Sara's POV

I'm trying to control my sobbing in Mr. Choi's office. He's letting me cry. It's really a miracle he got this job. All he really does is let you cry, or rant, or even break stuff, and never says a thing. He just lets you get it out. Maybe that's why he got the job....

"Mr. Choi?" I ask suddenly, breaking the silence. Mr. Choi looks at me, as if he's afraid I'll hurt him.

"Yes?" He responds warily.

"Why do guys not like me?" Mr. Choi didn't know how to respond to that question. He says nothing for several minutes, and then, he just shrugs. I start wailing again. "Oh, no, Sara, I didn't mean it like that! Honest!" I keep wailing, for no reason other than some petty concern over wether or not I was pretty. Dear God, I am never like this! Am I on my period, or what?!

Mr. Choi sighs. "Sara, let me clue you in on a little secret. Every male in this school that I've talked too over the past year, has complained to me about Tao. Do you want to know why?" He could see he had my attention, because I quieted my wails to sniffles here and there. He continued, "They complained about Tao because Tao has you. You are 'Tao's girl', as the boys in the school refer to you. Every male student in school wanted to talk to you when you first walked through the school doors, but you walked straight to Tao. And if Tao's out of the way, then the rest of the boys can have their fair shot at you. So, in short, guys do like you. Very, very much."

By now, I'd calmed down so I wasn't going to burst out into tears again. I nodded, processing the information.

Tao was popular. He had friends other than me. But except for Kai and Kris and Lay and D.O. and the others, all those other friends were girls. So there were other girls who could be classified as a Tao's girl, right?

Except those girls had other boys to talk to. Those girls all had friends other than Tao. And those girls all knew someone else in this school when it was their first day.

As for the other boys in school wanting to talk to me, I have no evidence of anyone other than Tao and his friends wanting to talk to me. But I had no evidence to disprove it either.

Except, for the few days over the past semester that Tao was absent - and, oddly, so were the rest of the gang - when I was sitting alone at lunch, I was swarmed with boys wanting to talk to me. They all striked me as A/V crew, so I figured that they were just grateful that a member of the opposite was talking to them, and didn't want to risk rejection by coming up to talk to me when Tao was there.

And except for the gang, I have never seen a boy talk to Tao in a friendly way. Polite, sure, but it was formal polite, the I-hate-you-but-I'm-the-better-man-so-I'll-be-nice polite. And if today's conversations with the Ingi are anything to go by, when I'm not there, politness goes out the door.

The third lunch period bell rings, jerking me out of my thoughts. Mr. Choi looks at me. Are you ready to go? His eyes asks me. I nod, and stand, thanking him. He says to come back anytime. I smile, and walk out of his office, grabbing a Guidance pass on the way out. It's the middle of Astronomy now, and that's on the second floor of Building A. I'm in Building C, clear across campus!

I sigh loudly, before fast walking out of the building into the cold.

And walk right back inside.

Snow and ice have woven themselves in between the strands of my hair, and covered my face. My clothes are now wet with the melting ice. It's freezing. Bleeping freezing. Not to mention the fact that you couldn't see an inch in front of your face out there! It was a whiteout, I believe the term is.

I stand by the heater near the door, trying to warm up before I go to the main office of Building C. It turns out, I didn't need to go to the office, because there was a school wide announcement,

"Due to extreme weather conditions, all students are to gather in the largest room in their Building, and wait for further intstuctions. Repeat: Due to extreme weather conditions, all students are to gather in the largest room in thier Building, and wait for further instructions." The lady's monotone voice announced.

Building C is a relativly small building, compared to the others. Two stories, and most of it is storage space and supplies. The only places students are allowed are Guidance, the Cafeteria, and Creative Writing/Literature, which are both in the same classroom. So I guess I'm headed for the Cafeteria......

On my way there, I got a text. I could feel my phone vibrating in my pant pocket. I thank god that girls are allowed to wear pants now. I expect the text to be from my mom or dad, maybe my brothers, but it's from Tao. I guess I also expected that as well.

Hey, you good?

I ignore his text and stash my phone away as I enter the Cafeteria. There are more people here than normal, since it's lunch period. I look around for someone I know. No one.

"Hey Sara!" A girls frilly and sarcstically nice voice says from behind me. I turn to look at her, and I see none other than the head Ingi Babi. "Come sit with us!"

"No, I'd rather sit alone!" I decline politely, flashing a fake smile.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" She shrills again as her followers friends drag me to their table.

I know what this is about. The whole bleeping cafeteria knows what this is about, if the rumor mill hasn't been affected by the weather. Head Babi is out to get me because 'her' boy talked to me.

I gently pull myself out of their grasp. "I said, 'No'. That means I do not want to sit with you." I say. "I'm sorry if you think your boyfriend is leaving you for me. Because he's not. Now, I'm going to--"

"Oh, shut up!" Head Babi snaps. "Girls!" Her friends swarm me again.

"Wow, you must really be worried that Justin's leaving you, if you feel you need all these girls to try and scare me off!" I comment.

"I don't need them!" Head Babi protests.

"Then prove it! Prove to me that your not just some weak little girl who needs her friends to help her scare others to make herself feel better!" A male voice calls from accross the room. All the girls, including me, turn to look at the newcomer's voice. I recognized him vaguely as an Ingi, but I don't know his name. Head Babi does, though.

"Sang-Ki!" She says, blinking rapidly and dropping her jaw. "I, uh...."

"Yeah, yeah, save it!" Sang-Ki waved his hand, dissmissing her and her friends. "Don't you have anything better to do with your time?"

Head Babi looked like she was about to argue, and looked to her friends for help. But her friends had already left, leaving her alone in the middle of the Cafeteria next to me.

Her nostrils flared and she glared at the Ingi, then at me. Her face flushed red, and she stiffened.

Then she hit me.

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Yay! I updated! A comment or two, and the next chapter, which I already have written, will be updated! Happy New Year!