Thursday, December 20th

Like every other Thursday, during his afternoon break, Jihoon was cleaning his locker. He did this every two weeks to make sure his locker stayed neat and nicely stacked for his classes. And, by doing it every two weeks, it would only take a few minutes, unlike his best friend, who would only do it at either at the beginning of a semester. . He carefully leaned his math book against the side of the locker while grabbing another book to hold it against it, when he was unexpectedly shoved into the locker. His classmates around him laughed as the hand that pushed him retreated to the boy's pocket. The rest of his books fell to the floor as he snapped his head towards the perpetrator as he was already walking away from Jihoon. His followers grabbed some of Jihoon's files and threw the loose papers in it around him, causing the rest of the students to laugh louder.

"Hey!" Jihoon yelled at his bully. He turned around with a disinterested expression and chuckled as Jihoon walked up to him.

"I see you've suddenly got a set of balls on you." One of his followers said.

"Shut up. Ren, I'm sick of it." Jihoon said. "I'm sick of you harassing me, hurting me, humiliating me. I'm sick of you!"

Ren smirked at Jihoon. He winked at the girls behind him when he noticed they threw him a flirty smile. Jihoon rolled his eyes.

"You don't deserve girls looking at you with admiration."

"Because you have a chance with them? Don't make me laugh. Perhaps you've forgotten, but every girl in this school throws herself at me." Ren replied.

"And yet you never have a girlfriend by your side. Maybe you're a stud now, but when the real life starts, girls aren't going to appreciate someone who only tries to hump and dump."

"Guess it really depends on what you define as a girlfriend."

"How about someone you have slept with more than once and didn't let your driver bring home as you hid away in your bathroom. I bet you don't even know what the word 'girlfriend' means." Jihoon smirked at him. Ren smirked back.

"Do I need to prove it to you?" He said.

"How about you and I make a bet?" Ren looked at him.

"Go on."

"I bet you can't have a girlfriend for at least one hundred days." Jihoon said with a cocky smile. Ren looked at his friends and then back to Jihoon.

"And what if I do?" Jihoon nervously tried to come up with something not too horrible, knowing Ren would find a way to make feel like it pure torture anyway.

"Come on. If you think I can't do it, what are you afraid off?" Ren said.

"Fine, IF you can do it, I'll be your slave." Ren's ears perked up at the word 'slave'.

"For the rest of your high school life." Jihoon finished.

Ren smirked with an evil glint in his eyes.

"You do realize I won't graduate for about two years from now, right?"

Jihoon scoffed.

"I'm aware, I'm in your class."

"Oh, right, target practice in English literature."

"Besides, like I said, it's not like you can do it." Ren put his right hand in front of him.

"Deal." Jihoon shook his hand and smirked.

"One more thing."

"What?" Ren said annoyed.

"To make it fair, the girl can't know about this bet."

"Fine."

"And, it has to be the first girl who bumps into you to today."

"Deal." Ren took his hand back and turned around to walk away again, but right at the moment he turned around, someone bumped into him and dropped all their books. Everyone in the hallway got quiet and some of the girls gasped. Of course they were getting ready to bump into him, one way or another, but now they were pissed at whichever girl just ruined their chances. Jihoon's eyes were wide with agony as he watched the girl bump into Ren.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there!" Jessica nearly yelled at him as she apologized. She tried to explain why she didn't see him, but Ren had already bent down to help her pick up her books. Ren had seen her and Jihoon have lunch before and she sometimes dropped him off at his classes. He figured they were friends and was already plotting everything in his head. He chuckled when he saw Jihoon's expression and turned back to Jessica as they stood up straight.

"Next time you might want to spend more time looking in front of you, than at the floor." Ren smiled at her. She was taken aback a bit. She was looking up at him and was mesmerized by his pretty face and the way the light hit his platinum blond hair, tied back in a ponytail. She woke up from her daze when Jihoon called her name loudly. Ren smiled at her again.

"Jessica, that's a pretty name." Jessica blushed. "I'll be seeing you around." Ren winked at her and walked past her, followed by his friends. Jessica's gaze followed him as he turned a corner. In the meantime, Jihoon was fuming because of the situation. His best friend was now Ren's number one target, and it was his own fault. When Jessica was back to reality, she noticed all the gossip about her and Ren and blushed madly as she rushed to her class.

 

At the ring of the last bell, Jessica's teacher asked the class to stay for a few minutes. This gave a few of the girls in the back the opportunity to annoy Jessica even further by throwing paper balls and pencils at her. The teacher continued talking about the school's annual Christmas gala as Jessica ignored the torment. When the teacher finally dismissed the class, Jessica was the first to leave. She quickly stopped by her locker to change her books for her homework and then rushed to the school's entrance. She opened the soda can that Jihoon bought for her during lunch but she didn't have time to drink it at the time. She was trying to grab her travel card at the same time and managed to bump into someone for the second time. This time, the only sound that came out of her was a loud gasp while the liquid poured over the guy as it fell to the floor.

"Pretty sure I told you to look forward instead of down earlier." Ren said with a forced smile, trying to keep his annoyance to himself.

"I-I'm sorry." Jessica mentally slapped herself for stuttering.

"It's fine. Can I buy you a new one, by any chance?" He said as he picked up the empty can of the floor.

"Actually I have to get home. Babysit my sister."

"Oh. Well, can I give you a ride home then? Probably a lot nicer than public transport."