chapter six
Of Bullets and Red Converse
The looks that went around the hallway was uneasy. The tension between the two groups was so huge that the air felt much heavier around them. Chaekyung was staring into Nara’s dark orbs, debating her offer to join the cheerleading team. She had went for gymnastics back in the States so she knew her skills would be put to good use if she joined. However… Chaekyung met her friends’ eyes. They wore smiles on their faces, nodding slightly as they allowed room for her to make a choice. But their eyes were filled with hope and fear. Hope that she’d say no and fear that she’ll say yes. They’re my friends from the start. Can I leave them for the squad?
“Thank you for the offer.” Min Nara’s eyes sparkled as that sinister smile of hers curved even more. She had won, she thought.
“But no thank you.”
Chaekyung had made her official choice. No was her answer. That smile was wiped off clean from Nana’s face. Her eyes were filled with rage. Everyone in the hall knew that Chaekyung made a wrong choice. Nobody says no to Min Nara, the Queen of Olympus International. “Excuse me? No?” Her tone was deadly and Chaekyung couldn’t help gulping down a big lump in . She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened her eyes again, with more courage this time and said, “My answer is no. I don’t wish to be on the cheerleading team. I think you should find a prettier someone.”
Gathering her friends, she her heels to leave. Min Nara clenched her fists. They shook with anger. Her footsteps were loud as they marched up to Chaekyung’s back. With a thug on the girl’s cobalt blazer, Chaekyung spun around and felt her back slam against the nearest locker. Yoomi was about to lash out at Nara with the rest but the other Jaguars held them back. Chaekyung bit on her lower lip hard, fighting back the tears. Damn, why does Barbie have to be so strong?! Nara jabbed a manicured finger right into Chaekyung’s shoulder.
“Listen, you little ungrateful being! I gave you an offer so great that every girl in this school would kill for and here you are! Declining it so boldly!”
Chaekyung matched the other female’s gaze and smirked. “Someone has got to teach you about rejection, right? I’m sure you don’t receive much around here, Miss Min.”
At that, Nara raised her hand. Chaekyung didn’t flinch however and held her gaze, challenging her opponent to deliver the slap. She saw how Nara was looking around at the crowd that had formed around them. Slowly, she dropped her toned yet slender arm. Nara leaned in closer to Chaekyung’s ear. “You’d be sorry, Moon Chaekyung. You will.” She hissed before pushing Chaekyung one last time against the hard metal, flipping her hair over her shoulder and sashayed off with the rest of the group. When she knew the female had left, Chaekyung stretched her hand to her sore part on her back and massaged it. Sanjana and Sonia ran up to her side and checked for any possible bruises. Yoomi stepped up, though concerned but she wore on a proud smile. “Quite some nerve there, new kid. And I almost thought you’d have said yes.”
“Are you kidding me? I’d rather hang out with you guys than wear those tight uniforms and walk around with my hair tied so high up like a samurai!” Chaekyung chortled and slung her arms around her friends. “And to have such people with such a personality as my teammates sounds a lot like Hell to me.”
Sanjana came up to Chaekyung’s side. “By the way, do you think you should be careful now? I mean, you just rejected Miss Olympus International in front of the entire student body—exaggerating, I know but her threats are not to be messed with.” Sonia nodded slowly, her expression going dark as her thoughts took her back to a couple of years when Nara just got promoted as team captain. “I still remember that year where Nara hung that poor girl’s underwear out in front of the school entrance with her name written on it just because poor Sojin didn’t follow their dress code for Tuesdays.” Chaekyung’s heart stopped. “Wait, seriously? Then what happened?” she found herself daring enough to ask. Sonia shook her head and looked at the ground as she muttered, “She left school and moved to Malaysia. Some say she got herself a spot in the local psychiatric ward.” She did a spinning motion at the side of her head as she spook. Suddenly, Chaekyung didn’t feel so good about all this.
“I hope you’re not regretting your choice though,” Yoomi nudged the girl by the shoulder.
Chaekyung sighed a bit and met her friend’s eyes. “Of course not. I’m just worried of what she might do.”
Sonia laughed, slapping Chaekyung’s back but froze and apologized when the girl winced in pain. She rubbed her back up and down to sooth her from her soreness. “You know, you don’t really have to worry about what she’ll do. You can always ask your boyfriend to back you up!”
