Krystal strutted down the hallway with her best friend, Sulli, in tow. She had an air of confidence around her that not many were able to possess. Heads turned, chatters quiet down with every step she took. To the rest of the world, she looked as if she did not have a single care in the world with that warm smile she had plastered on her face, but only she knew how broken she truly was inside.

There he was; the person who had stolen her heart, only to stab it and throw it in the trash. He was talking to his friends, his big round eyes turned crescent as he laugh at Chanyeol’s jokes. She should’ve loathed seeing him that happy, but instead she found herself smiling and her gloomy day had brightened just a little by his laugh. That was what she hated about herself; she could not come to hate him even after all the pain and heartbreaks he had caused her, simply because she had promised to love him forever when they were younger. To him, those promises he made were meaningless, but to her, those promises were the only thing she held on to until this very day.

Today marked the first week the Exo boys’ arrival at their new school. They had befriended many including three of Krystal’s closest friends, Taemin, Jonghyun, and Minho, the handsome senior from before.

“I’m curious, what makes Krystal-sshi so popular? I know, she’s hot but she’s still in sophomore year and there are a lot of seniors who are as hot as her.” Baekhyun asked Minho.

Minho smiled fondly at the thought of Krystal. “There are a lot of reasons why she’s the most popular girl even though she’s a sophomore. Some adored her for her beauty; some liked her for her smartness and athleticism, but what made people love her most is her kindness. When she first came to this school, she was really shy and timid and had only befriended one person, Sulli. She became popular after she ranked first in academics and athletics. Unlike most popular girls, she didn’t let all the attention she received goes to her head. She gained more confidence, but she remained as the sweet girl she was before.”

“Most students idolize her and in their eyes, including ours, she’s the epitome of perfection.” Taemin added.

“Wow, you guys must be really fond of her, huh?” Lay chimed in.

The three of them nodded in unison. “Oh, there she is now.” Jonghyun waved at the slim figure that was making her way towards them.

Krystal saw the grinning senior who was waving enthusiastically at her from afar. She was unable to return the gesture as she suddenly found herself falling first onto the ground after a girl accidentally bumped into her. Gasps could be heard as the students watched the school’s princess’ body hit the floor.

“Soojungie, gwenchanna?” Sulli asked as she helped Krystal to get up. She was about to yell at the girl for being reckless when Krystal’s hand rested gently on her shoulder, telling her to stop.

“Gwenchanna?” Krystal held out her hand to help the girl who was cowering in fear as she received glares from other students. She was hesitant to accept the helping hand, but finally reached for it after receiving a reassuring smile from Krystal.

“I’m really sorry, Krystal-sshi. I was in a hurry and-.” Krystal cut her off with a comforting pat on her shoulder.

“Its fine, you don’t need to apologize. I’m sorry too. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, so it’s partly my fault.” She said before she bent down to help the girl pick up her scattered books.

The girl thanked Krystal after she handed the remaining of her books and continued making her way to her destination.

“You’re too nice for your own good, you know.” Sulli commented. Krystal chuckled when she found her best friend pouting in disapproval. She was really glad to have a best friend like Sulli. The fair skinned girl was the only person who knew about her deepest darkest secrets and unlike the others from Krystal’s past, she didn’t walk away and abandon her. Unfortunately, the said girl had become overprotective and felt the need to protect her from every single thing, because she saw Krystal as fragile.

“Aww, come on, Ssul. It was just an accident.” Krystal linked her arm with Sulli’s when the giant baby still hadn’t stopped pouting. “Hmm, let me make it up to you. How about if we go get some ice cream after school? My treat.” She could not stop herself from laughing when she saw the twinkle in Sulli’s eyes at the mentioning of her favourite dessert.

They made their way towards the large group of boys. Immediately, Taemin, Jonghyun and Minho crowded around her and asked whether she got hurt. She playfully rolled her eyes towards their protectiveness over her and convinced them she was fine.

“What’s with Ssul? She looks like she won a lottery.” Jonghyun raised an eyebrow towards the tall girl who was grinning from ear to ear.

