Yerin hisses in annoyance as her eyes locked intensely onto the figure of the person in front of her. Her friend sat there and the initial plan was for her to pass the paper containing the answers for the exam. She only needed to make her move but unfortunately, due to some circumstances, she’s stuck in her seat most likely until their exam is finished leaving her with a blank sheet of paper devoid of any answers.

 

This was all because of that tattle tale’s fault!

 

She didn’t understand how in the world that woman caught wind of their plan and now because of it, their teacher’s eyes were locked onto her and her friends to make sure they weren’t cheating.

 

She swears that Hwang Eunbi was sent to be the bane of her existence.

 

Hwang Eunbi, who preferred being called Sinb, was a freshman attending the same school she’s in. This wasn’t the first time the underclassman ruined her day in more ways than one. In fact, she could tell that she derives pleasure from it, by making sure that things will never go the way she wanted them to.

 

This was just one of those situations. She forgot to study for their exam the previous day and so her friends had devised a ‘cheat plan’ that they were almost sure was fool proof, that is, until Hwang Eunbi arrived and told the teacher about it, right in front of the class even, dashing their plan in one fell swoop.

 

Feeling the intense glare of the teacher, she held back a sigh as she resigned to her fate, redirecting her attention back to the exam sheet right in front of her.

 

It would be better putting some answers in here than to get a zero anyway she thought as she started answering.

 

She seriously hates Hwang Eunbi with her entire being.

 

 

“See, you could actually do it even without cheating.”

 

Yerin’s brows automatically furrowed at the sound of a familiar voice just beside her the moment she exited the classroom when the bell rang. They had received their exam results from the previous day and she surprisingly managed to pass it, albeit by a hair’s breath, but it was a passing mark nevertheless.

 

Her friends were not as fortunate though.

 

“I could’ve scored higher if you hadn’t meddled.”

 

She snapped her head to the side, finding Hwang Eunbi standing just beside the classroom door, a smug look on her face listening to her reply. The expression just seemed to irk her further.

 

“You’d do better without a few devils by your side.” Sinb remarked, her eyes briefly moving to the classroom before refocusing on her.

 

Yerin knew she was referring to her friends and frowned, “Don’t call them that.”

 

“I call it what I see it.” she shrugged, beginning to walk away, “Don’t cheat next time.”

 

“How about you leave me alone for ife?”

 

Sinb turned to face her, flashing her a grin as she stuck her tongue out at her playfully. It was a clear indication that there was no way she was going to do what Yerin wants.

 

“Too bad.” Sinb replied before turning her heel and leaving.

 

Yerin just huffed in frustration, trying to understand what the woman’s deal with her was.

 

Sinb’s arrival in her life was abrupt, suddenly moving in from another city and attending their school as a transfer student. Since then she would always stumble upon the woman regardless of the place and time. She was almost inclined to believe that Sinb was stalking her if not for the fact that it was Yerin meeting her accidentally so it looks like it was her stalking Sinb and not the other way around.

 

However, she’s sure of one thing whenever their paths crossed: Hwang Eunbi was definitely the human version of a black cat bearing bad omen in Yerin’s life. The moment the two would meet, trouble was bound to follow and what she hates about it is that she always gets the short end of the stick.

 

It annoys her more that Sinb seems to enjoy her suffering.

 

There was one instance when she and her friends were out skipping classes and got caught by Sinb while they were out. Not even a second later, they were being chased by a teacher back to school and were put in detention afterwards.

 

She didn’t even understand that time why he chased them and not Sinb. She was cutting classes too!

 

It wasn’t restricted to school. Even during their days off Sinb continued being the bad luck that she is. The previous weekend she and her friends were supposed to catch a movie only to find it sold out and so they went to sing karaoke instead, but found the place closed for renovation.

 

All of that occurred after she happened to bump into Sinb in the train. She remembers the underclassman asking her where she was going but failed to respond as it was already her stop. She didn’t want to answer her anyway. When she went home after a rather uneventful outing with her friends that just consisted of them hanging out at a nearby café, she was more than convinced that Sinb had something to do with it.

 

The worst thing was that even if she tried avoiding the woman, she couldn’t as she would always find herself bumping into her one way or another whether she liked it or not.

 

And she didn’t like it. Not. One. Bit.

 

 

Yerin was grumbling in anger as she headed to her class after receiving a warning from the teacher for being late. For that particular morning, she had overslept and was sprinting to school. She knew that if she ran fast enough, she’d make it just in time before the bell rang but once more, Sinb had to come along and ruin that.

