*During Athletic Period*

-Soomi's POV-
"CAN YOU FEEL THE BURN!?" Yunho-nim yelled at everyone, as we were running more laps. Everybody was too busy running, that we couldn't respond. "I said...CAN YOU FEEL THE BURN!?!?" he spat in my face, as I passed by him. 

"YEH, SEONGSUNG-NIM!" I shouted back, in a respectful response. 

"GOOD!" he pulled me to the side. "Good work. You could go back to the locker rooms." I smiled, breathing at a heavy pace. "Thank you...seong...seongsung-nim." 

"It's nothing! You definitely earned it! I can't believe it...you're actually graduating in the spring..." Yunho-nim sniffled, bringing his fist up to his mouth, as if trying to hold back his manly tears. 

"Um...it's okay...I promise to come visit..." I awkward patted his shoulder and he nodded in understanding. "I don't think it's best to cry---" 

"Me? Cry? Pfft! Listen here, Soomi. Who do you take me for? A pink loving weakling?" he agressively asked. I shook my head, making sure he wouldn't hurt me. "Good. Now run off rascal, or you're going to run another 5 laps!" I bowed quickly and scurried away, not wanting to run again. 

I looked back to see that everyone was basically keeping up at a good pace, that is everyone except for Sulli. She was trailing behind, all exhausted and tired.

"YAH! HOW SLOW CAN YOU BE!?!" Yunho-nim yelled at her. I watched her as she stopped in front of our school coach, huffing. "Yah! What school did you come from?" he barked at her. She gave him a face as if she was appalled by what he was saying. 

"I came from Busan Elite Academy, where the education is definitely highest and finest quality of all of Korea."

"Oh! Really?" he sarcastically said. 

"Yes. And I would like to say, I don't deserve to be treated like! Who makes students run?" she questioned him. I turned away and ran up the stairs, I was already afraid for her. 

But before I could escape in time, I was pretty sure that the whole school even heard him scream at her, "RUN 10 MORE LAPS!"

---------

"And that's the introduction to Chemistry," Jaejoong-nim smiled, closing his lecture book. I smiled, enjoying the nature of science more than anything. All the guys in the class gagged, as Jaejoong-nim flashed his smiles throughout the classroom. I have to admit, I don't blame the girls at all for having a bit of a crush on him. Even I felt my heart fluttering. I dreamily sighed. 

"What's so special about him?" Alex muttered. I shot him a glare, and thankfully he had the skills to reflect it off with his cool gaze and shrugged it off. "What? I'm just asking."

"Why can't you let Soomi dream on? Every girl has their fantasies as well," Onew teased. I was about to explode when Chansung came into the conversations. "You mean you're fantasies, Onew?" I laughed and pointed at Onew, as he pouted. "Yah! I'm not gay! If anything, I would be thinking about Chaerin-nim in the art department." 

"Oooh someone is calling her by her real name. You know she hates that don't you? She prefers her artist name, which is CL!" Sungmin smiled. 

We all laughed as Onew crossed his arms. "Why do you guys always pick on me? Is it because I'm nice?"

I shooked my head, "Anniyo! It's because you're easy to pick on that's all! I love you, dubu!" I winked at him. He turned his gaze over to the window. "Well I'm mad at you guys now." 

"How about I treat you to a nice dinner of----"

"Eh? Sulli is still out there?" Onew commented. I furrowed my eyebrows. 

"Are you sure? She should be in her class by now," Chansung walked over to the window. I looked out as well, and shook my head, "She's definitely still running. I guess she still can't run fast enough to make it back for class."

"That's ashame. She's new here, can't Yunho-nim be any nicer?" Sungmin had pity in his voice. 

I looked at him, with a bored expression, "That's the point, she's the new kid. Every new kid goes through that, remember?" 

"Soomi..." Alex's warm voice escaped his lips, as I looked down, recalling all the loneliness I felt when I came here in the spring semester as a first year in Korea. "I didn't mean to---" Sungmin voice cracked, but I shook my head. "Don't be. It was just a hard time for me, neh? It's all in the past. All I'm saying is that she's the new kid, and every new kid struggles. Let her get stronger," I sadly smiled at him, as he softened his gaze and ruffled my hair. "Okay," Sungmin whispered.

-Sulli's POV-
"Look at me! I'm sweating!" I cried out, fanning myself. It was really hot. I don't deserve to be treated this way. 

