It was time to go back to school and Sowon was smiling to herself thinking about how today she would see Eunha again while finishing her breakfast.

“What are you smiling about?” asked Umji, still mad. It was true that the party ended up in a disaster. Luckily Sowon had been able to clean and fix almost everything in the house before their dad came back.

But for the sofa it was another story. They still had to explain what happened and without any surprises Umji got punished the most, she got grounded for one month and had to find a job to pay for the sofa.

Sowon got punished too because she was part of the party and left her little sister without any supervision, so she would have to do some chores for 2 weeks.

Their dad arrived in the kitchen and sat at the table to take his breakfast with them. 

Umji was still pouting, she would usually get her dad to soften with her cute face but this time he was determined to show her that in life you can’t escape all your problems with money and this time she will need to pay for her mistakes.

“Umji, remember to get back home as soon as school ends.” he reminded her as she stood up and grabbed her bag.

Umji nodded, then looked at Sowon. “Why isn’t Sowon grounded too?” she asked and his dad laughed.

“Sowon never goes out, it wouldn’t change anything to ground her. She only spends time at school and playing basketball, the rest of the time she’s already in her room and not going out.” he explained and Sowon looked at him.

“I do go out, you know.” she said offended and he smiled.

“Well this isn't the problem. Umji you are grounded and that’s all.” he said more firmly.

“That’s not fair.” whispered Umji as she walked away.

“Wait!” called Sowon but her dad pointed to the table. Sowon sighed but cleaned the table, quickly filling the dishwasher before taking her stuff and running out to catch up with her little sister.

“Umji don’t be mad at me.” said Sowon as she found Umji waiting at the bus stop.

Umji didn’t look up. “That’s not fair okay…” she said mad, “And why did he need to take away our cars, I hate taking the bus…” said Umji and Sowon smiled.

“That’s called being punished.” she said. “We did that party and messed up, so I guess we deserve it, be patient, it will soon be over.” said Sowon wanting to reassure her sister.

“Soon?” she asked standing up. “You only got punished for 2 weeks while I’m grounded for a month! and I will be selling ice creams in that awful shop all my life to pay back for that stupid sofa…” complained Umji.

“Don’t be so dramatic.” said Sowon, “You only work there on weekends and I’m sure in some months you will have enough money.” she said to her little sister.

“But I need to go out… there’s this party next week and everyone will be there, I can’t miss it.” she said seriously.

“There will be other parties Umji…” said Sowon calmly but Umji shook her head.

“You don’t understand, a weirdo like you can’t understand how important it is for me to go there!” said Umji, raising her voice and walking away.

Sowon looked around. “Where are you going?” she called her sister, “The bus will be here soon.”

“I don’t care.” said Umji as a car stopped, Sowon recognized SinB’s car, Umji got in it and left.

Sowon shook her head and sighed, the bus arrived and she took it.

She sat down and a creepy guy sat in front of her, he kept staring at her so she looked away, avoiding his eyes. But he bent and called her.

“Hey beautiful!” he said but Sowon ignored him so he put his hand on her thigh to get her attention. “Baby doll.” he called again. “I’m talking to you!” he insisted and Sowon finally looked at him frowning.

“Yah you creep! leave her alone!” suddenly said a voice behind Sowon. The tall girl looked at the girl standing in the alley and frowning at the guy who stood up and walked away, finally leaving the bus as he stopped.

“Thank you.” said Sowon and the girl nodded.

“No problem, I have taken this bus for years and this guy is always harassing girls…” she said sadly. “But you are… you are Sowon right?” she suddenly asked as if she only recognized her now.

“Humm yeah.” said Sowon confused as to why the girl seemed suddenly shy. “And you are?” asked Sowon to the girl that made that creepy guy ran away.

“My name’s Yuju.” she smiled and bowed politely. “I know your sister.” she added.

Sowon nodded, “Oh you are Umji’s friend?” she asked and Yuju hesitated.

“Kinda...” she said and Sowon smiled at her.

“Well thanks for your help earlier, I’m not very used to taking the bus and dealing with creepy guys.” said sincerely Sowon.

“No problem, my dad is a cop and he teached me some self defence, he also always pushed me to stand up for myself and help other people.” Yuju explained proudly.

“Well he did a very good job in raising you then,” said Sowon impressed. “I’m reassured to know someone on this line is protecting girls like me.” she laughed and Yuju laughed with her.

Yuju finally sat in front of Sowon and they stayed silent for a moment, until Sowon break the comfy silence between them. “Humm Yuju?” she asked and the brunette looked at her. “It may sound weird but what do you know about a party happening next week?” she asked and Yuju shook her shoulders.

