Chapter 3

“MOVE!” A group of girls with fliers shoved a frail looking young student making her tumble backwards.

The student who fell was very skinny and pale. But, her face was stunning like a doll. One of the prettiest faces I’ve ever seen in my life. Even as a girl I’m a bit attracted to her.  I glared at the group of girls picking on the poor girl. I had a good image of this school before, but I guess even this place has their fair share of rotten apples.

The pale girl glared at the group of girls. She gripped her left hand into a fist until it trembled with anger. But, instead of yelling, she gritted a low “I’m sorry.”

She got up but fell down again wincing with pain. I dashed to the pale girl’s aid while collecting the fliers that were strewn about the front gate of the campus.

“Dance club?” I read out loud. I saw her handing this out to the students coming in.  

“Are you alright?” I asked her. But she pushed me away.

The pale girl forced herself up and limped back into school.

The group of rotten teenage girls suddenly surrounded me while smiling brightly. They all looked like plastic robots with a pound of make-up caked onto their faces.

“We’re the theatre club. We’re recruiting new members; I hope you can come visit us.” A girl with long black silky hair and an hour-glass figure handed me a flier.

I returned a smile but crumpled the flier in their faces.

“Sorry, I have no interest in joining the bullying club. Excuse me.” I tossed the crumpled paper into a trash can like I was playing basketball which swooshed in with pure grace.

“Three points!” I pumped my fist in the air.

I stomped forward and intentionally rammed my shoulder onto the girl in the middle who seems to be the leader. She stumbled to the side making way for me to go through. She contorted her face into one of great pain when she saw people return their attention to her.

I humphed and marched forward to my class.

“Unni! Are you okay?!” All the girls huddled around their dear leader.

“I’m fine. That freshman is just unfamiliar with this campus. Even I would misunderstand the situation if I were her. Girls, we do not have time to be lazy!  We have a job to do!” She put on a weak smile while handing everyone a wad of pamphlets and fliers to pass out.

“Unni! You’re so forgiving! So cool!” The girls squealed in unison while admiring their leader.

The rest of the day went fine; I even made many friends very easily. I’m a people person, what can I say? People just love to flock me. My steps were light and I was looking forward to visiting Kikwang’s new school on my way home.

I said goodbye to all my new friends in class 1 room C and went to my shoe locker.

Three girls who looked older were in front of my locker flipping through their phone and chatting about nonsense.

“Um… Excuse me, sorry, but my shoe locker is right here,” I mumbled because I was a bit scared. They smelled of cigarettes and cursed every other second.

They all turned to face me but didn’t budge.

“Kang Ji-Young,” the tall lanky girl read my name tag. I stood silent.

“Dahi forgave you, but the rest of us are not so easy to push around,” the girl on the left suddenly slammed her backpack onto my face with full force. I didn’t even have time to react and fell to the floor.

“Wh-what?” I asked confused.

The girl on the right kicked my shoulder, “Unlike you, Dahi’s body is precious. Because of you, now there is a bruise on Dahi’s shoulder!”

The center girl slammed my head back onto the locker. I started to tear while my vision became blurry.

“Dahi has an audition today for a CF company. She worked very hard for this and you ruined everything for her!” They took my bag and threw it outside into a mud puddle. They cackled.

“Jiyoung, your life is going to become very hard if Dahi doesn’t get chosen. You better behave yourself in the future, GOT IT?!” The girl in my left kicked the locker nearly missing my face.

Many students were around, but to them, I didn’t exist. I was invisible.

I was so shocked and shaken I could not move for awhile. I had no idea what just happened or if it really happened at all. I got up and opened my locker. My shoes were soaked… they stunk like it was dipped in the toilet.

I bit my lip and stuck it into the plastic bag I used for my gym clothes. I collected all my things and combed my hair with my fingers. I checked the mirror and found I looked fine. No bruises, no cuts. I sighed in relief. If something happened, I wouldn’t be able to go visit Kikwang.

My body felt heavy, but I looked forward to seeing Kikwang in his new school uniform. He agreed to come meet me in front of the school and show me around his new campus so that I would know where to go when he had a soccer game.

As I walked home alone, something heavy fell on my heart. I always walked home with Kikwang.

Always.

This was the first time I ever walked home alone. A lump formed in my throat and I began to miss everyone again… their jokes, their laughter, and their presence. They would be cheering me up and ask me if I was hurting. I would pout and they would be hugging me.

I crouched down and my vision started to blur from all the tears.

I furiously wiped all my tears away and began running. Just forget it! Do you avoid poo on the road because you are scared of it? No, you avoid it because it is disgusting and smells bad!

When I reached Kikwang’s school I was huffing and sweating a bit but, I was feeling better from all the endorphins after the long run.

I looked around, but nobody was here yet. I did tell him I was coming at around 3:30 p.m. It was only 3:15 since I ran here.

“Did you need something?” I heard a deep voice.

When I turned around, I saw a tall tan guy who looked very western.

“I’m Dongwoon, the student dorm manager,” He smiled and observed my uniform.

“Um… my friend goes here… His name is Kikwang. We promised to meet today,” I said meek and kind of nervous.

“Oh, he’s over in the basketball court. I’ll take you there.”

I nodded and followed him quietly while looking around.

“Kikwang! Your girlfriend!” He yelled teasing .

“I’m not! Why did you say that!” I hissed while slapping his back.

He turned around and grinned, “Then does that mean you’re single?”

“Hey!” Kikwang came between us.

“She’s off limits.” He glared but turned around to me and grinned wiping off his sweat.

“He’s like that to every girl he meets. Don’t fall for him,” Kikwang rolled his eyes at Dongwoon who was now chatting happily with some other girls.

I was going to spill everything about today to Kikwang, but his bright smile was too blinding. I’ll have to resolve this myself. I’ll tell him about it after. I am not a baby anymore. 

I had Kikwang show me around just the Physical Education department so the tour was fairly quick. I told him my school was nice, that I already had many friends.

I wanted a hug from Kikwang. It would make my whole horrible day better. But I couldn’t. I don’t know why.

“Kikwang, sorry to cut your date short, but soccer practice is in ten minutes,” Another tall guy appeared.

“That’s Doojun, the captain. Sorry Jiyoung, even though I agreed to hang out with you today.  I didn’t know we would have practice on the first day of school,” He said very apologetic.

 I shook my head and pushed him toward the locker rooms. “Go go go!” I sung amiably but pouted.

“If you….hu” I paused. ‘Hugged me,’ I wanted to say…

“If you hoot like a monkey, I’ll forgive you! And you have to make a funny face in front of everyone!” I said in a quick breath.

He looked troubled but turned around and began hooting and making funny faces. He turned to face me again with a red face and face palmed himself.

“It’s only the first day and look what you made me do,” he groaned.

The other guys behind him were rolling around the floor while the girls snickered. “What’s wrong? They love you even more now. I’ll be going first. I need to get home before 4:30 p.m. or dad will get mad at me for staying out too long,” I kicked my feet at an invisible rock.

“I’ll be coming home on Friday night, so I’ll see you during the weekend!” He patted my head. I nodded and watched him go.

He told me to hurry home before it grew dark. I thought it was funny he would say that because it won’t be dark for another five hours, but felt warm and fuzzy inside.

When I got home, I washed my shoes and all my things. Lucky the indoor slippers for my school looked fancy. Kikwang didn’t suspect anything. I looked at my face that looked a little bit swollen.

I sighed. I was scared to go to school the next day. I will just avoid them…. At least no one from the theatre club is in my class… I think….