"Hey Yeji, you wanna hang out after class?"

"There's a sale going on at the mall nearby, we could go shopping!"

"Shopping again? Why don't we just chill at the café? My feet still ache after the last time we hung out."

Yeji laughed as she waved her hands, shushing her close friends that surrounded her desk. "Girls, girls! We can definitely do that, yeah? Maybe just relax on the shopping? I don't really have the urge to get anything new lately anyway!"

The princess managed to calm the group down, out of respect and perhaps fear of irritating her too much.

"I need to stretch my legs anyway," she huffed as she looked at the piece of paper in her hand, a marked test that was just handed out to the class. "and blow off steam. Ugh! That nerd managed to beat me again, even after I studied so much!"

"Relax, Yeji! You still did well, and she's a nerd anyway, you don't have to worry about her performing better than you."

"It's just so frustrating! I deserve to do better than her," she gritted her teeth, throwing a glare at the girl that sat in the corner.

Chaeryeong felt a shiver run down her spine, glancing behind her only to see a bunch of icy gazes glaring daggers into the back of her head, deciding to mind her business and turn away. Full marks on her test, as always. Seems like the princess' clique isn't too fond of her outperforming the princess herself. Of course, there was little she could do. Standing up for herself wasn't Chaeryeong's strong point, and no way in Hell was she facing an entire clique of popular girls.

She slipped the test paper into a file before sliding it into her bag, only to pick up the other test paper on her table. It belonged to Ryujin, who was absent from class today. It was surprisingly well-done for someone like her, but don't tell her that Chaeryeong thought so. The teacher had requested for Chaeryeong to pass it along to her, mostly because of her image as a teacher's pet, despite Chaeryeong never doing anything to deserve that position anyway. Well, nothing she could do, the teachers would insist anyway.

Chaeryeong's feet trudged through the gravel leading her off the school's common paths, guiding her between the buildings until she came to a alley tucked away in the corner, a female figure sitting in the corner with her school bag on her lap, slumped over with headphones on her ears.

She cautiously trudged up to the figure before squatting down, tapping her shoulder gently.

The figure stirred, reaching up to remove one side of her headphones, remaining in her slumped position. "What?" She asked.

"Your test, from today's class," Chaeryeong said meekly, presenting the paper to her, watching the woman finally look up at her and the paper in her hands.

"Oh, it's you, Chaeyeon," she grumbled, yawning as she grabbed the paper out of her grip, leaning against the wall as she scanned through the test, before stuffing it into her bag.

"My name is Chaeryeong," she replied under her breath, frowning as Ryujin waved her hand dismissively, yawning as she pulled her headphone back over her ear.

"Yeah, yeah. Chaeryeong. Sure," she replied lazily, her words slurred as she went back to sleep.

Chaeryeong continued to squat in front of her sleeping figure, observing the woman. She only knew her name was Ryujin, but other than that, not much. She rarely appears in class, which makes her good results rather odd. She did not wear the typical female uniform, instead wearing the male uniform with rolled-up sleeves, hiding most of the tattoos on her upper arms.

"Are you going to keep squatting there and staring at me?" Ryujin's voice shocked her as she removed her headphones, letting it dangle on her neck as she looked up at Chaeryeong, who scrambled to her feet away from her, letting out a short but audible yelp.

"S-sorry, I'll leave now," she tried to excuse herself, only to stiffen as Ryujin grabbed her wrist, pulling herself up.

"Nope. Where are you going?"

"The library?"

A long, heavy groan left Ryujin as she slouched over before straightening up. "Alright, since you want to stare at me so badly, take me with you."

"Eh?"

So here Chaeryeong was, walking through school with the infamous bully trailing behind her lazily, seemingly in her own world. She gripped the straps of her bag tightly, a little concerned about the whispers and stares she was receiving, unused to this sort of attention, taking a deep breath as she picked up the pace.

Once they arrived at the library, it was unsurprisingly empty, Chaeryeong deciding to find a seat in the deepest part of the library, only to be devastated when she saw someone already sitting there. She tried her best to slip into a seat unnoticed, and was able to do so, until Ryujin pulled a chair out and plopped herself in it, kicking her feet up on the desk.

"Get your disgusting feet out of my sight!" Yeji yelped as she jolted up, glaring at the stranger that so rudely put her feet up, her eyes narrowing when she laid her eyes on Ryujin. "You. You're that student who got into a bunch of disciplinary cases within the first week of school!"

