Min Hee nervously played with the lid of one of two water bottles sitting on her desk, twisting just barely so that the seal didn’t crack. Although her eyes were fixed on the droplets of condensation dribbling down the plastic bottle she could barely see Yeong Hwa in the corner of her eye. She wasn’t sure what Yeong Hwa was talking about, but it certainly seemed to be bothering her.

“I shouldn’t feel like this! It’s done! Over! We are no longer a… well we weren’t in the first place, of course!” Yeong Hwa ranted under her breath, digging the tip of her pencil down onto the notepad in front of her and leaving a trail of granulated lead behind. “Who cares if he flirts with every girl- except for me- in the school? Not me!” she hissed, the “except for me” coming out in a disgruntled mutter.

“Yeong Hwa?” Min Hee tried quietly, reaching over and gently tapping Yeong Hwa’s shoulder. She was barely able to get her hand out of the way as Yeong Hwa brought the pencil down like a dagger. “Sorry!” she yelped, clutching her hand to her chest as she started shaking slightly.

Yeong Hwa seemed even more apologetic as she gently placed the pencil down on the desk and swallowed guiltily. “No… that was my fault. Sorry about spooking you like that,” she apologized, gesturing vaguely to Min Hee’s hand.

Rather than continuing the self-blame game, Min Hee carefully held one of the bottles out to Yeong Hwa. The girl seemed sincerely surprised to be receiving something from Min Hee, glancing between the gifter and the fit, but she didn’t hesitate to accept the water. After Yeong Hwa had taken the bottle Min Hee quickly retracted her hand, trying to be as subtle about it as possible, and then went on to open the second bottle for herself.

After taking a long swallow of the cold, refreshing water Yeong Hwa squeezed her eyes shut against the stinging chill on her teeth and screwed the cap back onto the bottle. Then she turned to Min Hee, her face totally serious as she opened . “Have you ever had a boyfriend?”

Min Hee nearly choked on her water, with little help coming from Yeong Hwa as she obligingly clapped Min Hee on the back. Once she had composed herself once more Min Hee tried to think of a suitable answer. “Yeeeesssss?” she answered slowly, remembering the occasional dates here and there. “Nothing serious, though,” she added quickly, not wanting to give Yeong Hwa the wrong idea.

“How did you confess to him? Actually, before that, did you know he liked you before you confessed?” Min Hee had no idea where these questions were coming from all of a sudden, but if it was something that was bothering Yeong Hwa she was happy to help. Probably.

“Well… I only confessed once but… no. I didn’t know about his feelings,” she explained, shrugging her shoulders before taking another sip of water. Nodding slowly, Yeong Hwa glanced over at the pencil as though contemplating whether or not to take notes. “This is really, really weird,” Min Hee decided.

“In regards to your first question-“

“In regards to?” Yeong Hwa teased, cocking one eyebrow as she questioned Min Hee’s choice of vocabulary.

“A girl can be educated as well as tough, y’know,” Min Hee chuckled, “but anyway. I didn’t really do anything special when I confessed to him. Just went up to him and said, “Hey. I like you. Wanna date?” Yeong Hwa looked skeptical about how easy a confession it had been, and it was true that Min Hee had simplified it quite a bit.

The two of them sat in silence for a few seconds as Yeong Hwa contemplated what she had been told, before Min Hee finally worked up the courage to ask what this was all about. “So, what has suddenly sparked your interested in-“

“He’s coming!” One of their female classmates squealed as she peeled her face away from the window that overlooked the hallway and went speeding towards the door. The entire female population was hot on her heels and soon it had turned into a stampede that trampled anything in its way.

“Do you mind?! We’re trying to talk over here!” Min Hee snapped her voice alone dominating over the dozen or so other girls. In unison the students turned to face her with death glares, with a few even going so far as to tell Min Hee to shut up. Apparently hot boys were enough to make even the twiggiest of girls have the hearts of lions.

“It’s okay, Min Hee. We can talk later,” Yeong Hwa assured her, patting Min Hee on the shoulder as she stood to leave. “I’m skipping out on the last few minutes of study, kay?” she added, gesturing to the door as she started over to try and push her way through the congestion.

“What about lunch?” Min Hee asked, standing to join Yeong Hwa.

