When school rolls around on Monday, Jinri is surprised to discover that she’s actually excited. It’s been such a long time since she’s actually wanted to go to school, and she’s intelligent enough to realize the reason. Having friends, or at least one friend, makes a big difference in her day.

“Hey Jinri-yah,” Himchan greets her during the first recess between classes, when they happen to run into each other while getting drinks from the soda machine. “Do you have plans for lunch today? If not, you should eat with my friends and I.”

She hesitates. Hanging out with Himchan is one thing, but hanging out with his friends – the infamous B.A.P – is quite another matter. In the end she gives in. “Sure. That sounds okay.”

It turns out that Himchan and his friends always eat lunch in an empty classroom.

“Why don’t you just eat in the cafeteria or your classroom?” she asks as they traipse up to the third floor, lunches in tow.

He shrugs. “Eh, we don’t exactly enjoy being ogled all day long,” he admits, winking. “We never eat in the same place so people can’t find us and bother us.”

“Oh the horrible life of a popular kid,” she replies dryly.

Himchan only chuckles and pushes open the door to one of the unused chemistry labs on the third floor. His friends have already gathered. Like she’d first surmised, they are all very gorgeous. She’s a little surprised, though, to find the smiling guy from her homeroom there. He sees her and smiles and waves, but he’s the only one who seems welcoming. The others all just stare at her.

“What the is this?” one of them says. He’s tall and broad-shouldered, his dyed blonde hair hanging into intense eyes that are currently narrowed in distaste. His voice is low and gravelly.

Himchan gives him a stern look that Jinri doesn’t think she’s supposed to see. “This is my friend, Jinri-yah,” he introduces. “I invited her to have lunch with us today.”

The boy with the deep voice glowers but otherwise lets the matter drop.

The friendly blonde guy who sits next to Jinri in class his head and gives another bright smile. “I’m Youngjae. We’re in class together.”

She nods, a little awkwardly, sitting down in an empty chair beside Himchan. “Yeah. We sit next to each other.”

“These are Yongguk, Daehyun, and Jongup,” Himchan introduces the others that are gathered.

The one called Jongup smiles shyly at her; Daehyun, whose lower face is covered by a mask so she can’t quite make out his expression, simply stares blankly; Yongguk, the boy with the deep voice, only continues to glower. She’s definitely feeling unwelcome. She wonders if they think of her as another fangirl that’s trying to intrude on their brief alone time.

After a few minutes of awkward small talk, the boys go back to the topic they were discussing before Himchan and Jinri arrived. “The concert is supposed to be really good,” Jongup says with a smile. “You’re going, right Himchan-hyung?”

Himchan nods eagerly. “I wouldn’t miss it,” he agrees. Then he leans over and explains to Jinri, “We’re going to see the YB band this weekend.”

Her face lights up. “Oh, I love them! You’re really lucky!”

Yongguk catches Himchan’s eye and gives a curt shake of his head, but Himchan ignores him. “We have an extra ticket if you want to go with us.”

Jinri hesitates. She really likes the band, but it’s obvious that she’s not exactly welcome in this group by all the members, and she doesn’t want to attract any more trouble than she usually does. But Himchan’s encouraging smile convinces her to agree. “Okay,” she says. “I’ll make sure to find a sitter for the baby.”

Her mother is, if possible, even more unhappy about this situation than Yongguk. “You can’t go,” she says snidely, throwing a pot into the sink. “Jiyong and I have plans Friday night. Who else will watch the baby?”

“Get a ing babysitter,” Jinri snaps. “I’m not your slave.”

“Get back here, Jinri!” her mother screams, but Jinri only stomps up to her bedroom and slams the door.

She’s lucky she’s got that weekend to look forward to. Otherwise she’d probably drown in her misery.

Despite still not having her mother’s permission to go, Jinri packs a bag and takes it with her to school on Friday. She’s actually pretty excited about the concert. It’s been a long time since she’s gone to a show like this and she’s looking forward to it.

“Hey,” Himchan calls, catching up with her by her locker before the first bell. “We’re gonna ditch out around lunchtime to get to the venue early. You okay with that?”

“I’m okay with any excuse to get out of this hell-hole,” Jinri agrees with a little laugh. “The sooner the better, in my opinion.”

Himchan grins and ruffles her hair. “That’s my girl. We’ll meet at the back entrance by the parking lot. See you then.”

Jinri doesn’t even make it around the corner before she’s accosted by the B.A.P.’s raging fan club. “Why were you talking to Himchan-oppa?” one of them demands, leering.

“Because he’s going to the out of me tonight,” Jinri answers in a bored tone of voice. She’s long since given up on having with Himchan – they’re just friends and she’s totally cool with that – but it’s still fun to mess with these girls.

Their eyes bug out of their heads and one of them nearly jokes. “That’s not even funny!” one of them screeches. “Oppa would never touch someone as nasty as you.”

“That’s where you’ve got it wrong, sweetheart,” Jinri coos. “You’re the one he would never touch. Boys like girls with experience, you know. Someone who knows how to make them feel good. A silly little thing like you is just a nuisance.”

“Shut your face before I shut it for you,” one of them growls, though she’s about as intimidating as a bunny rabbit with her pigtails and bright pink lips.

Jinri smirks. “Is that a challenge?”

“Is there a problem here?” a deep voice interrupts, and they look to see one of the history teachers walking towards them.

Jinri is both disappointed and relieved at having been stopped before a real fight broke out. On the one hand, she’s been incredibly stressed lately – she hasn’t gotten laid since before her strike-out with Himchan and her mother’s nagging is driving her to new heights of frustration – and it would be nice to take out her anger on these petty little annoyances. On the other hand, she’s pretty sure that she’d get detention if she started brawling in the hallway and detention would mean she couldn’t go on the trip with Himchan and his friends.