 

Sinb didn’t particularly do anything to delay her for long. Rather, all she did was sprint past her, catching her by surprise when she bumped into her. It looked like she was running late too as all she did was yell out an apology without looking back. A minute of Yerin just standing in place passed before she began picking up the pace again, only to get caught late by the teacher causing her to be sent to detention after classes.

 

Yerin grumbled again. It was all Hwang Eunbi’s fault.

 

Given she was also at fault for sleeping in anyway. She had spent the night talking with her friends before she realized it was already late and she only had a few hours for sleep before she had to start preparing for school.

 

Still, it was only a minute! If only Sinb didn’t come along then maybe she would have made it in time.

 

Finally arriving in class, she noticed that the teacher was nowhere to be found and her classmates were huddled around, having a discussion amongst themselves, but Yerin knew better and assumed they were just gossiping.

 

Curious, she approached and asked a classmate what was going on.

 

“There’s been an accident in front of the school just a few minutes ago. Didn’t you see?”

 

Yerin blinked, remembering how she had passed by a group of people from earlier, but she was too much in a hurry to even pay attention.

 

“When did it happen?”

 

“I’m not sure…”

 

“It was around a minute before the bell rang.”

 

“A minute…?” Yerin stares.

 

Her classmate nods, “I remember because there were a lot of people yelling that time, we could hear them from here.”

 

She pauses, thinking back on what her classmate just said. A minute before the bell rang was her exact estimate on when she would have arrived at the school if Hwang Eunbi hadn’t bumped into her. If she wasn’t delayed for a minute, could she have gotten into an accident?

 

Wait a second, hadn’t Eunbi been running late that time too?

 

“Do you know who got hurt?”

 

“I heard it was an underclassman, but I’m not sure.”

 

Yerin feels herself become nervous all of a sudden. It couldn’t be her right? But what if…?

 

Her silent mulling was interrupted by the teacher’s arrival causing the group of students to disperse, heading to their respective seats with Yerin doing the same.

 

The conversation may have ended, but she couldn’t focus as the prospect of Hwang Eunbi in that accident kept on running in her mind. When break time came, Yerin declined her friends’ invitation and headed straight to the freshman classrooms. Yerin doesn’t even understand what she was doing, after all she has always hated Sinb for everything she’s done to her.

 

But then again, she would never wish harm on anyone, even if she is the person she hates the most.

 

What were the chances it would be Hwang Eunbi anyway?

 

“Jung Yerin-sunbaenim?”

 

Yerin turned upon hearing someone mention her name and saw the actual person she’s been thinking of for the past hours, standing a distance from her and looking alright, however Yerin noticed something out of place and her gaze drifted to Sinb’s hand currently wrapped in bandages.

 

“What happened to you?”

 

“Oh, this?” she raised her bandaged hand, “I got careless, I guess.”

 

“How?”

 

Sinb blinked, “Just some stuff happening here and there.”

 

Yerin narrowed her eyes at the obvious attempt at avoiding the question.

 

“Were you the one who got into an accident earlier?”

 

Sinb grimaced, scratching the back of her neck. She grumbled, “Has it spread that far…?”

 

“So it was you?”

 

“They exaggerate some stuff.” Sinb replied, “They make it sound like it was life-threatening. A car just sped by but I managed to avoid it, but I sprained my hand in the process. No one died, sheesh.”

 

Yerin sighs, feeling relieved that it wasn’t as serious as everyone made it to be.

 

“What are you doing here anyway sunbae?”

 

“That’s none of your business.”

 

“…Were you perhaps worried for me?”

 

Yerin scoffed, “Don’t think so highly of yourself. I just came here to see if it wasn’t you that got hurt."

 

“So you were worried.” Sinb began to say, her expression beaming a little.

 

Yerin hissed in annoyance. She was about to open to retort but thought against it and just turned her heel before Sinb could say anything else and practically brisk walked away from the underclassman. She let out a sigh when she was finally a distance away and felt a frown form on her face.

 

Sinb was someone she hates, that was a fact, but why did she just walk off like that instead of denying Sinb’s assumption? Perhaps she was really worried after all and her hatred for the woman just masked it?

 

She shook her head, realizing she was not getting any answers. The notion seemed ridiculous anyway.

 

 

Her opinion of Sinb somehow changed after that event and the more she thought about it, the more she began to hold a different opinion of the woman.

 

Though, undeniably her experience with Sinb hasn’t been that good, however there would be some instances when Sinb would show her concern in an unsuspicious manner.

