The girls would giggle.
All around her, all so light and cheerful. She remembered one time when they'd pushed past her, one girl's shoulder slamming into hers as they rushed ahead, laughing so joyously to themselves that they didn't even see her there. Only she was aware of them, the perfume air wafting onto her with their laughter.
Tzuyu had smirked to herself, because who would be laughing once they were out of school, in the real world?
None of them. None of them would be laughing in the real world.

It was such a monotonous, boring life that Tzuyu didn't know exactly why she should break down crying. A little accumulation of events had triggered it; those giggling girls had done their part, seated as far from her as possible as the students ate lunch, but in the midst of their giggles they'd glanced. Such a momentary action; the girl's laughter faded, and her head turned, and when her flower petal eyes met Tzuyu's stone, she'd smirked before looking back at her friends. Then she laughed again, without any reserve this time.
Her heart was a pincushion. But pincushions weren't supposed to feel every puncture, were they?
That look was the first pin.

The next had been her test results, gliding onto her desk after the teacher released it, the red ink glittering back a 30 that made Tzuyu's mind instantly flicker to the stone of her house, the stone of her parents when they saw that failing mark, the stone of the pavement as she wandered, waiting for night so they'd let her back in.
It was the second pin, puncturing harder than the first.

And then on the way to her next class her foot had hit the top step on the stone staircase instead of gliding through the air and landing on the ground. She'd been thrown forward, her bag slamming into the ground and the papers within spreading over the concrete. Shakily, she'd brought the papers further towards her, casting a flighty eye around as other students watched her confusedly, too uncertain to help her.
They called it the Bystander Effect in psychology class. Human nature.
Human nature was the final pin. Collecting her papers, she'd rushed away, a downpour escaping the stone shield of her eyes.

She didn't know what she'd been expecting, choosing the bathroom as her hiding place. Hugging herself against the wall, she'd waited for the crying to stop, and then inevitably she'd been interrupted by someone entering the room.
The girl's giggle was the first thing she heard, something that sent painful shivers down her spine, and she'd looked up through her own ruffled hair at the girl. Something bright pink was dangling from her phone, which she held against her head, smiling at whoever was on the other end. She didn't see Tzuyu. Not at first.
"Hang on, Chaeyoung," she'd said the moment her eyes met Tzuyu's. "I need to go."
Tzuyu kept staring, stone all over again even if her tears stuck her hair to her cheeks, as the other girl ended the call and took a few tentative steps forward.
"You're Tzuyu, right?" the girl asked, and Tzuyu searched her memory to see if this girl's face matched any she knew. 
Oh, right. Kim Dahyun. Easily the most popular girl in their year level, for her outgoing charisma if not her looks.
"Are you alright? Do you want to talk?"
Tzuyu blinked. Neither question made any sense.
"No," she said. Dahyun was taken aback for a second, standing slightly taller at the terse response. She'd been meaning to be kind, but that there was the real kicker: it's not worth being kind if it's not easy, is it, Kim Dahyun?
This girl will do fine in the real world. Just like Tzuyu. So long as she stops laughing.
"Oh." Dahyun glanced at her reflection in the mirror, as if to share the ridiculousness of the moment with herself. She looked back, seeming lost. "Do you want to hang out for a bit, then? We could ditch class, wander the campus." Dahyun smiled a vaguely sad smile. "Something to help you feel better. You don't need to say anything."
Tzuyu was convinced by that moment that Dahyun was an alien, and she certainly hoped her stare showed it. What was she thinking? Ditching class for some crying girl in the bathroom?
Tzuyu stood, and Dahyun seemed to brighten at the action, about to put her phone into her pocket and turn to leave until Tzuyu spoke.
"Don't bother. You'll miss your grades when they're gone."
And when Tzuyu walked past Dahyun, she refused to meet her eyes. Just as insistently as she refused to let her shoulder hit the other girl's.
Dahyun had some decency after all. Maybe she wouldn't do so well in the real world. Fortunately for Tzuyu, that was her own loss.

She became an unfeeling pincushion again before too long. She couldn't be thankful enough for that, at least.
The only downside was how aware of Kim Dahyun she suddenly was. She could easily see her from where she sat in class, easily watching her as she giggled without any glares, played around with her friends with a joy that was a little less deadening to Tzuyu than it usually was. It became frustrating fairly soon, the way her eyes found Dahyun so quickly, the way Dahyun would so often meet those eyes and raise her eyebrows in open-minded question until Tzuyu looked away grumpily. She didn't know what it was about Dahyun that should draw her attention every time. She giggled just like the other girls. She looked at Tzuyu sometimes, just like they did. Without any malice, but what did that mean? Just that she had more to lose when the real world took everything away from her, like it would to everyone else in this school.
It made Tzuyu so angry, for some reason.

