The meeting had been postponed for various reasons, one of them because their parents had, much too suddenly, left for a conference in Japan. One they were going to stay at until Monday morning. The other reason as to why they’d had to delay it was because of Luhan, and the fact that he didn’t show up at home after school on Thursday. He’d simply disappeared off and Eunbi was pretty sure why. But she couldn’t have done anything, especially now when their parents took the afternoon flight over to Tokyo. This had left Eunbi alone with Sehun the whole evening and night, which, after the incident at school, felt rather weird and uncomfortable.

But when morning came, Eunbi contemplated whether to play sick and stay home. She had no desire to get back, not when there was a slight possibility she would suffer the same problems as yesterday. Her bruises weren’t going to heal if pressure were constantly put on them. Then again, her schoolbag was still in school and with Ahbin sick, she couldn’t ask the other girl to pick it up. In other means, Eunbi dragged herself out of bed and over to the bathroom where she showered and got dressed. Breakfast was different however, with Luhan not being around. And Eunbi made sure to take advantage of that as she ate in peace. Sehun too, made it easier for the girl as he stayed out of her way. That until he suddenly showed up in the kitchen, dressed and with his backpack slung over his shoulder. She glanced down at her bowl of cereals, only to stop in her action when he spoke, “fight back from now on.” why was he telling her that? Wasn’t he supposed to hate her? “W -what?” to use violence in school wasn’t allowed for obvious reasons. But whether that included self defense, Eunbi didn’t know. “Don’t you understand anything? It’s going to continue till you do something about it.” easy for him to say. He didn’t suffer from bullies nor was he hated by practically everyone. Plus, what he was suggesting could cause a great problem. “Using violence in school can get you expelled,” she raised her gaze to look at him, her tone a tad harder than earlier, “but maybe that’s what you want?” Sehun had never cared for punishments, more or less because the school disliked them and therefore only consisted of detention, and sometimes cleaning a classroom. To be expelled was almost impossible for the simple reason that the principal didn’t want the school’s reputation to be tarnished. “Do what you want. I don’t care.” Sehun couldn’t help feeling a bit irritated as he left Eunbi and headed for school.  

Ahbin didn’t show up for class that morning either. An ordeal that once again caused trouble as Eunbi was tripped when she were about to leave her homeroom after second period. “Oops.” the other girl faked innocence, like it’d been nothing more than an accident. It was all an act as to not make the teachers suspicious. “Maybe you should look where you’re going next time.” another girl filled in, only to be followed with further harsh words, words Eunbi blocked out by think of other things. She was lucky that time around though, because the group left once they realised she wasn’t paying attention to anything they said. But to feel relieved wasn’t a luxury Eunbi could afford, as she was still targeted despite her tries to not be in the way or bother anyone. It didn’t seem to matter whether she’d actually done something or not, for they always found a reason to torture her one way or another.

“Eunbi?” the said girl stood up in haste, not wanting Kai to see her splayed on the floor, before she glanced up and locked eyes with the older male, “hm?” it was rather unusual for him to be there, on the second floor. “I heard you were coming to the competition tomorrow.” she nodded, “Ahbin couldn’t since she’s sick, so Yixing asked me instead.” it was Kai’s turn to nod, a smile evident on his lips, “so he told. Anyhow, I just wanted to ask whether you know the way or if you need a ride there tomorrow?” oh, right. She’d completely forgotten to ask where the competition would be held when she talked to Yixing. “I don’t know the way so -,” Eunbi didn’t finish, hoping that maybe Kai could do it for her. “Oh. Should we pick you up tomorrow then?” she wanted to scream yes, but settled with a calm reply, “yes, if that’s not too much of a hassle.” Kai reassured her though, that it was alright and that they would pick her up around nine am, before he went about to explain how he needed to get back for class. “See you around.” Eunbi smiled, bid goodbye, and also left for next period. One she definitely wasn’t looking forward to.

In fact, third period ended up being far worse than she’d expected. But with every word, with every action, Sehun’s words popped up. And even though she hated to admit it, Sehun was right. Nothing would change if she let them continue. However, in difference to him, she couldn’t just walk up to the said person and tell them to off. Sure she’d done it once against Luhan, but he’d also riled her up pretty much before the incident. Plus, Luhan was only one person. The students terrorizing her was far more than one. And with a heartbeat that were steadily increasing, she made way for the cafeteria and a well deserved lunch break. A journey that was abruptly cut short few moments later when she felt a hand latch onto hers. Eunbi panicked, thinking it was the group of girls again, and parted her lips to scream. There was just this one problem though. None of the students reacted or did anything to help as she was pulled, much like a ragdoll, inside a dark, empty classroom. A hand slapped over as to silence her, but all she did was let her teeth sink into the flesh. Thereby tearing a scream from the other’s throat. “ing .” two words. They were all that was needed for Eunbi to realise who it was, for her to realise how she wasn’t going to allow him to do whatever he wanted. “Let go of me you sick .” she was terrified, but nonetheless determined to fight her way out of the situation. She wouldn’t let herself bow down to him anymore. “‘Sick ’, are you so vulgar nowadays?” Luhan laughed, discarding the fact that she’d just bit him, “not that I don’t like it.” he suddenly took a hold of her chin, something that turned out to be the breaking point for Eunbi, who sent her elbow against his ribcage. The action resulted in several things, such as Luhan doubling over in pain and thereof losing his grip, to Eunbi escaping.

