Chapter 7

It was 7:00 when the coffee date ended. 

I can’t believe how pathetic I am, SooYuri thought, I offered to pay, and I didn’t even have squat in my wallet. And he had to take out an old crust bill and he didn’t even care for the amount! God, I looked so poor! And now look at me, strolling home on a rusty bike. So glad he didn’t leave after me, or else he’d think I’m even more poor. But wait, why exactly DID he leave first? He must wanted to get away from me as quickly as possible! Oh, but what do I care? Have I forgotten all he is is a NERD. I mean, yeah, he might look good now, but he’s still a geeky nerd. Aigoo, I really have to get myself together!

Yuri pedalled home rampaging with her conscious.  She got home, at least what was forced to be her home, exhausted not from pedalling, but also from the wrestling match she had with the voice inside her head.

*ring ring* 

Looking over at her cell phone’s caller ID, Yuri instantly noticed the number,  (465)298-2728...

Could it be...? she thought.

“...saeyo.” Yuri answered, making only the ending of her greeting audible.

“Hey saw you in school today.” The voice was familiar.

AHHH, it’s my hottie ex!!

Joon and Yuri, or JuRi were the hottest couple on the campus. But  Joon had commited such a horrible action, and  with lots of pleading and begging, Yuri kindly took him back into her life as a close friend.

But after the death over the summer, Yuri didn’t have any time, money, or motivation to attend any of her ex’s flamboyant summer parties, speechless of communicating. In fact, this was her first time speaking to him in months.

“Joon. Hey, haven’t spoken to you--?”

“What the where you wearing? That was a joke, right? It’s y and all to make fun of poor people, but you took it a little too far. I mean, I couldn’t even invite you to my party tonight, and you know how much fun my parties are.”

Yuri was baffled. She would’ve thought that her ex called her today to ask how her summer was, since she couldn’t talk with any phone. She thought Joon would be as thrilled to talk to her as she would him, but it turned out onto the contrary side. “Oh!” Yuri scoffed. “So you couldn’t invite me because I was wearing something different today? Who knows, maybe I like dressing this way.”

“Mmmhmm, like a teacher? Why?”

“I think how I dress has nothing to do with you. You should mind your own damn business.”

“Ah, now there’s the Yuri I know and love.  Maybe, just maybe, if you acted like that today and ditched your sweet little hand-me downs, you would still be with us right now, in our clique. “

Laughter and speech could be heard from Joon’s line at that point.

“I’m o-out?!?” Yuri replied, fighting back tears. “Who are you to tell me if I’m in or out, Simon Cowell? Well, the Simon  I know never begged on his knees to get a girl back, so you should quit while you’re ahead with the little act. So my appearance has changed. And? That doesn’t give you a right to judge my personality.  Know your place, Joon. Don’t mess with me unless you want me to get mad.”

“Oh, well look at you, acting like a little angel. Well, you better know your place, too, .  What you were is gone. Stop living in the past.  Do us all a favor, and accept what you are, k, doll?”

“Ok, ok, and what is that?”

“A washout, a wanna-be. Duh. You’re acting all high and mighty when you look like you shop at Walmart for your best clothes. You need to drop the princess-of-glamour attitude, because you’re nothing now. What happened? Daddy took away your money?”

No, Daddy took his life.“That’s NONE of your business.”

Joon chuckled. “Oh, SooYuri. I am SO glad we broke up.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” CLICK.

~~~Joon stared at his red blackberry. “Huh...she hung up.”

“She’s a ,” HyunSung said before jugging down a bottle of soju.”

“Yeah,” Yo Seob agreed, “what were you thinking dating her?” He lighted a cigar and inhaled deeply.

“Oppa! No smoking!” Tiffany exclaimed, masking her nose with her hand.

“Put that flame out,” Soyoung commanded.

Yo Seob reluctantly followed orders, muttering under his breath, “you girls are es too.”

~~~ Today was her night of Torment.

