Amber met me and Jonghyun at the main double doors of school Tuesday morning. She wasn’t smiling.

“What’s up with you?” Jonghyun asked, his arm wrapped intimately around my waist. At least people weren’t pointing anymore. That was a start.

Amber hesitated, which obviously meant that something was wrong. Amber was the sort of person who never thought twice about saying what she was thinking.

“Just tell us, Amber,” I said, firmly but kindly.

Amber sighed. “Someone graffitied your locker, Narae.”

“So?” I shrugged. “It’s happened before. I’m pretty used to it by now.”

“It’s a little worse than usual,” Amber admitted. “Like a lot worse than usual.”

“It can’t be that bad,” I said. “Let’s just go look.”

When we got to the hallway where our lockers were located, there was a crowd gathered around my locker. Students were whispering to one another; a few were giggling, but most looked a little concerned. That was surprising, as no one had ever shown concern for me before.

Someone caught sight of Amber, Jonghyun, and I and quickly jabbed her friend in the side. The whisper spread through the assembled students like a wave, and then they parted and gave the three of us access to my locker.

Though I was definitely used to the taunts and bullying by this point, this was something I was unprepared for. Every inch of my locker – and some of the surrounding lockers as well – had been covered in graffiti. If it hadn’t been for the horrible words scrawled across the metal, I might’ve even been impressed with the craftsmanship. As it was, whoever had done this had managed to fit almost every single ugly name I had ever been called on my locker door, along with threats and graphically violent images.

I just stood there and stared at the locker for a long time. To be honest, I was a little shocked. I’d been receiving hate since I’d started going to Seol Chong, but nothing on this scale. It was difficult to imagine that someone hated me this much.

“Damn.” The voice came from behind me, and it sounded both amused and a little shocked. “I guess it’s true that someone hates you more than me.”

I turned to find Jessica standing behind me, flanked on either side by Taeyeon and Stephanie. The two clones giggled at Jessica’s words, but even they seemed a little taken aback by this level of bullying.

“Did you do this?” Jonghyun demanded, eyes narrowing at her.

As usual when Jonghyun addressed her, Jessica took a step back. “No,” she said, a little defiantly. “Unfortunately, even I don’t hate Narae that much.”

For a second it seemed like Jonghyun was going to say something else – who else would bully me like this, after all – but in the end he decided she was telling the truth. I rather thought she was too. I didn’t think Jessica or the Bimbo Brigade were behind this.

Jonghyun and Jessica were still facing off when one of the teachers came around the corner, presumably to see why so many students were loitering in this part of the corridor when the first bell was going to ring any minute.

“What is going on here?” Ms. Park demanded, tottering over in her too-high heels. She was my second period English teacher, but we had never had much of a student-teacher relationship. She was incredibly vain and, like many of the rest of the teachers at Seol Chong, she looked down on me because I was a scholarship student.

Most of the students dispersed immediately at the arrival of Ms. Park, hurrying to their first period classes, glancing back over their shoulders. Once most of the students had left, leaving me, Amber, and Jonghyun behind, Ms. Park could see the extensive graffiti.

She looked at it for a long time. “Well,” she finally said. “Looks like somebody’s got some artistic ability, but absolutely no talent for making friends. Head on to class. I’ll have the janitor come clean this up. By the time first period ends, this won’t even be here. Don’t you worry.”

I was a little surprised at her kindness, but perhaps she, like many others, had begun to tolerate me a bit more since Jonghyun so publicly declared his affection for me.

Still, even if the graffiti was gone by the time first period was over, it didn’t matter. Enough people had seen that the whole school would know about it within a few minutes. I’m sure mobile phone pictures were already circulating.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jonghyun said once he had walked me to my first period Korean class. “I’m sure we’ll find out who did that.”

I sighed. “Don’t worry about it,” I said. “It’s not even worth it.”

Of course, I wasn’t quite feeling the same way when, halfway through first period, the secretary knocked on the door and asked to see me. My Korean teacher, Mr. Kim, was more than a little annoyed as I gathered my belongings and followed the secretary out of the classroom.

“What’s going on, ma’am?” I asked, hurrying to keep up with her. The hallways were deserted at that hour, which made my panic all the more palpable. There was always this nagging fear at the back of my mind that I would get in trouble for something or other that I had done and thus get expelled, ruining my chance at making a new future. Maybe they’d found out about my ties to the Tagyeog. Maybe they’d found out what a lowlife my father was. Maybe… But I tried not to dwell on things.

The principal was waiting for me in his office. “Have a seat, Ms. Song,” he said, gesturing to one of the plush armchairs across from his desk.

I nervously sat down, settling my backpack between my feet. “What’s going on, sir?” I asked.

