Chapter 3:

Park Bom knocked on her sister’s door before turning the knob and entered the bedroom. She saw Dara sitting on her bed putting on her socks for school.

“Tokki, Seunghyun is picking me up for school. Do you want to catch a ride with us?”

“No thanks. I’ll walk,” Dara answered. She walked every morning. It was only eight blocks to the school and she enjoyed the early morning trek. Her sisters, on the other hand, refused to walk. Byul – which is what Dara called her eldest sister – usually caught a ride with her boyfriend, Seven. Bom usually either went with her boyfriend Seunghyun, or caught a ride with one of her other friends.

“Are you sure? We’re going to go grab some food first,” Bom said.

“Nope. I’ll be fine.”

Bom walked over and tapped the top of Dara’s head, which was covered by a baseball cap this morning.  “I don’t know why you hide behind all these. People think you’re a plain Jane but if they only knew you’re the prettiest of us three.”

Dara stood without responding. She walked over to her collection of glasses and picked out a pair of neon purple metallic ones to match her cap and socks. She tried it on and looked in the mirror, then tugged her hair towards the front so that it partially hid her face. Satisfied with it she turned and grabbed her backpack before heading downstairs while Bom followed. The two met Byul downstairs at the breakfast table along with their mother.

“Dara, what’s this I hear about you getting into a fight?” Mrs. Park asked.

“It was hardly a fight,” Byul said, pouring herself a glass of juice. “Tokki knocked those girls flat in no time at all.”

“Hul! If I knew yesterday I would have taught those girls a lesson for you!” Bom stated. She sat down and filled her plate with toast and eggs and poured a glass of juice.

“I thought you and Seunghyun were going to stop somewhere for food?” Dara said, picking up her spoon.

Bom frowned at her. “I’m just drinking juice. And eating a little toast… and eggs.”

Dara smiled, a rare occurrence that she only allowed her immediate family to witness. There was the sound of a horn and both Byul and Bom looked out the window.

“It’s Seven,” Byul said, standing and leaning over to kiss her mom goodbye. “See you at school girls.”

Seunghyun came shortly afterwards to pick up Bom. Dara was left eating silently at the table with her mom.

“Is everything okay with you?” Mrs. Park asked. Of her four children, Dara was the quietest and the most independent. She kept things to herself and went about her way doing things for herself. Mrs. Park always made sure she took extra care to ask Dara if all was well. Not that she thought Dara would actually tell her if something was wrong. But still she would ask, hoping that one day Dara would open up to her as her older sisters did.

After she finished eating Dara stood up and carried her bowl to the kitchen. “Thanks for the food, omma. Bye.”

She still had thirty minutes to reach the school. Dara took her time walking. She took the short cut through the neighborhood and then stopped by the window of the pet store in the small shopping area close to their school. If time permitted she liked to stop and look at the different animals they had in the window display. Most times it was either puppies or kittens. Sometimes they had a display of aquarium fishes. Once they had a monkey who sat perched on a fake tree limb and stared at the people on the other side of the window who were looking at him. Today they had kittens. Dara smiled to see them. They seemed so cute and fluffy.

“Do you like cats?”

She turned to the side and saw Kwon Jiyong smiling at her. Dara frowned. What was with this guy? And why was he always following her? Wordlessly she turned from the window and resumed walking toward school. There was still another four blocks to go. She had no idea where Jiyong showed up from.

“Cat got your tongue?” Jiyong teased, and then chuckled at his own joke. “That’s okay. I don’t mind if you don’t have much to say.”

He had gone back to Chanyeol the day before and divested the freshman of everything he knew about Dara. That was how Jiyong found out that Dara normally walked to school and which path she took. He had left his house early and waited for her along the route.

“I never see you with anyone at school. Do you have any friends?” Jiyong asked. As he expected, Dara didn’t say anything, so he continued talking. “I have four friends that I hang out with mostly. There’s Youngbae – he’s the same age as us but he’s in the other homeroom. We’ve been friends ever since grade school. Then there’s Daesung and Seungri who are my other two best friends. But they’re a year younger than us. Anyway that’s who I like to hang out with.”

“Is there a reason why you’re telling me all of this?” Dara asked.

Jiyong shrugged. “Because I want to be your friend?”

“What if I don’t want to be your friend?”

He made a pouty face. “You’re a mean girl.”

Despite her irritation at him for following her Dara had to smile at his pout. “You look goofy doing that,  you know.”

“Wow, do you know this is the most you’ve talked to me?” He looked pleased with himself while Dara rolled her eyes and grew silent once more.

“Is it true your brother taught you and your sisters how to fight?” he asked.

“You are so random,” Dara muttered.