“Well Umji mentioned it but we didn’t get invited yet.”

“We?” asked Sowon, curious.

“My best friend, I don’t think you remember her but she interviewed you some months ago for the school journal…” said Yuju.

“Oh Eunha? You are friends with Eunha too?” asked Sowon, very curious now and Yuju smiled while nodding.

“She’s my best friend, she’s amazing.” said the girl, clearly loving her best friend a lot. “You know her?” she asked now the tall girl as she wondered how this popular girl would remember her best friend's name.

“Kinda…” answered Sowon mimicking the way Yuju answered her earlier and Yuju smiled.

“Well SinB and Umji said they would invite us but we didn’t get any news for now…” said Yuju sadly. “We were also supposed to do a bowling hang out but I don’t know if it will happen.” 

Sowon nodded. “Well you were probably at the party too right? and as you may know it didn’t end very well. So Umji is grounded so no parties or hang out for a month.” explained Sowon and Yuju nodded.

“Well I couldn’t come to the party but Eunha did tell me a bit about it, I didn’t think Umji would be grounded…” said Yuju surprised.

Sowon giggled. “Well she did try to use that cute face of hers but this time she went too far and our dad decided to punish her.” explained the tall girl. “Why are you so surprised? We are like every other family you know…” explained Sowon and Yuju nodded.

Yuju sighed. “I’m sorry it’s just that Umji is so popular and cool and… well rich that I would never have imagined this would happen… So Umji is grounded…”

Sowon nodded, “Yeah she is but if you could keep that for yourself, I think she will try to act like she’s not and still act cool you know.” smiled Sowon and Yuju nodded.

“Of course, you can count on me for keeping this a secret.” said Yuju seriously and Sowon smiled at her. 

The bus finally stopped in front of their school and they got down together, on a low wall surrounding a big tree, Eunha looked at them with a raised eyebrow, she stood up, picked up her bag and hung it over her left shoulder before walking to them.

Eunha blushed lightly as her eyes met Sowon’s.

“Hey…” she said shyly and Sowon smiled at her.

Yuju looked at Eunha then at Sowon. “Okay…” she said, breaking the awkward silence. 

Eunha looked at her. “You girls know each other?” asked Eunha confused and both Sowon and Yuju answered at the same time.

“Kinda” then they both giggled.

“We met on the bus.” explained Sowon and Eunha looked at the tall girl, her cheek suddenly burning as she remembered the party.

Yuju looked at her best friend and elbowed her. “Come on, I knew you would fangirl over her but girl… stop drooling.” joked Yuju in a lower voice only for Eunha to hear her.

Eunha swallowed hard and suddenly looked at her best friend. "What no! Why I… no it’s not…” she stuttered so much that Yuju laughed out loud while Sowon looked at them both wondering what did Yuju said to the cute photographer to make her react like this.

“Omg this is so funny.” said Yuju, making fun of her best friend.

Sowon stayed silent and Eunha looked at the basketball player again, blushing even more before turning around and running away all embarrassed.

Yuju looked at Sowon. “Sorry she’s acting kinda weird.”

Sowon shook her head. “It’s okay.” she just said wondering if maybe she should have talked more to Eunha. They parted ways as Sowon needed to go to class. 

At the end of the day during the training Sowon could feel some of her teammates acting weird, they would avoid her, not giving her the ball and look at her weirdly. When it was over Sowon decided to stay some more while the other girls went to shower and get changed to leave.

She needed to empty her mind, she kept thinking about Eunha since she saw her on the morning and wondered if she did the good thing, maybe she should have asked Eunha to talk in private or something, they didn’t talk since the party and Sowon really wanted to get close to the cute photographer again. They agreed on keeping what happened secret, they wanted to take their time but if they wanted to get to know each other more, then they needed to spend time together and talk together...

 “Sowon!” called someone and Sowon turned around seeing her coach at the door. “Come see me in my office please.” she asked and Sowon nodded.

She put down the ball and went in her locked, she took her towel and quickly wiped herself before going in to see her coach in her basketball clothes, she would shower and change after. As she entered the office Sowon could feel something was wrong.

“Sowon,” said the coach, smiling a bit. "Sit please.”

Sowon did what she was asked for and sat down. “Is there something wrong?” asked the player immediately as the atmosphere was really tense, so tense that Sowon started being really scared. “I know this training wasn’t great, some girls were off, I will talk to them and ask them to focus more on the game next time.” she said politely, as the leader of the team she needed to make sure everyone was focusing during practice and doing their best.

The coach signed and shook her head. “No, it’s not that I mean yes some girls were not into it but… They already came to me and apologized.”