Call after call after call, all of them being her former girlfriends--or, at least the ones not at Joon’s party-- asking what happened.  First call after the “Joon call” was from Yuri’s second-in-command, rather ex second-in-command, SunHee.

---------------

And then, there was SunHee.

“Unnie...yeah, um, are you, like, okay?”

“Oh, ahem. SunHee. I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“Well, no offense, but you looked like the queen of thrift stores rather than the queen of the school today.”

By this point, SooYuri was so close to her breaking point that one more comment of criticism would drive her to insanity.

“ No offense?!”Yuri exclaimed with a scoff.  “If you really didn’t want to offend me, you wouldn’t have said anything. I see you’re using your brain today, Sunhee. And just in case you didn’t know, that was sarcasm.  And for your information, thrift store is in, Chanel is out. You’re funny, you make me laugh. HA! Not only are you stupid, but you’re a comedienne too. Never knew you could be both.”

“And I never knew I had a schizophrenic unnie,” Sunhee replied. “ My mistake, I guess I am stupid.  But at least I don’t have to be checked into a mental institution right now.”

“Who said you don’t?  You have to have some kind of craziness in you to strut around school acting like you’re all that, when you, yourself, knows it’s all thanks to plastic surgery that people even pay attention to you. Get over yourself, Sunhee.  Or should I say, get over your fillers?”

“Uh! At least I can afford plastic surgery.”

“At least I don’t need plastic surgery.”

“But your clothes do.”

“That’s not what your boyfriend told me.”

“My boyfriend!?! Oh that’s right, not only are you a mentally unstable unnie, but you’re a ty one too.”

“Not ty enough to get plastic surgery.”

“If by not ty, you mean you don’t have enough money, then I totally agree.”

“Damn, b.tch, do you know anything? What does money have to do with tish behavior?”

“Ugh, this conversation is useless.”

“Mad because you’re losing it?”

Click.

This time, SooYuri was the one left hanging.

“GAH! I’M GOING TO DIE!!” SooYuri screamed, pulling out of utter frustration.  After several more calls similar to the ones before,  Sooyuri was on the vierge of tears. In order to keep herself still sane, she yanked chords from her home phone in her room and took the battery out of her phone and flung it at the wall. She buried her head inside her fluffy pillow on the bed. 

Her aunt called her several times for dinner, but she locked the door and continued to weep on her pillow. She was afraid if she were to be seen sobbing like she did and had to explain why, she would take her life then and there, for she had never been this frustrated, this upset, this moody in all her glamorous high life with friends, laughter, and man’s best friend, money.

Minho, her empty mind began to fill with the looks of what appeared to be her only friend. He was the only one that executed a strong conversation promising signs of future friendship.

He’s the only one that hasn’t looked down upon me, she thought, all because I’m different. He knows people go through bad changes, and he...he....he  empathizes!

Yes, that was the word. Empathy.

What I should’ve been doing when I harassed the unwealthy last year. 

Karma.

I’m starting to hate this word.

That night, SoYuri decided she was too depressed to attend school the next day.

And the next.

And the next.

