Let me just say, moving around after wiping myself out completely is not the most enjoyable sensation I’ve felt.  I somehow was able to make it through the weekend alright, but once Monday came and my alarm went off, all I wanted to do was go back to sleep.  Luckily, Youngmin had looked ahead and picked me up with his car.  I wanted to know how he had convinced his parents to let him use it (if he even had) but was too scared to find out the answer.  Most everyone was nice and considerate to me (since I had helped win them the meet).  And I hated it.  Why couldn’t they just let me be?  I may hurt, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t take care of myself.  Youngmin wasn’t helping matters as he kept fussing over me with every wince, every flinch, and every quiet gasp.  I put up with it for as long as I could, but by lunch I had to tell him to stop.  He didn’t like it of course, but conceded reluctantly upon not being able to break the stubbornness in my eyes.

What only made it worse were the couple jokes that the others were making.  I thought that eventually they would get bored of it and quit.  Four days later I realized that wasn’t going to happen.  On the bright side, as I was enduring the teasing, my body was recovering quickly and I was soon able to take my place at the top in practice.

Ara Cha was there for me as well and I often escaped to her when everything else was too overbearing.  Sometimes I would even bring Youngmin along and the three of us would hang out, but that was only sometimes.  Usually, mine and Ara Cha’s time consisted of my confused ramblings concerning said blonde.  She insisted that he liked me, but with his flirty nature, it was hard to believe.  These conversations ended up with me sighing in defeat and enduring another day of confusion.

Two weeks after the meet went on like this.  With each passing day, my stress level rose bit by bit with school drama, homework, and the urge to do better in track.  I hadn’t touched my sketchbook in ages and I missed the feel of its pages and my pencils.  I was almost at my breaking point when I encountered the last person I wanted to see.

Chung Ae.

I was in the restroom, washing my hands, when the door slammed open and in marched the devil herself.  Or rather, teetered in her five inch heels.  Her face screwed up in a scowl, I knew this wasn’t going to go over well.  She shooed the last girls out of the bathroom and locked the door when the last one fled. 

Where the HECK did she get a key?

Just as I was contemplating this thought, she threw me against the wall, gripping my shirt collar in her fist.

“Careful,” I warned, “don’t want to break a nail.”

She sneered at me and slammed me against the wall once more.  “You should be worrying about yourself right now.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, really, ‘cause I’m going to make sure you regret ever laying eyes on my Youngmin-oppa.”

I narrowed my eyes at her.  “Your Youngmin-oppa?  Last time I checked, he was still single.”

“Yah!  Shut up!” Chung Ae yelled.  “He’s always been mine!  But you just had to come and ruin everything by seducing him!”

“S-seducing?” I choked out.  “Honey, please don’t mix me in with your group.  It’s affronting.” 

Her face screwed up in confusion at my ‘sophisticated’ language, but the grip on my collar tightened.  “How dare you insult me?”  Oh, good.  So she understood it was supposed to be offending.

“It’s not hard to do,” I informed. 

A resounding SLAP echoed in the linoleum room as her hand made contact with my cheek.  Gritting my teeth, I seethed in quiet anger, glaring daggers at her, face stinging.  She smirked satisfactorily.

“At a loss for words once it gets violent?  You are so pathetic.”

Having enough of this, I kicked at her foot, sliding it out from under her.  The screech of her heel on the floor rang in my ear.  Unable to keep her balance, Chung Ae fell to the ground, bringing me down with her.  We landed with a thud and Chung Ae’s grip weakened as the breath was knocked out of her.  In a flash, I was back on my feet, staring down at her lazily.

“Don’t even go there,” I replied lazily.  “Violence may not be my thing, but I can hold my own in a fight.  Next time you want a brawl, go find one in an alley after school.”  I turned to walk out of the bathroom, scooping up the key that had dropped to the ground.  As I unlocked the door, I turned back to Chung Ae who was sitting up, rubbing her head.  “Oh, and I suggest you find different shoes.”

“You didn’t,” Ara Cha gasped, horrified.

“Yep.  She had it coming.  Besides, she started it.” I sipped my water nonchalantly.  “It was actually a good thing she showed up.  I needed to relieve some stress.”

Ara Cha stared at me in wonderment.  “You are so dead.”

“Gee, thanks for that heart-warming message.  I’ll make sure to write that down.”