“Oh.” said Sowon, surprised. “Then why do you need to see me?” she asked now.

The coach sat down too and looked at Sowon. “They complained about you Sowon.” she said and Sowon frowned but stayed silent trying to think about the reason her teammates would complain about her. “They don’t feel comfortable around you anymore because they said you are into girls… they are scared that it may create problems especially in the lockers.” explained the coach.

“This is ridiculous!” said Sowon standing up. “I… I…” she breathed heavily mad that her teammates would act like that behind her back and not come see her directly. “I would never creep on them or anything, we have known each other for years… how can they say stuff like his about me?” asked Sowon, really not believing it.

The coach nodded. “I know.” she said and Sowon calmed down looking at the older woman. “I told them it was probably just a rumor, that they shouldn't pay attention to that as they knew you better.” explained the coach. “And that they should talk about this with you directly so you can explain yourself and make things clear.” 

Sowon frowned. “But I don’t need to explain myself to them.” she said, a bit mad. “Why should I explain myself to them, I did nothing wrong.”

“I know but it’s like that, Sowon.” said the coach as she stood up and walked around her desk coming closer to Sowon. “You know maybe if you would find a nice boyfriend they would stop make up rumors about you.” said the coach nicely but Sowon rolled her eyes. 

“I will talk to them.” just said Sowon as she walked out of the office feeling like her inside was boiling. She went to take a quick shower and left the school to go to her house.

Her sister was already there in front of the TV. “Umji, could you clean a bit when you eat snacks?” asked Sowon as she had to clean her sister's mess before their dad arrive.

“I wouldn’t put my mess in the kitchen if I was allowed to go out and have my snack out.” said the younger girl knowing she would piss her sister off but Sowon would rarely get mad at her, she would just sign and fix everything. But this time Sowon was already pissed and she couldn’t take more.

“You are seriously a little brat!” said Sowon, throwing the last plat into the sink. “You better get to grow up now because I’m tired of your !” she said as she walked away to her room leaving Umji surprised and confused.

***

On the next morning as Eunha woke up she turned around in her bed and sighed. She thought about Sowon all day and all night. She felt bad for how she left the previous day but she was feeling so embarrassed and Yuju seemed in the mood to which wasn’t helping. For the rest of the day Eunha was so busy that she didn't get a chance to try to go meet Sowon, even at the end of the day when she knew Sowon would be training alone after everyone left she didn't catch her, it seemed that the girl left earlier.

So this morning Eunha was determined to go see the tall girl. Of course she needed to stay discreet about all this, she wasn’t ready for the whole school to find out she liked the basketball player, but she wanted to spend more time with her.

Eunha quickly arrived at the school and waited close to the tree like the day before it was usually where she would wait for her best friend to arrive, except on rainy days. On rainy days Eunha would wait inside the school close to their lockers.

Today it was cold but sunny so Eunha sat on her favorite spot and watched the other students arrive. Many buses would stop and drop students. Eunha liked to be there early and watch people. She liked to observe and study people around her. Looking at them interact with each other and all. Suddenly she jumped as Yuju put her hand on her shoulder.

“Hey!” smiled Yuju.

Eunha looked at her then looked around. “Hey.” she answered. Yuju looked behind herself to see what her best friend was looking for.

“Were you expecting someone else?” asked Yuju, arching an eyebrow.

Eunha quickly shook her head and stood up. “Nope.” she quickly said but gave one last look in the bus stop direction. “Sowon wasn’t on the bus with you today?” asked Eunha, trying not to sound too excited as she pronounced Sowon’s name.

Yuju shook her shoulders. “No, now that you say it, there was no one at her bus stop.”  explained the girl as they walked inside the school.

Eunha tried to hide her disappointment and walked Yuju to her class before going to hers. As she entered only 2 other students were there, quickly the bell rang and everyone entered, Eunha spotted SinB alone, the girl sat behind her and looked at the door clearly looking for her friend. She checked her phone and sighed.

“Hey, Umji’s late?” asked Eunha and SinB nodded.

“Her and her sister missed the bus, and my car is being checked today so I couldn’t go pick them up.” she explained and Eunha nodded.

That was why Sowon wasn’t on the bus this morning. “Did they catch the next one?” asked Eunha and SinB nodded.

“Yeah but they may be a bit late.” she added showing the text message Umji send her some minutes ago saying ‘almost there don’t wait for me’

Eunha nodded, she looked around, the teacher seemed late too, the old woman finally entered and greeted them, she asked them to take out their notebook and suddenly they heard a knock on the door.

Umji opened the door and apologized. The teacher looked at her and nodded, making a sign for her to enter.

