Hyomin's P.O.V

I sat up slowly and looked at the time. Jiyeon was still asleep. I never liked waking her up, but I had to.

"Jiyeonnie.. Wake up.." I whispered.

She opened her eyes slowly and looked up at me. "What time is it..?"

"6am. We have to go to school." I replied.

The reason we went to school so early is because we lived far away. At a young age we ran away together because our parents and friends turned against us. We only had each other. We even had to leave our own town because everywhere we went we were kicked out. Now we were living on our own in a small apartment, only managing to make enough money to feed ourselves and pay the rent.

"Minnie.. I don't want to go.." Jiyeon groaned.

"Neither do I, but we have to." I said, getting out of bed.

I got dressed for school with Jiyeon then we both had a bit of breakfast, a slice of toast each, then we went out and waited at the bus stop. The bus always took a while but at least it was empty so we could have time alone before going to school and having to act like 'just friends'.

"Do we have swimming today?" Jiyeon asked as we sat at the back of the bus.

I nodded. "I packed your stuff."

"I can pack my own stuff you know.." She said.

"You always forget important things though." I said, grinning. "Like once you didn't bring any underwear for after swimming."

"Yah.. Don't bring that up.." She mumbled, blushing.

"You had to wear mine instead.." I giggled.

She rested her head against me and wrapped her arms around my waist. "Hyominnie.. I hate school.. I wish we could act like normal there.."

"You know that the same thing would happen. We don't have any money to move out.." I said, her hair.

"Can't we just run away again?" She sighed, looking up at me.

"No.. I don't want you to get hurt again..." I mumbled.

The bus stopped at school and we got out. School wasn't open yet so we sat around outside for a while. We saw teachers start to go in so we decided to go in too. We went into our empty form room and sat at the back of the room together.

"..Don't we have a new kid coming in today?" Jiyeon asked.

I shrugged. "I haven't been taking much notice of what's been going on lately."

"Apparently they're from Seoul.. That place we used to go to..." Jiyeon mumbled.

"...You're joking, right?" I groaned.

Jiyeon shook her head. "What's wrong?"

"Everyone there knew us.. She'll spread rumours.." I sighed.

"No.. They wouldn't.. Everyone knew we ran away to escape from it.." Jiyeon said, looking at me worriedly.

"Don't worry about it Jiyeonnie.. They might even not be from our old school." I said. "And if they are.. Well.. Maybe we will have to run away.."

We sat talking for a long time until the rest of the class started to arrive, then our teacher came in and we saw who the new kid was...

Jiyeon's P.O.V

The new girl.. We knew her. She was Eunjung. A girl from our old school. Not just any girl though, the rumour-spreading one. If you had a secret and Eunjung found out, the entire school would know within 5 minutes. I shared a worried look with Hyomin.

"What's up?" The girl called Soyeon next to me whispered.

"It's nothing." I said blankly, then I looked back over at Hyomin who was sat with her head in her hands.

I watched Eunjung sit down at the back of the room and then the teacher spoke.

"We have a new student joining us. Her name is Eunjung. Please treat her nicely."

The bell rang and we went to the changing rooms. I saw Eunjung watching as Hyomin and I went into a cubicle together.

"She knows.." Hyomin groaned. "Everyone will know in a few minutes.."

We got dressed for swimming and went out together. As soon as we appeared everyone looked at us.

"..See, there they are." I heard Eunjung's voice. "The lesbian couple."

",,That isn't true." Hyomin growled.

"Well obviously it is. You both ran away together because you're cowards." Eunjung snorted.

"Shut up." I said, staring at her.

"Or else?" She sneered.

"You've said too much already." Hyomin said coldly, then she pushed Eunjung into the freezing water of the pool.

There was a loud squeal from Eunjung and gasps from the crowd. Instantly, Boram and Qri came over and pulled Hyomin away.

"Park Hyomin! I'll kill you!" Eunjung yelled furiously.

"Shut your big mouth then!" Hyomin yelled back.

Boram and Qri took Hyomin back into the changing rooms. I followed.

"Calm down.." Qri started.

"Calm down!? How do I calm down?!" Hyomin shouted, then sighed and looked at me. "Jiyeonnie.. They know.."

"Know what?" Boram asked.

"Eunjung was a student in our old school.. It's a long story.." I mumbled.

"We have time." Said Qri. "Tell us."

"Okay.." I started. "Well.. Hyomin and I.. We're in love and we have been for quite a while, ever since we were young children.. We tried to keep it a secret, but one day Eunjung caught us kissing and she told everyone. We managed to cope with the bullying for a few months, but then our parents turned against us so we ran away together and came here instead.. We thought we'd escaped from the name calling.. But no.."

"Oh.. Well.. I don't think of you two any differently." Boram said.

"But now everyone knows.. We'll have to run away again.." Hyomin sobbed.

"Minnie.. It'll be okay.." I said reassuringly. "We'll get through this.."

"You can't just run away." Qri said.

"We did the first time. We will if we have to." I said.

"..Take us with you then." Boram said.

"But.. We don't want to drag anyone else into this." Hyomin sighed.

"We want to protect you." Qri said. "It's what friends do."

Just then Soyeon came in. "What are you all doing? You're missing the lesson!"

"Oh.. We didn't realise." Boram said quickly, then we went out and got into the pool and joined the lesson.

The rest of the day was rather boring, but when it got to lunch things really heated up.

Me and Hyomin were sat outside under the trees together when Eunjung came over.

"Why haven't you run away yet?" She asked, grinning.

"You're really asking for it now, aren't you?" Hyomin growled, standing up.

"I'm surprised, that's all. I wonder how you kept it secret so long." Eunjung said. "No worries, the entire school knows now."

"Why would you..." I started.

"Because it's not nice to hide things." Eunjung said. "I reckon you have a few days left before they kick you out.." Then she started to walk away.

Just then, Hyomin grabbed Eunjung from behind and held her by . "You. You're the most awful, disgusting person I've ever met."

"Same feelings then." Eunjung sneered.

Hyomin's fist connected with Eunjung's face and I heard a loud crack which was probably Eunjung's nose breaking. Hyomin kicked her in the back of the legs and forced her to the ground, then stood on top of her.

"Hyomin.. You need to stop.." I said.

"No, she deserves it." Hyomin growled.

Just then, Qri, Boram and Soyeon ran over and pulled Hyomin away. Eunjung stood up slowly.

"You're a horrible person!" Eunjung screamed, then she ran off.

"It's over for us here.. Come on Jiyeon.. We might as well go.." Hyomin groaned.

"We're coming too." Soyeon said. "Qri and Boram told me everything. It's fine, I don't care about if you love each other. You're still my friends and I won't treat you any differently."

We all walked out of the school together with our stuff and went back to our apartment. We took some food and water and left, posting the key through the letter box. We never looked back after that. It was just us five against the judgemental, cruel world.