"Oh? If it isn't Little Miss Perfect. If you'd allow a humble commoner to question you, Your Highness, what, pray tell, are you doing in such a lowly place like this?" Ryujin mocked her, putting on some weird British accent as she sneered at her unwrapping a lollipop that she pulled out of her bag.

Chaeryeong wanted to pipe up that the library wasn't a lowly place, but Yeji seemed to be worked up by her words. "Are you mocking me?" She hissed, leaning forward as she picked up the book in front of her, slapping Ryujin's feet off the table.

Ryujin stumbled, furrowing her brows as she leaned forward in retaliation. "Yeah? What if I am? You gonna call your clique of pretty little to fight me? Where are they, anyway? Got bored of them?"

"At least I have friends! And the only reason I'm here is because of her!" Yeji hissed back, pointing at Chaeryeong, dragging her into the conversation. "You keep doing better than me despite being some lowlife, I have a reputation to uphold!"

"You are being outperformed by a nerd?" Ryujin laughed, slipping the lollipop into as she leaned back in her chair.

"You're not any better! I can't wait to see you repeat the year because of your horrendous attendance!"

"And I can't wait to see you repeat the year because you're too stupid!"

"I'm literally doing better than you!"

As Ryujin and Yeji's conversation developed into a heated argument, Chaeryeong could only struggle to get a word in as she tried to calm the two of them down, not really having any effect, and quite frankly it was making her feel like crying.

"G-guys, calm down," she said meekly, slowly pushing her hands between the two, at least managing to get both of them back in their seats, before a shadow loomed over the three of them.

So now the three of them sat on the stairs leading up to the library, getting kicked out for being too rowdy and loud, despite Ryujin loudly protesting that "the place is ing empty".

Yeji sat on one end, her arms crossed as she turned away from Ryujin, while Ryujin leaned against the railing, grumbling about some stupid librarian.

Chaeryeong glanced between the two of them, clearing as she tried to speak up again. "Sorry for dragging you here, Ryujin. And I'm sorry for making you miss your time with your friends, Yeji."

Yeji stayed silent as Ryujin continued to grumble for a bit before turning around, looking at the back of Yeji's head.

"I'm sorry for mocking you, uhh," she said, glancing at Chaeryeong who mouthed out her name, "Yeji. I may be an , but my mom would kill me."

Yeji stiffened a little, turning her head for a brief moment before sighing as she faced the two of them. "I'msorryforcallingyoustupid," she grumbled really quick, thanking whoever was up there that her clique wasn't around to see her right now.

"And don't you think you owe Chawon an apology too?" Ryujin smugly introduced the nerd, only to earn a frown from Chaeryeong.

"My name is Chaeryeong! You've literally giving me so many bruises these past few weeks!" She said loudly, feeling offended as she watched Ryujin straighten up.

"I'm not going to apologise to this nerd! She's the one who made me miss precious time with my friends! I should be having fun right now, not studying just so I can—"

"Don't blame me for your incompetence!" Chaeryeong interrupted her, watching Yeji scramble up straight too. "I study my off day in and day out just to make it through school! You think I want to do this all day? Of course I want friends too but I don't understand how to make them! You should be happy that you get to have a good balance of grades and friends! And I am not a loser, I am not a lowlife, I am human, I put in hard work and I get the results!"

Ryujin stifled a laugh as she watched Yeji get lectured, her eyes looking down out of guilt. The stifled laughter made her let out a little noise, which earned Chaeryeong's attention.

"You think that's funny?" Chaeryeong grumbled as she lifted her skirt slightly, exposing the bruises on her thighs and her arms. "You keep pushing and slamming me onto the floor and lockers, I would have reported you to the school board if it weren't for the fact that you seem extremely distracted whenever you run into me! How about you open your eyes sometimes, huh? And my name is Chaeryeong! You would know that if you actually show up for class! I'm not some maid who has to return your assignments to you, and I would've expected at least some thanks for going out of my way to do so!"

"And another thing!" Chaeryeong was riding off this feeling, mostly frustrated that she got kicked out for something that wasn't her fault, taking her time to lecture and nag the two women.

It was an extremely funny sight, seeing the Princess and the Bully bowing out of shame as the Nerd lectured them.