Umji quickly went to sit beside SinB and took her books out. “ that was close….” she whispered to SinB.

“Yeah you are lucky, she usually sends late students directly to the director's office…” whispered back SinB.

“I know..” said Umji. “But it’s the first time I’m late… and she hasn't started the lesson yet…” said Umji before focusing on her class. Eunha was dying to ask about Sowon but she knew it would seem weird, she impatiently waited for the end of the class and as soon as the bell rang, she ran out of the classroom, she was determined to find Sowon.

Eunha knew Sowon had extra training this morning, so she went quickly to the gym. But as she arrived the doors were open and she could hear some people arguing, suddenly she recognized Sowon’s voice. All the team seemed to be there and Eunha got shy so she waited by the door, as everyone was focusing around Sowon, Eunha stayed there not wanting to interrupt.

“So you are saying that I’m lying, I saw you.” said one of the girl from the basketball team to Sowon, taking a step in front of her.

“And what’s the matter?” asked Yerin, suddenly coming between the two girls wanting to avoid any fight.

“We don’t want her in our locker, that’s the matter.” added the girl madly.

Sowon pushed Yerin away and stood closer to the other girl, Sowon was taller, she was the tallest in her team. Eunha swallowed hard, the leader looked quite intimidating.

“That’s bul.” coldly said Sowon. “You just want to be the leader, you’re a jealous making up stories to make me look bad. You’re the last one that arrived in the team and I see your game clearly, you want to convince the other girls to make you captain instead of me!!” said Sowon frowning. “You don’t know what you are talking about. So before you think you have some interesting information about me and make rumors I will explain myself to everyone.” she said getting even closer to the other girl. “It was nothing, it was a stupid bet, nothing real of course, I hated doing that, you should know it, I would never kiss another girl for real, I’m not gay or anything... that’s disgusting so stop this non sense right now or you are out of the team.” she said so determinedly that the other girl almost fell back before storming out of the gym, almost pushing Eunha out of her way.

Eunha looked at Sowon as the leader turned around, their eyes met and Eunha looked down, she ran away, trying to hold her tears. She entered the bathroom and locked herself in the first cubicle. 

She felt so stupid, thinking Sowon liked her. She really thought the tall girl was into her but actually it was nothing for her, it was a bet, a game, nothing more, Sowon hated it… And now Eunha hated herself for believing she had a chance with the basketball player. For believing that what they shared on that new year night was real. But it was actually all fake and Eunha wasn’t sure how to cope with all this.

Her heart hurt, her mind kept replaying her sweet moments with Sowon, how could all this be fake… Sowon was really good at pretending, she played her so well and Eunha felt like she would never be able to trust anyone anymore. That was probably why Sowon barely talked to her and didn’t try to come talk to her the day before.

Eunha brushed her tears away and got out of the cubicle, she faced the mirror and sighed, her make up was ruined, her eyes were red and puffy. She opened her bag and cleaned her face before redoing her makeup. She tried to compose herself back but all her mind was thinking about was Sowon, this liar, the girl that took advantage of her innocence.

Eunha swallowed her sadness and also anger and got out, she needed to be strong, she didn’t want Sowon to see her sad and she didn’t want to be the victim here. She needed to be strong and face all this like if her heart wasn’t broken into pieces. 

She took a tissue and dried her tears, she clenched her teeth and redid her makeup around her eyes. She looked at herself, looking quickly you would think nothing bad happened, but if you would look deep into her eyes you would see the sadness and the pain. Eunha swallowed hard and got out, she went to her classes and tried not to think about Sowon at all, she wanted to forget her completely as if she never met her, as if the player didn’t exist, but it was hard when her little sister was in your class. Eunha avoided SinB and Umji and went to sit in the back.

The two girls looked at her confused but didn’t follow her. Eunha focused on her notebook trying not to remember this night, she wanted to forget about that party, about the feelings Sowon made her feel, about her lips on hers, about her warm embrace.  

All Eunha wanted was to disappear, her class seemed to last for hours and when the bell finally rang to announce the end of the morning class Eunah got up and quickly put her stuff in her bag to leave. She texted Yuju telling her she was eating lunch at her house as she was feeling sick.

Yuju called her immediately.

“What’s wrong?” asked the tall girl. “You will be okay, want me to walk you to your house?” she asked quickly and Eunha smiled a bit as she shook her head. 

“No, that's okay.” she said, “It’s just a headache but I need some rest, I will be fine, just if you can bring me the homework tonight?” asked Eunha shyly and Yuju laughed on the other side of the phone.

“Of course you dummy, I will come over as soon as school ends.” said Yuju nicely. “Rest well and see you soon.” she said before hanging up.

