Karina’s POV

The day at school goes on longer as I’m not enjoying it. I can hear people talking about me, they really are hypocrites. It’s like the pot calling the kettle black. After I stormed away from the vice president and her gang. I went to the girl’s bathroom. I went inside a stall and let the tears in my eyes appear. I had been holding back since the teacher scolded me. My mind began to race with all the hate I got. Their voices overlapping each other in my head.

‘She’s got some guts dating…’ one voice echoes.

I sniffed and tried to cry quietly.

‘She’s heartless!’ a voice shouts in my head.

‘She won’t even comfort him.’ I start to feel worse.

There’s only so my criticism one girl can take. This situation doesn’t feel fair since my ex and I have been the only ones caught. My tears continue to stream down my face, they’re hot and blur my vision.

I hear the door to the bathroom open and close. I try my best to keep quiet, not to let on I’m the one in here crying. I don’t want to be called weak either. It’s a group of footsteps I hear enter the room. They all begin to chat away as I sit there in the stall wiping my face.

“The vice president is so kind.” a girl sighs.

My jaw dropped after hearing that. I came here to avoid that person for now. But even her name haunts me.

“Winter gave me a gift for working hard on my tests.” I could hear her bouncing up in joy.

‘Yeah, well let’s hope she doesn’t find out about your boyfriend.’ I think to myself. ‘Otherwise she will strike you down. Much like what happened to me.’

“She’s so pretty too.”

I had enough listening to them. I flushed the tissues I used to wipe away my tears. I swung open the door, seeing the look on their faces when they saw me was priceless. They fell silent and pretended to fix each other’s uniforms. I wash my hands, to act as though I had just been to the bathroom, rather than crying my eyes out. I could feel them giving me sideway glances. 

“What?” I said shortly.

They finally avoided eye contact with me. I left the girl’s bathroom, thinking I should go see Kim.

‘Oh, wait.’ I realised that probably isn’t a good idea.

Kim took the whole thing harder than me after all. An image of him running away crying pops into my mind. I shook off that image to think. I know I’m not the friendliest girl here, but I don’t think I deserve this much hate. My deep thoughts were cut short when I heard the bell ring. Lunch is over, it’s time for me to go back to class.

I’m dragging myself to class with every step I take. I’m trying to find something to look forward to. That’s when I see all the students lined up outside of the room as usual. At the end of the line of students is Winter’s friend: Ningning. I never really focused on her. Meaning I never registered she was in my class. That is until today’s incident.

She is holding her books to her chest, she hasn’t noticed that I’m now behind her. I want to make her friend pay for the humiliation she put me through. Except I need to be careful. I can’t just straight up bully Winter. She is well loved. She even makes gifts for the students from what I heard before.

Ninging turns around and her eyes land on me. She seems just as startled as I am now. I see some other students behind me. I look between them and Ningning. I prefer not to stand next to her, which is why turned to line up behind the guys who arrived later. Ningning just shrugged it off.

I crossed my arms over my chest while waiting for the teacher to arrive. When he finally arrived, we all entered class to take our seats. 

“Okay, class!” The teacher raises his voice. “I would like to see your homework, please hand it in. After that you can use this time to catch up on your other subjects.”

I finished my homework a week prior to the due date. I got up from my seat and managed to be the first to hand it in. The teacher didn’t seem too fazed, I usually complete tasks ahead of time. He gave me a nod then greeted the next student with a smile.

All the students one by one handed in their homework. Well, not everyone. Ningning arrived at the teacher’s desk empty handed. I raised a brow in response. This isn’t the first time she has done this.

“Excuse me, Sir.” Ningning got the teacher’s attention. “I’m sorry, but I forgot to bring it again.” she admitted with a small voice.

She bowed her head to avoid eye contact. But she eventually looked up with a positive smile and said: “But I will bring it in as soon as I can!”

She seemed optimistic, but the teacher, including the rest of the class, was beginning to lose faith in her. This isn’t the first time this happened after all.

