Word quickly spread of the new foreign girl of the school who looks like she would kill you with the bluntest knife she could find.  There’s a group of people who says she’s trying too hard to look tough, and she’s really just a brainless delinquent. Some guys have expressed some form of attraction to Hyerin, but are too intimidated to confess their feelings to her.  Then there are other people who make fun of her for being a foreigner, sneering that she doesn’t speak to anyone because she doesn’t know how to speak Korean that well.

Her being a loner doesn’t help any of the rumors; from the first day she’s hasn’t been seen talking to anyone in class, and she always eats her lunch by herself before disappearing by herself for the rest of the period.  She’s managed to make herself look intimidating even while wearing the school uniform, opting for wearing net stockings, boots, studded bracelets, leather gloves, or anything else that would counteract the proper appearance of the uniform.  And every day without fail, she would still wear that solid black choker.

A week after Hyerin’s first day, I’m through with spending every lunch period left wondering where she would disappear to, so I decide to follow her one day.  She only had an orange for lunch, vigorously ripping off the skin, taking it apart and eating it, before she stands up and storms out.

That prompts me to get up as well.  “Hey, I’m going to the bathroom real quick.”

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow at me strangely.  “O...kay then?”

Before any of the others can say anything, I sprint to the back of the cafeteria to catch up to Hyerin.  I should feel guilty about leaving my friends alone, but I know they’d get over it.

The halls are empty as I follow her figure in front of me.  She takes quick, light steps through the hallway. Her face carries her usual intimidating stare, but what’s different today is that her eyes look like they could actually kill today. I wonder who went through the trouble of pissing her off...

She turns a corner when she hears laughing coming from down the hall.  Without hesitating, I run along the wall and keep myself out of sight. I peek out from behind the corner to watch the scene unfold.

I recognize the group of boys as the basketball team.  They’re another pretty popular group, although they’re only Juniors.  The Seniors don’t cause much trouble, but these guys certainly make up for it.

Hyerin marches right up to them confidently, this time making sure her steps are heard echoing through the hallway.  The boys glance at her and smirk. "What does the foreigner want?" one of them asks.

"Can you even speak Korean?" another teases, and all of them burst out laughing.

She waits for them to have their fun and laugh, leaning on one leg and lazily crossing her arms over her chest.  "Nuga Kris ilkkayo?" she speaks perfectly in her soft voice.

The sudden question hits them like a wrecking ball when they hear no accent.  They all freeze as she just stares at them, waiting for an answer.

She shifts her weight to her other side.  "Naega dasi butakhan geot sirheo (I hate asking again)," she states emotionlessly, dropping the honorific from before.

The first guy pushes his way in front of her, who’s a whole head and a half taller than her.  "And who do you think you are that we'll answer you?" he asks viciously, pointing a finger at her.

She doesn’t even flinch.  "Oh, I'm sorry," she replies in the same monotonous voice.  She pulls his hand away by its sides. "I'm sure you know me?  I've been a hot topic for the past week. ‘The foreigner who can’t understand a word of Korean’?  ‘The girl who tries too hard to look tough’? I’m not deaf, I understand perfectly well what everyone says about me."

Slowly, the boy slowly shrinks down to the floor.  His eyes widen and the smirk is wiped off his face.  He crouches to kneel, but his hand is still in hers. He breathes heavily, almost whimpering in pain.  I expect him to scream ‘uncle’ in his next breath.

She finally lets go of him, still as calm as ever.  "Now can someone answer me?" They all point at the tallest one without hesitation.  "Thanks, ije kkeojyo," she dismisses them.  The rest of them scurry away, pulling the injured one away with them.

The leader of the band of Juniors, Kris Wu - who was way taller than her since she was only up to his chest - leans against the wall with his arms crossed.  There’s a smirk on his face as he scans Hyerin. "I'm impressed. I didn't expect a girl to command a group of tough guys."

"I'm not here for small talk," she speaks straightforwardly.  "I'm here because I have a bone to pick with you."

The taller one laughs condescendingly.  "I don't remember doing anything to you in my life."

"I didn't say anything about me being the one you did anything to.  I'm here because of something you did to someone else."

