Hana had been standing across the street from the YG High gates for over ten minutes now. She’d also worn dark sunglasses today, convincing herself that it’s more for her eyes’ protection than an attempt to hide her face from the students of YG High. Of course she was aware she was lying to herself, because under normal circumstances, she’d never be caught dead wearing one of her Grandmother’s flashy sunglasses to school. She rummaged for a less ostentatious pair earlier, but her halmeoni had a knack for buying things that made her “look and feel young”. And believe it or not, the gold-rimmed aviators she was currently wearing was the least attention-seeking from her collection.

Four weeks ago, Hana made a vow to have a peaceful senior year in high school. She was fine being ignored; she even preferred it. But that plan had been botched by her own doing and she knew that what had gone down at the auditorium would have produced some negative aftereffects. She may have dodged them last Friday when she escaped with Kyungmi to the mall, but there was no avoiding it now.

She crouched down and hugged her knees, imagining all the horrible things that could be done to her once she enter those gates. Name calling, shoulder bumping, she gulped. Egg throwing?  She had half a mind to turn around and go home, but she knew it was only going to prolong the agony. Whatever those brats were planning to do to her now, they could do to her tomorrow, and the next day. Not to mention, she already skipped school last Friday. Damn, there’s no escaping this, she stood up and tugged the straps of her backpack. Now or never.

With more determined steps, she crossed the street and considered the possibility that she may be wrong. Maybe she was overestimating the students’ cruelty. Maybe they won’t even remember what happened. Maybe they won’t remember her face! Maybe they won’t even—

“Look, it’s Jennie’s friend.”

Hana whipped her head to the left and saw two girls she’s never seen before giving her the stink eye. Great. She adjusted her sunglasses and looked down, determined to just ignore them.

“I didn’t know Jennie hung out with nobodies,” the girl in the ponytail added. “Oh wait, she doesn’t. So why does this one think she can to talk to her?”

“Look at her trying to look cool with those sunglasses on. How pathetic!”

Hana fought the urge to answer back, although she was close to the edge. She reminded herself repeatedly to just let it go. Nothing good was going to come out of her stooping down to their level.

It was a good thing they didn’t stick around long enough for Hana to lose her patience since they walked right past her and into the gates. It may have been a mild attack (no egg-throwing yet) but it was enough to confirm her suspicion that she was in for a rough day.

None of the other students coming in seemed to recognize her, but she made an effort to keep her head down just to be sure. Instead of going inside the gates like she initially planned, she walked to her left and decided she needed five more minutes to give herself a pep talk. She removed the sunglasses (it had been a stupid move to begin with), leaned her forehead against the wall and told herself over and over that if she could turn back time, she would do the same thing without hesitations. What she did was right, and if these people were going to persecute her for it, then it’s them who has a problem. Not her.

Gaining a little more confidence after her self pep-talk, she turned around in time to see a group of five striking guys crossing the street. There were mired squeals around her at their arrival. Hana froze on the spot, her eyes immediately landing on the boy wearing a black cap on with bold white letters that said ‘Dope’. His guitar case was slung over his shoulder as he walked with a brand of self-assurance that could only come with being the leader of a group of future stars.

“…I thought you should know your music is worth it.” Seungyoon’s voice played in her head while the images from Friday night came surging back. She couldn’t sleep that night after tossing and turning in bed, wondering exactly why Seungyoon would say that to her. Not that she would ever think anything else of it other than a musician appreciating her music, but it still confused her. Up until last week, she was convinced Seungyoon was a jerk, and knowing that made it easier for her to dislike what WINNER and the other music majors stand for in this school. But now that she saw a side of Seungyoon she probably should have never seen, she was wavering and she didn’t like it.

It wasn’t long before Seungyoon caught her gaze, causing Hana’s body to go stiff. Her heartbeat quickened, a strange feeling bubbling up in her stomach. The eye-contact lasted for about a second before he flitted his eyes away as though he didn’t see her.

Hana felt something inside her drop, but she couldn’t be sure what. All she knew was this felt worse than when those two girls talked about her just now. Well, what did you expect, Hana? It’s not like that one conversation was going to change anything. He’s still Kang Seungyoon, you’re still an ordinary student. You’re not even supposed to acknowledge each other, let alone be on a ‘greeting’ basis.

It would be stupid for her to expect anything more than him ignoring her. But why did she feel weird right now?  Something told her that this wasn’t a good feeling to have about Kang Seungyoon.

Her eyes fell on Taehyun next, and as usual, he eyed her curiously before catching up to Seungyoon who apparently sped up his footsteps. Mino, on the other hand, looked at her strangely – she caught the momentary look of panic on his face. He averted his eyes quickly and pretended not to see her, too. He grabbed Seunghoon’s arm and pulled him inside with a laugh, as though he was preoccupying himself with something else. Odd.

It wasn’t until WINNER was gone that she realized some students were already gawking at her and whispering among themselves. On instinct, she hung her head low and used her long hair to hide her face. With brisk steps, she walked inside the gates and tried not to listen to their conversations. But it was hard not to hear curse words being flung her way.

She was barely aware that she had started running to the building, just to get away. Even tough girls shouldn’t have to endure this. In her rush, she felt herself bump into someone but she kept going, determined not to stop until she was in her classroom.

“Whoa!” Seunghoon raised his hands when something collided with his arm, causing him to lose his balance and lean into Mino. Mino was quick to catch him, and when Seunghoon turned to look at who had bumped into him, all he saw was the back of a girl with long, wavy hair who looked like she was running for her life. “Who was that?”

“The girl from the auditorium,” Taehyun answered, following her with his gaze. “Hana, right? Mino hyung?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“Uhh, because you know her?” Taehyun clucked his tongue. “We were beside you when you talked to her last week, hyung. Stop being defensive.”

“I wasn’t being defensive,” Mino hissed. “I just mean you could have asked Seungyoon. He knows her, too…” he trailed off and sent a look towards Seungyoon who kept silent. “And yeah. That’s her name.”

“You could have just said yes the first time,” Taehyun added under his breath, but Mino was too preoccupied to hear.

“Why is she running?” Jinwoo asked, looking at his watch. “There’s still fifteen minutes before the first bell.” The oldest boy looked behind him and saw the students by the gates. “Do you think they’re giving her a hard time after what happened last Friday?”

“It’s possible. She talked to Jennie in front of the student body,” the maknae suggested.

Mino looked over his shoulder and gave the students a glare. “Well, if these people aren’t giving her a hard time, I’m sure that evil girl is going to. It’s in her DNA.”

“Either way, she shouldn’t be running around bumping into people,” Seunghoon frowned, dusting his uniform off. “She could cause serious accidents like that.”

Seungyoon was only half-listening to s’ conversation, his eyes glued to the back of Hana’s head as she dashed to the building. She disappeared when she entered the doors, leaving him wondering if Jinwoo and Taehyun were right. He creased his brows. I knew this was going to happen. Stupid girl.

Seungyoon’s mind was still elsewhere when they arrived at the music departme