His stomach twisted painfully. The phantom pain travelled along his limbs, lifting goosebumps on his skin. Jin lifted the toilet seat. He vomited whatever breakfast he ate that morning. After the food came nothing but water. Gasping, he wiped his mouth. A bitter taste hung over his tongue. His face was drenched in sweat.

    Oh Sehun. That boy had to move to his school, of all places. During junior high, Sehun had made sure that no one befriended Jin. He would tell them all about Jin’s past, and how he bullied a girl right out of elementary school. Of course, Sehun used to bully Jisoo too, but for some reason, the brunt of the blame fell on Jin, and when Jin attempted to defend himself, Sehun turned the whole class against him.

    And now he was back.

Jin knelt down, a hand pressed against his stomach. A cramp seared across his abdomen. He winced, unable to stand on his wobbling feet. It was too sore. It was too unfair. But he had to lift himself with dignity. He had to hide his fear from Sehun.

    Classes passed quickly. It turned out that Sehun had different teachers for his subjects. The only subject they shared was biology, but that was fine, because Jin chose the class dunce, Jimin, as his partner. Sehun was left with Joy, and the girl’s predatory smile seemed to leave him awry. For once, Jin was glad that Joy existed in his class.

    Before he knew it, the day was over. The evening bell chimed, signifying the end of the day. Lisa was waiting for him at the entrance. Jin thought he should be relieved, but Wendy’s group of friends tailed after him, with daggers evident in their smiles. He hoped they would not tear him down, limb by limb, sinew from sinew. At the other side were Joy and her clones. But they were no longer following him.

    They followed Oh Sehun.

Lisa hopped onto her bicycling, flashing him a wide smile. “Hey there Jino!”

    He huffed. “Jino? What’s that?”

“Your new nickname, silly.” She peered at the mob of girls. “Looks like you’ve got a fanclub, huh?”

    He snorted, waving her off. “Not a fanclub. I think they hate me.” He paused--the last thing he wanted to tell Lisa was why they followed him. It was obviously for revenge, for his past. He wondered if Sehun had told them anything.

His stomach broiled at the conception. What if he told the whole school? Whatever respect he had left would vanish. He’d become a nobody once again, the hated boy who people wanted dead.

    “Jin, you don’t look so good.”

He sighed, rubbing his forehead. It was sweaty. “I’m fine. It’s just...is there any gift you’d recommend for a girl?”

    Lisa lowered her head, her eyes fixated on him. “A present? Why’s this?”

Jin pushed her shoulder. “Come on, it’s not what you think. I just want to give her a ‘thank-you’ present.”

    “Oh I get it. It’s for your friend--that girl you chased with my bike. Right?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. I can buy her food, but I don’t think she’d let me do that.”

    “Try flowers. All girls like flowers.”

“But isn’t that a bit too much?” Jin tried to imagine handing Jisoo a huge bouquet. He visioned her throw it on the floor. And burn it, much like how he threatened to burn her hair in the past. The memory caused him to cave into the inner recesses of his mind, wallowing in guilt.

    Had he truly tried that? How horrible of a person was he?

“How about lucky stones?” Lisa followed him slowly on her bike. “I mean girls love the superstitious stuff. If not, then a bar of chocolate. That’s never going too far.”

    What if Jisoo thought he would poison the chocolate? Somehow, he believed she would tread that path. After all, he never did or said anything nice to her in the past.

“Anything else you could come up with?”

    Lisa pressed her foot to the ground. Her hand on her hip, she lifted her chin and pointed between his eyes. “Listen here,