Chaekyung blinked at the Chinese girl. “Boyfriend? Who? Junhyeon? Just so you know, we’re not—.”
Sonia laughed even harder. “No, silly! I was talking about Park Jimin-ssi.” Chaekyung let out a fit of coughs. The other girls just erupted in giggles before pulling their friend along.
“Jimin is NOT my boyfriend!”
So far, the day went by rather peacefully. Physical Education came again and it was time to face Coach Jung once more. Their encounter, whether at the hall or in the cafeteria, was always as awkward as ever. He would glare at her and she would avoid him at all cost. Pretty much the same with how he treated Jimin since he thinks he’s such a show-off in his lessons. Even Jimin was in bad terms himself with the coach. Always doing things that others couldn’t, trying to out-win Lee Junhyeon since he’s clearly the man’s favourite. Coach Jung had dismissed class earlier than before, clearly annoyed by the fact that Junhyeon was a few seconds slower than Jimin on the tracks. So everyone had left to hit the showers.
Chaekyung pulled a towel from her bag and started wiping her sweaty skin. She pulled her hair tie free and ran her fingers through them as she entered a cubicle. Just as she turned around and shut the lock, she heard shuffling footsteps just outside her door. Since the cubicle was rather small for such an exclusive looking bathroom, she couldn’t kneel down to see who it was. But before she could even open the bolt to the door, a pail of green slimy substance rained down on her from above. She wanted to scream but she couldn’t. The substance, now sticking in her hair like stubborn gum and staining her PE clothes, was icy cold. She even raised her arms to sniff at the liquid but found no odour coming from it. Whoever who was outside had ran away hurriedly before she opened the door. She saw her reflection in the mirrors in front of the cubicles. She was covered in green slime. Her brown hair was drenched and sticky. She looked as if she were infected by some monstrous disease. She touched her hair and felt it had gotten hard and stiff.
“I’m so going to kill whoever who did this. Seriously, if you want to get someone, please make sure you get the right person.” She grumbled and walked to her locker to grab her school uniform.
“Wait… Didn’t I keep it here?” She whispered and touched the empty space inside her metal locker. Her uniform was missing. She turned the locker door and see her lock damaged. Whoever who did this had destroyed the lock to get hold of her uniform. She started to panic, deciding to look around any possible lockers she might have mistakenly stuffed it in. She opened the one next to her. Nothing. The next one too. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing! She slammed the final locker and looked around the toilet. No one was around. But then she heard a running tap. This might seem like a horror movie scene but if it was fear that was supposed to be bubbling in the girl’s veins, it wasn’t. She felt angry. Furious, to be exact. She approached a flooding sink. The drain had been covered with a lump of wet clothes. Her heart raced as she picked up the soggy blue uniform. She flipped the heavy blazer around and stared at the nametag. Moon Chaekyung, it read. She threw the clothes back into the sink hard, water splashed up to her face. She knew exactly who did this. The Jaguars. She needed to make a call but only then she realized she had her phone kept in the locker. Outside. In the hallway. She had no choice but to head into the showers and wash off the green sticky stuff on her body, including her clothes. After she was done, she had them dried with the hair dryer in the toilet. It was still a little soaked when she pulled them over herself and headed out.
Heads turned as soon as she left the bathroom toilet. Probably more curious why she was still in her PE attire rather than why her hair was so frizzy since she didn’t bother to have it dried. Her face was red and her eyes were like piercing cold icicles. She walked up to her locker, ignoring the gazes from the other students, and grabbed all her belongings. As she slung her bag onto her shoulder, she dialled for Sonia.
“Hello? Hey, Chaekyung! Where are you? Class is about to get started! Miss Brianna had to head for a meeting so you’re still not considered tardy.”
“Someone threw a bucket of green slime over me and soaked my clothes under a running tap.” Chaekyung replied in a sharp tone. There was a moment of dead silence at the other end until a string of curses in Mandarin filled her ear canal. She then heard some muttering over the line and loud gasps. Sonia must be telling the other two, she thought. “Hey, honey. Look. Are you alright? Do you need us to fake a tummy ache to see you right now?” Sonia came back on the line and spoke in a hushed tone. Ms. Brianna must have returned from the meeting.
