“Hey, loser. Get out of the way!” Yoojung felt herself being shoved against a wall. Despite the harsh feeling of her back against the wall, she didn’t flinch. She looked up at the girl’s who were surrounding her spitting verbal abuse at her. She didn’t even bat an eye lid though, in fact she had zoned out so much that she didn’t even know what they were saying. She could see other students shooting glances at the scene, some even crowding around to watch. It didn’t make sense to her though, she and her friends had endured this type of bullying for years and yet it seemed that each time it happened more and more students would gather around.

Yoojung did have a few theories as to why the students would gather around each time. It wasn’t necessarily to watch the bullying, as besides the shoving and occasional shoulder bumps, it wasn’t violent. Instead a theory Yoojung and her friends had figured out was that perhaps the fact that the people who were bullying them were known to be the most popular girls in school.

There were three of them. The leader being Kim Doyeon. Doyeon was undoubtedly the most wanted girl in school and she knew it. She knew she could make or break another students day, just by giving them some sort of attention. She knew she could brighten up a girls day by complimenting her make up or outfit or break their day by ignoring her or calling them some sort of name. Guys on the other hand, that was different. She tended to avoid guys unless she was bored then she’d show them some sort of attention for a couple of days before she got bored and then she’d drop them. Despite that being the case people still tried their luck with her.

Next up, there was Zhou Jieqiong. Jieqiong was pretty, in fact she was arguably the prettiest girl in the school. She was known for being a heartbreaker, as she’d turn down both guys and girls regularly either that or she’d give them the attention they desired for a couple of days and then leave them and act as if nothing had ever happened.

Finally there was Kang Mina. Mina was a mixture of both Doyeon and Jieqiong. She didn’t necessarily fit in with them but because they’d all been friends for so long, they felt it wouldn’t make sense to just drop her. Mina knew she was lucky to have known the other girls before school had started as she knew she definitely would have been on their target list. Of course, the other students weren’t aware of this, they knew that Mina looked a little out of place with the other two and would go a little too far with her words when the group would pick on Yoojung and her friends, but they just thought that that was just her.

~~~

Much like their bullies, Yoojung had two close friends. However, unlike Doyeon and her friends, none of them was more popular than the other. Of course, they had their separate personality traits that they were known for but they weren’t that popular for any specific reason besides the bullying.

In the trio there was Choi Yoojung. Yoojung was mostly known for being a specific target for Doyeon. Initially people had found Yoojung cute, some people would even call her adorable, due to her small height. That was until Doyeon had decided to make her a target. That’s when people her. Yoojung was also known for her crying. As she would cry a lot or rather she used to. She’d cry over Doyeon’s words, she’d cry over the situations that Doyeon and her friends would put her in. Now however, she’d only cry when she was alone or at home.

Kim Sohye was the closest to Yoojung’s age in the trio. Sohye was extremely shy and awkward. She knew that the reason people would bully her was because she was clumsy, her dance skills were lacking, same with her vocals. However, in the past year, her skills had improved a lot. In fact, it only took her 3 weeks until teachers started to take notice of her astounding progress. The other students didn’t care so much. They wanted a reason to pick on her, so they’d use her past lack of skills and awkwardness against her.

Finally, they had Lim Nayoung. Nayoung was the oldest out of the trio. She was known for looking like a “stone statue” as she hardly ever smiled. Well, that was how she came across to the other students anyway. When she was alone with Yoojung and Sohye though, that was a different story, she would laugh and smile nonstop. As she was the oldest out of the three she would put a lot of pressure on herself to look after the others, even when things got tough for her, she’d put on a brave face. Unknown to her, Yoojung and Sohye knew this and would do whatever they could to help.

~~~

“It happened again?” Nayoung questioned her friend as they sat down at their usual table in the far left corner of the cafeteria.

Yoojung just nodded and sighed. “What about you guys? Has anything happened to you?”

It was lunch time and Yoojung and her friends were sitting at their usual table in the far corner of the cafeteria. They had tried many other spots but all of those had exposed them to more bullying, however, they noticed that when they were in the corner hardly anyone bothered them. Instead they could be their nerdy selves and read their books and joke around.

“Nothing’s happened to me,” Nayoung assured her friend before turning to Sohye. “How about you?”