“I’m sorry.  It’s just that, everyone who has gone against Chung Ae has ended up very hurt and publically humiliated.  I don’t want that to happen to you.”

I waved off her concerns.  “It’s alright, I’m a big girl.  I can handle myself.”  She continued to look at me with those worried dark eyes.  Sighing, I queried, “What are you doing this weekend?”

My question caught her off guard but she quickly recovered.  “Nothing, just some homework and studying.”

“Want to go shopping?”  Her eyes widened in surprise.  “Mwo?”

“You want to go shopping?” her voice sounded dubious.

I rolled my eyes.  “Okay, so it’s not really my thing, but I need to get out of my house and get some warmer clothes –and I don’t particularly want to go with Youngmin in case the rest of Boyfriend finds out.  Besides, I need girl time.”

Ara Cha’s wide eyes narrowed as a smile formed on her lips.  “Yes!  We should totally go shopping!  I know the perfect stores!  Let’s go at 1:00 on Saturday, ‘kay?  Ohmigosh, this is going to be so much fun!”

I grinned at her joy.  Making Ara Cha happy was an easy thing to accomplish, but it was so rewarding every time. 

“Youngmin-oppa, I’m telling you, I’m not home,” I repeated, exasperated.

“What do you mean you’re not home?  Where else would you be?”

“You’re not my only friend, oppa,” I reminded.  “I’m out with Ara Cha.  We’re…shopping.”

Silence reigned on the other side, and then Youngmin cracked up on the other line.  “Pwahahaha!  That’s too funny!  You almost had me going there.  Now seriously, where are you?”

I growled into my cell phone.  Just who did he think he was?  Did he think that I wasn’t girl enough to go shopping with a friend?  Did he think that I needed to be with him all of the time?  Well, if that was the case, he had another thing coming.  “Mian, Youngmin-oppa, but I cannot spend the day with you.”

“Jin Haneul-ah?” Ara Cha stepped out of the dressing room in a pair of blue jeans and green top.  “How do I look?”

I grinned at her.  “That is adorable on you.  You should definitely get it.”  Then I spoke to Youngmin.  “I’ll talk to you later, oppa!”  And I hung up.

“Who was on the phone?” Ara Cha asked.

“Youngmin-oppa,” I answered briefly, flicking through the racks again, searching for a sweater to go with that green shirt.

“And you hung up on him?”

“I told him goodbye,” I defended.

The other girl sighed.  “What did he want?”

“He wanted to know where I was,” I said.  “Apparently he came to my house to pick me up to go somewhere, but I wasn’t there.  Then when I told him that I was shopping with you, he laughed.  Can you believe that?”

Ara Cha giggled.  “Did you say where we were at?”

“Ani, I just said we were out shopping.”

“Oh, Jin Haneul-ah, he just wants to spend time with you.”  Suddenly, Ara Cha snapped her finger.  “I got it.  Tell him the next time he wants to be with you outside of school, he has to call it a date.

My mouth fell open.  “Ara Cha-ah!” I cried, face flaming red.  “I can’t do that!  He might get the wrong idea!”

She winked at me.  “But it won’t be the wrong idea, will it?  That’s exactly what you want, is it not?”

I couldn’t contradict that.

“Fine, but it’s your fault if it doesn’t work out.”

“Oh, believe me, it will.”

“What do you mean, you ‘can’t go?’” he asked, bewildered.

“I’m sorry, Youngmin-oppa, but I’m tired of Jeongmin-ssi’s and Kwangmin-ssi’s teasing.  If we are going to hang out again, I don’t wanna have to correct them that it wasn’t a date.  Either it’s a date, or I’ll see you at school.”  I may have sounded cool and collected, but really my insides were falling apart, rolling around each other in a tumbling mess.

I heard a soft chuckle through the phone.  “You really are something,” he said, that comment alone making me blush furiously.  “Okay, how about Sunday?”

“Mian, but I can’t Sunday.  It’s family time.”

Youngmin growled on the other end.  “You are making this really hard for me.  How about next Saturday, then?”

I smiled victoriously.  “That works.”

“Is there any place specific you want to go?”

“I’ll leave that up to you, oppa.”

This is just a short update to lead up to the real update on Saturday.  Hope you all enjoy!  Maybe this will satisfy some of you guys until the next bit. 

And guess what else? 17 subscribers! Oh joyous day!