As soon as Eunha arrived at her house she went into her room and jumped into her bed, she hugged her pillow and rolled herself in her blanket, it was her safe place, she knew nothing would hurt her here.

She thought again about her day and replayed the moment when Sowon broke her heart over and over and cried again. It was feeling like a knife going straight into her chest. The only girl Eunha ever liked, admired and kissed just broke her heart. Eunha was sure about it, it was hurting like hell and she would never feel that again, she would never love again, never hope, it was too hard.

Finally exhausted after crying too much, Eunha fell asleep and woke up some hours later as her doorbell rang. She brushed her eyes, they were puffy and red from all the crying. Her hair was a mess so she quickly took care of it and hated her face in the mirror. She sighed and walked down to the entrance. She opened the door and Yuju was standing there with her back to her.

“Yuju?” said Eunha and her best friend turned around to face her.

“Oh hey.” she said as she entered the house knowing the place by heart. Yuju and Eunha have known each other for a long time now and are used to spending time at each other's house.

Yuju put her notebooks on the coffee table, left her bag on the floor close to the couch and sat down dramatically. “Eunha, I have something to tell you.” she said seriously and Eunha frowned as she walked close and sat on the floor on the other side of the coffee table facing Yuju.

“What it it?” she asked and finally Yuju looked at her.

“Did you cry…” suddenly asked Yuju looking at her best friend. “Do you know already?”

Eunha frowned even more. “Know what?” 

“At school… there’s… there’s this… humm, this well…” Yuju hesitated clearly not knowing how to say what she wanted to say.

“You are scaring me Yuju, what is it?” Eunha asked, worried. Yuju rarely looked so worried and hesitating, she was loyal and honest, she was always saying what was on her heart and mind, and Eunha loved that about her. So seeing Yuju looking for her words must be because what she wanted to say was very important.

“It’s a rumor,” finally said Yuju. “About you.” she continued before taking her phone out of her pocket. “Here….” she said, showing Eunha what everyone was talking about on social media. Everyone was talking about the kiss and the bet, calling Eunha a stupid dyke who fall for it. 

Eunha looked down, her heart rate started increasing, her breathing quickened, and her muscles tightened. Yuju took away the phone and came closer to her best friend.

“Come here.” she said as she took the shorter girl in her arms. Eunha clinged back to Yuju like her life depended on it, she couldn't believe this was happening to her. She was feeling so humiliated, she wanted to go back in time and act otherwise but it was too late.

Eunha wanted to cry but she was so shocked and mad that it wasn’t coming out, she left like she was about to explode. She wanted to shout all her anger out but she was just freezed, unable to move anymore or say anything.

Yuju held her some more till she felt Eunha relax a bit. Then she broke the embrace and looked at her best friend. 

“Do you wanna talk about it?” she asked but Eunha shook her head. Yuju hesitated. “But… Eunha… did you really kiss her…?” asked shyly Yuju and Eunha looked at her tears coming to her eyes now, she swallowed hard. Yuju frowned a bit, understanding that the answer was yes. “But why would you do that?” she asked again and Eunha shook her head standing up and took her head into her hands hiding her face as she cried more.

Yuju stood up and walked to her, stopping her from leaving, circling her with her arms around her stomach from behind. “I’m sorry,” said Yuju gently. “I don’t want to blame you, I just want to understand…” she said and Eunha nodded.

Eunha turned around and faced her best friend. “I thought she really liked me… that's why I was so upset today and went home earlier, I just found out this morning that Sowon played with me...” confessed Eunha. “We had such a nice time and she was so nice and smart and pretty. I felt like in a dream, we kept talking and I enjoyed every minute of this night with her, and the way she kissed me… She made me feel so loved, so important, I never felt anything like that before Yuju… It was just incredible…” Eunha stopped and sighed. “But apparently it was all fake, she was playing with me to win her stupid bet…” said Eunha sadly as she looked down feeling so guilty to fall for something like this. It was definitely too great to be true. Sowon would never like someone like her. “And now everyone at school know about it…”

Yuju took her hands in hers. “Sowon will pay for it, she can’t just humiliate and hurt my best friend like this.” said Yuju determined. “She’s just like all the other rich kids, doing anything to stay popular and have everyone talk about them. They don't hesitate to hurt other people to stay at the top of the school, I hate them.” said Yuju and Eunha smiled a bit.

“Thanks…” said Eunha sofly.

“You are my best friend Eunha, I won’t let anyone hurt you. We will show them that we aren’t that easy to take down.” she said and Eunha felt a bit better knowing that Yuju was by her side....