Of pastel pink skies and light brown hair, Joohyun barely knows Sooyoung or Seulgi as they're driving past the sixth station down the highway. 

–

The corner of tries not to twitch into a smile as the employee by the cash register eyes at her in suspicion. Sweat starts to build on her palms in her pockets while the snacks resting on her abdomen rustles in her zipped up red and black jersey jacket. Nervously, she steps out of the aisle, heading toward the close exit that seem to continuously grow farther and farther away at each step she took. And believing in her small luck, Sooyoung can’t help but to hold her breath as the glass door’s already resting on her palm.

But God’s always watching they say.
    
When the moment Sooyoung exhales, she hears a thud. A package of cheap gummy bears, the one Seulgi claims to be the best out there when they’re nearly hard as rocks has her sweating in fear, but glad at the same time. It lays out on the blue, white tile floor and she doesn’t bother to pick it up, having only the thought to escape quickly. 

“Hey! You!” Sooyoung bursts out the stained glass doors of the small stationary, hearing an employee's shout of anger boiling to her ears. Her maroon kicks hits the cement sidewalk, eyes searching for her father’s slick black AMC Ambassador. And just from the corner of her eye, she spots it parked by the small lot. 

“Seulgi, start the car!” Sooyoung yells as she taps the back of the car, and a blur of brown hair makes it out of the window.

“What?” 

“Start the damn car, that’s what I said.” 

“Got you, got you.” Seulgi sends an okay sign with her hand, before letting the car engine rumble to life. Sooyoung on the other hand, pops the door of the passenger seat open, hurriedly closing it in return. Seulgi casually steps on the gas pedal, peeking at the rearview mirror. “Sooyoung, is that one of the store employees?” Sooyoung twists around in her seat, catching sight of a young boy gritting his teeth, running behind them before eventually slowing down to a stop.  

“Yeah,” Sooyoung stifles in a laugh turning back around to face the dashboard. 

“What’d you do?” 

A snarkish grin spills on her lips, her jersey jacket ping down, pouring a pile of small snacks down on her lap. “This.” Seulgi takes a glimpse away from the road onto Sooyoung’s lap, groaning almost immediately at the sight.

“Sooyoung! That’s too much, I told you to purchase a few snacks.” Seulgi grimaces, tightening her hold on the steering wheel. 

“C’mon, you’re not even a little happy. It was hard putting these in my jacket, and plus I could’ve made it to the slammer.” Sooyoung pouts. 

“You wouldn’t have made slammer, that's an exaggeration.” Seulgi looks back her, biting down on her bottom lip. “But I would be happy if you got me those gummy bears.”

–
  
As the car keeps going, Joohyun doesn’t bother to peel her eyes off the dashboard as it would’ve been worse for her dad to start speaking than the tenth foul the male announces through the radio. It flickers in sound, and the rest of it’s loud cheering.

Joohyun thinks it’s soccer. 

Her dad tells her it runs in the family, like children, like fathers, but she finds it as an immense lie–full smack to the face. She's barely anything of him. Only the same foul mouth seemed to running. And dare, Joohyun will never say. She rarely listens to the sports on the radio, or watches them on screen. (Maybe sometimes.) It never occurs to her as anything important, but she manages to wake up with a soccer uniform, trying out for the next season. Continuously following her dad as a dog on a leash. 

He says, she'll be something big someday. 

Her thoughts run cold when she feels the seat belt digging in between her ribs to later leave a mark of red or maybe send her back up at the infirmary, but that doesn’t happen as the car screeches in a sudden halt at the crosswalk. She hears her dad grunt, already sticking his head out the window. “Hey! What the hell-” 

“Don’t bother,” Joohyun sighs, tugging at the seat belt. “They don’t care.”

The window rolls back and Joohyun stares at the boy in the flimsy black hoodie, large jeans above his soft gray sneakers. And she continues as he proceeds past the crosswalk to sidewalk in slow steps.

“Didn’t they teach you guys to look both ways before crossing?” 

"Apparently they didn't learn properly." Joohyun whispers, facing out the window. 

The car backs into the school lot, bumping over the cracks. It parks near on the very front of school's main entrance Joohyun pretends she never saw. Her dad bids her goodbye to snap her out of mid daydreams and she grabs the handle to the car door. 

“I’ll be late today,” Joohyun mumbles.

“Hm? What for.”

She opens the door. "Sorry, it's for detention.”

–

Her bag clatters against the end of long table inside the school library, a profound sound of annoyance slips between her gritted teeth. The rough carpeted floor rustles underneath her feet, and she already feels uncomfortable. More uncomfortable as she’s the only one early. She shouldn't be here in the first place. The ignorant rat accusing her for being late two times as having to reason with her dad that it wasn't her fault wasn't bad enough. 

Settled by the end of the table where the window was caught to be her favorite spot. The sun raining through the glass, she plops down onto the seat. “Joohyun?” Ear perking up to the voice, she jumps in her seat startled. Clutching a hand to her chest, she frantically looks up to find an elder man at age-supposedly the history teacher if remembered correctly, gazing down.