"Tzuyu?"
People didn't usually address her when she passed them in the hall, Dahyun or otherwise. They'd met eyes, usually, and Tzuyu would clench her fist at the frustration of Dahyun's existence, but no interaction beyond that. She paused, turning slightly to look at the shorter girl, but the moment their eyes met Dahyun seem to flounder, looking away and looking down and clenching the shoulder strap of her laptop bag that much tighter.
"I have things to do," Tzuyu said, turning and walking away until she heard the frantic slapping of school shoes against polished corridor floors. 
"I'll walk with you," Dahyun said, and Tzuyu withheld her sigh as her veins turned to fire. She felt so frustrated around Dahyun. She knew this so well, yet it still felt like a new discovery every time.
They walked in silence until she was leaving the corridor. 
"You seem so lonely."
It was like another pin, but different. More like a bruise. Or the pushing against one.
"I'm not."
Dahyun slowed down, and Tzuyu simply glanced at her as she walked on. She heard the footsteps again as Dahyun hurried to catch up, the sound muted this time as she moved on the dirt path. "Then who do you talk to?"
"No one."
"Oh," Dahyun said, sighing. "But what about if you have something to say?"
Tzuyu was becoming increasingly confused. "What would I have to say?"
"Anything. That you're feeling sad. Or that you're feeling lonely. Or that you saw the clouds and they made a pretty shape."
Tzuyu laughed in spite of herself. "Who thinks about the clouds?"
Dahyun smiled the smallest smile back at her, and pointed at the sky. "Right there. Those ones are pretty."
Tzuyu looked. But they just looked like clouds to her.
"I guess I don't have thoughts like that then. So I don't need someone to talk to."
"Of course you do! Stop walking!" Dahyun rushed ahead, getting in Tzuyu's path and looking at her akimbo. "Eat with me and my friends today. Chat with us."
Tzuyu blinked at the sheer confusion. "Why would I do that?"
Honestly, this Dahyun.
"Because you'll feel better. Because I want to see you happier. Because I'll be happier."
Tzuyu felt like she was simultaneously moving hundreds of miles an hour and staying still. It took what felt like minutes to return to her own mind, and then she blinked again.
Did she really expect that to work? Stupid Dahyun... "Fine," said, and she walked forwards, careful not to let their shoulders touch as she increased her speed. What? How could she have accepted that? Suddenly, she just wanted to be as far away from Dahyun as possible. She ducked her head as she walked, speeding away.
Dahyun was so stupid. She was going to lose all of that... that... nosiness the moment she graduated. She was going to get crushed by the real world.
And honestly, that was such a tragedy.
And maybe that's why Tzuyu hurt so much around her.

She'd walked to the lunch room hesitantly. What was she supposed to do? Just walk up to Dahyun's table and act like she was supposed to be there? Standing by the door, she hovered, looking over at the loud students who chattered and giggled amongst themselves.
"Tzuyu!"
She looked over, immensely relieved to see Dahyun, and a bit of warmth pulsated from her heart to all over her body. Dahyun moved closer, and the warmth grew, until the older classmate took Tzuyu's hand and began dragging her away.
It was like a physical shock, feeling the warmth of that girl's hand on hers. It ran through her, because everything was different. It was like a sheet of monochrome grey painted her life, a sheet of misery engulfing her at every moment, and the moment that warmth hit her it was gone. Her eyes were open. She could see so much, feel so much, as Dahyun dragged her to the table.
She sat beside her, hesitantly looking over the table of girls quietly watching her.
"Tzuyu," one of them said. "Right?"
Tzuyu nodded, feeling strangely as if her voice wouldn't come. Why had she agreed to this? The moment Dahyun released her hand, all she could feel was the way it was, except with this fiery nervousness that Dahyun always seemed to feed into her blood. She glanced at the older girl, who was watching her intensely, and her face flickered into a smile the moment she met Tzuyu's eyes.
"I'm so happy you're eating with us," she said, and for some reason Tzuyu felt that maybe it was worth it anyway.

"Hey, Tzuyu."
It was an alienating feeling, as Dahyun moved beside her with a bright smile, speaking to her so casually and walking next to her so easily.
"Hello," she said back, hating the mess of too-hot and too-nervous she was constantly feeling when Dahyun was around. She'd been monochrome once.
Suddenly, all the colours were blinding her.
"How are you?"
"I'm alright," she said, holding her breath accidentally and trying not to look at Dahyun. There was little point, though; Dahyun slid her hand into Tzuyu's so easily it choked her just as well as looking at her might.
"I'm glad to hear that," Dahyun said, leaning her head on Tzuyu's shoulder somehow as they walked, and it overwhelmed her for a moment, so much she had to stop and Dahyun's hand tugged before she realised what was happening. "Oh. I'm sorry. I guess you wouldn't like skinship..."
"N-no, it's fine. I-I mean... I like it."
Dahyun smiled, nudging her way a little bit closer as she smiled. "Really?" She said, and Tzuyu didn't know how to answer when she was so immobilised. The eye contact had her possessed; for some reason, she didn't even have a problem with it. "I think... I like you," Dahyun said, slowing Tzuyu's world down even further.
"I..." she started, then paused, at a complete loss for words as her heart jumped with energy she'd never realised it could have. "I think you're prettier than any clouds," she said stupidly, and then in spite of herself she laughed, and Dahyun's answering smile - bewildered, delighted - was everything she could ever need.
With Dahyun and her colours, no real world, however monochrome, could ever take her down.