＊myungsoo's story

 may third twenty ten 

Starting a new school year was never fun. Needing to go back to the old routine of waking up early, doing homework, staying late for clubs and just all that other crap - it . Well, it had been a few months already, but it still wasn't any better. Dragging my feet to class, I saw that there was only one girl there. Park Jiyeon. That girl was a mystery to say the least. Long black hair that always covered her face, her horrible posture, everything about her was...creepy. Not to mention, she never spoke to anyone in class. Not even the teacher. Well, it's not like he bothered to pick on her. He already knew that she had the answers. Although she didn't look it, Jiyeon was always the top of the class. I don't think the number one position has ever had another name on it- even though the class rep was always trying to get that spot.

I found myself staring at her, thankfully, she didn't notice as her gaze was fixated on her book.

Books. Did I forget to say that this girl won the annual short story contest this year? Why did it matter? Because I wanted to win it. It honestly pissed me off to think that this scary girl could write better than me. I mean, isn't writing all about life experiences? For me, it seemed like all Jiyeon did was stay in a dark closet. What kind of experiences could she have? I, on the other hand, was (relatively) well-liked in class. I actually went out to have fun, plus, I was in the Literature Club. Alright, my bad side was showing. I guess jealousy did that people. I just needed to it up. Speaking of my club. Sunggyu-hyung, the student head, had been pestering me to get Jiyeon to join. It kind of irritated me but I knew that I had to at least try. For the sake of the club. 

Gingerly, I decided to approach her.

"Jiyeon-sshi." 

No response. She didn't even look away from her book.

"Jiyeon-sshi. You won the student short story writing contest, right?" I decided to just jump into my question. No sense in smalltalk.

Still no response.

"It was really good. I read it and I'm honestly quite jealous of you."

Finally, she placed her book down and turned to look at me.

"What do you want?" She asked quietly.

"Ah, well, I'm part of the Literature Club. And I was wonderi -"

"I'm not joining." Jiyeon interrupted.

Before I could even try to change her mind, whatever minute attention she had given me was brought back to her book. 

Well. I tried. Breathing out a long sigh, I walked over to my desk, and noticed my best friend, and fellow member of the Literature Club, Sungyeol had already taken his seat.

"Why are you talking to the Grudge?" He smirked, his gaze falling on Jiyeon. I sighed and told him all about how Sunggyu had been telling me to get her to join. Sungyeol quickly shook his head in protest.

"If she joins, the club will be too dreary!" 

"Why is she like that anyway?" I finally ask. I had just assumed that maybe she was just downright creepy, but my curiosity got the better of me. Sungyeol was always pretty up-to-date with everything. I was less in the know, partly because I really didn't bother about other people's business. But if I needed some information on a classmate, I could turn to him.

"I heard that her younger sister died earlier this year. Maybe that's why she's always gloomy. Anyway, just leave her alone."

Students started to file in, and slowly, the talking in the class became louder. The seats were finally filled and before the teacher came into class, the class representative, Lee Jieun, better known as IU towards her friends, stood up from her seat. What the heck was her problem? I shot Sungyeol a glance as if mentally asking him my question. The choding silently air-drew the number 2. 

I finally remembered that the first test results had been posted outside the class. Lee Jieun had once again secured number two. Her eyes were fixated on Jiyeon, who paid her no attention. Clearing , Jieun walked to the front of the class. 

"Everyone. Do you think it's fair?"

A few questioning mutters arose from the class.

"Park Jiyeon. She's always skipping out on gym so she can study in private. She is excused from joining any clubs, and she also uses that extra time to study. Everyone. I don't think that fair to anyone else. Why does she get these priviledges?" Jieun asked loudly.

I always never saw Jiyeon in PE, but I heard it was because of her health problems. Moreover, I never saw her studying while she was excused from that class either. But I kept quiet since I saw that the class was starting to get riled up by Jieun's outburst.

"Yeah! I always come home so late because of my club, I barely get a chance to look at my textbook."

"So that's what she's doing when she's excused?"

"How come she doesn't have to join any clubs when it's mandatory for us?!"

Jieun's right hand women, Sooji and Jinri, stood up and walked beside her during the commotion. 

"Park Jiyeon. What do you have to say for yourself?"

The class finally went silent in anticipation for her answer.

Grabbing the book on her desk, and swinging her bag over her shoulder, Jiyeon stood up.

"I am sorry."

Quietly, she walked out of the class.

Everyone started getting loud again. No one wanted that answer- especially Jieun. She and her cronies glanced back at Jiyeon's empty desk with annoyance. Finally, Jieun decided to release her anger on the desk by roughly kicking it's leg causing a few notebooks to fall out.

"Throw it out. We don't want trash in our classroom." She demanded.

Sometimes they scared me. Girls and their jealousy.

I looked at the door that was still wide open and sighed once more.

She should've just cried or something.

Because after that day, everyone decided to ignore her.