“That crap!” I shrieked, making my girlfriends’ milk shake fall to the ground.

“Hey! Look what you’ve done!” Jessica complained.

My name is Krystal Jung. Here, I tell you what happened to me when I was a sophomore. That means, we’re going back to the first day of the school year. So, let’s start now, shall we?                                                

It was nine o’clock in the morning and all of us were having our snack time. My female friends and I were at a corner of our school ground, drinking milk shakes.

In our school, we were called “Twinkle.” Twinkle was a fan club for every handsome guy in our school. Why, you may ask? Because whenever we saw them, our eyes twinkled.

They always captivated the girls in school. The leader of Twinkle fan club was I and the members were Sulli, Tiffany, Victoria, and Jessica.

Everyone knew that only Twinkle could talk to those handsome boys. But there was one, who didn’t know this—Sunny Lee. She didn’t know because she was stupid. She always wore a bonnet and had long, black hair.

I heard she was a freshman with a very cute voice. But for Twinkle? Oh, puh-lease! Just by looking at her, she was a flirt and because of she wore a bonnet; it showed that she was pretending to be Myrtle, the famous cosplayer here in the Philippines.

My face flushed because of anger, seeing that Sunny girl was with Twinkle’s crushes again.

She was flirting with our handsome lads yet again since before classes had started. Just by her actions, it proved us that she was a flirt. She needed to be taught a lesson.

I turned, glaring. “What now, Jessica? You don’t want to mess up with the leader of Twinkle, do you?”

Jessica’s eyes widened. She shook her head and lowered her head down. “Sorry, Tal. It’s just that… well… everyone knows that I’m obsessed with milk shakes, right?”

“I don’t care, Jess,” I hissed. “Now, let’s approach that flirt and Jess, you talk to her.”

Jessica’s head abruptly turned to me with wide eyes. “What?”

I sighed. “Jessica, since you are our new member, then, give us your first show,” I stared at her, intensely. She was about to protest but I leaned into her. “Give. Us. Your. First. Show,” I leaned away. “Prove us that you are not a weakling.”

With a sigh, she reluctantly led us to where Sunny was while the rest of us followed behind.

Perfect timing—Sunny was walking away from those handsome lads. Her hand held a packed chocolate-milk drink named Chuckie, her other hand held a phone, her head looked skyward, and a bonnet wrapped on her head. Jessica stopped right in front of her, making her also stop.

Sunny looked up, confusedly. Sulli, Tiffany, Victoria, and I were behind Jessica with our arms crossed below our chests and smirks played on our lips.

“Yes, may I help you?” Sunny started.

Jessica turned to us then back to her. “W-well… you are such a… such a flirt!”

Unexpectedly, a mocking smile played on Sunny’s lips. “Me?” she pointed to herself. “A flirt?” she chuckled. “Really? How come?”

Eager to know what facial expressions Jessica made, the rest of Twinkle stood at the side. We sighed when we saw her gulp—obviously nervous.

"Yeah, you are a flirt because… because you always flirt around guys!” Jessica pouted angrily.

A mocking chuckle escaped Sunny’s throat. “Pssh… Girl, you don’t know what you’re saying.”

Jessica huffed. “Of course, I do! You always talk to guys as though you are close!”

“Are we close, then?” Sunny smirked mockingly.

Jessica made a face. “Jeez! Never!”

“Great,” Sunny smiled.

She was about to walk past her when Jessica stopped her by the collar. In a blink of an eye, she also had Jessica’s collar in her grip. She looked down at her blouse—her first top button was undone.

It must’ve been undone when Jessica grabbed her collar. Sunny looked up to her. “Listen, I am not a flirt. If you dare mess up with me the next time, sure enough, your face is already on—or rather, facing—the ground,” she clenched her packed drink, causing its milk-chocolate liquids to drip down her hands.         

She pulled Jessica in front of her. With that, she hurled her Chuckie in front of her, causing the rest of the liquid to stain her blouse. She wiped her hand on her blouse and stormed off.