“No sir,” one of the fan club girls chirps in a fake little voice. “We were just talking. Right, Jinri-ssi?”

“Right,” Jinri replies, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

The teacher looks them over again before heading off in the direction he’d come from. The fan club girls give Jinri scowling glares before scurrying off to their classrooms, leaving Jinri to roll her eyes at their stupidity.

It’s only as she’s heading to her own homeroom class that she notices Yongguk standing at the end of the corridor, arms crossed over his chest, lips pressed into a thin line. It’s obvious that he’d seen the little altercation between her and the fan club girls, but it’s impossible to tell from his expression what he’s thinking. Jinri ducks into her classroom and tries to forget about it.

When the bell rings to signal lunch, Youngjae and Jinri skip out together. They grab their bags from their lockers and meet the others at the back entrance to the school, where the others are waiting with an old van.

“Where’d you get this hunker?” she asks, allowing Himchan to toss her bag into the back along with everyone else’s.

Jongup grins at her from where he’s already made himself comfortable next to the window in the middle. “It’s my uncle’s,” he says. “He’s letting us borrow it for the trip. It’s not much, but it’ll get us there in one piece.”

Yongguk slides behind the wheel and Himchan takes the seat behind him. Youngjae, Daehyun, and Jinri squeeze into the back. “We still have to pick up Junhong,” Himchan explains as Yongguk steers the van away from the school. “He goes to the middle school down the street, but he should be waiting for us out front so it shouldn’t take long.”

Junhong turns out to be a ridiculously tall third year middle schooler with a mop of curly blonde hair and a big grin. “You must be Jinri-noona,” he exclaims when he climbs into the van, taking the seat beside Jongup. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Oh really? Nothing bad, I hope,” she teases.

That shuts him up real fast. Jinri privately wonders just what they’ve been saying about her. She has to remind herself that she doesn’t care. It’s not like it matters what they think anyway. Hasn’t that always been her mentality?  She tries not to think about it too much as they speed along down the highway.

It’s about a four hour drive to the neighboring city where the concert is being held, but it seems to go by much faster than that. The boys are clearly very comfortable with one another, laughing and joking. It’s the type of relationship that Jinri can’t ever remember having with anyone. Is this what it’s like to have friends? She wonders. And, aside from Yongguk, they try to include Jinri in the conversation no matter what they’re talking about. She finds herself relaxing and really having fun.

They park in the crowded lot and take turns changing out of their school uniforms in the van – Jinri doesn’t have a problem changing in front of the others but Himchan advises her to show a little modesty. Once they’ve changed, they take their tickets and go into the venue.

It’s an outdoor concert, with a big sloping lawn leading down to the stage. It’s a nice night, despite being cold, and the venue is already crowded. They manage to find space for all of them up near the front and they huddle together to keep warm. When the concert finally starts, however, Jinri jumps around so much that she’s not even cold anymore.

The concert is most of the way over when someone grabs her roughly by the arm and whirls her around. It’s a guy about ten years older than her who looks vaguely familiar, but she can’t quite put her finger on where she knows him from.

“Jinri-yah,” he coos, obviously delighted at having found her. “Long time no see, sweetheart.” And the way he rubs his crotch against her thigh is enough to let her know how she knows him. One of her many conquests. She looks him up and down critically. Not one of her prouder moments, she must admit. But the man seems oblivious to her disdain. He glances over his shoulder and calls to his friends, who join him quickly. Jinri realizes – much to her dismay – that she recognizes all of them. She’s slept with all of them before. Her habits are definitely catching up with her.

Himchan gallantly comes to her rescue. “Is there a problem here?”

The man’s face contorts into an unpleasant sneer. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with, pretty boy. This is between me and the lady here.”

“I’m afraid that this is my friend and so that makes it something I need to concern myself with,” Himchan replies without batting an eye. “And you’re not treating her like a lady, now are you?”

The man guffaws, the sound grating on Jinri’s nerves. “Don’t tell me you’re ing this guy, Jinri.”

“No, I’m not,” she mutters, trying to jerk her arm free. His hold on her proves to be too tight, however. “But I’m not ing you either.”

He leans in close, the alcohol on his breath ghosting over her lips. “We could change that real fast, sweetheart.”

“No thanks,” she mumbles, struggling against his hold futilely. “I’m not interested. Now let go, please. I’m here to see the concert.”

The man laughs again, and Jinri is surprised to discover that she’s actually a little frightened. It’s not an emotion that catches up with her often. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he grins, baring tobacco-stained teeth at her.

The next thing Jinri knows, there’s a fist flying into the man’s face so that he cries out and releases her, stumbling back. It’s not her fist. Hell, it’s not even Himchan’s. It’s Yongguk’s.

“What the , dude?” the man shouts, holding a hand over his bleeding nose. “She your property or something?”

“No,” Himchan answers, wrapping an arm around Jinri’s shoulders. “But she’s our friend, which is a lot more than you can say. So beat it.”

Unfortunately that’s when security shows up and escorts all of them out of the concert.

The drive back home is quiet after the excitement of the concert.

“Sorry we missed the ending of the concert,” Jinri mumbles. She’s not sure why, but she feels really bad about the way things turned out. It’s not like it’s her fault. It’s not like she knew those guys were going to be there or that they’d cause a scene. It’s not her fault. Right?

Junhong gives her a reassuring little smile. “It’s okay, noona. It was hyung punching that guy that got us kicked out.”

“Shut up,” Yongguk growls from the front seat, gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles are white. “Just shut up.

And they do. 

Sorry that it's taken so long to update. I've been super busy lately OTL