She wanted to play it cool though, she wanted everyone to know that she no longer would be their punching bag, and therefore headed toward the cafeteria like nothing happened. It didn’t take long however, before rumours of how she’d followed after Luhan inside an empty classroom, began to spread like wildfire. Students were twisting the story around to their own liking. But they all had one thing in common. Eunbi was the bad person in all of them. She was the , the disgrace and the embarrassment. Students laughed at her as she stood in line to get food, students pointed fingers at her as she passed them by. The worst of it all was none of that, but rather a sentence uttered by the girl who bullied her the other day. The one who’d sent her fist into Eunbi’s stomach. “Aren’t you disgusting.” Eunbi blinked at the girl before her, the built up anger washing over her like a wave. There was no deliberation over her next action, as she moved about and dumped the food over the other girl’s head, thus earning gasps from everyone around the table. “YAH.” adrenaline shot through her veins, not only because of the outburst, but also due to the sight. Eunbi could barely believe what she’d just done. But in a weird, strange way, it felt good. It felt real good having finally done something. More and more person turned to look at the commotion. And Eunbi decided to leave before it escalated into anything else. Dropping the tray, she made a dash for the stairs and the schoolyard.

“I can’t believe I just did that.” she was phasing back and forth behind the school building, every so often glancing up to see if anyone had followed her. It didn’t seem so. The celebration was cut short though, when she slowly but surely started to realise the reality of what she’d done. It gave her mixed emotions. Eunbi was overjoyed that she’d fought back, both against Luhan and the bullies. But another part of her feared what was to come. She disliked not knowing what Luhan was capable of and how far he would go to hurt her. That was the big difference between him and Sehun, the latter didn’t do anything rash. Sure Sehun could be harsh with his words, but it wasn’t like he deliberately tried to hurt her in any way. Well, at least not that she knew. “Gah, I hate this.” she snarled and kicked about with her feet, thus causing pebbles to fly everywhere. It was unfair how she were targeted by everyone when all she wanted was a normal school life. “I don’t deserve this.” Eunbi sighed and stared up on the school building. She dreaded having to think about the remaining classes, classes she couldn’t skip as she’d already been absent half of the week.

Rumours about the two incidents had already traveled around school by the time she stepped inside her homeroom again. “Eunbi can I talk to you.” the teacher stood up from her chair and motioned for Eunbi to follow, something she also did. Really, it wasn’t too hard to understand what would be brought up, and because of that, Eunbi made no attempt to explain herself. There was no reason when it wouldn’t make any difference. “I think you know what I’m going to say.” she said nothing and instead waited for the old woman to continue. “You’ll receive detention for inappropriate behaviour.” Eunbi nodded, she’d seen that coming. Though, the reason was quite doubtful seeing how she was the victim. “I hope you understand the school don’t tolerate such acts.” yeah, because the school board cared so much about right and wrong. “Yes.” she wanted to scoff, to tell all teachers and the principal how much injustice that went on within these walls. It wouldn’t surprise her though, if they already knew of the problems and ignored them. “Good. Now go on, class is about to start.”

Detention took place four hours later, after having endured countless amounts of mean words and cruel antics. It’d come to a point where Eunbi didn’t know how much more she could bear. The battle against the bullies were far worse than she could’ve ever imagined, for nothing seemed to work. And to make it even more pathetic, Eunbi sort of broke down as she entered the detention room and saw Sehun sitting there. “You, this is all your fault.” it wasn’t entirely true even though he’d been the one to suggest that she fought back. Still, the bullying hadn’t ceased despite her efforts. It’d in fact increased, and Eunbi did no longer know what to do. She was so tired of it all. “What?” Sehun glared at the younger girl from his seat, his mood declining by the second, “I don’t know what the you’ve done but it’s sure not my fault.” feeling defeated and completely drained of energy, Eunbi slumped down in a chair next to the window, “you’re right.” that, if anything, had Sehun reacting. It wasn’t like he hadn’t heard of the rumours making their way around school grounds. Then again, most of the students were tattletales and liars so he didn’t exactly believe any of them. “What did you do?” he’d barely finished asking before she snapped at him, “what the do you think happened? I did what you said. Fought back. But see what that got me.” Eunbi gave him the hardest glare she could muster. His reaction however, when he stared to laugh, was one that sent Eunbi over the edge once more. “Aren’t you going to shut up?” the door slammed shut at that and she cursed under her breath as the teacher in charge made his way inside. “Eunbi, are you here again.” she heaved a deep sigh, gave Sehun a quick glance, and then looked back at the middle aged man just in time to hear him speak, “you both know the drill.” Eunbi understood. Sehun on the other hand, didn’t, for he continued where Eunbi left off. “No one will change just like that.” Eunbi realised he wasn’t only referring to the other students, but also to himself, and probably her as well. And he was right. People didn’t change so easily. “Sehun. I’ll have to report this home if you don’t keep quiet.” completely disregarding the threat, Sehun carried on, “but they’re all hypocrites and this school is no different. Once you start to tear at the walls, it’ll all fall apart and the secrets will spill.” Sehun stared right at the male teacher when he said that, as if to declare he knew quite a lot about the things being kept in the dark.

~~~

Author’s Note
I’ve started a new story;; The Resurrection.