“I have a younger sister, her name’s Dami. But I’ve never taught her how to fight.”

“Are you any good at fighting?” Dara asked.

“No.”

She smirked at this, and Jiyong smiled.

“Do you think I can call on you to protect me if I ever get in trouble?” he asked.

“Whatever,” Dara said. “You should fight your own battles.”

“Luckily I don’t ever get into fights.”

By the time they reached the school Jiyong was pleased to see that Dara wasn't scowling or frowning at him as much. He pointed to where his friends hung out and invited her over so that he could introduce her, but Dara declined. “Don't want to.” With that she walked away while Jiyong looked after her with a smile on his face. He was still smiling when he reached where his friends were.

“Was that Sandara Park you were walking with?” Youngbae asked.

“Yep.”

“What’s up with that? I’d heard from some students you were with her yesterday as well.”

“She’s interesting,” Jiyong answered. “I’ve decided I’m going to be her friend.”

“You’re strange,” Youngbae stated. Jiyong had almost every girl in their grade chasing after him and yet he wanted to be friends with the one girl that didn't seem the least bit interested in him.

“I want to be her friend too,” Seungri declared. He had been listening in along with Daesung.

“You stay away from her,” Jiyong warned, pointing his finger at the maknae. He could just imagine Seungri scaring Dara off. Although, on second thought, he doubted she was the type who would scare easily. More likely that she would be irritated... and then maybe punch Seungri.

“She didn’t look much interested in being your friend, hyung,” Daesung commented, and Jiyong scowled at him.

“She’s just shy,” he declared, but his friends looked doubtful.

“She doesn’t appear to be shy,” Youngbae said, with a shake of his head.

“Will you three just leave it alone already?” Jiyong huffed, and then marched off to his homeroom.

He still had a frown on his face when he entered and took his seat next to Dara’s. She was sitting reading and said nothing when he sat down. The rest of the class stared at the two of them. Some of the girls whispered snidely, “What a hussy…”

Dara lowered her book and slanted a look in the direction of the girls who had made the remark. She made a growling sound and the girls immediately scampered away. Beside her Jiyong finally smiled. It was the first time no fangirls approached him. Happily he got out his text and began reading as well. They made quite a picture, the hot boy and the alien girl sitting side by side reading their text book.

“Want a chocolate bar?” Jiyong held half of his candy bar toward her.

Normally Dara would have ignored him. But she liked chocolate … a lot. She took the whole candy and bit into it leaving him with none.

“Hey, share!”

Dara broke off a small piece and handed it back to him while she kept the bigger part. Jiyong grumbled and turned his attention back to his book.

At recess Dara headed to the roof… and Jiyong followed her. He sat down next to her, like he did the day before, but this time he warned her, “Wake me up if I fall asleep. I don’t want to get in trouble again like yesterday.”

Dara didn’t say anything as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “Anyone tell you you talk too much?” she grumbled.

“Anyone tell you you’re weird?” Jiyong retorted, and Dara smirked.

“I like being weird.”

“Well I like talking.”

“So go talk to your fangirls.”

“Don’t want to,” he retorted, as he leaned back and closed his eyes as well.

He was such a strange boy, Dara thought. Growing up people were always commenting about Dara and her sisters and how beautiful they were. Byul and Bom didn't mind. In fact they loved it when people complimented them. But Dara got to a point where she was tired of people seeing the three of them as just pretty faces. She didn't want friends who hung out with her just because of her looks. So she began purposely downplaying her looks by dressing weirdly. She would study what the geeks and nerds wore and began creating a style of her own. That was three years ago. Now what she discovered was that she enjoyed having the freedom to wear and do what she wanted. Byul and Bom were always pressured to look their best but Dara could thrown on anything and people accepted it as part of her personality and weirdness.

She also noted that no one other than Byul and Bom, and their respective boyfriends bothered to talk to her at school. It gave her a better appreciation for what the more unpopular kids went through, and she was a little saddened by it. But not for herself, for although she seemed a loner in the school, she knew that her clothes and behavior was just part of her school persona. When she was at home she wore normal clothes, mostly jeans and t-shirts, and brushed her hair normally. Kwon Jiyong was the first person in high school, outside of her sisters and their boyfriends, that actually made an attempt to befriend her. She still wasn't certain if he had ulterior motives but she had to give him props for wanting to approach her in school when she was known as the 'weird alien' girl.

When the bell rang indicating the end of recess she stood up and saw that Jiyong was still sleeping. Dara nudged him with her foot. “Hey Kwon Jiyong, time for class,” she said, and walked toward the stairs.

Jiyong opened his eyes and glanced at his watch. He stood and gathered his things. At least this time she woke him up, he mumbled, and followed her down the steps..