"Look, just to let you know, this school is no where close to any other high school you hear about, not even your high school. You think you have the finest education at your school? Well at this academy, they care about every single aspect of this school system. From education, to food they serve here, health awareness, even to keeping our environment at a healthy state. But the teachers and principal of this school, don't like to brag about it too much, they like to treat everyone as equally as possible. So get used to it, you'll be struggling to fit in, just like any new kid that comes in," Soomi practically preached to me, leaving me into boredom. 

"But I deserve to be tre----"

"Didn't you hear me? All the teachers will treat you the same, even if you came from an elite school, you're the same here, as everyone else. You need to get that in your head," Soomi coolly spoke, making me look at her like she's crazy. 

I shooked my head and continued to fan myself, as we were heading to dance class. As I walked past many students that gave me these terrible face expressions, I bumped into someone where we both fell down. 

"YAH! Watch it!" a girl screamed out. I looked up pissed, "Why don't you watch it?!" 

"What did you say ?" she stood back up, looking down at me, like I was a peasant. "Why don't you? You should watch where you're going! Are you blind?" 

Another girl from behind pulled me up onto my feet and pushed me against the wall, startling me. "What the hell did you say?" the third girl of the group got in my face. The girl that picked me up, was very petite and the other one was like a model.

"Yah! Bom! Dara! Pick on someone else," Soomi stood up for me. I looked over at her, with fear. 

"Eh? You're sticking up for a new kid? She's the one that bumped into me," The girl, that fell on the ground growled. I whimpered a bit. 

"Just leave her, she's with me, Minzy," Soomi helped her up and pulled off the two girls off me. 

"Why would you be friends with her? She's obviously stuck up," the smaller girl grumbled. 

"Dara, just leave her alone, okay?" Soomi dusted me off.

"Yah! You wanna fight?" the girl named Dara provoked Soomi. I was getting scared. 

Soomi shrugged it off and asked me, "Are you okay?"

"She asked you if you wanted to fight," the model like person, whom I'm guessing her name is Bom then, pushed Soomi. 

-Soomi's POV-
I rolled by eyes. "Yah, don't mess with me. It's the first day of school. Go away," I sighed, looking at her boredly. 

"I see, you can't handle our fists again, can you?" Dara smirked at me. "We're going to mess up your pretty little face so bad, that you would have to resort to being a loner again."  I smirked back. "You know how I feel about fighting, don't ya?" I asked. "Try me," I whispered, daring her. 

Bom's eyes were fueled with anger and lifted her fist in the air. I shut my eyes as I waited for the punch. Then I heard a loud thud, but the fist didn't reach my fast. I opened my eyes in shock as the fist was stopped in midair with another hand resisting it.

I looked over and saw Alex's hand holding her wrist, tightly. "Alexander!" Bom's eyes widened with shock. 

He smirked. "Why don't you pick on someone else, for today, Bom-shi?" She snatched her fist back, "Mianhaeyo, Alexander-shi..." she shyly spoke. "Get to class, I'm sure your late." The three of them looked down in shame. "Well, go on, I'll let you go for today. I hope not to see this again," he gently spoke. Bom nodded. "Araso...bye..." she walked away in embarrassment, passing by me and shot me some glares. 

She passed by Sulli and threatened her, "We'll get you when no one is around." 

Minzy passed by me, stopping a bit to whisper, "You're lucky you have one of your guys here. But we're not going to let this pass. Next time, we'll get you." And she left. 

"Are you okay?" Alex offered a hand to me, but I didn't take it. "I'm okay." 

"You had me worried! What if they really got what they wanted? You would have looked terrible," he gave me a worried look. I shrugged, "You know I don't like seeing others being picked on."

"Even if you used to be one?" Alex murmurred. "Don't go there. That was the past. All in the past."

"Yeah, but they still consider you different. Watch yourself okay?" Alex whispered. I nodded. "Okay I will. Sulli?" I turned around to see Sulli still shocked about that approach. "See, since you're the new kid, this tends to happen a lot. So get used to the school system here, or deal with what just happened here. I'll fill you in on more information later. Let's go, class is about to----" Then the bell rang. I grabbed Sulli's hand and began running. "Laters, Alex oppa." I smiled, the same smile, that showed nothing was wrong. 

"Bye, losers," and we were off to class. 

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rukia1335 is BACK! from a very long break~ sorry i haven't updated! 

i had a writer's block moment for this story. I wasn't sure how to continue it.

but what do you guys think? good? bad? terrible? 

please let me know in the comments below! :)

thank you for those that waited so long for this update! 

rukia1335 is OUT!

(copyright date: 10-21-2011)