 

There was one time when a storm was brewing and unfortunately, Yerin was sitting near the window when lightning struck almost too close to the classroom for anyone’s comfort. Her reaction to it got so bad that she had to be sent to the nurse’s office to recuperate from the shock. After classes, Sinb had dropped by saying she just happened to hear what happened to her and brought her bag that she left in the classroom. Yerin was too shaken to question what she was doing in the senior classrooms and just accepted the gesture with a soft thanks.

 

Yerin thought that Sinb would leave then, but she suddenly said she felt her head hurting and stayed with her until Yerin had recovered enough for her to go home, with Sinb going along with her.

 

To be honest, Yerin found it hard to believe that such a thing really occurred and had doubts that it happened. Perhaps she fell asleep and dreamt it all up but when her friends told her that Sinb had kept them from visiting her after classes, Yerin realizes it was real.

 

Sinb was turning out to be quite an enigma.

 

However, it failed to change her initial opinion of the underclassman and she doubts something like that could change it completely.

 

To Yerin, she is still the bane of her existence. The black cat in her life.

 

 

“Jung Yerin-sunbaenim!”

 

Said person stopped in her tracks upon hearing the familiar voice and name coming from a distance. She can just ignore it completely, pretend she just heard things and walk away, but it was as if her body had a mind of its own. Before she realized, she was already turning to face the black cat.

 

Oh, how she regrets it when she came face to face with Sinb’s smug grin. She can already feel it in her bones that the person was out on her life mission to ruin her day again. She doesn’t even understand what Sinb was doing near the gym. Last she checked, they didn’t have the same PE class schedules.

 

“What do you want this time Hwang Eunbi?” Yerin asked with an accompanying glare but the underclassman was unfazed in the least.

 

“Not even a good morning?”

 

“A pleasant morning to you, Sinb. Now what do you want?”

 

Sinb grinned, “Nothing. I just felt like calling you.”

 

Yerin stares in disbelief as Sinb walked past, humming a happy tune with a skip in her step which only fueled her frustration further.

 

Swiveling in place so she could face Sinb and give her a verbal lashing that was long overdue, she was abruptly cut off by the sound of something shattering and a loud scream not far from where they stood. Momentarily distracted, Yerin approached the source to get a closer look and saw a flower pot shattered on the ground along with a student currently being helped up by some of the other students.

 

“I’m so sorry!” a voice yelled from above them and when they looked up, they saw a figure of someone leaning over the railing and looking down at them.

 

Yerin immediately understood what happened just from that and remarked how lucky the woman was for having avoided the fallen object by a hair’s breath.

 

If it was her, she doubts she would have avoided it. In fact, if not for Sinb–

 

She paused in her thoughts, her eyes narrowing slightly.

 

If it wasn’t for Sinb, she might have been the unlucky victim.

 

But then that’s just a coincidence. She’ll just thank her lucky stars that she was saved from a near tragedy for today. Still, Sinb did stop her for no reason…

 

“Tsk.” her gaze shifted to Sinb who approached and was looking at the scene in disapproval, “This is why people should be more careful.”

 

She shook her head before going her way once more, Yerin watching after her with a thoughtful look.

 

She scoffs at her thoughts. No way. It was just a coincidence.

 

 

The incident was quickly forgotten as the following days went by uneventfully. Apparently, Sinb decided to give her some breathing room and hasn’t shown herself for nearly a week. Though Yerin couldn’t deny that the sudden absence made her curious, it also brought her relief as she felt freedom for the first time in a while.

 

Humming to herself as she proceeded to her next class, she stopped in her tracks upon seeing her two friends waving to her in the hallway, eagerly beckoning her over. Just from the look on their faces she could already tell that they were up to no good again, not that they acted any different since they always enjoyed doing something that always got them, and her, in trouble.

 

“You’re just in time.” one of them says when she approached.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“We caught sight of the girl who embarrassed you the other day so we’re just about to get some payback for what she did.”

 

“I already said it’s fine…” Yerin told the two, looking troubled and sounding uncertain, “No one got hurt so–”

 

“What are you talking about? It’s only normal to get back at the people who hurt you. Now come on, she’s just about to get the embarrassment of her life.”

 

Yerin wanted to object but they didn’t give her the opportunity to as they explained what they did, the frown on her face deepening as they went into detail. True, the woman did something to her that she couldn’t easily forget, but what her friends thought of as revenge was far worse than what she had gone through. She’s okay with the small jokes, even a few harmless verbal insults, but too much is too much and even she knew that.