The others and I gasped and our Jessie was quite flabbergasted. We went beside her and took a look on her blouse. I looked at her facial expression and before we knew it, she stormed off to our classroom.

The girls and I stared at one another before catching up with her.

We panted the moment we got to our classroom. I scanned the classroom and my eyes stopped at the hovered students at the corner. Without hesitation, we went to them.

They gave us way and our eyes widened when we saw Jessica, crying. Sulli and I sat down on either side of her while Tiffany and Victoria kneeled in front of her.

Sulli rubbed the back of Jessica’s head. “Jessie, please don’t cry.”

“Yeah, Sica! Don’t cry!” Victoria patted her back.

Just as you know, Victoria was the type of person, who always had her tone raised. Sometimes, she confused people. I mean, you couldn’t even be certain if she was trying to comfort you.

“Oh, our poor Jessica,” Tiffany placed the back of her hand on her forehead, dramatically. “We’re here now, so don’t cry!”

It was no use—our Jessie sobbed more and more.

Angered, I slammed my hands on the desk chair. “So… she has guts, huh?” my hands formed into fists. “Let’s see if you can survive.”

There were too many freshmen in our school in the Philippines that school year and there wasn’t enough of classrooms for them to use, so they were divided into two: morning class and afternoon class.

As far as I knew, the morning class stayed in school from 6:00am to 12:00pm and the afternoon class stayed in school from 11:55am to 6:10pm. The rest of the students, who were from the higher year levels, went to school from 7:30am to 11:30am and 1pm-4pm.

The Twinkle members were sophomores, including me, so unfortunatelly, Twinkle was only able to see Sunny every morning—she was in morning class. I glanced on the wall clock and realized that snack time was done. Our next subject teacher came in and everyone settled down.

As the class went on, Sunny was in my head. I reviled her even though she had just stepped into our school a few hours ago. I didn’t like her and I had to do something. Day by day, I always saw her in our campus.

To my surprise, she had many friends already. I heard that she was a happy-go-lucky, amiable, brave, and tough girl. They said that she went to school every 6pm to 6:30 in the evening just to practice playing volleyball.

So, she’s sporty, huh? I thought one day.

It was the second week of our school year. The past few days, she kept on getting harsh words and threats from other girls. Twinkle was happy enough because the girls we instructed to write harsh and bad words anywhere on her things, especially her chair, were successful.

To show her Twinkle’s ‘xoxo’ (kisses and hugs, to be clear), we added more writings of colorful words on her things: her bag, chair, shoes, notebooks, you name it.

I grabbed one of Sunny’s classmates that passed by. “Hi, Nicole!” I greeted, feigning niceness.

Nicole smiled. “Oh, hi, Krystal.”

I twirled a strand of her hair on my finger. “I know that you love Sunny as your best friend.”

Nicole made a face. “Excuse me? Hell, no!”

“Great,” I grinned. “If you really hate her, then, prove it.”

Nicole nodded without hesitance and reluctance. “All right, then. Tell me what to do.”

“Where’s Sunny’s Type B clothes?”

“They’re in her bag.”

“Where’s her bag?”

“It’s in our classroom.”

“Then, Nicole, I want you to cut her shoelaces. Got it?”

“Got it!”

“Oh, and, my dear, please make sure that her cut shoelaces will be the first things to greet her eyes.”

“Okay, Tal, I will.”

I nodded and she ran off. Just then, I heard claps and giggles from behind me. I turned and smiled. “Twinkle members.”

“Oh, Tal!” Tiffany exclaimed. “No wonder you are the leader of our fan club!”

Victoria swung her arm around me. “Right, right! You are so clever and intelligent and smart and a genius!”

I shut my eyes and fled her grip. "Jeez, seriously, Victoria? Do you have to shout in my ear? Ah! My eardrums!”

Sulli chuckled and hugged me from behind. “Good job, girl! I wonder what her reaction will be.”

