It had been some days since I first met Jongup. We were always sitting together in class and at lunch time. He always kept his beautiful smile and always seemed happy. It was great to be around someone like that. He would make me smile anytime he was around even if I had a bad day. I laughed a lot when I was with him and it was almost a miracle because usually, I never laughed. 

 

This morning, I was walking to school with a smile on my face. It was the first time ever I actually wanted to go to school and it was great. I couldn't wait to see my friend again. It was such a great feeling to go to a place knowing someone was waiting for you, wanting to see you. I know I might seem a little too much enthusiastic but I just never experienced friendship before. 

 

My joy went away soon enough though as I remembered why school was such a torture for me. As I just entered the school hallway, I saw the group of three guys which I call "My usual bullies". I hoped so much for them not to see me. I lowered my head and I avoided the place they were by going in another hallway. Unfortunately, one of them saw me and they all came into my way. 

"Hey you! Are you trying to avoid us?" The leader of the group asked. He was a really intimidating man. His deep voice was scary and his look was as well. As they were after me, I stopped walking and I waited there, knowing they would catch me even if I tried to run away. 

"Do you have any money today?" The leader asked. It was always him who was talking, I don't think I've ever heard a word out of any of his friends' mouth. 

"No, I don't." I was so used to this situation, I didn't stutter anymore when I was answering him.

"And you know what this means..." Yes I did. And he knew that too well, his once question was now an affirmation. Unfortunately, this morning, I had been so enthusiast at the idea of seeing my new friend that I had forgotten my money. Now, he and his friends will drag me in a corner where there isn't anybody watching and they will take fun in hitting me. They will start kind of gently but will hit me harder after each blow. I was ready though, it wasn't that bad. It will hurt a lot at the moment but I won't feel anything tomorrow, I will only have some sensitive bruises that I'll need to cover up so my mom won't notice it. 

"Hey! Look at me when I'm talking to you!" The scary voice brought me back to reality as I didn't even realize we already were at the usual place My usual bullies would bring me, too lost in my thoughts. 

The leader was always the one who hit first and his friends never complained about it, knowing they would be the ones to get hit if they did. 

He didn't hit that hard - well not his hardest anyway - first but it hurt a lot. It wasn't so long ago the last time I had forgotten my money so the marks of the last time were still sensitive. I clenched my teeth and my fists and kept my eyes shut tightly to endure the pain that was burning on my cheek. I hated it when they punched me in the face because it was harder to hide and I was forced to use makeup. While when they made marks on the rest of my body I couls just cover it up by wearing long sleeves and pants, I could also wear a scarf (though I hate it) when I had marks in my neck.

It was now the second one's turn. He was greatly built but wasn't as intimidating as the leader. I knew he wouldn't punch me as hard as the leader did but it would hurt as well. With a grin on his face, he lifted his fist to punch me in the face, the same way the last one did, and when his fist touched my face, the pain was so intense I had to repress a cry - I couldn't let any noise out or they would hit me harder. I wondered if I would be able to hide the marks after that. 

It was the third one's turn now. He was the least intimidating of the three but he was the one who hit the hardest. I don't know why but it seems that today they had decided to hit me only in the face. I hated those days, usually it wasn't that bad but it appears that the last time they had beat me it was this kind of day too so today was really painful. 

The third one hit me in the face at the same place the two before him had. I kept my eyes tightly shut to prevent the tears from falling. It was rare I would cry when they hit me but this time was so painful, I couldn't help it. 

"Aww, you're crying?" The leader asked with fake concern in his voice and a smile showing on his face. "Then behave next time and bring me my money!" He said before leaving with his two friends following him. 

 

The bell would ring soon so I didn't have time to cover up the marks on my cheek. But it doesn't really matter because everyone in school has seen me at least once like that. I was used to it and I couldn't do anything for it, I was just going to endure it all my high school years. 

I went to my locker and took my books. On the way to my class, I kept my head low as I always would. This way the marks were a bit less obvious and people wouldn't stare at me too much. 

As I entered the class, I took my usual seat and I waited for the bell to ring. I heard footsteps coming near me and someone sat next to me. I was surprised. The seats besides me were never taken as everybody tried to stay away from me. 

"Oh my god! What happened to your face??!?" The person beside me said and I recognized the familiar voice. I had been so worried about My usual bullies and the way I was going to cover the marks on my face that I forgot the reason why I was so happy to come to school. Earlier when I said everybody in this school saw me at least once with marks on my face, it wasn't true. My new friend never saw me like this and hearing his voice, I knew he was worried a lot about me. 

I lifted my head to see his expression and he now had a better view of my cheek, his expression showing now even more concern. 

"Uhm... Didn't I say to you I was being bullied?" I didn't know what to say. It wasn't a big deal for me being hit, I was used to it. But obviously, it was a big deal for him.

"You told me you were being bullied, not that people were trying to kill you!!! Did you see your face? You must hurt so much! Tell me who's doing that to you! I'll kick their and they're not going to touch you anymore!" It was the first time I've seen him so angry. He wasn't smiling and he didn't look innocent anymore. He even seemed a little intimidating... but only a little. Yes, he is muscular, but he's pretty small - though I'm not the better to judge about this since I am really tall and everybody looks small to me - and even more when he is by my side so the intimidating feeling goes away.  I was kinda touched by his reaction though. I didn't think he would try to stand up for me because it was long ago since I stopped to hope for help. 

"No, don't do that. It won't help anything. I'm used to it, you know. I can handle it alone." I probably didn't sound really credible because my eyes were still red from crying because of the pain.  

"You can handle it alone? Or you can take the pain alone? We need to do something, Junhong! You can't let them hit you without doing anything!" It was obvious he didn't like my way to handle it and I hoped he wouldn't do anything without telling me first. I decided that if I didn't say to him who was bullying me, he couldn't find out on his own so he couldn't do anything. 

At this moment, the teacher walked in and everybody stopped chatting. Great, because I didn't want to continue this conversation. 

 

After the class, Jongup didn't let me time to say anything that he was already talking about ways we could make the bullies stop. 

"I don't want to talk about that. Can we stop? Tell me jokes or anything. Or tell me about you. I barely know anything about you." And it was true. It's almost a week since I know him and I don't know anything about him but his name. On my side, I tell him everything that's going on in my life… except maybe for the people who bully me.

"It's because there's nothing to know. I don't have any interesting things going on in my life, in fact, I have a pretty boring life." From the tone of his voice, it seems like I wasn't going to learn anything about him anytime soon. I guess he didn't want to talk about his life, or maybe it was true that there was nothing to say. 

He started to tell me some funny story he heard on the TV but I didn't really listen to it. I looked at his smiling face and when he laughed after telling his story, I couldn't do anything but to laugh too. Even if I didn't even know what he said, seeing him laugh made me happy and I even forgot about the bullies. 

 

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Second chapter here! =) Sorry if it ... But I try to do my best!!

And I wrote that on my iPod so there might be typing errors...

Please leave comments, they make me happy :D

<3