“You can eat without me. I’m not hungry,” her tone was enough to make Min Hee sit down again. Apparently she wanted to be on her own this time. And every other time. It was a very rare occasion that Min Hee and Yeong Hwa actually spent time together, and although Min Hee was sure it was for important reasons she still wished she knew what the reasons were.

Even if they weren’t super close friends she did still worry for Yeong Hwa. Despite having been the receiver of a public beating and humiliation at the hands of Yeong Hwa, Min Hee didn’t dislike the girl.

Sighing, Min Hee glanced over to see if Yeong Hwa had any water left that she could “borrow”. Instead, she noticed that Yeong Hwa’s cell phone had been abandoned on the desk. “Yeong Hwa! Your… phone,” her voice trailed off when she saw Yeong Hwa disappear amongst a few very disgruntled female students.

She would just have to keep an eye on the phone until Yeong Hwa came back to claim it. Of course if she was going to guard it she needed to know the contents of the phone, just so that she would know exactly what she was protecting. Thus, having come up with a perfectly rational excuse to snoop through Yeong Hwa’s cell, Min Hee flipped open the phone and began scanning through its contents.

There wasn’t much, and it was obvious that Yeong Hwa didn’t use her phone for much except calling people. No music, no video… but there were some pictures. A bunch of them were of two cute little kids who appeared to be twins, and Yeong Hwa was even in a few pictures with them. Definitely not siblings, because they looked nothing like Yeong Hwa, so cousins, maybe? Min Hee made a mental note to casually bring up Yeong Hwa’s relatives in a future conversation.

Then it was off to the contacts. There was the typical teenager contacts, like Yeong Hwa’s dad and aunt, but there wasn’t much else. Except for a number under the name “Jelly Beans”. Curious as to who Yeong Hwa would be referring to, Min Hee guiltily pushed the call button and held the phone to her ear.

Coincidentally, at that moment, the kingkas L and Sung Yeol had come to visit the classroom and bask in the praise of their subjects. Rolling her eyes, Min Hee slouched down in her seat and tried to drown out the ceaseless chatter of the rest of the female population that was crowding around the two boys. It was only by luck that she was able to catch a glimpse of L pulling his cell phone out and answering it.

“Hello?” he asked, and a half second later the cell phone echoed his voice. Shocked, Min Hee jerked the phone away from her ear and smashed down on call end with her thumb. Once he realized that the call had been ended L pulled the phone away from his ear, a shadow of confusion coming across his face.

“Why is L’s number in Yeong Hwa’s phone?” Min Hee thought, reaching down and pulling her own phone out of the bag resting at her feet. Turning it on, she quickly flipped to her contacts and pushed the “new contact” button. “Why am I even doing this?” she thought, carefully copying over the phone number.

Once the deed was done, Min Hee carefully stashed Yeong Hwa’s phone alongside her own inside the bag for safe keeping and began practicing how to not sound guilty the next time she faced Yeong Hwa.

The wind created a nice accompaniment to the music as it blew through the leaves, a gentle rustling barely perceptible at the back of the music. As the peace settled on Yeong Hwa she found her mind clearing and a soft smile appearing on her face as the weight was lifted off her brain and she could think clearly for the first time since returning to school.

So, of course, the idiot came and ruined it: "Yeong Hwa!" he called out, jogging across the park lawn to join the girl in question. Cracking one eye open she could see that the swaying branches overhead were blocked out by Myung Soo's shadow as he leaned over her, one hand against the tree to support him. He was breathing pretty heavily, suggesting that he had a difficult time finding her. "What are you doing out here? I though I said you could..." his voice trailed off as he in a deep breath of air to replenish his lungs, but Yeong Hwa could see that he was also too embarrassed to continue.

"Go under the bleachers? Why? It's not like I wanted to talk to you..." she finished, pushing herself up into a sitting position and resting her back against the rough bark of the tree's trunk.

This caused Myung Soo to pause and think for a second, before pulling out his cell phone and handing it over to Yeong Hwa. "But you called me eariler..." he defended, feeling silly for having run all the way out here for what was turning out to be no purpose whatsoever. In order to humor him, Yeong Hwa took the cell from him and took a look at the recent calls. Her number was indeed there.