All of us smirked evilly. P.E. began and when Twinkle saw Sunny, we laughed our asses off. Instead of wearing rubber shoes, the wore black and pink doll shoes, fit jogging pants, and a t-shirt. When P.E. was finished, we decided to approach her.

“Oh, my gosh!” Victoria started. “Sunny! It was a pity you were prohibited to play volleyball!”

“Yeah, Sun-sun!” Sulli agreed, nodding.

Tiffany swung her arm on Sunny’s shoulder. But Sunny shrugged it away with a tut of her tongue. “Aww, would you like to borrow Krystal’s rubber shoes? If not, you’d not be able to practice playing volleyball this afternoon.”

Sunny's eyes lit up. “You’d do that?”

 I guffawed. “Of course, not! For stealing Twinkle’s handsome husbands and acting to be like Myrtle, why would I? Oh, and not to mention, you’re a flirt!”

 My girls and I guffawed before leaving her dumbfounded.

Two months had passed, Twinkle kept hearing about Sunny Lee, the flirt, that she was called “The duplication of Myrtle.” It was because she always wore bonnets, which Myrtle also did. Myrtle, a celebrity who used to cosplay when she was still an ordinary girl, always wore bonnet, so there was no doubt Sunny was pretending to be her.

Every time she walked in the school campus, all eyes turned to her. She was walking one time and Tiffany flexed her leg, tripping the crap out of her. It was very fun. Not to mention, whenever she was gone, my girls and I always hid her bag. One time, we put it on the center of the campus. Most of the time, we’d put crumpled papers with written swear words and dirt in her bag.

She had this pink bag and when she was gone, Twinkle used permanent markers to write colorful words on her bag. I had many reasons why I hated her. It seemed like she was a princess; her life was almost perfect.

She was very friendly that’s why she got many friends. She didn’t need people to protect her because she was tough, brave, and strong. She was also smart and very nice and kind. Unlike me, I needed people to protect me.

I acted like a weakling when I was all by myself. I wasn’t like her—brave, smart, tough, strong, amiable, happy-go-lucky, you call it.

I was the precise opposite of her. My friends were only—I repeat, only—Jessica, Tiffany, Sulli, and Victoria. It was because of my cold heart. Fortunately, they managed to deal with me.

My family left me and I was then an orphan at the age of four. Everyone in the orphanage treated me like crap because I was ugly. When I was nine, a rich family adopted me.

Because of they were rich, they transformed me into a beautiful Krystal Jung and we lived in the Philippines. Because of they were rich… they were always gone for work overseas. I never got that much attention.

Unlike villains in fictions, the way I grew up could be their reason as to why they became the bad guys. But me? I was already a very cruel and cold person. Not to mention, a bully. No wonder my family left me, I always thought. Five months later, I approached Sunny one day. “You.”

She looked on either side of her and behind her before back to me and pointed at herself. “Me?”

I glared. “Yes, you. Sunny Lee, stop pretending to be Myrtle.”

She shook her head. “I’m not.”

“Really?” I raised my eyebrows. “Then, why do you always wear bonnets?”

She huffed. “Excuse me, miss. But I, myself, am not pretending to be like Myrtle. This is who I am. I wear bonnets since—”

“Liar!” I spat. “Stop lying! And why do you always flirt around guys? Didn’t girls tell you already? Do not flirt around guys!”

Unexpectedly, our gaps were cut short; she leaned in my ear. “If you’re in a high level, then, why are you bringing me down?”

She leaned away and walked away from me, her shoulder brushing against mine in the process. I was dumbfounded at the meaning of her sentence. She was right.

If I was in a high level, then why was I bringing her down? People who were truly in high levels were humble. They wouldn’t bring people down. I was trying to bring her down because she had everything she wanted and needed.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I brought people down because I was so insecure of them. I wanted to be in a higher level than them. Twinkle members—they were in high levels while my level was low. I only clung on them so that I was also in the same level as them.