Chaekyung smiled a little despite her condition. “No, it’s alright. I’ll just grab your free clothes and head home.”
Sonia muttered something again. “Okay, I shouldn’t have asked you that. Now go to my locker and grab my extra clothes in the paper bag. Get changed and meet us at the principal’s office. The girls and I will meet you there. Don’t you dare leave without us!” She hung up soon after. Chaekyung felt much better after that. She walked up to Sonia’s locker and twisted the combinations that Sonia texted her with, grabbing the Hello Kitty paper bag inside it. She changed into the clothes, a pair of shorts and a sports tee, before heading for the principal’s room. Principal Shin sat inside and was busying flipping through papers with his glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. He looked just like his daughter when she was seriously reading her sports magazines. Lightly, she knocked. Principal Shin looked up and smiled widely, ushering her to enter. She pushed open the door and bowed before stepping inside.
“My daughter mentioned you were coming,” he raised his phone and waved it in front of the girl. “Saying you had an emergency and they’ll be faking a tummy ache to come get you.”
Chaekyung had no idea if she should be apologizing or should she be laughing along. It felt so wrong to somehow misuse the power of being the principal’s daughter, she thought about Yoomi. However before she could go on feeling any more awkward, the door burst open and three girls spun like a mini tornado into the room. They had thrown their arms around Chaekyung, checking her from head to toe. Principal Shin rose up from his office chair and pulled out a visitors’ pass from his pocket.
“Hand this to the guard while you head out. They won’t question you any further. And please… Don’t touch anything.” As he said that last part, his eyes lingered to his daughter who saluted him in return before seeing him off to the door.
Sanjana was the first to mention about the events that happened earlier to Chaekyung. “Are you alright? I mean, this sounds like the doings of—.”
“The Jaguars? Yes, I’ve figured that part out myself. I’m just glad they didn’t throw toilet water all over me.” Chaekyung let out a long sigh before slumping into the sofa by the wall. The three girls followed suit and slump into the seats beside her, circling their arms around her to offer comfort.
“You know, I think you should tell someone about this. Maybe Jimin! He could protect you!”
Chaekyung stared at Yoomi in horror, shaking her head vigorously. “No way I’m going to tell him! Please, he isn’t…my bodyguard…or anything. He’s like—family.” She mumbled the last part and felt how wrong it sounded. That’s weird. But Yoomi waved her words off. “Look, sunshine, Jimin is always wanting to protect you. I’ve only known you for a couple of days but I’m quick at observing. You better tell him, or I will.”
Chaekyung caught Yoomi’s wrist when she stood up. Her eyes plead to Yoomi and that made her sit down once again. Yoomi wrapped her hands around the girl’s shaking hands. “Alright. Don’t worry. We got your back too. The Jaguars will never mess with us! We won’t let them harm you.”
With such reassurance, she packed and headed home. The guard didn’t question her when she produced the pass and walked out of the gates. It felt so nice to walk home, with no guards nor cars. It was a little scary since she felt so prone to anything that came her way. She even stopped at the local park and sat at the bench, breathing in the fresh air and take in the good sunny weather. Dogs came up to her and barked happily. She reached down and patted a French poodle on its head.
“At least coming out like this makes me feel better from everything. No Min Nara, no Jaguars. Peace. For a while.”
Back in school, the three girls came back into English class. The teacher only sent them weird looks since they looked extremely fine now but shrugged simply and continue scribbling on the whiteboard again. Sanjana sat in her chair and flipped through her spiral notebook when a paper ball fell across and sat on her opened book. She peered around and saw Hoseok pointing at the paper ball, asking her to read it. She smoothen the crumpled paper and read. ‘How’s Chaekyung? Should I tell Jimin?’ She scribbled her reply and threw it back, with him catching it swiftly in his palm. ‘No. He’ll freak out if he finds out. Let her tell him himself.’ Just as Hoseok was about to return a reply, he felt someone snatch the paper away from his grasp. He looked up and saw Jimin who had switched seats with Taehyung. Now he was reading the paper and all Hoseok and Sanju could do was to stay quiet and still. Jimin crumpled the paper and said to clenched teeth. “Where is she now? What happened to her?”
Hoseok threw a glance at Sanjana. Jimin followed his gaze and notice all the three girls were looking rather worried. Just then, the bell rang and students rose to leave for their next classes. Jimin stormed up to Yoomi and waved the paper in front of her. “Where is she? Tell me.”
