"They seem happy."                                                

The brunette whispered, clearly to no one, as a sorrowful smile graced her beautiful features. Happiness, she scoffed, what does it even mean to be happy?                                 

People say, when you smile, you’re clearly happy.                   

The young girl, chuckled at the absurdity of the idea.             

Well sorry to burst your bubbles, but that’s not entirely true, not always anyway.            

Sure you may seem happy on the surface, but that’s just a way to protect yourself, a facade in order to hide, even bury the pain and the agony, you’re feeling on the inside.

A persons’ smiling face can tell many lies, since it doesn’t show you what’s inside,                          

It doesn’t show you one’s true heart,                                  

One’s true self,                                                                                   

It can seem that he’s full of life although he’s slowly breaking apart on the inside. Since, a smile doesn’t reflect the pain nor the agony oneself is experiencing.                                                 

The brunette took a deep breath as she tightened her grip on the edge.

Where was she?                                                                                                           

She was on the rooftop of her school, where it all began, all the heartache and the sorrow,

Why was she there?                                                                                               

You’ll find out soon enough.                                                                                      

She looked down at the smiling teenagers who were enjoying the free time they had,                                                                                                                   

It was recess after all; a time to relax and get away from all the stress and the pressure that school has to offer, with its strict curriculum and numerous exams and homework that were shoved down their throats,                                                                                                                           She never really liked school, although she’s a straight A student who’s constantly praised by her teachers for her overachievements in all of her subjects,                                                                 

Praised by her teachers, made fun of by her classmates,                                                                         

Ironic, right?                                                                                                                

Not really, she’s the nerd, the outcast who’s constantly looked down upon

Why?                                  

Well for being smart and studious of course,     

She didn’t fit in with the rest of the crowd.                                                   

But it’s not as if she didn’t want to,                                                                

I mean it’s High school you have to fit in, in order to survive,                                                                                                                        

And she tried really hard to do so, but to no prevail,                                                                                                                           

Wait a second, she did become one of them, a part of the “it” crowd, but,                                                                                                                            

Soon enough she found out that it wasn’t what it’s all cracked up to be,                                                                                                                                   

I mean hanging out with such superficial people was quite agonizing,                                                                                                                     

Girls’ who only care about their looks and the latest trends,                         

And the only thing they ever talk about, other than making fun of the people who they looked down upon of course, was...                                                                                                                      

Well it’s extremely easy,                                                                                                                            

You can guess it, can’t you?                                                                                                                        

That’s right,

Dieting,

Silly huh?                                                                                                                                                                       

Well it may seem that way, but it’s actually a big deal to many people,                                       

Trying to change yourself in order to please others,                                            

In order to fit in with the ridiculous concept of beauty that’s been set by them,                                        

Who said that in order to be beautiful you must be stick-thin, that in order to be liked by everyone you should starve yourself to death?                                                           

There’s no definition to beauty.                                                                             

A persons’ weight and dress size, doesn’t determine who he or she is.                                                                      

So who are you to put a label on what’s pretty and what’s not?                                                                      

What matters the most is what’s inside.                                                   

But I’m not going to lie to you and say that, that’s the only thing that matters. Looks do matter, but that doesn’t mean that you should starve yourself or change yourself in order to fit in with society’s definition of beauty…                         

Which is completely ludicrous and absurd.                             

Having confidence in yourself and the way you look, is what makes you beautiful,                     

How can people respect you if you constantly put yourself down? You should feel at ease with yourself, with who you are.                                           

Since if you don’t learn how to love yourself first.                                                                                                     

How can you expect people to love you back?                                                                                       

Have confidence in yourself first,                                                                                

Cause no matter how much you weigh and what you look like,                                                    

Just know that you’re beautiful the way you are,                                                                             

And if people can’t see that, then them, they don’t deserve you, not one bit,

Soohyun couldn’t keep her tears from falling down her now bony cheeks,                                                    

 Oh, how she wished someone had told her those words,                                                                                      

Had told her that starving herself wasn’t the answer,                                                                                    

That throwing up, every meal won’t make her more likeable, nor will it gain his attention,                                     

She knew what she was doing was wrong, but she couldn’t stop,                                                                      

She wanted to fit in at any cost,

And don’t we all want to fit in, to be liked by everyone,                                                                               

But that’s the thing, being popular doesn’t mean you’re liked by everyone,                                                                 

Feared?

