The lunch bell made everything better. It signaled thirty minutes of freedom. It signaled just one more class until we were released from this school building. It signaled happiness for my growling, empty stomach. Chaerin had shown me around the school, and she even introduced me to her close friend, Dara. The three of us walked into the lunch room together with smiles upon our faces. Our last period was biology, and it sadly excluded Dara. The three of us bought our food together, and Chaerin complained about the quality of the food up until we got to an empty table. We could complain all we wanted, but it was either this or nothing. I pushed a fork full of corn mashed potatoes into my mouth as Dara picked at her kimbap. Dara’s chopsticks dropped onto her tray and she pushed it back towards the center of the table.

“I can’t eat this crap.” She groaned as she pulled a piece of gum from her bag and popped it into . I nodded in agreement as I followed her actions.

“But anyways, word in the halls is that you and Jiyong got into a bit of an argument this morning.” Dara smirked at me as she nudged me with her elbow. I rolled my eyes as I watched the devil himself stride into the lunch room with his gang and the girls all following behind him. He sent me a sultry wink, and I turned away from him, disgusted.

“I wouldn’t call it an argument. I more or less put him into his place. He clearly thinks he’s the , and that he runs this place. I just told him I wasn’t interested in whatever game he was trying to play.” I shrugged it off as nothing because to me, it was exactly that; nothing. He was an , and I wanted to set him in his place. He shouldn’t make others feel inferior, and cockiness is not an attractive trait.

“You, my friend, are one of the first to ever even think about doing such a thing. Everyone is interested in Kwon Jiyong. He doesn’t just think he’s the ; he knows it. It’s quite sad actually, how girls just melt when he acknowledges them. It’s also sad how he can get the most innocent down on their knees. He’s good; real good.” Chaerin butted into our conversation. I rolled my eyes once again. I didn’t even want to talk about him anymore. I’ve been in Chang-nyeong High for less than a day, and I already hated everything about that boy.

“Ooh. Don’t look now, but it looks like Jiyong is making his way over here.” She smirked as a large dose of chocolate axe found its way into my nostrils. Jiyong sat down right next to me, smirking as he gave me a head nod. I rolled my eyes and stood up to go through out my garbage. When I returned, Jiyong hadn’t moved an inch.

“May I help you?” I asked, wondering why he had decided to join us all of a sudden. We weren’t exactly his group.

“Actually, you can. First off, I don’t think I caught your name earlier.” I rolled my eyes at him.

“You didn’t catch it because I didn’t throw it. Now, is that all you wanted?” I hissed. Jiyong’s smirk stayed upon his pink lips. Why was I even looking at them? Eyes up, Park Bom.

“Feisty, I like that. There’s actually a lot of things I want from you, but we can get to those later on. What I really came here for was to see if you’re doing anything Friday night. I’m throwing a Halloween costume party, and I would love to see you there. iest costume wins a prize, but if you show up you win by default.” I scrunched my face up, disgusted by him. He was pathetic. Chaerin and Dara broke out into fits of laughter as I shook my head at him.

“Ignore her, we’ll be there.” Chaerin smiled at Jiyong, and he sent her a smile back.

“Great. I’ll see you ladies there then, oh and is there any way you two can tell me her name?” Jiyong smirked. Dara giggled as she shook her head at him.

“Sorry, Jiyong, you’re going to have to find that one out on your own.”

--

Biology was thankfully the quickest class of all, and soon, I was driving back home with Dara and Chaerin right on my bumper. The three of us all pulled into my driveway at once, and the girls were amazed by the size of the house. “You have a stunning place, but why do I feel like I’ve seen this place before?” Chaerin asked as I led the girls up to my room. Dara snorted as she poked fun at Chaerin.

“You’ve probably seen it in your dreams considering that’s the only place you’d be able to afford a place like this.” Chaerin huffed as I fell down onto my bed, throwing my bag to the side.

“I’m serious! We have totally been in this neighborhood before.” She protested as she fell down beside me. “But who cares about that. Right now, we need to figure out what Bommie here is wearing to Jiyong’s party.” Dara smirked at the new nickname I had received as I groaned. I did not want to go to this party.

“I was thinking you should go with pirates costumes, you know, y swashbuckler pirates costume. I found this super y costume and I bought it last week before I found my actual costume. It would look totally fab on you since you have the y figure.” Looking at the picture of the costume, I instantly shook my head.

“That is way too revealing, even for me.” I refused to go anywhere like that, especially to a teenage boy’s party. No. Thank. You. Chaerin instantly began whining and complaining.

“It’s Halloween! Everyone’s going to be looking like y es. You heard Jiyong! Some girls are even showing up ?! Haahaha.” I shook my head at Chaerin once more. I was not stooping to anyone’s level on Friday. I wanted to be comfortable, not nearly in front of hundreds of boys. “What do you want to be then? Mary?” I pushed Chaerin over, making her fall into my heap of pillows.

“I want to be hot, but not practically ! That’s what Jiyong wants, and I am not giving him anything that he wants.” I kept my ground as Dara shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know, you would look good in