" dialing?" she suggested, handing Myung Soo's phone back to him as he sat cross legged across from her. "Of course in a skirt with no pockets that might be a little difficult..." she added, glancing down at her attire. Despite heavy protesting, Yeong Hwa had lost the fight against her aunt and had started wearing the proper female school uniform. It made napping hard, since pretty much every boy on the planet tried looking up her skirt whenever she tried to lie down.

Suspiciously, Yeong Hwa fixated Myung Soo with a frown to see if he was guilty of erted behavior as well. He was too focused on his cell phone to notice, though, being more flustered about the mysterious call than Yeong Hwa's death glare. Deciding that he was smart enough to not try something like that- having spent several months with Yeong Hwa and her violent tendencies- Yeong Hwa relaxed and pulled her head phones out.

"So... how's life?" Yeong Hwa asked, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Alright. The twins liked your present," Myung Soo replied, feeling just as nervous about suddenly being alone with Yeong Hwa.

Smiling brightly, Yeong Hwa leaned forward eagerly. "I hoped they would. Your parents weren't mad about me buying them something, right?" she asked, tilting her head slightly to the side. Fighting back the urge to blush at how cute she looked, Myung Soo shook his head stiffly. "That's good," she sighed, her shoulders relaxing, "I mean, it's not like I'm anything special for your family. I was worried they would think it weird for the babysitter to act like this."

"You're not just a babysitter, though!" Myung Soo exclaimed, the words coming out of his mouth before his mind could decide that was a bad idea. Swallowing hard, Myung Soo tried to wet his suddenly dry mouth as Yeong Hwa's eyes widened in surprise. "T-to the twins. They really liked having you around. It's like your older sister or something," he quickly covered, trying to act nonchalantly about it.

Smirking "knowingly", Yeong Hwa reached over and pressed two fingers against Myung Soo's forehead, knocking him off balance slightly. "Don't tell me the actual big brother is getting jealous of me," she teased, misunderstanding Myung Soo's reaction as annoyance. "Come on, those kids adore you. There's no way I could ever pose a threat," she assured him, reaching over to pat Myung Soo on the head. Blushing, he bowed his head and stiffened.

"Hands off you crazy punk!" a female voice suddenly declared, joined by a chorus of two others. Freezing her movement, Yeong Hwa peered around Myung Soo's head and spotted three girls running at a dead sprint towards her and Myung Soo. Judging by the uniforms, they were also from Woollim high...

"Joy. Fangirls." Yeong Hwa thought dully, rolling her eyes and subtly twirling her finger around her ear. Chuckling, Myung Soo turned to face the incoming invaders in order to stave them off from causing any trouble. He didn't get the chance, though, as two of the girls wrapped one arm around him each and hauled him to his feet. Surprised, Myung Soo could only hold his mouth open mutely as they pulled him away to "safety".

"How dare you touch our precious L!" the leader of the tree, a slightly chubby brunette who looked like she couldn't hurt a fly, scolded as she out a finger towards Yeong Hwa. Looking down her nose at the finger Yeong Hwa stared fixatedly at it as though she were contemplating whether to bite it off, eventually leading the girl to nervously retract the digit.

""Our precious?" What, is he your puppy?" Yeong Hwa asked, rising to her feet and brushing off a few blades of grass from the back of her skirt. In unison all three girls took a step back, causing Myung Soo to stumble as they unexpectedly pulled on him. "Can he do any tricks?" she continued, folding her arms over her chest and tilting her head to the left. It was amazing how something that was so cute just moments before could now come across as mocking and ugly.

"Don't talk about him like that! L is not a dog!" the second girl practically screamed, tightening her grip on Myung Soo so that it nearly cut off the circulation to his hand. Grimacing, he began trying to gently pry the girls fingers away from his arm before she ripped it off.

"She's right! You should watch your mouth, Yeong Hwa!" the third joined in, glaring darkly at Yeong Hwa. Out of the three, she was the most intimidating. Whereas the other two were like mother hens defending their chicks, she came across as more of a rooster. Being loud and over acting in intimidation definitely made her scarier than the other two, but that didn't necessarily make her scary... just obnoxious.