And the next.

~~~~~

Waking up for school, the new thought dancing in her mind was MEN.

Minho. He was a man. A nerd at first, but now a true man.

Trapped in her room for four days missing school calls for some time alone. So that empty time was accompanied by reflection of her only companion, Minho.

And thinking of which stimulated her brain to start feeling remorseful.

She regretted ever making fun of him in his nerd days. Who knew God would’ve switched fates so quickly and abruptly for the two?

Now, she thought, I have gone through the punishment and experienced some of  the after-math. 

As I return to school today, I will swallow that ego I had when I was a princess.

I’ll get new friends...

friends like...Minho.

He’s the only one I have left, and I will try my all for him to remain that way.

“UGH,” she grunted, shaking her head. “What am I thinking? MinHo’s still a total geek on the inside, and I’m still a princess on the inside as well, right? Minho was probably feeling sorry for me, and princesses don’t accept pity. No, no, no.”

YES YOU DO! It was that inner voice again, her conscience. The HELL, Yuri! REALLY! You need to swallow that ego still inflating within you. Minho is the ONLY ONE you have, and you deny him because he’s a geek?

Yeah he’s a geek, if you mean geek as a HOT HOT HOT RICH BOY!

YES, that’s right, HOT!

You KNOW you like him! That’s why I’m HERE!

Kill the y attitude. Except what God has given you, even if it means being the “queen of the thrift stores.” You have been given the chance for change. Make use of it.

And with that, SooYuri found some clothes, grabbed her cell phone, and trotted off to school.

I must find Minho, she thought. Today will mark my true transformation date, and I want him to see it first.

For the first time in her life, she thanked her Uncle for dropping her off to school that day and pecked his cheek.

If I show him love, she thought, he will feel guilty for not showing it back.

She marched into the school confidentially and went to locker, and slowly walked down the halls, disregarding the staring eyeballs from the students still in shock, Tch, idiots don’t know what change is, and instead, used her own eyes to look for Minho.

Time had passed and she was close to the entrance of her homeroom with no sight of Minho to be found.

She glanced around the hallway frantically searching for him for the last time, and soon, that spiked hair on the type no hair on the sides hairstyle came into view. 

“Ah,” she said to herself, elated, “there you are!”

Minho’s back was faced towards her and the back of his head and neck were the only parts visible to Suri; the rest was covered by the crowd he was immersed in.

Another crowd. SooYuri, in her time of weep, had accustomed to abhor crowds. She thought they were the ones that made you who you are, and she didn’t want other people telling her that she’s a fraud or ugly or placing all these names upon her; it was none of their business. She could’ve done all that herself. She apprehended that in order to have a good laugh, she didn’t need a crowd of people to watch her every move and agree with whatever she said. Crowds were cowards to her; people who are ashamed of themselves, so they group up together and make fun of others, or block the weaklings out and make them look like they aren’t wanted.

SooYuri knew. She was a crowd leader herself. Albeit she wasn’t the “no self esteem” type of person on the inside, but she had so much, she had the urge to show it  all, and this process involved the increase of self-deprecation from others.

The crowd eventually started to dispersed, for the warning bell had just tolled. 

One by one, the group was leaving until there were about five of them left, one girl four boys.

And this girl, with rather familiar curly black hair had her right arm enlocked with Minho’s left. 

SooYuri’s eyes couldn’t help but to stare at the girl. She was wearing chocolate brown thigh-high boots with black stockings. A jean jacket was placed on her torso and a tight black mini skirt for her waste.

But on top--that black french barrette. 

And with that wavy hair. It all looked too familiar:

The wavy hair: From the first time she laid eyes on it, she immediately felt jealous of her.

And the french barrette: she had immediately remembered her fifteenth birthday. The day before, she had forgotten her old barrette--the only one her dad gave her before passing away--on a bus and cried the whole night. That was when SooYuri decided to buy her a new and improved one for her birthday. 

Who was this her you ask?

SooYuri was afraid she knew the answer.

The girl had broke her arms from Minho’s and wrapped them around his neck. SoYuri could see their lips pressing for a short time, and then they released. Minho went up the hall and the girl went her way, walking towards Yuri. It seems that the girl and Minho were saying their last goodbyes, for the girl’s back was still turned to SooYuri, as she was walking backwards.

It was then, when she had turned around, their eyes met.

She immediately  stopped in her tracks.

“Woah,” they both said in unison.

“Yuna...,” SoYuri began, “what are you doing here?”

Yuna looked at the girl in front of her choked by bewilderment.

Finally, she bit her lip, stepped in closer, and spoke. “Yuri. I missed you too.”

TT.TT sorry for the delay. no excuses. im just really sorrry. comment/read/sub silent readers are hated. have a happy new year, guys. you rock our world-Fades/Robyn

Yeeeaaah, what she said :P~~Ruki.