Yoomi sighed. “She left. Heading home. The Jaguars got to her and well—.” The siren in Jimin’s head rang when he heard that Chaekyung had left. He was about to take off from the class when Taehyung grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Hey, dude. Relax. She’ll be fine.”
“Yeah. She’s already home anyways. She just texted me.” Sonia took out her phone and clicked on the message box between her and Chaekyung. Sure enough, she was already home and it was just a couple of minutes ago. Jimin didn’t know if he should be glad that she had reached or furious that she left without telling him beforehand. He pulled a chair and dragged it to the opposite of Yoomi. “Now tell me all about this Jaguar thing and what has happened to Chaekyung.”
Time was traveling so slow that Jimin couldn’t even keep still during class. The last bell rang and finally, it was time to head home. The boy picked his bag and left with the limo to the house. As soon as he got home, the first thing he did was knock on Chaekyung’s door. When she had opened it, he didn’t even wait for an invitation before pushing himself into her bedroom. She knew he was mad and it only took seconds to have him yelling at her about her safety. So she chose to keep quiet before sitting on the bed next to him, folding her legs. “I’m sorry. For not telling you. I didn’t want you to worry about me and ditch class.”
Jimin racked his jet black hair with his fingers, somehow feeling rather drained. “You should have told me, Chaekyung. Do you know what could have happened to you? You could have been abducted by bad people! Or get chased by a dog! Or get by some homeless guy with raging hormones! Do you know you could have gotten me killed by your father?!”
Despite his seriousness, Chaekyung still managed to crack a smile. It was wrong for her to be laughing, but this side of him always reassured her. That’s she’s in safe hands no matter what. She leaned her head on his shoulder slowly. Jimin froze, shoulders tensed. He tried to look away but all he could do at that moment was take a peek of her face from the corner of his eyes. She had her eyes shut and that was when he realized how long her lashes were. Her hair tickled the exposed skin at his neck. She smelled like lavender, the scent of her shampoo. It calmed him down immediately.
“The girls told you huh? About the Jaguars and Min Nara.” Chaekyung mumbled softly. Jimin nodded slowly in reply, trying not to move so much so her head won’t fall off his shoulders. He never really had too broad of a shoulder and he worried if she’d feel uncomfortable leaning on his muscles. However, she didn’t show much discomfort and continue closing her eyes, leaning on him.
“Don’t worry about those girls. They’re nothing. They just soaked my clothes and dumped me with some weird liquid but I can handle them.” A small chuckle escaped her lips as she spoke. She knew she was in big trouble and so did Jimin. But he had promise never to interfere with her situation. But I never said I would stop stepping in when things get ugly. Jimin thought to himself as he looked at the girl on his shoulder. “I know you can handle them. But don’t think I won’t stand and watch you fight all alone. Girl drama can get pretty ugly.”
Chaekyung laughed before nodding at his words. But she never did lift her head from his shoulders. He only managed to move her when he heard a light snore and saw her already asleep. Laying her slowly on the bed, he pulled the covers over her body and tucked her nicely.
School the next day went pretty fast. Surprisingly, no green slime was thrown over her when she entered the toilet. Nor had someone tried prying into her locker, stealing her belongings and flushing them down the toilet. It was pretty peaceful. However, Chaekyung knew something big was going to happen. The students had already filled the waiting halls when the bell had rang. Chaekyung and the group were standing at the gates, waiting for their respective cars. They were laughing and chatting away as they kept an eye for the passing cars. While she was talking, she noticed a black four-wheel-drive rolling up from the gates. It wasn’t her car though but then she felt herself being pushed to the driveway. The car honked loud and Chaekyung saw how close she was with the car. Her legs were rooted to the ground and she couldn’t jump away. She shut her eyes, waiting for the bumper to hit her petite frame. Suddenly, arms wrapped around her and she was pulled back to the sidewalks. She peeked from her tousled hair and saw Junhyeon, arms wrapped securely around her as he stared into her terrified blue eyes. They looked so pale, he thought. With tender fingers, he brushed the hair that fell in her eyes. She couldn’t even croak a thanks from the shock.