He sighed and slid a photograph across the desk to me. When I picked it up, I saw that it was of the damage that had been done to my locker earlier. “We cannot have such damage done to school property, you know.”

I looked at him incredulously. “You think I did this? Why would I graffiti my own locker? Why would I say such horrible things?”

The principal sighed again. “I didn’t say that you did, Ms. Song, but the fact of the matter is that it took a great deal of time and effort to remove that paint from the locker. Now we’re going to have to repaint it and that’s going to cost money. I’m going to need you to pay for the damages incurred.”

I gaped at him. “That’s impossible. I’m a scholarship student. I don’t have that kind of money or I wouldn’t need the scholarship. And it wasn’t my fault.”

I may as well have been talking to thin air for all the good my words did. He just handed me another piece of paper. “Here’s the invoice for the cost of removing the graffiti and for repainting your locker. I’ll need this money by the end of the week.”

I was practically in tears by the time I left the principal’s office – mostly out of anger. Jonghyun was waiting for me outside the door, worried.

“Hey, I heard that you got called out of class. Is everything okay?” he demanded. Then he saw my face and realized that everything most definitely was not okay.

Without another word, he took my hand and pulled me towards the double doors leading out into the parking lot.

“Where are we going?” I demanded, wiping furiously at my eyes. I hated that they were watering; I wasn’t a girl who cried often.

“Anywhere but here,” Jonghyun replied determinedly, leading the way towards where his car was parked. “You won’t lose your scholarship after skipping one day.”

I wanted to argue but he was right; I needed to get away from school. So I didn’t complain when he settled me into the front passenger seat and pulled away from Seol Chong.

We ended up at the nearby park where we’d first hung out, playing baseball and eating hot dogs. It was a pretty day, so there were a lot of older people walking around the track or using the outdoor gym, but we found an empty bench to sit down on and I told Jonghyun what had happened with the principal.

“That’s ridiculous,” he said flatly. “He can’t possibly expect you to pay for the damages. It’s not your fault.”

“Yeah, I told him that and he doesn’t seem to care,” I muttered glumly. “He said I still have to pay for it.”

“How much is he asking for?” Jonghyun asked.

Wordlessly, I handed over the invoice the principal had given me. I’d been holding it in my hand this whole time, so it was crumpled and a little sweaty. Still, it was easily readable.

His eyes bulged when he looked at the amount down at the bottom. “Five hundred dollars?” he read off the statement. “They want five hundred dollars to repaint a ty locker?”

I nodded glumly.

Jonghyun shook his head, crumpling up the invoice. “That’s stupid. You could replace the whole hallway of lockers for five hundred dollars. I’ll pay for it.”

“You will not,” I said stubbornly, grabbing the invoice from his hand. “I already told you that I’m not letting you pay for things for me.”

He arched an eyebrow at me. “Do you have five hundred extra dollars just lying around or something?”

I flushed crimson. Though we didn’t talk much about my money situation these days – and I’d never really fully confided in Jonghyun about how my father squandered his already small paycheck on booze – Jonghyun knew that I couldn’t afford to pay what the principal was asking for. “No,” I admitted.

“Well I do,” Jonghyun said. “So let me pay for it and we’ll put it behind us.”

“No way,” I repeated. “I already told you that I’m not letting you pay for it. I’ll find some way to come up with the money.”

I lay awake all night trying to think of how to get five hundred dollars by the end of the week. Even if I got a part-time job – which seemed fairly impossible considering my age and the fact that the school forbade it – there was no way I could come up with five hundred dollars in just a few days.

I was exhausted when I got to school the next morning, both from the sleepless night and the constant worrying. I had almost mentioned the whole affair to my dad, but, when he’d come in stumbling drunk at half past two in the morning, I had decided against it. He didn’t need to know anyway.

For the second time in as many days, I was summoned to the principal’s office during first period Korean. Mr. Kim threw up his arms in obvious frustration – he’d always been prone to dramatic outbursts – but couldn’t forbid me from going since it was the principal.

The principal was sitting behind his desk as usual when his secretary showed me in.

“I wanted to talk to you about what you owe for the damages to your locker, Ms. Song,” he began.

I panicked at once. “I thought you said I had until the end of the week to give you the money!” I exclaimed. “It’s only Wednesday and-”

He held up his hand to stop me mid-rant. “Your bill has been paid in full,” he explained, and he didn’t sound at all happy about this.

“Excuse me?” I said. “What do you mean it’s been paid in full?”

“It’s been paid,” he said dismissively. “See to it that no more graffiti happens in the future.” And, with a wave of his hand, he saw me out of the office.

I was sort of in a daze as I returned to class, but it didn’t take me long to figure out what had happened. Despite me expressly telling him not to, Jonghyun had obviously paid for the damages my bully had caused.

