“That insufferable, empty-headed, pretentious –”

“You’re angry at her. We’re aware of that.”

I heaved an annoyed sigh at Yixing, creating a small gust that lifted the corners of the paper in my hands. Shifting through the never-ending pile, I began searching for the consecutive page number after the one I was holding.

My detention had come in the form of paperwork, or to be specific “helping the teachers sort out through some old reports”. As per Mrs Kim’s request, Mr Jung had extended my detention to another hour and with it, decided a new task for me as well. Instead of sorting through sports equipment –which now seemed like a much more desirable task–I was forced to sort through papers instead, cracking my head and straining my eyes as I cursed the school management’s lack of organisation.

The true friends they were, Yixing and Hyunji had hung back with me, albeit outside the window rather than joining me in the room. Mr Jung had a strict rule against bringing companions during detention.

 “I can’t believe she managed to get away with it!” Hyunji said, sharing my resentment. She rested her elbow on the window sill and propped her chin up as she watched me work, sympathy glimmering in her eyes.

“It’s unfair,” Yixing agreed. “But why did you retaliate? You know better than to lose control when it comes to dealing with her.”

I clamped my mouth shut, refusing to reply. In my account, I didn’t entirely reveal the full story regarding the events. I only told them the part where she flicked water over my work and I spattered her clothes with red paint.

“The full story, Aeri,” Yixing said firmly. He was leaning against the window sill, casual and relaxed, but his expression showed that he would not let me get away without telling him everything.

Sighing once again in annoyance, I told them, everything from her mocking me to the name I had scribbled onto the pages of the notebook that she had read.

Once I was done, Yixing shook his head. “Not saying that she’s right, but you must really like this guy.”

“I don’t need to answer that,” I retorted, roughly shoving a finished stack to the corner of the table as I started with another. “That witch!” I hissed venomously, almost tearing a piece of paper in half.

“Aeri,” Hyunji said gently, trying to placate my growing anger. “Calm down. Otherwise you’ll end up having to go through those again.”

“How can I calm down?!” I yelled in exasperation, throwing my hands up. “I have to go all this while she gets to skip on home and do her pedicure or some other useless thing she does whenever she’s done taunting other people!” I grabbed the papers which were starting to fly all around me. “I don’t even know if I can get this done in another hour!” 

I was almost in tears, snatching stray papers on the floor and batting away old post-it notes that I had how been sandwiched between them. I could see Hyunji and Yixing looking at me sympathetically, wanting to help, but obstructed by the window to do so. I must have looked like such a mess to them, for at that moment, not even Yixing dared to give one of his sarcastic comments.

“How about this?” Hyunji said cheerfully, trying to lift my spirits with her upbeat tone. “We can go for ice cream. My treat.”

It’s hard to stay mad when your friends were doing their best to cheer you up. I let a small smile lift the corners of my lips and nodded.

“Do you want help?” Yixing asked, eyeing the teetering stack at the edge of my table.

I rubbed my temples. “No, no. Let me finish this myself. It’ll help reduce the anger if I can shuffle through papers and thump the table once in a while. You guys go wait under the tree or something, before Mr Jung sees you.”

Yixing nodded and walked away. Hyunji, on the other hand, hung back to say something to me. “If you’re really mad, I know what you can do to help vent out your anger. It helped when my sister did it.”

I paused from shuffling through the papers and looked up at Hyunji curiously.

“Write a letter,” she said. “Write down everything that you feel and let out your anger. Scribble and draw on the paper if you feel the need to.”

I eyed her as if she was crazy. “I’ll get a worse punishment if I send that!”

“That’s the thing,” Hyunji said with a smile. “You don’t send it. You keep it. That way, everything you want to say will be said, and no one gets hurt.”

I took a moment to ponder over the idea. It was a good one actually. I let my gaze drop towards the sheets of paper in front of me, no more organized than they had been an hour ago. I really do feel the need to yell, but considering that the walls weren’t sound proofed, my voice could easily be heard by Mr Jung down the hall. Perhaps a letter would be the best bet. At least, if it doesn’t calm me down, I would be able to keep it as a keepsake, something to ponder and muse over in the near future.

Reaching out for a piece of empty paper that the room seemed to have in abundance, I began to write.

When I stopped, about twenty minutes had passed. I set down the pencil and the paper. It was small; the words I wrote filled the whole page. I had no idea how long it had resided in the room, but it looked fairly clean, the edges smoothly cut and not yellowed as some were. I stared at it thoughtfully for a while before I searched through the papers. There was an old envelope buried somewhere beneath this mess. I remembered seeing it as I was sorting through the papers.

I found it under a bunch of reports for an ancient camping program. Carefully, I folded my letter and slipped it inside, neatly tucking in the flap. Then, I let it rest on top of my bag as I proceeded to complete my task.

I was finally dismissed an hour later, having just completed sorting through the reports when Mr Jung came in. He nodded as he checked my work, told me to not get myself in trouble again, and permitted me to go home.

As I circled the building to get to the tree where we agreed to meet, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were still there. One hour was a long time to wait, and I knew Hyunji’s father was very concerned about her curfew. If Hyunji had to leave, surely Yixing would too, perhaps to accompany at her request or his own will. It couldn’t hurt to check anyway.

I the envelope I had in my hands. Written on the paper tucked within its folds were words of resentment and fury directed specifically at Choi Minhee. I couldn’t help it; I wanted to read again what I had written.

I found a cosy spot by the fountain, on the concrete ledge that surrounded the pool of water. Fishes swam below, flashing brilliant colours under the late evening sun. The water that spouted up from the middle of the pool spattered against my cheek, and vaguely, I saw a rainbow form where it caught the sun’s light.

I opened the flap and began to read.

Today is such a bad day! First I arrived to school late because I was foolish enough to do something that I’m sure wouldn’t help me in any way and I just had to bump into Mr Jung, hence, detention. Next, I landed myself in double detention because of that insufferable Barbie doll, Choi Minhee.

She just gets on my nerves! She always acts like a princess, as if she owns the school and everyone else are nothing more than her servants. Yet, in front of the teachers, she acts like she’s an innocent angel. Don’t they see what she does? Do they turn a blind eye to everything just because her father is a well-acclaimed benefactor of the school?

It’s not fair that all she has to do is widen her eyes, make her best pout and whine in that high-pitched voice of hers so that all is forgiven, while we are forced into punishments so that we will be forgiven

It’s just not fair.

I reread it again. Like Hyunji said, it felt good to be able to pour out my feelings, but it still didn’t lessen the hate I felt Choi Minhee. It was only fair that someone put her in her place, show her that she didn’t own the school just because her father paid for most of the funds. In fact, she didn’t even have a right to anything, since it was her father’s money and not hers.

Something vibrated in my pocket. Setting the letter down, I swiped the screen and read the message.

Are you done yet? Yixing and I have been waiting for over an hour.

I sprang up from my seat. So they were waiting! I snatched my bag from the ground and shouldered it quickly. Pocketing my phone, I quickly ran off to meet my two loyal friends.