“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”
Chaekyung snapped around at Yoomi’s loud voice. She saw how her friend was struggling to break free from the Jaguars who was stopping the student council president from hitting Min Nara. She had an innocent look on her face, but her eyes said otherwise as they looked at Chaekyung. When they saw how Junhyeon had saved her, the look turned deadly. Almost as if laser beams were shooting from them. Nara pushed an angry Yoomi aside as she advanced towards Chaekyung, pulling her away from Junhyeon.
“Who do you think you are?! Cinderella?! A damsel in distress?! Don’t act all pitiful and make my boyfriend save you!” Nara pushed Chaekyung hard, shoving her to the floor. The girl had landed on her bag, fortunately, but the fall still hurt. Junhyeon held Nara back and was about to help Chaekyung up when the other girl slapped his hand away and glared at him. “Don’t you dare help her! Don’t even look at her! I’m your girlfriend! You don’t go helping other girls who act pitiful just to gain attention!”
Junhyeon rolled his eyes. “Look, Nara, we broke up months ago. Get over it. Stop denying all those rumours. Accept the fact. And don’t you dare say something like that about Chaekyung. I saw you pushed her and I won’t hesitate to have this reported!”
The murmuring in the crowd grew louder at the breaking news. Everyone had this recorded and some were already typing away on their phones, probably spreading the news around school. Sonia and Sanjana ran to help Chaekyung up, dusting her uniform and tending to her light scratches on her arms. Nara threw a sharp look at Chaekyung before walking up to her and catching her by her bag straps. She shook her hard. Chaekyung’s teeth rattled, feeling her head bob front and back from the shaking. It was scary how strong this cheerleader could be. She tried to free herself but Nara had a good grip and the her friends were holding Chaekyung’s friends back away from the upcoming fight.
“First, you rejected me in front of public! You humiliated me! And now, you stole my boyfriend away from me!” Junhyeon’s voice rose to deny it. “Min Nara, I am not your—!”
“Shut up, Lee Junhyeon!!” Nara shouted before facing Chaekyung again. She poked her finger into her chest and glared. “Listen, Dog Eyes! No one messes with Min Nara. No one!” She had raised a hand up and above her head, ready to slap across the girl’s face.
A hand grabbed onto Nara’s wrist, stopping her from hurting the girl and spun her around. Jimin’s ears were red and his eyeliner-rimmed eyes stared right back at her, cold and hard. Nara matched his glare with a confident one of her own. She pulled her wrist free from his grasp, massaging it lightly as she never tore her eyes away from him.
“Don’t you dare lay a finger on her. Don’t you dare speak to her in such a way.” Jimin’s voice was low. Hardly one Chaekyung has ever heard. Uh oh.
Nara scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh please. Now you’re standing up for her?” She threw a dirty look at Chaekyung. “Look at you. And you want me to take back my words of you being a damsel in distress. Waiting for your Princes to save you! You can’t even stand up for yourself! You’re weak. You’re just seeking attention, you little princess!”
Jimin raised his voice, grabbing the attention of Nara once again. “DON’T YOU DARE INSULT HER! SHE IS WAY CAPABLE OF CARRYING HERSELF! WAY MORE THAN YOU!”
Nara stepped closer to Jimin, unware how his time bomb was ticking away. Any second of more provocation and he might explode. Nara smirked. A slow and cunning smirk. “I know you. You’re Park Jimin. You’re from Busan but not from a wealthy family. Only someone from a superior background can enter this school. You have no such thing. You’re also not under a scholarship nor are you a transfer student. I don’t know how you’re getting the fees but I can assure you if the Moons are paying you for you to standing up for Dog Eyes, I can pay you way more—,”
A fist flew right across Nara’s jaw, hitting her hard. The cheerleader fell to the floor, clutching onto her face and it seems the blow hit her nose on the way because blood started flowing out of her nostrils. The girls ran to their captain’s side and fussed around with her injury. Jimin’s jaw hung from its hinges as he turned to see Chaekyung, heavily breathing and clutching her fist that she had used to hit Nara. The knuckles to her fists were white from how hard she was clutching them. Her pupils were icy cold and her pale face was now red with fury.
“No one—I repeat, no one— is allowed to talk to Jimin like that!”
okay i tried really i feel like crying i hope you all like it /hides in a corner/ PSSSTTT except a fight in the next update ;3
Comments