I didn’t get a chance to confront him about it until we met up in the lunchroom. He was already sitting down at our usual table when I arrived, discussing something with Jinki and Minho.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I demanded, glaring at him.

He looked up in surprise. “Uh…eating lunch?” he asked.

I sighed heavily. “Jonghyun, I told you not to pay the principal’s invoice. I told you not to!”

“I didn’t.” To his credit, Jonghyun seemed genuinely confused by my accusation. “I swear, Kitten, I didn’t do anything. I didn’t pay it.”

My brows furrowed together in consternation. “If you didn’t do it, then who did?” I demanded.

“We all pitched in,” Krystal admitted. “We heard through the grapevine what happened, and it was totally unfair. So we wanted to help you out.”

I blushed. “You guys didn’t have to do that. It was a lot of money.”

“Not really,” Key said. “Not when there were so many of us pitching in. It was like chump change.”

There was a lump in my throat. “Thanks, guys.”

Jinri stood up and left the table.

The following afternoon, during my last class of the day, my math teacher, Mr. Park, asked if I would stay after school and help him grade some tests. Mr. Park was a cool guy and had always sort of looked out for me, so I was eager to repay the favor, so to speak.

My boyfriend was less than eager. “You’re staying late?” he repeated when I told him I wouldn’t need a ride home. “To help a teacher?”

“Mr. Park asked if I would help him grade some tests,” I explained.

Jonghyun did not seem placated by my answer. “He just wants in your pants,” he accused.

I rolled my eyes, standing on my tiptoes to plant a little kiss on his cheek. “Don’t be ridiculous,” I said. “I’ve stayed late and helped Mr. Park grade tests dozens of times before. And he’s married, by the way. So I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about.”

Jonghyun changed tact. “I don’t like the idea of you going home alone.”

“Since when did you get so overprotective?” I demanded. “Did you forget that I used to do all sorts of things by myself? Like taking the bus home. I’m pretty sure I can take care of myself better than you can. So don’t worry.”

He wrinkled his nose the way he always did when I got ‘sassy’- he liked to call me that a lot – but he knew better than to try and talk me out of it. “Okay, okay,” he gave in. “Just call me when you get home.”

“I will, I will,” I assured him impatiently. “See you later.”

Mr. Park was a pretty cool guy, like I’d told Jonghyun. I always had a good time helping him grade tests. I could never help grade anyone in my own grade because Mr. Park thought that would be unethical, but I helped him grade the younger and older students’ tests. He always had rock music playing on a little radio under his desk and he liked to chat, telling me about his wife that he was madly in love with, how they were hoping to start a family soon, how their dog had chewed up his favorite shoes but he couldn’t be mad at her because she was too cute. Mr. Park was more like a friend than a teacher, and so it seemed like only a few minutes had passed before we were finished with the tests and he was thanking me for helping out.

It was already dark by the time I made it to the bus stop. The driver seemed a little surprised to see me again – since Jonghyun had started giving me rides to and from school, I hadn’t been using the bus much – but he didn’t say anything.

I took my usual seat towards the middle and the bus was about to pull away when someone jumped up the steps. I didn’t think much of it; people nearly missed the bus all the time. There were plenty of empty seats up at the front, but the person – dressed all in black, with a face mask and a hood covering their hair – came and sat at the back of the bus.

I didn’t think much of it until the bus reached my stop and I got off. There weren’t a whole lot of people getting off at my stop at that hour, so I noticed when the dark person who had sat at the back of the bus followed me off.

Though my skin was prickling, I shrugged it off and headed in the direction of my apartment building. It wasn’t until I was only a block away that I noticed the stranger was still following me.

I took a sharp left turn, away from my building, in the wrong direction. The stranger followed me.

That started me off on a long series of twisting turns, leading myself – and the person following me – deeper and deeper into the maze that was my neighborhood. When I picked up my pace, so did the person following me. When I broke into a run, so did they.

My heart was pounding when I turned a corner and bumped into none other than Zelo, who must have been coming back from the market since he had a shopping bag tucked into the crook of his elbow.

“Noona?” he said, surprised, his arms on my shoulders to steady me. “Are you okay?”

I glanced over my shoulder, but the person who had been following me had disappeared. “Y-yeah,” I mumbled, trying to calm my racing heart. “Sorry.”

When I called Jonghyun after making it back to my apartment with Zelo, I thought about telling him what had happened, but in the end I decided against it. Nothing had really happened, after all, and I didn’t want to worry him. 

Ugh, sorry I've been MIA for a while. I went on vacation to Hong Kong and China, and then it was my birthday! So a lot of things have been happening lately. 

Also, for those of you who haven't already heard my news, my boyfriend is no longer my boyfriend. 

We're engaged! We're getting married!