"Girls, can you please let go of my arms?" Myung Soo asked, attempting to into the conversation before he got stuck in the middle of an all out cat fight.

"Don't worry! We'll protect you from this monster!" the second assured him as she not-so-subtly cuddled against his arm. Nodding along to humor the girl, Myung Soo rolled his eyes up to the sky. There was a reason he tried to avoid being around these types of females for too long.

Yeong Hwa was too busy blankly staring at the three to notice him, though. Eventually she came to a conclusion as the gears in her head slowed to a stop and printed out their collected information. "You... you're all crazy," she declared simply, blinking a few times as her eyebrows knit together. "And I mean really loopy. Have you ever considered seeing a psychologist about these problems?" although it was an honest question, as it passed through the girls' ears and into their brains it turned into a malevolent and snarky degration against them.

"You're the one who beats up anyone who looks at you funny!" the leader of the girls retorted, waving the other two back. Complying, both of them dragged a very unhappy Myung Soo back a few steps.

"And yet you still stand," Yeong Hwa responded, her patience wearing thin. "No fighting without physical provocation," her aunt's voice reminded her, hacking even more at the string of patience she had left.

"We must intimidate you, then!" The third girl crowed, drawing panicked and angry glares from her two companions. Never poke a sleeping dragon. Yeong Hwa was too amused to snort fire, though, and had to hold up her hand for a short time out as she began cracking up. Embarrassed about this reaciton, the leader picked up where the third had left off: "All three of us know you're just a coward! Luring L out here so that you can beat him up without anyone knowing! You're a crazy !"

The laughing stopped instantly, and a half second later Yeong Hwa was in front of the leader with her hand poised to slap the girl across the face. The girl barely had enough time to squeeze her eyes shut and whimper before Yeong Hwa's hand came whipping down towards her face. Her two friends watched wide-eyed, already sympathizing with their leader's plight.

Not wanting Yeong Hwa to hurt the girls, Myung Soo opened his mouth to protest: "Yeong-"

"Do not call me . Okay?" Yeong Hwa ordered, dropping her hand to her side and taking a few steps back. Inside her mind the lion was beating angrily against the bars of its cage as she took a step back, the key to the cage's lock still in her hand. These girls weren't worth the effort it would take.

Nodding weakly, the leader buckled at the knees and knelt trembling on the grass as she stared fixedly at a point just to the right of Yeong Hwa. Satisfied she had scared the girl enough, Yeong Hwa folded her arms across her chest. She was tired and her thoughts were all jumbled up again, which meant that a nap was in order and the fastest way to get a nap was to get rid of the trio of idiots.

"Next time I bring someone out here I don't want you three interfering. If I want to mess up someone's pretty face then I don't want any problems or complaints. Alright?" she instructed, taking two steps to the left before beginning to pace in front of the leaders. Confused, the two holding Myung Soo glanced at each other before hesitantly returning their attention to Yeong Hwa. "Alright?" Yeong Hwa repeated, raising her voice to make sure she was heard.

"A-alright!" the leader echoed, rising to her feet as her eyes widened in sympathy towards Myung Soo. Turning sharply on her heels, the girl fled to her friends and Myung Soo, urging all three to start moving in order to get away from the "evil, crazy demon monster". "You could have died!" the leader wailed when she was sure they were a far enough distance from Yeong Hwa, wrapping one arm around Myung Soo's shoulders to usher him along faster.

After watching them leave the park and head back to school, and then waiting another minute to make sure they didn't come back, Yeong Hwa was satisfied with her work and went back to the tree. Turning her iPod back on, she popped the earphones into her ears and lay down on her side. "Idiots... do they really think they stand a chance with Myung Soo? They must be incredibly delusional to think he would ever think romantically about them," she thought. "So... does that make me one of them? During the summer I did... and whenever he's with other girls I... oh . I really am insane," she added, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to block out the unwelcome thoughts so that she could have a peaceful nap.

"Nae Yeong Hwa!" a deep male voice bellowed, jerking Yeong Hwa out of her sleep. Eyes flying open, Yeong Hwa jumped and hit her head against the tree's trunk. Groaning, she cupped her hands around her skull and peered up at person number two to interrupte her nap time. "Come on. Get on your feet," the man grunted, reaching down and pulling her to her feet by her arm. Stumbling to catch her footing, Yeong Hwa assumed the man would let go of her once she was on her feet.

