"Hey, there she goes. The beauty queen." "God, look at her legs. Gorgeous." "Her boyfriend is the luckiest guy alive." Lee Taeyeon was used to that kind of talk as she walked into the school, fresh from summer vacation. New backpack, Gucci purse, and a mini-skirt that wasn't short enough for her to be considered a . A new hairdo, a new attitude—or at least, the same attitude with a few twists. Taeyeon was back.

She was greeted by Jinki, her boyfriend, who was all smiles and hugs. They kissed in the hallway, his arms going around her waist. He was perfect: Toned body, great sense of humor, a winning smile, and a rich family. He was in the choir and on the school tennis team, not to mention the student body president three years in a row. He was definitely a perfect guy for a perfect princess like Taeyeon. A bonafide Prince Charming.

"Miss me?" Jinki teased, knowing that he and Taeyeon had seen each other just the other day when they'd gone to the beach together. Taeyeon giggled, her cheeks a brilliant pink. A perfect shade, of course. She pressed a gorgeous leg against Jinki's, biting her lip.

"Of course," she said with a soft giggle. Jinki kissed her brown hair (fresh dye job, of course) and then her lips (top of the line designer lip gloss.) Jinki chuckled as he his girlfriend's rosy cheek.

"You're looking ready for school," he murmured, kissing Taeyeon again. The girl laughed, thumping her boyfriend's chest, feeling how well-defined it was under the shirt. Yep, she was dating the perfect guy.

"Oh my gosh, look who it is," a hiss if disgust slithered through the crowd. Taeyeon turned her head to look, even though she had a pretty good idea of who it was. And of course, she was right. There came the freak, all dressed in cheap denim and leather.

"Who is it?" Jinki asked, unable to see around the corner. Taeyeon rolled her eyes, already filling with disgust. She watched as that other girl—that freak—turned the corner with her raggedy backpack and shaggy hair and those weird clothes and... Ugh.

"Choi Minjung." , another year with that freak.

~

Minjung sat so nonchalantly behind Taeyeon in their first class together, which also happened to be the first class of the day. What a lovely wake up call, Taeyeon thought sarcastically. Taeyeon could feel a shiver run through her as she thought of Minjung's greasy skin, probably fresh from her dad's work site. She didn't know if it was greasy, to be honest, but Minjung seemed like the type.

"Go away, go away, go away," Taeyeon hissed under her breath, clasping her hands together and squeezing her eyes closed. She was normally nice. Really, she was! But Minjung was just so... Ugh! So weird! So creepy! She could still remember their first meeting, in the third grade.

"Hi! Are you lonely?" Taeyeon asked sweetly, trying to hide her disgust at the other girl's dirty appearance. She didn't want to be seen as mean. That's be horrible, so she had to at least try to be nice to the quiet girl.

"Go away," the other girl muttered as she pitched stones into the muddy puddle. Squatting by the muddy puddle, the girl looked like a small black animal with her hair all messy and her body covered with different building substances. Her grease-covered hands left black streaks on the ground as she scrambled for new little rocks to toss into the water. Taeyeon frowned.

"Don't you what to be friends with me?" she asked, confused. Why didn't this girl want to be friends? Taeyeon instinctively backed away as the girl stood up, the leather clothes on the greasy girl's small body reflecting black like tar.

"I have friends. Real friends. I don't need you to take pity on me. I hate it when people take pity on me," the weird girl said. She looked at Taeyeon with a look of contempt, a look that made the prim and proper little Taeyeon feel like she was being X-Rayed. The other girl stepped even closer, and smirked when Taeyeon stumbled back. It was such a hating expression, one that Taeyeon had never seen on a child her age before. "You can't even be near me, can you?"

"Minjung! Over here! We found some glass!" a few boys called out. Taeyeon flinched as Minjung gave her another one of those X-Ray looks. The girl walked away, leaving Taeyeon to watch. Her first rejection... And she would never forgive that girl for it. Never. No one turned Lee Taeyeon down like that! No one had the right.

The two weren't always such polar opposites, Taeyeon had to remind herself even as she hissed her little prayer under her breath. They had a time, in fifth grade, when they'd do Spanish homework together, but they didn't really talk. They'd just get things done ("por que" was "why," but "porque" was "because") and separate. Still, Minjung had been more bearable back then. She'd stick around Taeyeon and help her with homework in other subjects, and maybe crack a smile or two. Now, she was back to freak-mode.

