A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her.

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Jieun’s POV

            Not bothering to even grab a freshly baked blueberry muffin from the bread basket as I descended down the trail of stairs, I charged out the front door forgetting to even bring a light jacket. Thank goodness today was sunny with only light breezes. I mentally slapped myself for not continuing phys ed class up until my senior year because right now endurance was what I needed more than anything. I flipped open my phone to check the time; I had five more minutes to get to school before I was considered officially late. Why did I seem to be the only one in the world who suffered such tragic punctuality problems? Though I was not late yet, I always went by the saying ‘the early bird catches the worm’, and figuratively, I struggled far too hard to be the early bird all the time. My mind jolted when I carelessly stomped over a large rock that sat randomly on the middle of the sidewalk, forcing me to trip forwards. My left hand quickly reached towards my knee to feel the wound; my warm blood was trickling from the cuts and it stung more than a hundred needles being poked into me at once. Taking a quick glance at my surroundings, I realized that no one was around at all so I mustered all my energy to push myself back up and limped as fast as I could to school. First period was math, and I couldn’t afford to miss even one lesson or I’d be too behind. This really made me miss my earlier high school years when missing just one class meant almost nothing, but now in the final weeks of my senior year, everything came with a cost.

Wooyoung’s POV

            I leaned nonchalantly against the flagpole in front of the school doors, ignoring the groups of gossiping freshmen, flood of couples holding hands, and snarling teachers who passed by me. I was searching for one face in particular, and after waiting for over thirty minutes I began to wonder if I accidently let her pass through the door unnoticed during my short but frequent daydreaming intermissions.

            “Wooyoung oppa,” A female voice called my name and I flinched, immediately looking towards the direction of the voice. She was walking towards me with a healthy and lit smile, holding onto both straps of her backpack and I gave her a light-hearted wave.

            “The bell just rang,” She informed me, despite the fact that I heard the bell sound undoubtedly signaling that we had only five minutes left before class starts. I turned away from her to stare at the puffy white clouds, floating high in the sky occasionally blocking off the sunlight before replying,

            “I know. You should get to class, Eunjung. I heard there's a math test today.” Though I did not spare another glance at her face I could see her pouting in my head while I was trying to guess what nagging tactic she would use on me next to try to get me to walk her to class.

            “What about you?” Her question was filled with curiosity that I felt no desire to satisfy.

            “I’m waiting for someone.” I replied plainly, hoping she would just leave me here. She moved directly in front of me and stared into my eyes, as if she was trying to see into my soul. With both my hands I pushed her slightly away before she could interrogate me further and gently forced her through the front doors. When the doors closed again I went back to my casual lean, still waiting. She had two more minutes, where was she? Taking a few steps away from the school to see down the street that Jieun always took home, I sighed when I saw nobody there. The sun rays were shooting right at my eyes, forcing me to rub them. When I opened them again Jieun stood at the end of the block, having just made the turn onto the sidewalk and I could feel my face tense into a relieved smile. I continued to stare at her as I lifted a hand to wave, but my hand immediately dropped back to my side when I saw the blotches of red on her legs and her unsteady footwork.

            “Jieun, kwaenchanah?” I yelled loud enough for her to hear me, even though I knew she wasn’t fine. My quick sprint got me to her side in less than a few seconds.

            “Wooyoung oppa?” She said my name like a question, but her voice made my heart skip a beat. I nodded comfortingly and bent down in front of her, signaling for her to climb on my back. There was no way in hell I was going to let her limp the rest of the way to school in this condition. Surprisingly, she climbed on without question.

            “Jieun-ah, how could you be so careless?” I walked at a steady pace, feeling her chin resting on my right shoulder as I teased. I caught her laughing quietly at herself for about two seconds, and I really wondered whether she was blushing right now or not. When we made it back to the school I saw Eunjung standing beside the first set of doors, eyes locked on Jieun who rested comfortably against my back. This was no time for girl drama; I needed to get Jieun to the nurse’s office. I kicked the door open with my right foot, not losing even a second of balance and brushed past Eunjung, making my way through the second set of doors. It was slightly amusing to see so many loitering teachers gawk at the drying blood on Jieun’s legs as I passed them to get to the right hallway.