Maybe, since you have the power of destroying the lives of the people who would have the audacity of going against you.                                                                                                             

Power?                                                                                                                                              

Check.                                                                                                                                            

Friends?                                                                                                                                                           

Tons, if you consider those who talk behind your back as your friends then yes,                                                                                                                        

But these so called “friends” can ruin you in one simple blow,                                                                                                                                                         

It only takes a second, for them to break you and turn you into a nobody, just as you were before,                                                                                 

And that’s exactly what they did, didn’t they?                                                                                                                                                                     

Soohyun who got into the popular crowd over night was thrown away in a mere second,                                                                                                    

Things weren’t always like that,                                                                                                                                                                                        

There were times, when she was really happy, when all of them were still friends,                                                                                                              

When there were no labels and everyone got along just fine,                                                                                                                               

When she was still innocent, ignorant of the world’s cruelty and unfairness.                                                                                                                           

When she still had her one and only best friend,                                                                                                    

Who would cheer her up when she were sad,                                                                                                       

Whose smile could brighten up her day, no matter how crappy it was,                                                       

That friend, that could make everything better,                                                                                                   

Where was that friend now?                                                                                                                                                 

Where are you?                                                                                                                                                      

Kim myungsoo was his name, her Knight in shining armor.                                                                                                              

Well not anymore anyway.                                                                                                                                                            

The only person who knew her weaknesses,                                                                                                           

Who knew her likes and dislikes,                                                                                                            

Who would always be by her side,                                                                                                               

But he left a long time ago,                                                                                                                      

What happened? You may ask.                                                                                                                        

Only two words,

High School happened.                                                                                                                                     

Soohyun took a deep breath, trying to hold back her tears as her thoughts drifted towards those bitter memories,                                                                                                                         

She tried so hard to forget them, burying them deep, deep down,                                                                       

But they always seemed to resurface on their own,                                                                            

She and Myungsoo were best friends for several years now, since the day she fell off her bike and scratched her knee and started crying her eyes out, like the big baby she was and still is.                 

She could still vividly remember every word he spoke as if she only met him yesterday,  

A young boy with brownish hair stood before her as he looked at her with an amusing smile forming on his thin lips…

“You know, my brother says that when girls cry they look pretty…”                                                              

She looked at him as she sniffed and rubbed her now red eyes.                                                                    

“But I guess he was wrong,” He continued as a smirk graced his handsome face.                                         

The little girl looked at him, furrowing her eyebrows wanting to attack this shameless boy that stood before her, but before she could do anything…She saw him bending down and examining her injury, his playful expression was now replaced by a serious one, a more worried one might I add, as she saw him taking a Band-Aid out of his bag and carefully placing it on her injured knee.                                           

“Pabo, don’t cry anymore,” he said as he poked her forehead gently while smiling brightly.                                                     

“I’m Myungsoo, by the way,” he let out that dashing smile never leaving his face as he stood up while extending his hand for the younger girl to grab.

A light smile danced on the younger girl’s lips as she softly whispered.

“I’m Soohyun.”                                   

The brunette couldn’t help but smile as she recalled her most treasured memory.                                            

But her smile was soon replaced with a frown as she remembered what happened two years before.                                                                                       

They say people change.                                                                                             

That’s true they do, some for the better and others for the worst.                                                                                                        

She knew High School would be a new world,                                                                                                             

A cruel world at that,                                                                                                                                      

All the people she knew clearly changed,                                                                                                                 

Some became more superficial, caring only about their looks and images,                                                         

Who would be later known as  “The Populars"                                                                                                                     

Others became more secluded, having few friends, but who were in her eyes truly happy,                                                                                                                                                   

 While some, just like herself immersed themselves in the amazing world of numbers and equations,                                                                                                                                                     

But nonetheless she had myungsoo beside her,