"Please go away, please go away," Taeyeon whispered. She shivered as she heard Minjung stir behind her. The girl had grown since third grade; she was no longer covered in engine grease and dust, and she definitely looked prettier, but she was still just... Weird. Taeyeon really didn't want to be around her.

"I can hear you, you know," Minjung whispered, her breath smelling like coffee and mint. It wasn't unpleasant, but the warmth of it on her ear was enough to make Taeyeon whimper. She didn't like Minjung at all, and the girl seemed to know it. She seemed to feed off of it.

What is she? A demon? Taeyeon thought. She could hear her friends gossiping from across the classroom, where they'd sat after seeing Minjung. How could they abandon her?

"You know, if you really want me to leave, you could just ask," Minjung murmured, but Taeyeon could hear the smirk in her voice. She looked back and glared at Minjung, watching the girl's smirk grow more and more unbearable. It was that X-Ray smirk, the one that dug into Taeyeon like a dull needle.

"Listen, you—" Taeyeon wasn't sure what she would've said if the door hadn't swung open. Judging by how close she and Minjung were, their noses nearly touching and their face opposites of the other—one scowling and one full of triumph—it wouldn't have been nice. Still, the door opened, so Taeyeon had no choice but to sit.

"Class, I know that history isn't a lot o people's favorite subject, but this class will definitely count a lot in college," the teacher said sharply as she came into the room. She gave everyone that first-day-back-don't-piss-me-off-today look, and Minjung sat back in her seat.

"Whew," Taeyeon said with a sigh of relief. Still, she could feel Minjung's eyes boring into her neck until there was a loud flopping sound. When Taeyeon looked back curiously, the other girl was asleep. Taeyeon bit her lip. Asleep, Minjung looked so peaceful.

Only, Taeyeon knew that Minhyun was anything but.

History class passed quickly. The syllabus had about ten pages of material the class was supposed to cover, but Taeyeon estimated that only about two pages would be done by Prom night. Minjung slept through the whole class, only waking up when the bell rang. Taeyeon shivered as the tall girl passed her as if she didn't exist, her cheap sneakers reflected on the shiny floor. Her arms were wrapped around her books, her back pack showing years of stitches and repair. She was weird, that one.

They didn't share a room together until lunch, much to Taeyeon's relief. She'd managed to relax during calculus and art and chemistry, loosing that heavy feeling of Minjung's presence. She had nearly forgotten the feeling of Minjung's eyes on the back of her neck.

"What was she saying to you in history class?" Taeyeon's friend, Victoria, asked frantically as she stabbed at her salad. Lunch time was lunch time. Guys ate carbs and meat, while girls ate rabbit food and gossip. Taeyeon shivered from the revitalized memory of having that freak so close to her.

"Oh my gosh, did you have to remind me about that? She just said some weird stuff like usual," Taeyeon muttered, scooping some of her high class nicoise salad onto a fork. The group of girls giggled as they gossiped about Minjung, and how the silent girl probably spent her summer.

"She definitely spent it at her dad's workplace. I mean, just look at the brick dust all over her," Tiffany, another friend of Taeyeon's, scoffed. They all threw disdainful glances at the girl, who was sitting with group of her own gang in the corner (and really didn't have that much dust on her, but truth matters not in the face of gossip). They all let out spurts of laughter as Minjung spilled milk on her tray, drenching her burger. When it came to food, Minjung fell into the "guys" territory.

"She's such a klutz. I can't believe she even tries out for track," Seoyoung, who was also on the track team, commented snidely as she flipped her copper-colored hair. Taeyeon let out a soft giggle.

"You don't even go to the practices that often," Taeyeon pointed out. The girls all laughed, while Seoyoung pursed her glossy pink lips and applied some fresh lip gloss.

"Yeah, but at least I have a life, unlike little Miss. Forever-Single over there," Seoyoung said with a contemptuous jab of her well-manicured thumb at Minjung. Taeyeon looked over with a smirk, a rude comment in mind, but her smile immediately fell.