 

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” she began to talk them out of proceeding with their plan but a scream kept her from saying more, alarming her briefly because of how loud it was. Peeking into the classroom, she saw the subject of the prank currently on the floor and covered in dirt currently being laughed at by her two friends and the people inside. Yerin continued to watch with horror as the woman coughed, only sitting on the floor looking ashamed at her current state. Her friends had somehow made a gift that ejected dirt when it was opened and that was what exactly happened to the unwilling victim.

 

The whole scenario made her feel uneasy. Filled with guilt, she did the only thing she could think of and entered the room to the surprise of her two friends. She ignored her surroundings and went straight for the woman and hastily helped her clean up the mess on her uniform earning a surprised look from the woman.

 

“You’re…” she coughed when she accidentally inhaled some dust when she spoke.

 

Yerin took out a handkerchief from her pocket and helped clean her face with it, “I-I have a spare uniform in my locker. We should get you cleaned up first. Can you stand?”

 

The woman looked on in disbelief and wasn’t able to reply immediately until she came to her senses and finally nodded, letting Yerin help her out and accompany her out of the room and to the nearest restroom.

 

“I don’t understand…”

 

“What?”

 

“Why you’re helping me. I was rude to you back then.” she informs her, staring at her in wonder.

 

“You were, but I don’t think anyone deserves this.” Yerin replied, ignoring the looks they were getting as well as her two friends calling for her.

 

“I saw your friends, you know.” she said, causing her to freeze, “I’m almost sure they did it.”

 

Yerin sighed, knowing that she couldn’t deny the accusation when it was so obvious and they’ve been caught in the act.

 

“I’m sorry for what they did.” she began to say, "But please believe me when I say didn’t know anything about this. If I did I would have stopped them.”

 

The woman sighed, “Well, you were the first to help me out so I guess I’ll believe you.” she answered, thanking her silently when they finally reached the restrooms.

 

“I’ll just go and grab my spare uniform.” Yerin told her.

 

When Yerin returned, she found the woman leaning over the sink and washing her hair of the dirt that was dumped on her. Yerin was relieved she had brought a towel for her to use and so she approached, alerting the woman of her presence.

 

“Right, I’ll just hang the clothes here. Sooyoung-ssi right? Here’s a towel too and you can use the handkerchief to remove any of the dirt that stuck on you.”

 

The woman receives them, thanking her for the clothes and proceeds to change in one of the stalls.

 

Yerin leans against the restroom sink, thankful for the place being empty since it was already the period before lunchtime She knew she might end up in detention due to skipping class, but she figured it was better than having her conscience badgering at her relentlessly until she died.

 

“Hey, I was wondering.” Sooyoung suddenly spoke, Yerin perking up upon hearing her voice, "Why do you have a spare uniform with you?”

 

“Oh, that’s–” Yerin paused in thought before continuing in a somewhat wondering tone, “… Because of Sinb.”

 

A week before, Sinb had spilled some juice on her clothes. Until now she doesn’t know if it was an accident or intentional. All she can remember was Sinb’s not so sincere apology and a warning of “Bring some spare clothes next time, just in case.” accompanied by a teasing grin that made Yerin almost sure that she was going to do it again. Ever since then, she’s kept some spare clothing in her locker.

 

Who knew it would come in handy today?

 

“What was that?”

 

Sooyoung’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts, “Oh, I brought it just in case because I got some juice spilled on me the other day.”

 

“Huh, I should consider myself somehow lucky then.” the door to the stall opened and Sooyoung stepped out. Yerin can’t help but notice how much her uniform fit Sooyoung perfectly as if it was tailor-made for her.

 

“This wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for me in the first place. Sorry about that.” Yerin bowed apologetically.

 

“It’s fine, it was my fault too from before. I guess karma is a .” she replied sheepishly, reliving their first encounter, “I found out that it wasn’t you who broke my phone back then and I lashed out at you unnecessarily just because you were nearby.”

 

Yerin waved her off, “It’s fine, I understand though I’m still sorry for this.”

 

Sooyoung chuckled, “I guess we just started off on the wrong foot, but you’re not so bad after all.”

 

“Why? Do I seem like a bad person?”

 

“Not really, but those friends of yours are.” she frowned, “I think you need better friends.”

 

Yerin hummed, “Huh. You’re not the first person to tell me that.”

 

“Then get to it.” Sooyoung remarked, “Bad company begets bad reputation. It’s not too late.”