I can hear some girls giggling, they’re not saying the nicest of things. I should be relieved the attention is off me for once, but I don’t like what they’re saying. It’s like they enjoy talking behind other's backs. I clenched my jaw.

“She always says that.” A girl whispered to her friend.

“I bet she didn’t even do it.” Her friend replied while giving Ningning a look of disgust.

‘Stop’ a little voice says inside my mind. 

“I sometimes find it hard to believe that she is friends with the vice president.” This time it’s a guy judging her.

‘Stop it.’ the voice in my mind gets louder.

I can’t help but take a look at her trying to force a smile and laugh it off. The murmurs get louder and louder. I can feel her embarrassment. Mainly because I was in her position. The teacher wasn’t helping her at all, he just sat there looking at the homework given to him. Scribbling with a red pen.

‘This isn’t okay.’ I repeat inside my head.

“She’s so dumb, did you see her when she-” a student’s voice gets cut off by a loud:

“Shut up!” 

I finally snapped and lost my composure. I was shocked at the sudden volume in my voice. I’m sitting in my chair breathing heavily. I sit there feeling better after letting go of my anger from today’s events. I look around the room, scanning everyone’s expressions. They look shocked, some look startled and others look a bit scared. My breathing returns to normal when I look where Ningning was. She blinked slowly, she didn't look scared or startled. Just a bit confused.

The teacher broke the silence and told me to go to detention as soon as the final bell rings. But until then, I was to not speak another word. I can’t really describe how scary he looked, but I composed myself to follow his orders.

After what felt like a long deafening period of silence, the bell finally rang. I headed to detention. I was on my way there when Ningning called out to me.

“Hey, Karina!” She jogged up to me with a bright smile.

“What-” Before I could think of a response, she said:

“Thank you.” Ningning’s smile grew on her face, reaching up to her eyes.

I wore a facial expression that showed I wasn’t impressed and started to walk away. She then shouted: “Thank you for standing up for me!”

I froze in place, I quickly turned around and gave her glare. Ningning just laughed and waved goodbye.

“Bye bye, Karina!” She skipped down the halls with extra enthusiasm.

“Weirdo.” I commented. 

I continued marching to the room where detention is held. I went to knock on the door when I heard some people’s voices through the door. I leaned my ear against the door, wondering what’s going on, rather than going in there with a room full of delinquents.

It’s all muffled, but eventually I can hear a chair screech against the floor and what seems to be an argument. All I hear in the end is a loud: Go wait outside.

I hear footsteps approaching. I quickly moved away from the door and saw a senior open it. It’s Kai. He seems angry, I don’t recall seeing him smile at all during school. We exchanged glances as we walked past each other.

Students continue to talk about things I have no interest in this room. As I look up ahead at the front, Winter comes into my line of sight. She spots me, eventually after hesitating she approaches me. I forgot she looks after the troublemakers. I move my eyes away from looking at her.

“Karina…” Her voice is gentle.

When I don’t respond, she continues.

“I’m sorry.” Her eyes look full of remorse. “Please take a seat.”

Winter looked as though there was a lot more she wanted to say. Except this isn’t the time or the place. Nor is it something I want to deal with. She bows slightly before returning back to her place in the front.

Sometimes there would be students looking to stir up trouble before the 1 hour was up. One example was when a guy was poking fun at another guy. They were ignoring Winter’s warnings.

“You want a go?!” He bolts out of his seat looking pissed off.

“Bring it Brittany!” The taller guy taunts him.

“Be quiet!” She raised her voice enough for them to hear her this time. “There are only 5 minutes left of detention. Please don’t make me have to report what happened to your parents.”

They both looked at their opponent before reluctantly sitting down again. I don’t like detention. It’s full of people who don’t have any respect for others. At least that’s what I have witnessed here for the first time in this hell. I don’t know if I can handle it for another 6 days. But seeing the vice president in action with these people makes me wonder how I got the chance to catch her off guard. Winter can be firm when the need arises. Although it’s funny seeing her struggle to remain polite and passive.

‘This isn’t going to be easy.’ I think to myself.