Nope. Instead he proceeded to tighten his grip on her arm and drag her along behind him as he marched her towards the school. "Class must have started..." she thought, rubbing at her eyes with the one free hand she still possessed and yawning. It was pretty unusual for a member of the faculty to come and find her, though. Especially when he wasn't even her teacher...

"So... is the president coming or something? Normally you guys aren't so worried whenever I do stuff like this," Yeong Hwa asked, jogging forward a few steps so that she could tap the teacher on the shoulder and get his attention.

The man never broke pace as he tightened his grip to a painful level and turned just slightly enough to fix her with a disgusted glare. "You've done this before? No wonder you're always late for classes," he spat, tugging Yeong Hwa forward as she began to lag behind his speed-walking. Wincing as her arm pulled at its socket, Yeong Hwa sped up her pace and thanked her lucky stars that gym wasn't after lunch. She was definitely going to be sore after using this pace the whole way to school.

What? I don't think we're-"

"Save it. You've been walking on egg shells ever since you came to this school, and all the faculty knows that you were guilty until proven innocent. Now it seems like it has become guilty until self-incrimination, though," he interrupted, increasing the speed even further. "Threatening one of our top students like that... we're lucky there are still good students out there who are willing to stand up for each other," the teacher continued lecturing, but Yeong Hwa was too busy trying to process the situation to pay much attention to what he was saying.

After a ten minute jog/walk, only one minute of which was not devoted to lecturing her- because the guy has to breathe occasionally- the pair arrived at Woollim's school gates. Where they were greeted by an entourage. As soon as they stepped onto school grounds a press of students surrounded them, every pair of eyes fixated on Yeong Hwa as she was pulled along. She felt like a condemned prisoner being led to the gallows, with the only problem being that she didn't know what her crime was.

"Threatening a student? I've been good!" she protested, knowing that keeping it inside her head wouldn't do any good. Still, she wanted to wait until they had a little more privacy before she began defending herself. She could feel the tension from her fellow students hanging thick in the air, like a cloud of gas just waiting to be lit, and she really didn't want to be the one to strike the match. Mobs had a tendency to turn violent if the prisoner tried to get out of whatever crime they had- supposedly- committed.

By the time they reached the faculty office it felt like every student in the school had come to see the "trial". They were all stopped at the door by Yeong Hwa's , though, after he pushed her through and slammed it shut. The office was, not surprisingly, practically empty. Most of the teachers had gone out for lunch, leaving only a few who were on "babysitting" duty to eat their boxed lunches at their desk. At her arrival, every mouth stopped chewing and many pairs of chopsticks were put down so that the full attention could be put onto the principal and Yeong Hwa.

When he noticed that she had finally arrived, the man gestured for her to take a seat across from him at the long corner desk he had claimed. Frowning deeply, Yeong Hwa stood on the other side of the desk but refused to sit. "Suit yourself. This won't be long anyway," the principal sighed, sitting in a black leather office chair and clasping his fingers over his stomach.

"Miss Nae, you have been a student at our school for... how long is it now?" he began with a question. 

Yeong Hwa knew fully well that he knew the answer, but she still begrudgingly answered: "At the conclusion of this year it will have been two... sir."

"Two years is not enough for a diploma, Miss Nae. And without a diploma you will never be able to move on from this... phase, of your life," he started lecturing, gesturing vaguely at Yeong Hwa as his features turned bitter. "If you want to finish all three years at this school, or any school for that matter, then I suggest you begin cleaning up your act. Fighting, skipping classes, arguing with teachers, threatening students, extorting students and teachers alike; Miss Nae, the list of your offences at this school could fill a library!" he exclaimed, attempting to impress the gravity of the situation upon Yeong Hwa.

She wasn't impressed. "Why am I here... sir?" she asked, clasping her hands behind her back in what she believed was the typical "good school girl" pose.

"Why am I... honestly," he repeated, removing his spectacles from his face and rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "You are here because you have threatened one of my students, Miss Nae! Because you lured him into a secluded area of the park with the intent of causing bodily harm to him! Thankfully some of his peers were looking out for him," the principal snapped, losing his patience with Yeong Hwa's behavior. Startled by this sudden burst of anger, Yeong Hwa brought herself to army attention and kept tightly shut.