Minjung was looking straight back at her, with that smirk that made Taeyeon's whole body feel hot and her chest heavy and her brain like a sauna. She felt her skin tingle and her spine grow cold. Minjung's smirk grew wider when she realized that Taeyeon was looking back, and suddenly it was like everything else had been scribbled out. Sound was muted, her world was black except for that freakish ghoul-girl looking at her intently, and she felt numb all over.

"She's looking at you," Jessica, Taeyeon's friend from California, hissed softly. Taeyeon broke their gazes at the sound of her friend's voice and, when she looked up, Minjung was back to chatting and laughing with her friends like nothing had happened.

"Yeah... I think she wants my soul," Taeyeon tried to joke. Luckily, her friends bought it. Luckily, no one questioned why Minjung, the school freak show, was looking at Taeyeon, the princess of the whole building. Taeyeon could feel her body cooling down.

"Isn't that her? That chick you were obsessed with in fifth grade?" Jay, Minjung's right hand man, asked from the other end of the lunch room. The girl scoffed and looked back at her friend as soon as Taeyeon looked down.

"Yeah, fifth grade," Minjung pointed out with a smirk. "It's just fun to psych her out. It's not like she doesn't deserve it." She stole another glance at Taeyeon's annoying smile. She liked watching that smile fade. It was her obsession, to speak the truth. It made her feel like she existed to the girl, if only to torment her.

In the most evil possible way, of course. Not for attention. Mope. Just for satisfaction. Totally just for the kicks and giggles.

"I don't blame you if you still have a thing for her. She's smoking hot," Youngbae, a stocky boy with a faux hawk and a sleeveless leather vest, said with his muscular arms crossed. He smirked as if he could see through his friend. Minjung rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but she's also a ," Minjung reminded everyone as she picked up her milk-drenched burger and took a bite. The bun was soggy, but the meat inside was relatively unharmed. Minjung wiped the milk dribbling down her chin as Amber, the only other girl at the table, turned and scoffed at the sight of the delicate-looking girl.

"She's scrawny. I didn't think she was your type, Junggie~" Amber teased, flicking the hair from her eyes. Minjung rolled her eyes and pinched her friend's cheek—hard. Amber let out a surprised yell and batted at Minjung's hands as the irritated girl tightened her grip.

"She isn't anymore, you freaking lizard," Minjung growled with an edge to her already-sharp voice. "She was different in fifth grade. She was sweet and all, even though she didn't like me. It was hard not to be obsessed with her."

"And yet we all managed it," Jay pointed out, leaning on the table with his elbow and smirking at Minjung with a self-satisfied smugness. He was right. Of everyone at the table, Minjung was the only one who had even grazed the surface of a crush on Taeyeon. The girl tried to snarl and ward them off as she stood up and threw out her trash.

"Well, she's a now, if you haven't noticed, so liking her isn't exactly smart or reasonable," Minjung snapped before heading to the trashcan. No, she didn't like Taeyeon. She'd jumped off of that bandwagon a long time ago, and now the prissy little "princess" wasn't even worth liking.

The bell rang, scattering all of the students in different directions. Taeyeon gathered her books and scurried off to English. She beamed when she saw Jinki at the doorway. She bounced up to him, bronze curls soft and light on her shoulders. It made her feel safe to be around him.

"You have this class too?" she asked eagerly. Jinki grinned and gave her a soft peck, causing everyone within one meter of the couple to squeal. They were truly the most popular couple in the whole school. They sat next to each other, whispering little couple secrets until the door opened. Taeyeon looked up, fully expecting the teacher.

"What? You all look like you've seen a ghost," Minjung snapped, plopping down in the back corner, diagonal from Jinki. Her books spread out over the table like dead birds on a littered beach. It made Taeyeon bristle to see this abomination so close to her perfect boyfriend. Before she could stop him, though, Jinki had stretched a hand over.

"Hi, I'm Lee Jinki," he said with one of those smiles. After all, he hadn't been student body president three years in a row for nothing. Taeyeon bristled even more, until she was sure that she looked like a cat facing a wolf. Minjung looked past Jinki's shoulder at her for just a split second, and then back at the boy, who was still grinning away.

"Choi Minjung," she said, the corner of lifting a little as she took the boy's hand and shook it. It was soft, like a child's, and his eyes sparkled with innocence. He wouldn't last a single day in the real world. So this was Taeyeon's boyfriend? Pitiful, but likable. He was like a small animal, or maybe a toddler. Cute.