“No, nothing.” Sohye answered, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

“Good,” Yoojung smiled. It was a fake smile though. All three of the girls knew it.

Each of the girls would rather endure the bullying themselves than allow the others to go through it. Unfortunately, they couldn’t pick and choose which one of them will be the victim nor could they predict Doyeon and her friends.

“They seem to be picking on you a lot though, Yoojung,” Nayoung commented. Tilting her head to the side she thought for a few moments. “In fact, I don’t think me nor Sohye have had anything thrown at us this week… Unless we were with you or alone in a class with one of them.”

“You have a point there, Nayoung,” Sohye frowned.

“I’m sorry,” Yoojung sighed. “Do you think if I leave you guys alone, they’ll leave you alone?”

“We don’t know and we don’t care,” Sohye and Nayoung said in sync. The girls were so used to saying and hearing those words it was natural instinct to use them.

“We would rather have you with us and listen to what those three snobs have to say than watch you sit alone and be miserable,” Nayoung told the smaller girl. Nayoung noticed her friends eyes had widened but she just thought that that was because she’d called Doyeon and her friends snobs.

She was wrong.

“Snobs?” The girl’s heard Jieqiong’s voice. “The stone can talk,” she smirks.

“,” Nayoung muttered to herself as she turned around and was greeted by the sight of Doyeon, Mina and Jieqiong hovering over her.

“Do you all think we’re snobs?” Doyeon asked, for the first time in a while, none of the three girls seated felt threatened by her. Instead they all frowned at her and looked at one another, each trying to think of a way to exit this situation. “Answer me!” Doyeon raised her voice, slamming her fist on the table.

“Well… I---” Sohye gulped. “Please calm down.”

“Calm down?” Jieqiong laughed bitterly. “We were calm but then your friend decided to call us snobs.”

“You guys shoved me into a wall!” Yoojung decided to speak up. This was an unusual situation. Usually Doyeon and her friends would just bully the trio in the corridor or halls or somewhere where they’d gain a lot of attention and they wouldn’t give them a chance to argue back. This time they came over to their table and are allowing them to speak, the small girl narrowed her eyes. “Why are you here?”

“We’re here because we wanted to apologize to you, Yoojung.” Doyeon smiled. “You see, we felt so bad,” her voice was becoming more and more exaggerated with each word. “We wanted to say sorry.”

“Apology accepted, leave.” Yoojung answered blankly as she exchanged a quick glance with Sohye and Nayoung. All three of them knew that the girls were up to something.

“You little ,” Doyeon glared at Yoojung. As she felt her blood boil. How dare that small girl speak to her like that? “I deserve respect. We all do, myself, Jieqiong and Mina. We run this God damn school—”

“—Actually, Doyeon. I believe I ‘run this God damn school’ as you put it,” the girls all looked up and were met with the school principle. “How strange this is that you’re all together. I’ve been told by your teachers that the six of you are divided.”

“I… Sir, I’m sorry,” Doyeon gulped.

This caused all five of the other girls to be shocked. Usually Doyeon was strong, argumentative and not afraid of anyone but now she was quiet and weak like a mouse.

“I don’t want to hear it. If you should apologize to anyone, it’s Yoojung.” The male said in a monotone voice. “Anyway, I need all six of you to come to my office now. As I’ve witnessed some bullying going on and you should all know that we do not tolerate that type of behaviour in this school.” He continued.

“But sir, it’s not us!” Jieqiong huffed.

“I don’t care who it is. I just know that you six are involved. Now come to my office.” He raised his voice a little. “Come on girls, let’s go.”

With that he turned and walked away. Yoojung hesitantly looked at her friends and Doyeon and her friends shared a look with each other before they turned to the three other girls.

“If we’re in trouble because of you es, you’re all dead,” Doyeon growled. Taking a deep breath, she flashed a smile at her friends and continued. “Now let’s go see, what he wants.”

“What’s going on?” Sohye asked nervously.

“I don’t know,” Yoojung replied. “I don’t know what’s happening. I just hope that this will get sorted.”

The other two girls nodded in agreement before turning and following the steps of the principle and Doyeon and her friends.

None of them knowing what to expect.

All of them hoping that they’d be saved.