“I promised to treat her for ice cream afterschool.”

The three boys nodded in understanding. They knew how Sulli loved ice cream.

“Hey, wait a minute! You said you’d go with me to the mall afterschool today to help me pick out a present for my little sister’s birthday.” Taemin glared at Sulli.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.” Sulli pouted.

“Just go with Taemin oppa today. I’ll take you out for ice cream tomorrow.”Sulli’s gloomy face immediately brightened up.

“We all have PE together on first period, right?” Krystal asked while putting her belongings into her locker.

“Yeah, along with Kris, D.O and Kai too.” Minho nodded.

“Come on, Ssul. Let’s get changed.” Krystal dragged Sulli who was talking to Chanyeol, to the girl’s locker room.

Kai groaned as he adjusted his sitting position. They had been waiting for the PE teacher for almost twenty minutes yet there was still no sign of him anywhere. Just when Kai decided to take a nap, he walked in with his annoying whistle in his mouth.

Phweeeet! He blew the infuriating whistle, earning series of annoyed groans from the students. “Everyone, gather around in lines and start warming up, now!” he yelled from across the gym when the students moved sluggishly.

“Alright, today we’re going to play dodge ball. Now, I want you to split into two groups. Make sure the groups have the same amount of female and male students because I don’t want either of the teams to have a disadvantage. You know the rules of this game so follow them and play fair.”

Krystal was teamed up with Kris, Taemin and Jonghyun while Sulli was on the opposing team with Minho, D.O and Kai. They took their positions and waited for the whistle to blow. Once the game started, they immediately ran forward to snatch the balls that were lined up in the middle of the court. Krystal managed to snatch one of the balls and immediately threw it towards the opposing team’s member who had let his guard down, successfully eliminating him. One by one, players from both teams got eliminated until there was only one player left on each team; Krystal and D.O.

D.O swiftly threw the ball towards the girl, but she skilfully dodged the round rubber that was hurtling towards her in high speed with amazing agility, earning loud cheers from her eliminated teammates. Seeing there were no balls left on his side of the court, D.O prepared himself to dodge Krystal’s incoming attacks.

“I guess we’re the only ones left huh, Kyungie oppa?” Krystal stated before picking up a red rubber ball.

D.O was frozen on the spot after he heard that familiar nickname. The name only she would call him by. ‘So it’s true. She really is the Jung Soojung from my past.’ His emotions were jumbled up and his mind was in a mess. He snapped back to reality when cheers erupted from the opposing team’s members. D.O looked down and saw the red ball lying near his feet. He did not even realize that he had gotten hit.

“Great match, guys! You may go change.” The teacher blew the whistle one last time before heading off.

Krystal was walking towards the girl’s locker room when she suddenly felt dizzy and her vision blurred. A few seconds later, she out and fell onto the floor with a thud. Before anyone could comprehend what was happening, D.O was already at her side, gently picking her limp body up before he hurriedly carried her bridal style to the nurse’s office.

The nurse ushered him to lie her down onto the bed as soon as D.O burst through the door.

“What happened to her?” The nurse inquired.

“I don’t know. She suddenly fainted after our PE lesson and I think she sprained her ankle when she fell. It’s getting swollen.”

The nurse left to get some ice and the first-aid kit for Krystal’s ankle. D.O took this opportunity to watch her from up close. He caressed her beautiful face and suddenly everything came rushing back to him; the memory of Soojung from his childhood. Her face, her smile, her laugh and everything else about her were exactly the same as Krystal’s. 

How could he have been so blind? Why did he try so hard to deny the truth that the girl he was looking for and the girl in front of him now was the same person?

Deep down he knew the answer, he was afraid to accept the fact that she had changed.

D.O bent down and gently kissed her forehead before whispering the words he wished he had said to her years ago, “I’m sorry, Soojungie.”

A/N: I changed Krystal from being a junior to a sophomore instead. In this story, the 94 liners are sophomores, the 93 and 92 liners are juniors, so that means they're the same age in this story. Lastly, the 91 and 90 liners are the same age too and they're seniors. I'm sorry for the confusion.