Ren was walking to his locker, late for the first time that year, and it’s on the last day. He growls, unlocking his locker. Stupid electricity going out, making his alarm shut off and not wake him up. He hurries and grabs his books and slams shut his locker. As he was rushing to class, he heard some commotion in the hallway. Ren’s better judgment tells him to keep going and he’s late enough already, but his conscious compels him to go and see if he can help.

As Ren nears the source of the commotion, he can distinctly hear Ji Wook’s voice and laughter. Ren sighs; he should have listened to his better half and kept walking. But he was too far into it, and besides, this is the hallway he needs to go through to get to class. So Ren steels his shoulders and walks towards a meeting with the devil.

Ren can see right away that he’s ed; there’s a half circle of Ji Wook’s buddies (Ren calls them goons) surrounding this poor kid, trapping him against the lockers with no escape. Ren doesn’t recognize the kid, but he knows the routine Ji Wook is doing. The bully in question is standing in front of the kid, papers and supplies all over the floor around him, holding the boy’s backpack upside down and laughing his off. The poor kid looks close to tears as he tries to grab the backpack back from Ji Wook, who just laughs more and throws the bag to one of his goonies. The goon then taunts the by, making him come closer before throwing the backpack at another one of the friends. Ren growls again and stalks up behind the goon that has it now. Ji Wook isn’t paying attention; he’s currently high-fiving one of the other goonies. The only one that knows he’s there is the boy, and his eyes widen. As the goon pulls back to throw the backpack again, Ren grabs his hair and forces him down low so he can grab the bag and then shoves the goon away.

Everyone had gone silent and turned towards Ren in shock and anger, except for the boy whose backpack Ren had. He was just terrified. Ren turns and looks Ji Wook straight in the eye.

“This is what you’re resorting to, Ji Wook?” he says, voice low and angry. “Picking on poor kids that won’t defend themselves because you can’t handle the ones that do stand up to you?!” Ji Wook recovers from his earlier shock and smirks.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, MINKI.” Ji Wook sneers, using Ren’s real name because he knows Ren hates it. The only one that Ren will allow to use his real name is Baekho. “I was just walking by when I saw this poor boy’s backpack split open and everything that was in it spill out onto the floor. I was merely trying to help him pick up.” Ren rolled his eyes and the boy looks embarrassed.

“Are you sure you weren’t the one that ripped his backpack so everything came flying out and when he tried to pick up his stuff you kicked them all over the hallway?” Ren says with a smirk. Ji Wook’s face goes from sneering to anger.

“Are you calling me a liar, ?” he growls. Ren shrugs.

“No, I just think you twisted the truth so people believe that what you did is what really happened.” He grins at his play on words. Ji Wook gets confused and so Ren laughs. “Yes, I’m calling you a liar, stupid!” Ji Wook looks embarrassed and then majorly pissed.

“No one calls ME a liar!” he yells and starts to move towards Ren when a small voice interrupts them.

“H-he’s right….” The boy says, looking at the ground. Ren and Ji Wook pause and look over at him in shock. “I-I had a hole i-in my backpack, a-and everything j-j-just fell out…” he continues in broken Korean. Anyone that heard him speak could tell right away that he wasn’t used to the language, and the only new person in the school that transferred from another country that he could remember is Aron, the boy from America.

‘No wonder he’s getting bullied,’ Ren thinks to himself. ‘Ji Wook hates Americans, because that’s what his parents left him behind for…’

Ji Wook’s family history isn’t a happy one, but it’s not as bad as some others. His parents weren’t expecting him, and they didn’t really want him. When he was born, they hired all sorts of sitters and tutors to raise him instead of them, and when he was old enough, they left him here in the care of his grandparents for America, and he hasn’t heard from them since, apart from the occasional holiday cards and money, and those are few and far between. So he blames America for taking his parents away, and anything that is American related, he scorns and despises.

Coming back to the present, Ren shakes his head and sighs. “You don’t have to cover for him. Doing whatever he says and defending him won’t make anything better for you, not by a long shot. He will just see that you are easy prey and he’ll keep coming after you.” Ji Wook gasps in pretend shock.

“Minki!” he places a hand over his heart in mock hurt. “I would NEVER!” Ren rolls his eyes and continues to talk to Aron.

“I don’t know what you think you can endure by yourself, but let me tell you,” Ren stares Aron in the eye and walks towards him until they are only a couple of feet apart. “Ji Wook will test every single thread of self-worth that you possess. He will tear down every protective wall you have and he will destroy what those walls were protecting. Your only hope is to stick with the right people in this school.” Ji Wook laughs, interrupting Ren. Ren bit his lip in an attempt to stop himself from going over there and trying to kick his . He wouldn’t succeed, but the few hits he got in would feel good at first.

“Look at you, Ren, trying to be the little hero of the lost souls,” Ji Wook sneers. “What the are you, Catwoman or something?” Ren snorts.

“No, if anything I would be Robin Hood.” He retorts over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off of Aron. Aron looks conflicted, and Ren can tell he’s almost got him, so he tries again. “I have friends, and we can protect you. We were bullied by this face,” he indicates Ji Wook with a jerk of his head, causing Ji Wook to growl angrily, “but we fought back, and now we’re much better off than if we just sat and took it. We can help you, if you would let us.” Aron’s eyes are shining now, with a mixture of hope and tears, until Ji Wook steps in again.

“What, you and your little band of misfits that I haven’t taken care of because I didn’t feel like it?” he says, and Aron looks down, his face closing down again. Ren sighs; he’s had it. “I could take care of them anytime I wanted. Actually,” Ji Wook looks excited because his brain actually worked hard enough to come up with an idea, “Why don’t I just take care of you right now?” he smiles evilly and starts walking towards Ren. Ren turns to face him and knows that he’s done for. However, before Ji Wook can get close enough to throw a punch, the sound of teachers’ voices stop him. He growls under his breath.

“You better get going, Ji Wook.” Ren grins. “The teachers are coming, and you can’t afford to get into trouble again.” Ji Wook looks conflicted, but ultimately the thought of him getting expelled so he can’t pick on kids anymore won over his pride, and so he and his goonies leave, but not without Ji Wook flipping off Ren and Aron. Ren rolls his eyes at how childish Ji Wook really is, and turns back to Aron. The poor boy looks ready to break down any second.

“Hey, are you-” He starts to say, but Aron’s quiet voice interrupts him.

“You shouldn’t have done that…” he mumbles, still looking at the ground in front of him. Ren blinks in confusion, and then becomes angry.

“If I didn’t do that, then he wouldn’t have stopped. Eventually he would get bored with just kicking your stuff all over the hallway and we would start kicking you all over the hallway.” Ren softens. “I just don’t want what happened to me and Baekho to happen to anyone else.” He gives Aron a small smile and Aron gives a meek smile in return.

“Then thank you, I guess,” he says quietly, and Ren laughs.

“No thanks are needed. Now,” he indicates the mess of pencils and papers around the floor. “Are we going to start cleaning this up now or what?” Aron laughs, wipes his eyes, and the two get to work, laughing and chatting the whole time.

~Omg I'm sorry for not updating sooner! I decided to delve more into the history of Aron and Ren, and the next chapter will have them while JR and Baekho are off being naughty ;D And then some more JHo , but I wanted to include some of ARen. ^^ Let me know how you guys like it and I love all of you!!!!