looking around the halls, you wouldn't think anything of the people standing at their lockers or talking to their friends about last nights homework. you wouldn't know that most of them have a dark secret of their own, and if they don't right now they probably will in the future. it's not something that people tend to think about but i do, mostly because everyone already knows about my past. they all know that i was a troublemaker, that i didn't do well in school beforehand, that my older brother is involved with a gang for various reasons, some that come back to me.

i tend to look at people with a negative opinion. as i watch them walk down the hall, i try to guess what their big secret is. if it's possibly a dark, dangerous secret or an innocent, sad secret. it's none of my business but it gives me something to do rather than stare at people creepily while waiting on my friends to arrive. eunji's normally the last one however, she's always too busy changing her outfit five times before she even considers leaving her home. it's not that eunji is an overly fashionable person, it's just that she can't always make up her mind and the result is changing things over and over again. sometimes she comes in so late that there's probably no point in her actually turning up for our first lesson of the day.

as usual, chorong was the first to arrive with her always bright smile and even brighter backpack. "naeun, you're here early." she chirped as she made her way over towards me, everyone ignoring her on her way over as usual. we were the invisible group of friends to the rest of the students, they didn't care what happened to us and they didn't care if they hurt us. i nodded happily in her direction, pushing myself away from the lockers i joined her in the middle of the hallway and began walking towards our younger friends locker where she was most likely being teased by the more popular girls in her year. there was nothing wrong with hayoung, she was exceptionally smart and naturally beautiful but the girls liked to every morning anyway until we turned up then they would scurry off to whatever hole they belonged in.

"namjoo said she wouldn't be in today, something about a throat and a head." chorong attempted to make small talk as we turned the corner, it was normally awkward between us when we were alone as we just didn't have anything to talk about other than school work and our friends. we really didn't talk often.

the usual insults could be heard as we turned the corner, coming face to face with two of the most evil girls in the world. alright, they weren't exactly evil but they weren't exactly pleasant. nor were they pleasant to look at, despite being what everyone called the 'queenka's' of the school, they looked far to plastic for my liking.

"look, little hayoung has her diary hidden in here."

"how adora-not."

"childish little freak"

the insults came out of their mouths like a river, neverending and half of the time they didn't even make sense. that's what happens when you care more about looks than actually learning in school or anywhere else for that matter.

i had enough of listening to them insulting my younger friend, pushing my way through the various people stopping by to either speak to friends or stare at the evil twins, i managed to reach them before the dared to open her personal diary.

"why don't you two run along and braid eachothers hair or something." i snapped, gently shoving them back a few steps to give hayoung some air and signal that it was time for them to leave before i did get really mad and do something regrettable. they didn't think twice before they both hurried off to join their own little group of friends, their fans followed behind as if they were the hottest singing group around and not some idiotic pair of high school students.

just then, a small brown haired figure came pushing through the crowds of fangirls and fanboys, clinging to her bag like her life depended on it. hayoung had barely even opened to speak when eunji covered it with her hand and looked up at me intently, her lips curving into a unnaturally large smile. "tonight's the night, will you come with me?"

i was completely lost.

"what's tonight?" the question instantly made her smile disappear and it was replaced with a scowl of disappointment, she poked my arm harshly with her index finger.

"my date with the gorgeous, inhumanely handsome, super intelligent luhan." fair enough, luhan did look good...but super intelligent? that made me snort with laughter. "what are you laughing at?"

"he's not 'super intelligent' and no, i will not go with you."

"why not?" so the insult had been forgotten for now. for now. chances are i would pay for that later on.

"you know how i feel about them eunji." i reminded her, giving her a light shove in response to her prodding of my arm.

"but you're my best friend, i need the support. be my support. please."

"no."

"pretty please?"

"i said no."

"i'll buy you that video game you wanted." and it was a done deal.

this is the beginning of how i died.

not really, but some people might wish that they had in my situation and i couldn't blame them for wanting such a thing to happen when you have to spend time with the people you hate more than anything else. you know, those people that make you want to rip your eyes out and feed them to something. these were the kind of people that were also known as 'exo', some lame gang name that the leader thought of when he was ten years old.

that night, we sat around a small circular table in the far corner of a local coffee shop, it wasn't the best one in town but it was small and sweet, apparently the best place to take a girl on a date. or at least take eunji on a date, it was and always had been her ideal date since she watched some cheesy romance movie where the girl met her perfect man over a cup of coffee and within minutes they had fallen in love and vowed to marry one another some day. if she thought luhan was going to be like this, she was in for a big surprise when that blonde haired idiot arrived.

"you haven't even given them a chance." eunji hissed from across the table, her eyes turning dark with seriousness. it wasn't often that i had cold, and quite honestly frightening, glares from her so when she looked at me in such a way, i knew that this was serious.

i inhaled deeply, placing my palms flat on the table in surrender "fine, i won't say anything bad or ruin your big night." i traced a cross on my heart and smiled at her hopefully, gaining a small smile back when she finally realised how hard this was going to be for me.

you see, ever since i turned fourteen i had a serious problem with that group of guys. not because i had personal issues with every single one of them, although it probably seemed like it with my vile language towards them, i had a problem with one particular member.

my older brother. kim joonmyun, also known as suho to his fellow gang members and friends.

he had promised me on my fourteenth birthday that he would protect me from those guys, no matter what it took he would keep them away from me and my friends at that time when two new members my age had joined the wild group of boys. he swore that he wouldn't let them touch me as long as i lived, he refused to let them hurt me or my little sister like they hurt the others. those boys had quite the reputation with the girls. everyone followed them around like zombies, throwing presents at them when they couldn't get close enough to give it to them directly. so many girls had given their hearts to the boys, so many of them had been broken.

but my brother broke his promise. he had joined them shortly after that, telling me that it was just one of those things and that i had to learn to live with it. and i did. but loosing a brother without him actually going anywhere messes up a young girl, it makes her rebel against their parents and do stupid things that no one in their right mind would do at such a young age.

"he's bringing a friend you know." eunji continued from whatever story she had been telling me previously, she didn't normally notice me blanking out and not listening to a word she said, even if i gave the wrong answer she would continue on to another story of hers.

"a what? no, no. i did not agree to this." i glared at her.

"it won't hurt you to just speak to the guy and get to know him."

"you have no idea how much it will kill me inside." i mumbled, pulling the small cup of coffee closer to the edge of the table. the warmth against my hands was comforting, like they were being held tightly by someone else...

"what's going to kill you inside?" a deep voice from behind me asked, his tone of voice was a little more amused than i liked. turning around to see my own killer of the night, i froze instantly. eunji didn't even make a sound as luhan appeared with two fresh hot drinks in hand and a big goofy grin across his face. chances are that she was mirroring my exact look of horror.

wu yifan. the wu yifan.

this was bad, very very bad.