            “Um…” Jieun said with an embarrassed whisper, “I have a math test that I can’t miss…” Even though she couldn’t see my face—or at least clearly at the moment—I rolled my eyes at her carelessness.

            “Your safety comes first.” Seeing how she couldn’t even walk straight on her own, it was unbelievable that all she could think about right now was her math test. I was supposed to be in English class right now but my teacher should understand, after all this isn’t even close to the first time I’ve purposely missed her class. This time, I had a legit reason. Without arguing further, Jieun allowed me to carry her into the nurse’s office and when I finally let her down I saw the light shade of pink on her cheeks. She blushes quite easily and it’s cute.

            “Wooyoung, go to class now.” The nurse rolled her eyes as me as she wiped the drying blood from Jieun’s cuts and scrapes. Sighing I assured,

            “Let me walk Jieun to class first.” It seemed like the nurse was debating whether or not she should let me stay, but I guessed that she assumed it would be better if Jieun was escorted to class. I’ve never seen someone become so scratched up from tripping onto a cement sidewalk before. If she had been wearing long pants rather than the mandatory uniform skirt then her scratches would not have been as severe. I too winced as I watched the nurse spray each wound with disinfectant, and smiled at Jieun whenever she shot a nervous glance at me.

            “Does it still hurt?” I asked, walking alongside Jieun down the hallway to her math class. She shook her head hesitantly; perhaps she wanted to look strong and hide the pain in front of me? I chuckled to myself and put one arm around her shoulder. From an outsider’s view it was just a friendly gesture that showed how close we were and Jieun didn’t find it awkward at all. Her pacing became steadier than before but her face grew more anxious with each step we took towards her math class.

            “The teacher’s going to scold me.” She assumed, sighing in defeat. I shook my head to disagree and offered to take care of the teacher for her. I knocked three times on the door and it creaked open to reveal a disrupted class of seniors staring wide eyed and confused at the two of us in the doorway and an angered math teacher who seemed as if he was going to shoo us away with a ruler. After he took a look at the immense amount of bandages on Jieun’s legs his expression softened and he held out a test sheet for her.

            “Gomawo, Wooyoung Oppa.” She thanked with a grateful smile before heading to her desk. I smiled back with a wave and headed towards English—the worst subject in life.

Eunjung’s POV

            Jieun sat two desks away from me, completely focused on answering the math questions I had finished minutes before she came in, escorted by Wooyoung. Since when had they grown so close? I remembered back in the earlier days of musical theatre when he would never even spare her a glance or acknowledge her existence, let alone care so much as to deliberately wait outside the school for her to show up. Were they actually together? Jieun caught me staring at her and quickly looked away, punching numbers in her calculator fiercely to avoid eye contact again. I sighed and turned to the other direction. Was I really so scary in her eyes?

            “Ham Eunjung, eyes on your own paper or you get a zero!” Mr. Park scolded me. I hadn’t realized that my eyes were drifting from student to student, desk to desk, and froze when he called my name. Still sitting, I tried my best to bow apologetically and put my head down, staring straight at my desk. This was definitely embarrassing! I closed my eyes, succumbing myself to the already present darkness inside this brightly lit classroom and thought to myself silently. I recalled Jieun calling him ‘oppa’ before he left. Why did this make me so angry when I was almost certain she had no chance with him? I’ve met every girl Wooyoung had ever dated, which at one point in time included me, and was positive Jieun was definitely not his type. Wooyoung was such a playboy, it was evident he didn’t care that I still liked him and already moved onto his next victim. Jieun, please don’t be an idiot and fall for this jerk like I have, because once you fall, you can only go deeper and in the end he’ll leave and you’ll be left with nothing. It wasn’t that I hated Jieun; I just didn’t know what to think of her as, which resulted in my frustration when I am forced see her. Even though we’re not on the best of terms I knew for sure that I didn’t want her to fall for Wooyoung, both for her sake and mine. It was kind of a selfish mindset which at the same time was selfless, making our invisible relationship a type of commensalism. If Jieun doesn’t fall for Wooyoung, she won’t have her heartbroken and I won’t have any more competition to get him back. He made a poor choice to leave me, and I know that he’ll regret it in the end. Playboys like him will always seem perfect in the beginning, but once Jieun sees him for who he is there’s no way she or any other girl will want to stay with him. I’ve seen him at his worst, I know all his flaws inside out and yet he still holds a firm place in my heart. Love was like that, it doesn’t make sense and so I won’t question it.