“Ye–yes, I’m Joohyun.” Flushed pink on her cheeks, Joohyun stutters in embarrassment. She even raises her hand.

“Just to make sure,” he smiles a little, giving a small nod. 

Deeply sighing, she lays her head on the table with an arm outstretched as soon as the teacher leaves with his back turned. The doors begin to creak open, several students mourning, but most are used to the environment. They round up on the table, taking seats for detention. 

She'd rather descend into hell. 

Joohyun shrinks lower in her seat, unconsciously bouncing her leg up and down in a habit–usually when uncomfortable. It wasn't much later she hits the bottom of the table with a loud thud, then to curse under her breath. Feeling like she's made a fool of herself, (as she overreacts) she checks to see if anyone saw. And a pair of eyes sends her face aflame in red. Monolid and sharp, they stare. Stare and stare right across from her. 

Then the face where it belongs grins, letting a whisper past her lips. "Are you okay?"

Quite burning in a red hue, Joohyun's only able to numbly nod. 

Detention ends quicker than expected. 

–

Joohyun exhales in a sigh, rubbing her eyes out of exhaustion, and she wants to go home. Wants to sleep. Wants to forget about everything else around. 

She wants believe there won't be any tomorrow. 

Too bad, she can't. 

She sits on the curb by the third block down her house. A quiet intersection she breathes of chill summer night. The place she crouches by the gutter, flicking the butts of cigarettes. But today she stands numb, body trembling. Unbearable goosebumps enveloping her skin as she's unable to comprehend the situation she put herself in. 

She blames them. 

Those girls. 

They're parking by her, stopping exactly in front, despite her clearly shown emotion of discomfort. 

"What'd you want?" Joohyun grumbles, fumbling with the zipper hoodie. 

The two girls look at each other, unsure of what to say, but to give concerned expressions. "Are you alright?" The one with sharp aligned eyes, and gentle smile that'll melt anyone who passes by, speaks softly. The one Joohyun thinks to be nicer than the other–her name? Seulgi? And it feels too all familiar, the situation itself. 

"I'm fine–"

"–I don't think you're fine. You've got a pretty bad bloody nose there," Seulgi says, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Then what was the point on asking–never mind. I'm fine. I'm fine." Joohyun sniffles, dabbing the blood off her nose. 

"Well..." Jet black hair, and mischievous grin; the girl Sooyoung starts, "it would be rude to leave someone on the street who looks like they need a hospital."

"I told you," Joohyun stubbornly persists, "I'm fine, and why do I need some stranger to tell me I'm not."

Sooyoung shoots up from the driver's seat. "Because you look totally beat up! Look at yourself–" Seulgi pushes her back down to her seat. 

"We're just asking that's all." Seulgi says, calmly. "But I mean like we don't want to get in  your personal business, but if need some help we'll help ." 

Joohyun sits agape, struck at the amount of generosity. "I–you–I don't need any. As I told you I'm fine." 

"If you're okay, then mind telling me why're like this? It's kind of unsettling to not know." Sooyoung blabbers despite Seulgi's protests to stop. 

She bites down on her lip, in a deep breath before speaking. “You really want to know? Fine. I'll give you a hint. Three letters, one word,” Joohyun replies with anger burning in her words. Suddenly she feels alive lashing out, spitting curses right back. “that one word parents seem to never want to hear.” 

And she gazes up at Sooyoung who smiles, and nods in an understanding. 

“Yeah, and my ing parents.” Joohyun starts wiping the rest of the blood off her nose. ‘My dad punched me. My mom? Guess what? She just stared right at me in disgust...what a family to depend on.” 

"Same–" Sooyoung agree, but cut off immediately. 

"–get in." Seulgi blurts.

"What?" Sooyoung hisses under her breath, digging her elbow into Seulgi ribs out of utter confusion as Joohyun does too with the furrow of her brows.

"Get in." She repeats off her tongue again.

"What for?" Eyebrows creased, Joohyun mutters.“You’re not going to beat me up are you?”

"What? We're not gonna beat up some flimsy piece of cabbage." Sooyoung snorts. 

"Joy!" Seulgi exclaims with a slap to the tall girl's back. 

"What.." Sooyoung mumbles, but raises her brows in realization. "Oh okay."

Joohyun shifts tensed on the curb, tapping her fingers on the cement walk. 

"Okay, okay. It seems this shorty's just asking you if wanna stay with since it seems like you have no where to go now...We're trying to be nice here." Sooyoung stares at her as well as Joohyun. They stare at each for awhile, silence and awkward looks encircle around before a firm nod comes from Joohyun.  

 Seulgi clicks her tongue in glee. 

“Okay, then hurry up and get in,” Sooyoung grumbles. 

When she stands from the curb, Joohyun remembers being told to stay away from girls like them, but she guesses it’s too late as she’s climbing in the back of their convertible. 

–––———————
Late update sorry, but thanks for all the subscriptions and the patience to wait for me
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