[CONTENTID1] t h e   p u n i s h m e n t  [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]   

  Her posse of little clones stood behind her, mouths agape and hands in the air like caricatures of shock.

  Normally Jennie would have found them funny, but now was not the time.

  She was dead. She was so dead. She was already planning her funeral. Her aunt’s not going to be invited.

  Soojung closed her eyes, as if to collect herself, before snapping them open to reveal a cold, hard glare as chilling as ice.

  Jennie never thought a girl drenched in soda could look so terrifying.

  “It was an accident,” she blurted out as an instant self-defence mechanism.

  “Oh?” Soojung choked out the syllable as soda dripped from her neck, dying her white shirt bright pink.

  “It was,” Jennie defended as calmly as possible. She needed to think of a way to get out of this. She scanned the crowd for Bobby to use as evidence or a scapegoat, but alas, much like Hwasa, he had vanished into thin air.

  Her resolve weakened as she realised she was alone. Lady luck was not with her today. She had always been her long time frenemy, stabbing her in the back with a machete just as she thought things would be okay.

  Soojung exhaled slowly as if to supress her rage and the whole school flinched.

  “Jiri, or whatever your name is,” she began in a calm tone masking anger.

  Jennie was afraid to answer.

  “Have your recess,” Soojung continued, her face suddenly changing to a smile as if she had flipped a switch. “Go to the toilets and go clean yourself up. Go have lunch after too.”

  Jennie pulled her hands to her chest, wary of her falsely charitable demeanour.

  “But after school,” Soojung said, her tone lowering dangerously. “You come straight to me. I’ll be finishing up in classroom D-19. Be there.”

  And with that, she beckoned to her clones and walked away.

  Internally, Jennie sighed with relief, glad that she was off the hook and already making plans to go straight home.

  But unfortunately, Soojung stopped in her tracks.

  “Oh, and by the way new girl, if I don’t see you there,” she added without turning back. “I’ll make you regret it.”

  A chill shot through her body, and Soojung finally turned the corner and disappeared.

  The students erupted into murmurs and whispers.

  There goes that idea.

***

  Jennie cleaned herself up in the girl’s toilets, rinsing her hair under the tap that kept having to be repressed every ten seconds or the stream would stop.

  Hwasa’s head popped through the door like a jack in the box. “Yo,” she greeted. “You still alright? I got you a change of clothes. It’s my P.E. uniform.”

  “Oh, you’re still here,” she said as she blinked tap water out of her eye. “And here I thought you were already halfway to China.”

  “Okay, yes, I know, move ditching and bailing,” Hwasa admitted, holding her hands up. “But I can’t afford to be in her line of sight. You know what she does to people, Jennie?”

  “Well it looks like I’m going to find out,” she replied as she snatched the clothing out of her hand.

  “Sorry,” Hwasa apologised in an exaggerated voice. “Even my withered soul feels bad, so that’s why I’m lending you my uniform.”

  Jennie sighed and peeled off her uniform, abandoning it in a pitiful, stained pile on the tiles. “A great start to a new school this is,” she grumbled as she pulled on the t-shirt. “Not even halfway through the day yet and I already have the whole school murmuring about me.”

  “Yeah, the girls are all standing outside afraid to come in,” Hwasa informed.

  “Well at least this way they won’t bother me,” she sighed, feeling an oncoming headache. “Rich people.”

  “I know right?”

  “What’s your excuse?”

  “I’m a scholarship student,” Hwasa answered. “If it makes you feel better, I can track Bobby down and smack him around some. I’d go kick him in the nuts right now if I didn’t know