The boy rolls his eyes and pushes himself off the wall, rolling up to his full height to intimidate her.  "Look, I don't think you should waste your time trying to be a hero. I didn't do anything to any one of your friends that sent you here to pick a fight with me.  So I'll just be on my way-"

As he tries to walk away, Hyerin quickly pushes him back onto the wall with one swift move of her arm.

I gape at the sight.  Did she just-

"You know, when I first came here, all everyone would talk about was how great Kris Wu is, how kind he is, how handsome he is, how smart he is, and so on," she says, nonchalantly inspecting her nails.  "You know, nothing out of the ordinary of the typical high school sweetheart basketball captain." She quickly looks around, then back up at him. The conversation that follows is in English, which I can’t understand very well.  Kris came from Canada when he entered Freshman year, which explains why he understands her well. The two go back and forth for a while longer before she pulls out her phone and shows him the screen. Kris stiffens at the sight of it.

I’m completely shocked.  No one has ever intimidated Kris Wu before.  What reason does she have to confront him anyway?  He’s a nice guy, other than that sometimes huge ego of course.  He hasn’t done anything that I know of. Who could have a bone to pick with him and have sent Hyerin to be the messenger?  She hasn’t talked to anyone as far as I know.

I recognize Hyerin listing names: Park SunHee, Lee Hyori, Lim Minah, Seo EunMin, Shin RaeJin...Park MinJi?  The girl in my Trig class? Kris is in my Trig class too. Why is she so concerned with people in my Trig class?  I glance at Hyerin. A small smirk sneaks onto her face, the first clear sign of emotion I’ve seen from her so far, and it makes my skin crawl.

What’s going on here?

She starts speaking calmly again, and Kris’ face contorts into shock.  Then, he snaps at her, his eyes growing dark. This is the first time I've ever seen Kris Wu angry.  Normally, he's laid back and easygoing, but now he's wound up. I knew I should’ve paid more attention in English class.  I’m dying to know what’s going on!

Hyerin shoves him against the wall again and he retorts something at her.  Although she tries to keep her voice level, I can tell her patience is wearing thin and her anger is slowly peeking through.  I’d hate to see what her full anger looks like.

No one has ever done this before. I’ve never seen anyone intimidate Kris Wu like this.  But after witnessing this, I can see that he’s practically putty in her hands. From the outside, it looks like psychological torture.

She finally lets him go and walks away from him.  Kris quickly runs after her, winding his fist back and lunging at her.  Unfortunately for him, she's too quick. She swiftly turns around and pins him back to the wall, her knee positioned dangerously close to his crotch and her black, gold-studded Vans pressing against his knee.  She throws another threat at him, he nods quickly in defeat, and she releases him again and walks away. This time, Kris doesn't dare to go after her again.

I realize she’s walking in my direction.  I quickly dart back around the corner and run back to the lunchroom.  When I’m safely through the door, I walk towards the table where the rest of the guys are to catch my breath.  I ignore their questions and just grab my stuff before heading to my next class, which is, ironically, Trig.

’s about to go down.

I’m trying to focus on what’s on the board, but my eyes keep ghosting over to Hyerin’s seat a few rows in front of me, which is supposed to be occupied.  Rather, it’s empty at the moment, which makes my mind reel. Was she pissed off enough at whatever Kris did that she decided to skip for the rest of the day?  I remember Park MinJi, one of the girls she mentioned in her confrontation with Kris. I turn around, glancing at said girl, a timid person who seems to spend most of her time in the school library studying.  She sits in the seat in front of Kris, paying close attention to the board as usual. She's one of the smart kids, some say she's in the running to be Valedictorian.

I turn back around, my eyes catching another empty seat in the corner.  LuHan is also gone, but that’s because he always does the announcements this period; he is Student Council Secretary after all.

As if on cue, the intercom breaks the spell of class as he runs through his brief announcements.  He usually tries to gloss over them, since teachers hate losing even two minutes of class time.

As he finishes, however, he says something unexpected.

“Before I let you go, someone very special has something to say,” LuHan announces.

I can almost see a smirk on his face.  What the-

“Good afternoon, students.”

My heart stops beating.  That voice is Hyerin’s.

“Sorry for the interruption, but I have an announcement to make of my own,” she drags out.  “I’m sure you all know the Junior basketball captain, Kris Wu. I mean, who wouldn’t right?”  She snickers quietly. At the mention of his name, we all turn to Kris, who’s squirming in his seat.  “Well, h