“I thought you would take the couch and me my bed!” he exclaimed even though his statement sounded much more like a question. I raised an eyebrow as if to challenge him. “But I mean, are you okay with that?”

“Of course I am!” I defended, blurting out words that didn’t even sound credible to my own ears.

“Stop it Kris, stop it!” he mimicked, putting on a high-pitched girl voice. I punched him in the arm and glared at him sharply. I was definitely not acting like that during the movie. Okay maybe I was, but I wasn’t about to admit that to my mortal enemy.

“That was a one off thing,” I growled, climbing onto the sofa and making a cocoon for myself within the blankets.

“Oh really now?” he teased, smirking. “Well, I’m going to take the torch and you can sleep here peacefully yes?”

“Why are you even asking?” I snapped back, my pride overruling my own common sense. “I’m going to be fine.”

“Okay, just don’t get when mad when I say: told you so,” he replied cheerily. “You’re going to be scared out of your wits.”

“Goddammit, Kris,” I hissed. “Just go!”

He advanced up the stairs with the torch, whistling a merry tune as if to show off how nonchalant he was about the whole affair. As soon all signs of light along with Kris had disappeared, I found myself stuck in a suffocating darkness as the storm howled incessantly. I found myself flinching at every little sound, every little movement or er in the shadows. The moonlight cast a sickly grey pallor over everything in his house and I pulled up the blankets up tighter around my chin, fear twisting by stomach into little gnarled knots. A stray branch scratched the window, making a horrible, screeching noise. My mind started flashing images of the incident that I’d fought so hard to forget. I struggled profusely to calm myself down but my efforts were completely futile, fear made me hypersensitive and sweaty.

“Jiyeon, meet you after school?” Eunji called after our raven-haired friend. Jiyeon grinned and waved back, nodding fervently in reply, her glossy black curls bouncing against her backpack. I smiled and sighed in contentment and started walking towards the school hall for dance practice. Eunji grabbed my hand and dragged me, willing me to go as fast as my stubby legs would take me.

“We’re here!” I announced cheerfully as we stood in front of the entrance to the stage. “I’m so excited, this is going to be our full dress rehearsal!”

“Oh lord,” Eunji said rolling her eyes. “Can’t be that exciting.”

I frowned at her lack of enthusiasm and pushed open the door to see the glorious sight of the stage, set up for the Christmas Talent Special that would take place later tonight. I bounded onto stage, twirling in my shoes exactly like I had been told not to.

“Um, Minhee, this place seems a little weird,” Eunji said nervously as I ignored her, still indulging in the thrill of being on stage for the first time. She tried again, this time louder. “I think I hear giggling.”

“Oh Eunji,” I laughed. “There’s no one else here and besides-“

The lights went out completely. There was a deafening silence before Eunji bellowed like an angry dragon. “OKAY YOU DIMWITS THIS AIN’T FUNNY, TURN THE FREAKING LIGHTS BACK ON!”

There was no reply, only giggling as we felt pattering of footsteps. In an instant, we were bundled into the costume cupboard and locked in, our struggles completely futile against the fifteen or so students that were participating in this cruel game. The cramped space forced Eunji to lay her legs on top of mine as we heard each other’s heavy breathing.

“You think…” I whispered shakily. “They’re gone?”

“They’re gone alright,” she replied grimly, giving a sturdy kick to the door. “Those ing idiots-“

“Don’t swear!” I squealed. “Maybe this is just a little joke.”

“Always the innocent, naïve little girl,” Eunji responded dryly. “This is not a joke. Jiyeon should’ve been here by now, she was probably behind all this.”

I fell silent. Jiyeon had been acting strangely these past few weeks, always putting more effort into what she looked like on the exterior and mingling a lot more with our school’s most popular boy, Kris. She was such a vital part of our lives I couldn’t believe that the adorable, sweet Jiyeon could do this us. There was a creaking of a door and my heart leapt in joy.

“Eunji, you were wrong all along!” I exclaimed happily. “Jiyeon is here to save us.”

“No,” a chillingly cold voice chuckled. “I’m here to make sure you don’t come out until after the show is over.”

“ YOU JIYEON!” Eunji screamed, like the bad tempered rebel she was.

“Why…?” I whispered.

“You guys are pathetic, I’m sick and tired of being a stupid wallflower,” Jiyeon hissed through the keyhole. “Oh and also I’m ditching our little act we planned for tonight, it’s utterly pitiful.”

I swallowed the large lump that was forming in my throat. We had spent weeks of effort choreographing our act and the fact that it was our own best friend, Jiyeon who was sabotaging us…

I burst into tears.

“, stop crying,” Eunji soothed as she shook the door violently. “Jiyeon, do you want me to cut you up when we get out of here?”

“That would be nice,” Jiyeon responded with a vicious kick to the door, making the two of is flinch in surprise. “Oh and just to say, the years of friendship we had were worthless. The two of you just wanted to drag me to the bottom because you guys knew you would never get to the top with your geeky attitudes and ridiculous fashion sense.”

“Who told you that?” I choked out, shocked beyond belief. “We never thought-“

“That’s why you stayed so long with Kris,” Jiyeon hissed with no signs of mercy. “You had this all planned out, didn’t you? Hyomin unnie told me you were into him so you were determined to keep me from him.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Eunji spat, smashing the door with her fist. “You ungrateful , we spent so many years defending you, helping you and you repay us by listening to the bimbo’s orders? How pathetic are you? You just want to be popular!”

There was heavy breathing for a few seconds before Jiyeon spoke up. This time, she sounded broken and tired, her voice raspy as sandpaper. “Yeah, I do want to be popular, I am that pathetic, got a problem?”

“You’re so messed up-“ Eunji was cut off my me clomping one hand over .

“Jiyeon, if this is what you want then just go,” I said shakily.

“I don’t know who to trust anymore.” There was a choked sob and the furious pattering off footsteps, as our former best friend ran away from us, leaving us locked in a cramped cupboard for five hours. And it was there I developed a crippling fear of supernaturalism. 

A/N:

1188 words! So proud of myself :3 okay so I lied about the fluff it’s in the next chapter, I forgot TT^TT I just wanted to give a little background to their rivalry with Jiyeon. My characters are becoming like babies to me /sobs/ I don’t want this to end. Please give this a little boost with an upvote :)