Taeyeon opened to say something again, something to get this freak away from her boyfriend. Minjung looked over at her, and her words died as she just glared angrily. She could feel her hands shaking with rage. She hated this girl and her freaking X-Ray vision! She barely noticed the teacher walk in.

"Class, today we embark on a new journey to the expanses of literature. We will bring about the elucidating of language and explore the subtle corners of rhetoric. This class will—" Again, the loud flopping sound in the middle of the teacher's speech. Taeyeon looked over, and sure enough, Minjung was fast asleep again.

"Lazy pig," she muttered under her breath, crossing her arms. She leaned back in her desk, grumpy already. Only Jinki's presence made everything just a little less horrible.

As with before, Minjung was asleep until the bell rang. She sat up and stretched before trying to gather her things. They fell, of course, through her half-conscious arms, and books and pencils scattered everywhere. Jinki stooped down to help, and Taeyeon fumed. Why was he helping her?

"Here," he murmured, handing her a notebook. Minjung took it with a slightly friendlier look, and she tucked it next to a textbook. Taeyeon refused to help. R-e-f-u-s-e-d. She was not getting anywhere near that girl.

"Thank you," Minjung said with a low bow before heading off to her next class. Taeyeon immediately grabbed Jinki's hand, pouting as Jinki gave her a confused look.

"What's wrong, baby?" he asked, tugging her close as they walked into the hallway together. Taeyeon looked up at him and huffed softly, still a little mad that he'd fraternize with the enemy.

"Why'd you help her? You know that I don't like her," Taeyeon complained as she hugged Jinki's arm tightly. She felt it between her s, and she was determined to keep it there.

"Because she's not that bad...? She really isn't a monster or anything, you know. She looks kind of nice," Jinki muttered. Taeyeon pouted and hugged his arm closer.

"Yeah, but... I mean, look at her! She wears greasy leather jackets and guy's clothing and she's just..." Taeyeon trailed off at the thought and shuddered. Jinki shrugged and offered a small smile. He didn't like to argue with Taeyeon. He really didn't.

"What class do you have next?" he asked, trying to diffuse the ticking time bomb that was his irate girlfriend. Immediately, Taeyeon cheered up and looked at him with those bright, shining eyes.

"I have gym class," she cooed, blushing as he ruffled her hair. After all, gym class was where they'd first noticed each other, when the girls had been playing softball and she'd accidentally hit the ball into the boy's soccer field. Fun times.

"Behave, then, and remember to aim," he teased, laughing as she smacked his arm. They got to the locker room and he pulled her in for a sweet kiss, smiling as he pulled away and turned to go to calculus. Taeyeon watched him go and smiled before getting into the locker room just in time to snag a locker.

"Hey, move it a little. I have to get my stuff," a voice said roughly. Taeyeon froze as if cornered by a beast before turning and seeing Minjung, arms crossed and an annoyed look on her face.

"Sure," she said, but her eyes narrowed and she moved deliberately slow. Minjung stooped down and Taeyeon saw the concentrated look on her face as the older girl unlocked the little compartment. She retrieved her clothes and turned, leaving Taeyeon to let out a breath of relief.

It wasn't until she was starting to strip that she noticed something weird. She turned towards the door and saw Minjung, already changed, leaning against the row of lockers perpendicular to her position with a smirk on her face. Taeyeon's whole body heated up, and she covered her chest despite the lacy bra.

"Can I help you?" she tried to snap, despite her quivering voice. Minjung smirked and stepped closer, her loose white T-shirt barely covering her red shorts. Taeyeon held her breath as the other girl came closer with those eyes that seemed to see through Taeyeon's... Everything.

"Just putting my stuff away," Minjung murmured. She stooped down again, placing her regular clothes into the locker before getting up. She and Taeyeon locked eyes, and she drank in Taeyeon's fear and nervousness with pride. She could see Taeyeon's s peeking out from her tight arms, and she could practically feel the needles Taeyeon was shooting from her eyes. Her almond-shaped eyes and her silky, even skin and her lush lips...

If only Taeyeon weren't so beautiful. It'd be easier to bother her that way. Less guilt, more fun, but it was fun enough already.

A/N-This chapter put up quite a fight, but I managed to get it done!!! Sorry about the delay, school's been killer.

More to come, comments are love <3