They were famous and got too much attention so I decided to make a fan club for hot guys and asked them to be the members while I was the leader. Being down-to-earth people they were, they gladly accepted my offer. Not one of them knew this; but I had come to realize some time later that they really were my best friends.

Not to mention, I wanted to be the most famous of all. I was just insecure of Sunny Lee. That’s why I did many bad things to her. See what I was saying? She needed no one to protect and defend her.

She could do those by herself. And I envied her a lot. Before I knew it, it was already the last day of school. Everyone wore casual clothes and spent time with their friends. I saw Sunny Lee.

I didn’t want to see her, so I gathered Twinkle up.

“What is it, Tal-yo-yo?” Tiffany asked, using a soft voice and at the same time, a dramatic tone.

I glared at her. “Tiff, this isn’t the time to be dramatic.”

 Jessica, Victoria, and Sulli snickered. “She’s always dramatic,” they chorused.

What could I say? She really was. I gestured for them to lean closer.

I smirked when they obeyed. “Alright, girls. Since this will be the last time of our school year that we’re seeing Sunny Lee, isn’t it we want her get out of everyone’s life?”

They nodded, eagerly. “Yes! She always flirts with our handsomies!”

While I hated Sunny for being a princess, they hated her for being a flirt. They didn’t like it whenever there were intruders between them and their loved ones.

Sunny Lee was the great example; she flirted with the boys they loved so I encouraged them to bully her with me, for she was too much.

“For flirting with our handsome husbands, then, let’s have a plan,” my smirk widened.

 “What would it be?” Sulli asked eagerly.

 I leaned away and crossed my arms with a smirk. “Something about… hmm… causing her to die?”

The girls’ eyes widened. “We’d do that?”

“For flirting with our boys, why’d you still want her to live?” I snapped.

Before they could say some more, a cute voice stopped them. We turned and saw Sunny, who was laughing with Taemin and Henry. Not to mention, both guys were on either side of her while both of her arms clung on their arms.

I smirked. “Aww, look at them! They are just so sweet.”

The girls’ head snapped to me. “Deal.”

I clapped my hands. “Great! Now, Tiffany, Victoria, and Jessica, you approach her and tell her that you’re sorry all this time and offer her to go with you to the store in front of our school for a treat. Sulli, Taemin has a car, right?”

Sulli nodded.

“Then, as you two drive off to somewhere, distract him from keeping his eyes on the road when you see Sunny cross the road. That way, she’ll get hit and boom! No more Sunny Lee in everyone’s life!”

Victoria grinned. “Hmm… Not too brutal!”

We laughed and high-fived each other.

I stood up. “Let the plan begin! Girls, show me a good show. I’ll be at the overpass, all right?”

“Yes, Tal!” they saluted.

They stood up and we walked. When we saw Sunny with no one, Tiffany, Victoria, and Jessica ran toward her. Sulli scanned her surrounding and her eyes stopped at Taemin, who just got inside his car.

I nodded at her and she nodded back, before she ran toward him. I chuckled, evilly. I went out of the school without Sunny and the other three seeing me. I turned to the side, heading to the stairs of the overpass.

I walked up the stairs and when I got to the top, I smiled when no one was there. I propped my hands on the railing and closed my eyes, enjoying the fresh air.

However, I strangely sensed something behind my back. I turned and my eyes widened. In front of me—a full-length mirror stood.

Since when did this mirror stand behind me? I thought, confusedly.

I squinted when it glowed with a bright blue light. When it was gone, I smiled when I saw myself in the mirror. Of course, I was beautiful until now! I leaned closer to the mirror and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

I caressed my cheekbones and tilted my head to the sides, checking my features. My hand raised forward. When it made a contact with the mirror, darkness—just like the night—engulfed my surrounding.

My head snapped to the mirror then to my hand. My eyes widened when the surface of the mirror began to sink my hand in. I tried to scream for help but my mouth only opened—no sounds coming out. I tried to pull out but my strength was nothing compared to this mirror’s strangely great strength.

Soon after, it sunk me in, completely.