Jieun’s POV

            I sat alone at my lunch table—my usual routine—and took a bite of my sandwich, trying to avoid all the strange glares students of both genders were giving me ever since first period ended. I didn’t think having so many band-aids on my legs would draw so much attention to me. This was why high school was weird; you get strange and hateful vibes from people you don’t even know for absurd reasons. I’m so glad I’m graduating in a few years, and then I can finally move another step closer to realizing my dream. High school will be nothing but an insignificant figment of my past, so whoever wants to stare can go ahead. I pulled out my iPod and put in both the earphones, cranking the volume up to medium as I rocked my head gently back and forth to the rhythm of the music. My head turned to the right when my right earphone was plucked out of my ear and felt myself melt into a puddle at the sight of who was beside me.

            “Annyeong, Jieun-ah!” Eunjung greeted me with a forced smile, taking a seat beside me at the empty table for outcasts—which in this case was just me—and pulled out a juice box from her backpack. Why in the world would she sit with me for lunch? I shrugged and placed the earphone back in my ear, figuring that she would leave any second now; but she didn’t. She pulled the earphone out of my ear again and coughed,

            “Is it true?”

            “Is what true?” I was puzzled by her sudden question. She ignored the strange glances people continued to give me—now the both of us, and hinted,

            “You and Wooyoung.”

            “What about me and Wooyoung?”

            “Are you two really dating?” She asked as if it was the most casual and normal thing to say, continuing to take small bites out of her ham sandwich as she waited for my response. I felt my jaw drop to the floor. What the hell is going on? Was that why everyone was staring at me? Everyone thinks I’m dating Jang Wooyoung?! A part of me really wished it were true, but wishful thinking gets you nowhere. I popped the other earphone out of my ear and jumped away from the table. I needed to find Wooyoung and sort things out—now. Despite my minor injuries from this morning, I sprinted all around the school ignoring the snickering, doubtful comments, and continuous stares until I found him surrounded by his usual group of friends outside by the school’s flagpole. He was startled by my sudden appearance but I didn’t care. This was probably the most impulsive thing I’ve ever done in my life but I marched towards the group of boys and grabbed Wooyoung’s arm, dragging him away to the parking lot nearby.

            “Is something wrong?” Wooyoung asked slightly panicked by my heavy breathing from running around all lunch hour. Unable to speak immediately, I nodded to respond to him. When my breathing became even again I whispered in a loud and accusing tone,

            “The whole school thinks we’re dating, that’s what’s wrong!” I glanced at the front windows by the doors and saw groups of freshmen girls staring at the two of us in our confrontation. Redirecting my glance back to Wooyoung, I was completely dumbfounded when I saw him laughing, placing a hand over his stomach.

            “What’s so funny?” I felt angry by his lack of seriousness in this situation, because the rumors were in no way true.

            “Why do you care so much about what people think?” He retorted, smiling shamelessly at me.

            “Why are you letting the whole school believe these lies?” I replied with a question of my own. He scratched the back of his neck and then explained as if he were a social relations teacher,

            “This is how rumors are. They spread like wildfire but they die off. When a day passes, it will become yesterday's news; when that day passes, it will be the day before yesterday's news and after one year, no one will remember anything anymore. Why waste all your time trying to get ignorant people to believe the truth when they don’t want to? If they want to think that we’re dating then by all means, let them.” I wasn’t sure what to say to him, because every word made complete sense to me. Did this mean that he didn’t mind people thinking that we were an item?

            “We’re still friends, right?” Wooyoung winked at me. I froze on the spot, taking a few seconds to calm myself before nodding again. As long as we both knew we were friends then it didn’t matter what everyone else thought. This was just high school, and I knew Wooyoung would help me through the last few weeks of ‘teenage hell’. He smiled at me reassuringly; the sweet and genuine smile that I love and all my trivial worries were lifted from me.

A/N: Oh high school drama; I hate high school drama. Yay for being a social outcast? LOL... Thank you to all my readers! I'd love to see comments from everyone (:

"When a day passes it will become yesterday’s news; when that day passes it will be the day before yesterday’s news and after one year, no one will remember anything anymore."

- Go Hyemi from Dream High Episode 14