 

“Would you like to volunteer then?” Yerin offers, mostly in jest, but she could tell that Sooyoung seemed to be a good person to hang out with.

 

“Be your friend?” Sooyoung questions to which she nodded.

 

“Mhm.”

 

“Well, sure why not.” Sooyoung shrugged with a grin, “We should hang out sometime.”

 

“Sooyoung!” a voice suddenly called out, causing both of them to turn towards the doorway where an unfamiliar woman stood, but Sooyoung seemed to know her with the way she waved her hand at the newcomer.

 

“I heard what happened. Are you okay?” the woman practically stomped into the restroom and grabbed the woman’s shoulders in worry, looking at Sooyoung all over.

 

“I’m okay. Yerin-ssi here helped me out.” she gestured to the other presence, Yerin waving when her gaze landed on her.

 

“But wasn’t it her–”

 

“Yerin-ssi didn’t know anything about it so she helped me out as a way to apologize.” she explained, “And besides, it was my fault back then too.”

 

“That’s not an excuse to do what they did to you.” Hayoung huffed, her arms folding across her chest contemplatively. She could tell she was still at a crossroads whether to forgive Yerin or not.

 

“W-well, if it helps Hayoung-ssi, I’ll try to distance myself from the two who did this to Sooyoung-ssi from now on.” she promised.

 

Hayoung gazed at her for a bit longer before sighing, “Take it from me Yerin-ssi, you really should stay away from those friends of yours. Joy and I have seen how much trouble those two get themselves into.” Hayoung answered.

 

Yerin felt bad at that, unable to defend her friends’ actions as what she said was the truth and realizes that she could have done better than be friends with such people, “If I knew then I should’ve done this a long time ago.” she says, “Someone did tell me I was better off with two less devils by my side.”

 

“You should listen to that person more.” Sooyoung advices, “Anyway Hayoung-ah, I invited her to hang out with us next time, is that fine with you?”

 

Hayoung thought about it for a moment with Yerin nervously awaiting her verdict until she finally flashed her an okay sign, “I don’t mind, but first of all we should go back to class before we can talk about where to hang out. We still have some time before next period starts.”

 

The three then shuffled out of the restrooms, about to head to their respective classes but before they can take another step further, a teacher managed to catch the three of them and started marching to where they stood.

 

The three shared nervous looks, looking sheepishly at one another.

 

“Looks like we know where we’re hanging out first.” Yerin remarked earning laughs from her two companions.

 

As Yerin had expected, she, Hayoung and Sooyoung, who liked being called Joy, found themselves in detention until the end of classes for that day. But contrary to what she thought, she found detention to be enjoyable unlike before as she spent it getting to know her two new friends better.

 

Time seemed to pass by quickly and before they knew it, the bell signaling the end of classes sounded and they were finally set free, though they didn’t mind staying longer.

 

To her surprise, she found someone waiting for her outside and it was someone she didn’t expect to see especially since she hasn’t shown up in a while.

 

“Wow, you look like you had fun while in detention.” she remarked with a laugh.

 

“Sinb…” Yerin could only manage to croak out, shock evident in her features.

 

Sinb blinked, “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost. Anyway, I got your things here with me–”

 

“Where have you been?” Yerin asked, approaching her angrily, “I haven’t seen you in a week!”

 

Sinb seemed genuinely surprised by the outburst as she tried to formulate an answer to the sudden question. “I’ve been around, I guess?”

 

“Yeah right, your classmates told me they haven’t seen you either.”

 

Sinb paused, “…You were looking for me?”

 

"Of course I was, you just – " Yerin stopped in her words, seemingly realizing what she was saying, “Anyway, it looks like you’re okay. Give me that.”

 

She snatched her things from Sinb’s hands and briskly walked off, more for her sake to escape the embarassment she was experiencing.

 

“See you tomorrow Jung Yerin-sunbaenim!” she heard Sinb yell after her to which she refused to reply to. Instead, she just walked faster, eager to head home and hide herself under the covers of her bed.

 

Amidst her brisk walking, she sensed two presences approaching and keeping up with her pace.

 

“Girlfriend?” Joy asked without hesitation, further igniting the flushed look on her face.

 

“Not in a million years.” she spoke through gritted teeth, trying her best to stay composed but failing.

 

Weirdly enough, she didn’t find herself getting angry at her new friend’s mistaken assumption.

---

 

this was supposed to be the boydguard au but apparently my head had a different bodyguard in mind XD