“Okay, so for your Sociology project, you need to pair up for the Social experimentation. Miss Myoui, could you please do me a favor and wake Miss Hirai up? Thank you.” Mina hesitantly poked Momo on the arm to wake her up but the older was not budging.

They all jumped in surprise when Jeongyeon got a paper bag, blew it up and popped it near Momo’s ears, startling the girl. Momo removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes and glared at the brown-haired girl at her back who just grinned smugly.

Miss Sunmi clapped her hands to get their attention and Momo faced forward again, fuming. One day, she vowed to herself, she will get back at Yoo Jeongyeon for all the pranks she did to her.

“As I was saying, Miss Hirai,you have to pair up for the social experimentation project."

Everybody stood up except Momo. She awkwardly look around but aside from her tormentors, Momo doesn’t really know anybody from her class. She pushed her eyeglasses up on the bridge of her nose and slouched on her seat, unsure of what to do.

Momo might be used to the limelight,having eye contact with the camera is a easy but having a conversation with other people whom she isn't close with or doesn’t know scares her to death. Mina felt sorry for the girl. She knows how the girl feels, being an introvert herself. She sees Momo around, who is always alone in the library or at the cafeteria during lunch, except those times that she was talking to some lower classmen but it’s the first time they’ve became classmates. She looked around and saw that Momo is the only one without a partner.

Mina removed Sana’s hold on her arm and stepped towards Momo’s seat. “Yah, Mitang! What are you doing?”

“I’ll go partner up with Hirai…”

“Why do you need to talk to that nerd Mina? Just leave her alone.”

“You go ahead and join Nayeonie and Jeongyeonie.”

“You’re leaving me just for that—that—her?”

“Satang, you could have any partner you want—“

“But it’s you I want!”

“—and nobody wants to pair up with her…”

“Mina!” But Mina ignored Sana and went beside Momo’s side.

“Uhm, Hirai, do you want to partner up?"

"I mean, if you don’t have a partner yet...”

Momo looked up and saw Mina’s face a few inches from her. She leaned away, surprised with how close Mina is that she can see the moles on the younger’s face.

“Cat got your tongue?”

Mina slid next to her and Momo moved a little further. She gingerly looked at her back,and she saw the blonde punk Sana staring daggers at her. Momo swallowed hard and looked at Mina who was already browsing their book. “Uhm, your girlfriend looks like she wanted to kill me.”

“Who girlfriend?”

“There. Pink lady there.”

“Ah, Satang. She’s not my girlfriend, she’s my childhood friend. Don’t mind her. Let’s see here. I think we need to conduct an interview with some random people. Can we do it this Saturday?” Momo mentally checked her schedule.

“Uhm, I’m sorry I work on weekend. Can we do it during weekdays? like in your free time?”

Mina looked thoughtful. “I don’t have free times during weekday since I have practice in –between classes. How about after class?”

Uh-oh.

“Uhm, I can’t. I have part-time.”

“Oh. Let’s just compared classes and let’s just see what time during weekdays we could squeeze it in.” They checked their schedules and decided on a Friday before lunch. Mina pulled out her cellphone and gave it to Momo, to which Momo stared at the ballerina confusingly.

“Your number. So I can text you, just in case.”

Momo shyly reached for the phone and entered her number. She returned the cellphone and Mina smiled. “Great, so I’ll text you further details about our project.” Momo could only nod.

She cannot believe someone talked to her, and furthermore, it’s the MYOUI MINA. Mina stood up and was about to return to her seat when Mina looked back again.

“And oh, you should ditch the glasses. Your eyes looked prettier without them.”

Momo blushed. It’s one thing to talk to Mina, and another thing to be complimented by the Myoui Mina, the World Class Ballerina. She bowed slightly and Mina went back to her seat. Strawberry Punk looked like she was scolding Mina and she just gave her gummy smile.

She cannot understand how can Mina be friends with these bullies-she’s very soft spoken,graceful and elegant. Momo shook her head. As much as she wanted to follow Mina’s advice on ditching the glasses,she can’t. Not because of her bad eyesight, but because it's what grounds her to this world---Momo’s world--- as she always says. She cannot be used to Yumi’s world too much, because it’s not who she really is. It’s just a means to an end—a source of income so her mom and sister can live comfortably in Japan and so she can finish her studies.

Miss Sunmi had dismiss the class and Momo was scrambling to gather her things when she heard a loud pop just at the back of her head. The whole class went Ooooooh, and it was too late before Momo realized that the loud pop!she heard was Yoo making a big bubble from a bubble gum

But due to Momo's surprise, the bubble gum had stuck to her hair when she moved her head back because of the sound. She stood immediately and faced Jeongyeon who was still laughing because the gum is still hanging at the back of her head. Shock, disbelief and panic set in.

She unbelievably looked at the jock, who was still laughing her off. Tears were starting to gather on Momo’s eyes. She can’t believe that out of all the days, today is the day that she had gum stuck at hair! She tried to pull it but it stuck to the other parts of her hair.

“YAH YOO JEONGYEON!”

The whole class suddenly went silent. Momo looked livid and even the jock looked shocked from the sudden outburst. Nobody had heard Hirai Momo talk even aloud and she now shouted at the jock! Looking at Hirai, Jeongyeon realized she was screwed. Big time.

Tears frustratingly fell from her eyes but she maintained eye contact with Jeongyeon, who gulped. She took her bag and look for a pair of shears she uses on their Textiles subject. She heard Mina gasped aloud and shouted “Don’t!” but Momo had no plan of stopping.

Momo took the clump of her hair with the gum and cut it. A large chunk of her hair fell to the ground and Momo put down the shears on in front of Jeongyeon, who was still shell-shocked.

“Are you happy now, Yoo Jeongyeon?”

Momo didn’t wait for the an answer.She just grabbed her bag and ran off to the bus stop. She wouldn't want to be late for her gig or she is going to be in trouble-much more than the gum on her hair. As she reached the bus stop,she saw the limo, waiting. She quickly went in and the limo sped off.

To her haste, she didn’t notice someone just arrived at the bus stop herself and saw Momo got in a limo.

“Hirai…? In a limo?”

The girl was puzzled but it took a minute before she panicked.

“What if she was abducted?”

“But it’s none of my business…”

“But what if she’s in trouble…?”

“Not that she deserves it after…but..”

“Aish, well, she didn’t look like she’s in trouble.”

"But what if she is...?"

“Aigoo.”

She decided to follow the limo, just in case.