet talked the principal you would take me to the movies. Plus if you didn’t get in a fight with that kid, we’d probably be out of here by now. He only spilled a little ketchup on me.”

 

Tiffany didn’t respond to the blonde girl and was continuing to listen to the conversation inside the cafeteria.

 

The blonde let a out a sigh of disinterest as she looked at Tiffany. “If you’re just going to ignore me, then I’ll just go sneak out to the movies by myself.”

 

Without a care in the world, the blonde started to leave, but quickly felt her wrist being grabbed. With fear in her eyes, Tiffany was holding onto the girl’s wrist..

 

“Jessi wait! Please don’t go!”

 

Jessica slowly took Tiffany’s hand on her wrist and forcefully pulled it off.

 

“Or what?” The blonde didn’t look like she was in the mood for games.

 

“Please don’t be like this.” Tiffany grabbed the blonde’s hands and she slowly swayed her arms back and forth.

 

Jessica wasn’t showing much interest as she just stared at Tiffany. “So where are we going? The movies?”

 

“Actually, if you don’t mind I’d like to go to the mall.”

 

Jessica shifted her gaze to the cafeteria, and then returned to Tiffany.

 

“You want to go to the mall just so you can talk to that short girl from yesterday?”

 

Tiffany lightly gripped Jessica’s hands as she gave a sly smirk.

 

“Let’s just say I want to make sure that dork still remembers me.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Annyeong! Just a quick update, but I found out I have exams coming up in the next 2 weeks and I'm going to be focusing on school for a while. Not sure when, but hopefully after my exams I can update and post the next chapter. So please bare with me as school has to come first *deep bow* Like before, comments are really appreciated!

*So TaeRi are planning to ditch school and go the mall, and Tifanny is planning to meet them there? Aww, Tiffany please don't hurt Tae Tae!