(One Year Ago… Chaewon’s Old School: The Miduce School for Exemplary Students)

“Okay man, here we are, for the- how many?-”

“144th day, last day until winter break.”  Chaewon looked up at Yujin, grasping her backpack straps tightly.

Yujin chuckled.

“Hey, Cha Cha, don’t be so uptight.  I know this school has some exemplary a-holes but they’re just jealous of the number one student.”  Yujin pinched Chaewon’s cheeks and fixed her glasses, patting her on the head.

RRRRIIINNGGGG!!!!

Chaewon froze at the haunting sound.  It could only mean one thing.

“Welp, time for me to go to school… and be late… for the millionth time.  You know, I’m going to get expelled because of you. I’m fast, but not ‘across the town in five minutes’ fast.  You should be paying me or something.” Yujin snorted as she ruffled the smaller girl’s hair one last time, giving her a small hug before rushing off the school grounds, waving at the school security guard, who honestly didn’t even care about the insane girl trespassing anymore since it was the billionth time and she posed no threat except for yelling and dancing sporadically.

Chaewon took a deep breath as she watched Yujin pass through the gate.

I can do this.  My first period is a free.  How hard can that be? Just an hour in the library.  No one goes in there.

Chaewon adjusted her glasses as she walked down the hallway of a school she hated with all her being.  The people, the place, just everything about it.

Everything except for one:

“Hey, A Plus, where do you think you’re going?”  The voice made Chaewon smile as she inhaled. The smell of bread filled her nostrils, matching the airy, purring voice of her only acquaintance in the whole school.

“Hyunjin, I told you to stop calling me that.”  Chaewon blushed. She didn’t like when her accomplishments were blasted like that, even if it was just a silly nickname.

The round-eyed girl smiled, flashing off her prominent, distinguishable canines. “Why not?  Be proud of yourself. If I had grades like yours I would be spray painting it on students faces.”

“Which is a nice example of why you don’t have those kinds of grades.”  The two girls chuckled as Hyunjin took a bite out of her croissant, taking another one out of her pocket and offering it to the shorter girl.

Chaewon shook her head.  “Thanks, but I can’t eat in the hallways, it’s against the rules.”

Hyunjin scoffed, “For someone who hates this school as much as I do, you sure love the rules.”

Chaewon shrugged, “I like order I guess.  It keeps me sane…. And speaking of rules, go to class, I know you don’t have this period free.”

“Okay, Crunchy, give me a break for once.  Calculus is boring and you refuse to give me a cheat sheet.”

“Well, it’s against the rul-”

“Against the rules, I know.”  Hyunjin lifted up her bag, slinging it over her shoulder, “Unfortunately, I have to go to every class in order for me to go to soccer practice, so you get your wish.  Bye bye.”

“Bye.”  Chaewon smiled as the bread-scented girl drudged down the hallway, her long black hair swaying behind her.

Hyunjin and her didn’t have a lot in common besides the fact that they both hated the school and weren’t liked much by the student population.  Students didn’t like Hyunjin because of how good she was at sports and students didn’t like Chaewon because of how hard she studied. It wasn’t even that she was naturally smart, she just worked way harder than others, not relying on pure talent like basically the whole rest of the school.

Unfortunately, not being liked is easier to cope with when you have muscle mass and sass for days, things that Chaewon did not possess.

The Miduce School was all about psychological warfare.  Everyone knew that they would get expelled immediately if they physically hurt the school’s subject of pride, so they resorted to things that they knew would rock Chaewon’s core: words.

---

(Beginning of the Year)

Chaewon handed in her quarterfinal answer sheet with a big grin on her face.  I didn’t know it could be that easy.  She didn’t even have to study the night before, paying attention in class was the only thing you needed to do for Chemistry, and while everyone was goofing off in the back of class, she asked questions that led to understanding, now leading to a nice quarter grade on her report card.

It was 9:45 a.m. when she got out, meaning she finished about an hour early.  It wasn’t even a thing about rushing or showing off, there was just no point in sitting in a tension-filled gym when she could be home throwing a ball with Bbomi.

Chaewon turned around, glancing at the students behind her: all of the people who never payed attention in class were sweating and praying like their life depended on this test.  I mean there are three more, this one isn’t the end of the world.

As she started to walk out she could feel the stares on her back.  A few students, rich ones, in particular, had asked her for a cheat sheet, which Chaewon rejected almost instantly.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not going to put my scholarship on the line because you were busy doing unnecessary things instead of studying.  If you want, for the next test, I can tutor you, I’ll even do it for free, but I won’t cheat. It’s against the rules.”

Chaewon decided to eat some lunch before she went home: she got a free meal plan so she didn’t want to waste it.  The cafeteria staff was also very nice- the mandatory student rotation in the kitchen made it so that the poor workers had to be constantly harassed by the wealthier students, making their jobs extremely difficult, something that Chaewon despised.  To them, Chaewon was like a huge breath of fresh air. The studious girl also enjoyed the staff’s company for she loved hard, honest work, and they were a nice example of it.

Since she finished exams early, lunch wasn’t ready yet, so she was given a bun, juice, and something that the staff made just for her because of the special occasion: chicken nuggets.

Chaewon walked outside to the courtyard, watering at the smell of the meal.  She had tried to make chicken nuggets once, since her parents now refused to make her because of the childish implications with the whimsical shapes, but she almost burned down the house, so the cafeteria staff always made some for her when she had a day of hard work.

By the time she got to the courtyard, it was about 10:35.  Most of the students would be out by now, going to lunch.

That’s okay, I’ll just sit here.  Even though it was the beginning of school, Chaewon could already sense the dislike that was aimed at her.  Ever since the rankings were posted, they gave her the cold shoulder, and no one even attempted to get to know her.

Chaewon picked up her first chicken nugget.  It was the shape of a butterfly. How cute.  Chaewon always liked butterflies so this was fun.  

She opened to take a bite when-

“Hey, is that the toddler I see?  That baby who got lost on her way to kindergarten and ended up here.  I think that’s her.”

Chaewon grimaced, closing her eyes.  Her whole body turned rigid as she heard the laughs of five other people surrounding the voice behind her.

A hand smacked down hard on her shoulder, yanking her body around.

She could feel the breath on her face when the voice’s face got near her.

“You should look at someone when they’re talking to you.”

Chaewon’s glasses got foggy.  She knew that crying so quickly would be really bad for this situation but dealing with mean people under pressure had never been her strong suit.  Of course, the speed of her surrender had the six girls hollering.

“Oh my goodness, are you that much of a coward?  I at least thought that I would get some fun out of you before you started crying like a baby, geez.”

“P-please stop, Soyoung.  What are you getting out of this?”

Chaewon shook while speaking, seeing if maybe the group of girls who tormented her without knowing her could realize that what they were doing was wrong.

But the worst thing you can say to a bully is ‘stop’.

Soyoung’s lips curled upwards.

“Wow, our school genius isn’t smart enough to take a dumb old bully down-”

“You aren’t dumb, you’re ranked 3rd in the school-”

A hand came down across Chaewon’s cheek, making her face numb.

“SHUT UP.”  Soyoung took a now mortified Chaewon by the hair, pulling her up to her face.

“You don’t talk.  Third place means nothing.  Do you know how mad my parents were when they found out that a freshman beat me in the ranking?  They almost stopped feeding me.”

As Soyoung held up Chaewon’s head, making her teeth grind, and her crew circled around the pair.

Though there was a uniform, the girls barely remembered to put on their nametags, so