"I have already informed your aunt about the matter of your explusion-"

"What?!" Yeong Hwa exclaimed, slamming the palms of her hands flat against the princpal's desk and leaning across angrily. "You're going to expell me?! I did not bring any injury on Kim Myung Soo! We were just talking!" she snapped, her voice nearly rising to a scream. Outside the door she could hear a rise of voices as the news spread around to the students. Somewhere out there would be those three idiots, and when Yeong Hwa got her hands on them...

"Miss Nae! Step away from the door before you really are expelled!" the principal snapped, rising to his feet just as Yeong Hwa reached the door. Resting her hand against the handle, Yeong Hwa thought over her next move. After coming to a conclusion, she carefully removed her hand from the door's handle and instead occupied it with forming a fist to slam against the actual door. A subtle warning that the three girls should make themselves scarce.

Slowly Yeong Hwa took in a deep breath and counted to ten. When she was finished, she returned to standing across from the principal with her hands folded tightly behind her back. She could feel the nails digging into her skin as she increased the tension, eventually resulting in a slight piercing of the skin and a trickle of blood to run down her hand.

Wiping some beaded sweat from his forehead, and thanking the Buddha that at least one crisis had been averted, the principal sat back down and continued. "As I was saying, your aunt has been informed about the situation and displayed some incredible faith in you, however misguided it may be. After some careful consideration we came to the conclusion that it would be best for you to take two weeks off of school in order to relieve some of the stresses that may have developed after your father's," here he paused to cough into his fist as every muscle in Yeong Hwa's body tensed, "unfortunate circumstances. I suggest you take this time to sort out the thoughts and emotions you are experiencing so that you may come back a more balance person," he concluded.

"My aunt... is she coming here?" Yeong Hwa asked quietly, already imagining how dissapointed Soo Yun was going to be in her when they met.

"She said she would be right over. You may wait here for her." Yeong Hwa nodded and turned the seat previously offered to her so that the back was facing the principal. Sighing, the man gestured for the room to get back to their business before he called out that the door no longer needed to be guarded. As soon as the teacher left the door was opened and students began gawking in at Yeong Hwa to see her reaction to all of this.

Sighing, she avoided looking out the door as the students were ineffectually herded away and to their classes as the bell rang for lunch to end. As the crowd thinned out, leaving only a few exceptionally curious students, Yeong Hwa decided that she might as well break the news to Myung Soo. And probably Min Hee, too. Of course the likelihood of them not yet finding out about this was extremely slim... she would still feel better if she told them herself, though.

Reaching towards her pocket for her phone... there was no pocket. She was wearing a skirt. Groaning, Yeong Hwa covered her face in her hands and attempted to not get worked up over such a little thing. She must have left it on her desk before heading out, so it would still be there if she went and got it. Classes hadn't officially started, either, so if she hurried then she wouldn't be disturbing anyone.

When she tried using this reasoning on the principal, he flat out rejected her. "No. You are officially suspended from this school and are not allowed on school property. I'm only allowing you to stay in here so that your aunt can more easily find you and to ensure you don't run off," he said, keeping his head bent over the financial records he was reviewing. Rolling her eyes dramatically, Yeong Hwa turned back around in her seat and slouched down.

Twenty minutes later the emptied halls were brought to life once again by the clicking of high heels on the tile. With an early warning system like that, Yeong Hwa was already on her feet and ready to go by the time Soo Yun arrived in the office dressed in full business uniform. The first thing she did was fixate Yeong Hwa with a death glare that managed to make even the Warrior Princess cringe away, before becoming all smiles and apologies as she bowed politely to the principal. Returning the gesture, the man waved her and her niece away.

"You, Yeong Hwa, are a dead woman walking," her aunt hissed as they left the office. The rest of the journey was in silence, but as they exited the building Soo Yun turned to her niece as though she wanted to say something. Sighing, Yeong Hwa also turned to face her aunt. Rather than being greeted by words, though, Yeong Hwa was greeted by a sharp sting on the cheek that sent her stumbling away.

