JACKSON POV:

Life at J.Y. Arts Academy was exactly what you expected it to be: full of pretentious people who liked to show off their money. You knew this before you transferred but you did it anyways, anything was better than being home-schooled. After a year off of school, you had to take extra credits, putting you in some second-year classes. You hated academics but you were good at it, always ranking within the top 3 in the class. *Why did I agree to come here?* you asked yourself as you struggled to wake up in the mornings or to follow your student schedule. You were used to being free and being able to do whatever you want, travelling the world and experiencing new things. You were raised by your grandparents, wealthy individuals who owned a chain of bath houses all around the country. Your first week of school had some interesting surprises, Kwon Aerin. She's different from the people here and from the ones you've met before. She wasn't stuck-up like the other girls but she did have one bad temper. The thought of her made you instantly smile--she made the idea of going to your elite private school fun. 

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"Morning!" you called out as you saw her walking down the hallway. She saw you and made eye-contact but ignored your greeting and continued to walk away. You followed her until she stopped at her locker. As she opened the locker door, about 20 pieces of paper fell out and you saw her roll her eyes. *What is all this?* you thought to yourself as you bent down to pick some up. *Witch* *Rude * *No one wants you here* they read, hate mail. You didn't know why but you felt angry all of a sudden like you wanted to punch a wall, or punch the people who wrote these mean things even though it wasn't even directed at you. Bullying happens all the time, and most of the time, you turned a blind eye towards whatever was happening but not this time. 

"What's going on?" you asked her in a serious tone. 

She simply shut the door to her locker, gathering all the pieces of paper, throwing them into the garbage. As she began to walk away, you slammed your arm in front of her, halting her in her footsteps.  

"Tell me" you simply said

She scoffed and crossed her arms. "It's none of your business" she replied, pushing her way through. You fell backwards a bit from the force but there was nothing you could say as you simply turned around and watched her continue on as if nothing happened, living her school life unaffected. *Damn she's strong* you thought to yourself. You couldn't tell if it was just curiosity that piqued your interest in her or genuine concern, but whatever the case, you were determined to find out. During lunch, you walked around the school to find more information as to why everyone seemed to dislike her. There was always a group of catty girls in every school with the love to gossip. You didn't have to look far as you saw a group of students who were doing just that at the student lounge. 

"Hey girls~" you called out to them in your most charming voice as you put your arms around two of their shoulders, flashing your best smile. 

"Hi...who are you?" one of them replied, with a blank stare.

"I'm a new student here, I'm Jackson" 

"Well..what is it that you want?" said one of the girls with long grayish-blonde hair

"Oh sorry, it must've been rude of me to suddenly approach you all like this but I just couldn't help it, I noticed you from far away and..well..I really wanted to talk to you. You're beautiful~" you replied, trying your hardest not to laugh at how cheesy you were. 

"Oh, me?..well thank you. I'm Cho Subin"

"Mind if I join you ladies for lunch?" you asked while walking them to a nearby table.

"SURE!" one of the girls blurted a little too excitedly. "Isn't he hot?" one of the girls whispered to the other.

They asked you a series of questions like where you were from and what grade you were in. You didn't tell them too much about your personal life, just enough to impress them and to hold their attention before getting what you really wanted from this interaction. 

"Wow it seems like you've travelled the world!" one of them exclaimed. 

"Yeah..something like that.." you replied, tired already by this nonsense of trying to "look cool" for these girls. 

"Why don't you girls go get some drinks from the cafeteria, I'm getting kinda thirsty..how about you Jackson?" said Subin hinting to her friends that she wanted to be alone with you. 

"OHH! Okay, let's go get some drinks and some snacks." they said seeming to get the message. 

Subin just smiled as they got up and left and flipped her hair while resting her chin with her arm on the table. 

"Good, I've been meaning to talk to you alone, just the two of us" you said giving her a wink

"Oh really, and why is that?" she said, leaning closer. 

"You're just my type" you replied and she giggled. 

"You're pretty and you seem like a great person you know unlike this girl in my class...what's her name..ah! Kwon Aerin. She's an eyesore compared to you, I wish it was you in my classes instead so I'd get to see you more often" you said while putting your hand out to caress her cheek. 

She blushed and smiled, clearly flattered by your 'not so honest' compliments. "Of course! She's just a wanna-be, in fact, she's practically a nobody until a few weeks ago when she openly decided to attack one of the most popular girls at J,Y, Seolhyun. I guess she couldn't hold back her jealousy and now she acts like she's all-that with her haughty attitude." "She should know her place, I mean..." 

"That's enough. See ya, it was lovely meeting you Sohee, err uhm Subin, right?" you said, cutting her off midsentence as you got up and quickly walked out the doors. 

"HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING? IT'S SUBIN" she called out from behind. 

*Seolhyun, well that explains a lot* you thought to yourself. 

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By now it was dance class, the perfect opportunity to confront Aerin about her troubles with Seolhyun. You wanted the full-story with all the details. You had a hunch that things were not as they seemed and that she was hiding something. You arrived to class on time today in the hopes of getting to speak with Aerin alone but as time went on, she was nowhere to be seen. You looked around the class and walked back and forth from the hallway to the studio in the hopes of getting to see her but to no avail. You stood outside the girls changeroom and one by one the girls came out but still no signs of Aerin. Just then, Seolhyun walked out and you grabbed her wrist. 

"Hey, have you seen Aerin?" you asked

"What's up with you? Are you looking for her?" she asked suspiciously. 

"Just answer me" 

"No I haven't, happy?" she responded, shaking off your grasp. 

*Don't tell me she's cutting class?* you thought to yourself. 

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AERIN POV: 

*Dammit* you thought to yourself as you looked at your scraped knees. They were bleeding heavily and you knew you would have to go to the nurse's office to seek treatment. *Looks like a band-aid isn't gonna be able to handle this one* You mentally cursed at yourself for walking towards that direction fully knowing that those group of girls were targeting you since they were following you around since the beginning of lunch time. You felt a girl's foot stick out to trip you, making you lose your balance-plunging forwards. Luckily you managed to avoid getting a scratch on your face and arms with the exception of dirtying your uniform and the scrapes on your knees, you were okay. You would've taught those girls a lesson with a few moves of your own, but you were already black-listed as a delinquent by the disciniplary office and the target for bullies such as these dimwits. If you were going to take revenge, it would be in a subtler way, one is which you would gain the advantage in, afterall, you were too smart to play rough.

By now you should've been in class but with your condition looking like this, it was going to difficult to do so. You tried cleaning up a bit in the female washroom but you knew it had to be disinfected and properly bandaged. You made your way to the nurse's office and knocked before entering. 

"Yes?" Ms. Jungah called out. 

"Hello, I have an injury that needs to be bandaged" you replied 

"Come on in! OMO what happened here young lady?" she asked as she saw your scraped knees, still bleeding from the fall. She noticed your dirty uniform and scanned you from head to toe. 

For students in this kind of situation, most of them would it up and claim that they fell or tripped on their own, but you had another idea. 

"Actually, I was targeted by a group of girls who attacked me during lunch time in the courtyard" 

"Oh my..let me take a look at your injuries" Ms. Jungah said 

"Tsk, yep the scrapes are quite deep and I'm going to disinfect them now with some alchohol, it will sting so please bear with it" 

After cleaning the wounds, she wrapped your knees with some bandages and gave you some ointment to help speed up the healing process. 

"Now, bullying at J.Y. Arts Academy is not tolerated, especially when it comes to physical injuries. Can you tell me the names of the girls who did this to you?" 

"Hmm, I'm not too sure who all of them were, but I do recognize one of the girls from my homeroom class, Son Minjung" 

"I will give a medical note to excuse you from class today, so you can rest here until school ends. In addition, I will notify Ms. Baek at the disciplinary office about this incident." "How long as this been going on?" she asked.

"A couple of weeks, I've recieved death threats and hate mail in my locker" you informed her. She looked increasingly worried and slightly irritated that this activity has been going on under administration's radar. 

"I'm very sorry to hear that, rest here for the time being. I will report the inappropriate conduct, these kids must think they are invisible.."

"Thank you for the treatment Ms Jungah". 

She closed the curtains to the room, blocking some of the sunlight and allowing you some privacy to rest. *Well let's see how Ms. Baek handles this one* you thought to yourself as you lay on the small bed. Just when you were about to drift off into sleep, you heard someone come in. Ms. Jungah just left the room to send an e-mail to the office so there was no one here to tend to the student. 

"Hello?" you heard a male student call out. His voice seemed familiar but you couldn't see who it was with the curtains blocking your view. 

"I guess no one's here" he said as he sat down on one of the chairs. 

*Uh-oh* you thought to yourself as you recognized whose voice it was. 

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SIDENOTE: Hello everyone! Long-awaited next chapter is finally out but with a cliff-hanger to end it off! Sorry for the delay but I've been busy with school and I didn't know which direction to take in the story line again. There is this really exciting chapter I want to build up to but like you all requested, the love line between Jackson and Aerin is slowly happening, so stay tuned for that development. Thanks for reading and PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS, UPVOTE & SUBSCRIBE! 

P.S. This is Subin from Dal Shabet. If you haven't noticed already, I like using characters that are from less well-known groups!