"Hey, are you okay? I saw what happened in the cafeteria. Be careful with Chaerin; she's an evil ."

These were the types of questions I was receiving from friends all day after my encounter with Chaerin. Once again, it was blown up out of proportion. Chaerin isn't that bad, is she?

I smile brightly at Kiko and shake my head, "I'm fine. Thank you, though."

Kiko's part of the social justice team with me. She's a petite girl with short black hair and have a long legs like a model.

"Aren't you scared, though?" She ask, "She is not one to mess with."

I shrug in response, unsure on how to reply. "I dunno, I guess I'll just have to wait and see."

Kiko seems unsure with my response, but nods her head nonetheless. "Right," she smiles, "I should go now.. But good luck!"

Good luck?

"Yeah. Bye!" I reply, turning to Dara who was watching our conversation amusedly. She pushes herself off my locker and smirks.

"We're so gonna cop it for what happened today," Dara declares with a grin.

I eye her warily, "Why are you smiling like that? I don't think you should be smiling in a situation like this."

She rolls her eyes at me, "So now you're complaining about me smiling too much? It called audacity."

I laugh and walk with her down the half full school corridors. "But seriously, aren't you a little nervous?"

Dara shrugs, "Everyone's talking it up. The most Chaerin's ever done is chop someone's ponytail off 'accidentally'."

"And you don't think that's bad enough?" I ask, brushing my hand over my ponytail protectively. "Now I can understand why everyone's acting worried. We're dealing with a ponytail-killer."

Dara rolls her eyes at my dramatic behavior, "Everyone's only making a fuss because you're supposed to be Hanyang's sweet little princess and they don't think you can handle a little nudging from their queen-bee."

I frown at her, "I'm not a princess."

"Yeah, but they don't know that," she replies with a shrug, and I sigh.

"I don't like how some people assume I'm this weak person who cracks under any pressure."

"I know it's frustrating, but you shouldn't care about what strangers think of you. They clearly don't know you well enough to see what you're really like. Wow, I can't believe I'm actually saying this. It's usually the other way around."

I look over at Dara and grin, nodding my head in agreement, "Yeah, you're right. I'm being silly."

Dara nudges me playfully, "Want a ride home?"

"Yes, please."

▲ ▲ ▲

"The steak is delicious, Samchon" I comment as I slice another piece of the meat and bring it to my mouth.

Jiyong’s parent, Jiyong and I are currently seated around the dining table, feasting on steak and salad that Jiyong’s Dad had prepared for us.

Jiyong scoffs at my remark, while his dad just smiles at me, "Thank you, Bom, you see, all I had to do was..." then he goes on to tell me how he cooked and prepared the steak to perfection.

"So Jiyong, how's school going?" His mom asks when Samchon Kwon finishes his educational lesson about cooking steak. She watches Jiyong closely, who just shrugs in response.

"It's going great, mom," he drawls sarcastically with his mouth full of food.

"Good marks?"

"Absolutely."

I frown at his rudeness. He was so mean to his parents even though they were so nice. I couldn't help but wonder what caused the wedge between them, and