"I didn't actually deserve that," Yeong Hwa grunted, remaining surprisingly docile as she rubbed at her cheek.

"Regardless of whether you actually beat that boy or not, you said you did. Do you have any idea how dumb that makes you look?! Idiocy deserves a lot more than a slap on the cheek, but I don't have time right now. I have ten minutes to make it back to the office, and even if I flew there I couldn't make it," Soo Yun groaned, checking the silver watch on her wrist as her heels began clicking doubtle time against the concrete sidewalk. "You'll have to find your own way home. Do you have a bus pass?" she asked as they exited the school grounds, officially beginning Yeong Hwa's two week exile from Woollim.

"No," Yeong Hwa responded, shuffling awkardly beside Soo Yun as they came to rest at the bus stop.

"Then you'll just have to walk," Soo Yun decided, peering down the street to see if the bus was trundling their way. It wasn't. "And I might have to run," she thought aloud, bouncing on her toes impatiently.

"Good luck," Yeong Hwa told her aunt half heartedly, raising her hand in what could be considered a wave before turning to start walking.

She had only gotten a few steps when her aunt spoke up: "Yeong Hwa, you didn't really hit that boy... did you?" she asked, a shadow of a doubt in her mind. "Or plan to," she corrected.

"No. We were honestly just talking. His fangirls just happened to get the wrong idea... with a little help from me," she admitted, knowing that her aunt wouldn't buy that it was all the trio of idiots fault.

"Ah, he's one of those boys. They never bring anything but trouble, you know. Especially if they're as popular as this one seems. I suggest you stay far away from him when you get back, just to make sure no further trouble is caused," Soo Yun told Yeong Hwa, nodding in what she probably thought was a sage manner.

"That's what I've been trying to do," Yeong Hwa mumbled, folding her arms across her stomach- for lack of pockets to put her hands in- as she started to walk once again. "Bye!" She called over her shoulder as the distant rumble of the public bus could be heard. Her aunt barely managed a reply through the panicked rambling that had begun coming out of as she desperately rummaged through her purse in search of the bus pass she would need.

"Why does he have to keep looking at me? Can't he cut me a break for two minutes so I can shut off Yeong Hwa's stupid phone?!" Min Hee thought as she fidgeted nervously in her seat, the cell phone in question buzzing away inside Min Hee's purse. The thing kept moving because of how many texts Yeong Hwa was receiving!

Finally the teacher was forced to remain facing up front in order to write down a particularly lengthy formula, giving Min Hee the chance to duck down and remove Yeong Hwa's phone from her purse. Instead of turning off the cell, however, Min Hee began reading the messages Yeong Hwa was receiving.

What happened? Why were you suspended?!

Yeong Hwa come on! I know you aren't worried

about getting in trouble over texting in class!

I'm sorry if it was my fault that you were

suspended. So can you answer me already?

The texts went on and on and on, since apparently kingkas didn't get in trouble for texting during classes. "Seriously, what kind of relationship do these two have?" Min Hee thought as she shut off the phone and subtly slipped it back into her purse. She would definitely have to return the cell phone to Yeong Hwa after school so that L would stop having a panic attack. People talked about girls constantly texting their boyfriends, but L had just set the bar at an all new level.

"Min Hee? I'm sure you know the answer to this forumla?" the teacher suddenly asked, pointing to the forumla he had just written on the board.

"Of course," she responded sarcastically, standing quickly so that she could get this over with as soon as possible.

Author's Note: Between the Olympics and the craziness of AFF over the weekend it has been hard getting this chapter out! I finally got tired of waiting for it to come back on its own, though, so here's chapter 26! It's kind of a... I'm not sure. Weird chapter? But whatever. The story is coming to a close, and I'm never good at finishing off my writing.

And speaking of the Olympics, who are you guys cheering for? Personally I would like Park Tae Hwan to do well in swimming because of the stupid disqualification fiasco. That annoyed me so much...

Judges:

Me: That stinks. Sorry man.*watches replay* What? False start? Are you blind?!

((my author's notes rarely have anything to do with the story, but frankly I don't care. Just skip reading this thing if you don't want to read my ramblings... it's not like I'm forcing you to read it. Or just read the beginning part... that's usually where I put anything relevant to the current chapter...))