[Heena]

“Why did you…” I whispered, looking at Zelo’s messy face.

“Sorry,” Zelo attempted to smile, but his lip was too swollen. “I lost control.”

“So you’re suspended for the rest of the week, but he’s not?” I asked quietly.

“Yep,” Zelo said, leaning back on his hands.

“What the …” I muttered. Zelo was just as hurt as that , so why was Zelo the only one receiving punishment.

“Stay home with me for the rest of the week,” Zelo said, grabbing my hand. “I’ll be bored home alone.”

I pulled my hand out of his. I knew what he was doing. He was just trying to keep me away from school, worried for me.

But the fact that Zelo got hurt because of me made the fear factor go away. I was ing pissed right now.

I glanced at the clock. 11:34. If I left now, I would arrive just in time for lunch.

“I’m going to school,” I said, throwing on my uniform and grabbing my backpack.

“No…!” Zelo protested, pushing himself off his bed and stumbling towards me. He grabbed my wrist and yanked me back into his room.

“Stay here,” he said forcefully, his eyes full of anger, sadness, and fear.

“Let me go,” I said quietly, looking steadily into Zelo’s eyes. “I'm serious right now.”

We stared at each other in silence, and Zelo finally released me.

“Don’t do anything dumb,” Zelo muttered, not meeting my eyes.

“I’ll try not to,” I said softly as I left.

The whole way to school, the anger inside me grew bigger and bigger. By the time I was walking towards the cafeteria, I was about ready to take a flame thrower to everything and everyone.

I marched straight up to Zico’s table and slammed both of my hands onto the table, spitting at Zico, “And why the are you not suspended you mother ing .”

In the back of my mind, I processed the fact that I’d always kept this side of me hidden during the few weeks I’d been at this school.

Zico’s face went from surprise, to relief, to its usual cold hard look.

“Haemi, are you okay though?” Taeil asked. I ignored him, not taking my eyes off Zico.

“You’re asking why I’m not in trouble?” Zico said slowly. “Well… probably because I’m the principal’s son.”

…

What…?

My emotional reaction was something I hadn't predicted. I was surprised, no shocked, and… I felt betrayed.

So… he was one of them.

I thought this group was different from the other students. Not perfect, not stuck up rich snobs with famous or rich parents.

But turns out they were actually the principal’s pets… huh? They probably messed around because they knew they could get away with it. Ditching school… Harassing teachers…

“You're his… son…?” I asked quietly, the anger gone from my voice.

“Yep,” Zico answered carelessly, looking bored.

I took a deep breath and sighed, “Okay well, I wanted to tell you that the deal’s off. You broke your side of the promise by beating up Junhong.”

“Mm?” Zico said, looking at me with uninterested eyes. “Oh… the girlfriend thing? Yeah, sure sure.”

I turned around and walked away. I didn’t feel like I accomplished something.

No… I felt like I lost something important.

[Zico]

“What’s her deal?” someone snickered. “Did you see her reaction when Zico told her?”

A couple of them laughed.

“I thought the twins were pretty cool, but they're just weird .”

Suddenly unable to tolerate this, I stood up abruptly and left the lunch table.

The rest of the school day, I was torn between pissed, worried, and relieved. I wasn’t sure what was keeping me in school for the whole day, but I decided to stay for all my classes, not paying much attention and just thinking about Haemi.

By the end of the day, I’d come to a decision. I was going to go back to the time when I didn’t know Haemi. We would both not mind each other’s business and stay out of each other’s lives. That’s probably what she wanted.

But why did I feel like I was letting go of something precious…

***

“That was a long day,” Taeil said as we walked towards the school gate.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I was cut off by loud growling engines. Three bikes appeared at the school gate, and the one at the lead took of his helmet, revealing a magazine cut out face.

“Heena!” he grinned, looking in my direction. Frowning, I turned around, and sure enough, Haemi was walking a few paces behind us.

Haemi looked up slowly, absolute terror on her face for a moment, before she quickly went back to her usual poker face. But it was still there; fear was still in her eyes.

The guy kicked his bike stand out and walked over to Haemi, shaking out his long, brown hair.

“Kai… what’re you doing here?” Haemi asked, taking a small step back.

“To see my girlfriend, of course,” he said, cupping her face and leaning down to kiss her in one fluid motion.

Girlfriend… huh.

Normally, I would’ve just walked away and not cared, but Haemi’s petrified face was still in my head.

As the whispers around us got louder, I made a split second decision that I would probably regret. But then again, I wasn’t exactly known for making good decisions, so…

I took three quick strides towards Haemi and grabbed her wrist, pulling her behind me.

“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t kiss my girlfriend,” I said, settling into my default expression.

He initially looked angry, but it slowly melted into an amused look.

“So you’ve been busy with this guy, Heena?” he smirked. “Is that why you’ve been ignoring me for so long?”

When Haemi didn’t reply, he continued, “Well, hurry up and do whatever with him. When you’re done, I’ll be waiting.” His voice softened, “Heena, I’ll always be waiting, no matter what. You know that.”

He turned around to return to his bike, but Haemi stepped out from behind me and called out softly, “Kai…”

He stopped and slowly turned around, “Yeah?”

Haemi hesitated, then asked, “How’s… everyone doing?”

His lips stretched into a small smile, “Everyone misses you and Zelo. Let’s hang out sometime… like the old times.”

He turned around and finished his walk to his bike, and the three of them were gone.

“Like the old times…” Haemi muttered, sighing. “Like that’s possible.”