{Jihae}

Immediately when I return to my seat, my thoughts wander off to the girl with the pink hairband. The memory of those deadly glares she shot earlier on flashes through my mind as I quickly dart away from her. She probably calls the shots in this place. I can easily tell from the tone she adopts when speaking to the people around her. She doesn’t speak, she commands.

Taking a final gaze at her makes me realise why she holds such a place. I spot the brown Gucci bag placed clumsily at the side of her seat, diamonds the size of peas decorated the sleeves of the bag. She must be rich. Filthy, filthy rich. Affluent people just has that power in society. And even though technically the girl isn’t rich, she just has parents that were, that wealth status automatically gives her the honour of popular girl in the school.

I know I shouldn’t be judging a book merely by its cover, but everything about her screamed spoilt brat. Her nails were painted and her socks barely visible. I guess even the teachers turn a blind eye to her. I look over at Baekhyun who seems to be caught up with whatever he is thinking inwardly. His eyes are closed shut as I see his eyelids flickering ever so slightly.

And then without myself knowing why, I begin to giggle. “What are you laughing at?” He asks, with both eyes still remaining unopened.

“Nothing.” I lie. I found myself exploding into a fit of laughter the moment he begins sticking out his tongue.

“What!”

“What are you doing?” I chortle as he continues with the hilarious facial expressions.

“It’s called thinking.”

I swore I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. This Baekhyun guy over here, he was so weird. He reminds me of Luhan, both kind-hearted, friendly and dons this peculiar sense of humour. And I hate to admit it but he is pretty good looking too, probably somewhere along that league with my brother.

And when I hear the popular girl call Baekhyun, everything seems to make sense.

“Baekhyun oppa!” she whispers. Loud enough for Baekhyun to turn over but soft enough so that the teacher didn’t hear her. I watch silently as Baekhyun flashes a smile before looking away. That smile alone had her squealing inwardly with joy. And then I see her turning her gaze at me.

. I curse to myself. I pretend to look around, but when her lips move to form an inaudible sentence, I no doubt caught every single word she mouths. Stay away from Baekhyun. Those four words were that clear and straightforward. There was no sugar coating with any cherries on top. No. That girl just put it there and there. She told me to stay away from Baekhyun. There is no reason for me to disobey.

•••••

Baekhyun approaches me after lessons ended that day. I try to back away but he nears me too fast, making it impossible for me to escape. “Hey! Just wondering whether I could have your number?” He begins. Normally I would have agreed immediately. But after that death threatening moment earlier on, I decide against doing that.

“For?” I hesitate.

“Must there be a reason for everything? Can’t a friend get a phone number?” He smiles. He even regards me as a friend. I feel the tension rise as I bite my lip, stuck in this dilemma that isn’t supposed to be one in the first place if not for that girl. And then I catch sight of her.

Her eyebrows slowly furrows into a scowl as she walks closer towards us. Each step she takes made my heart beat plummet. And without thinking twice, I pull away from Baekhyun and run away, leaving him stunned.

•••••

“Eh! Why were you so mean to Baekhyun today?” Luhan asks the first thing when I return home from school. I ignore him and walk right pass as I throw my bag carelessly on the floor. Plunging onto the blue velvet sofa, I hear Luhan say, “Answer me when I’m talking to you!”

I roll my eyes. I cannot be bothered to answer something that was that straightforward but extremely complex at the same time. I just don’t want any extra trouble from some girl that’s all. If she claimed him as hers, then so be it. I wasn’t going to get in the way and become his meat shield.

But then I realise I need to know more about that girl. And if she really was who I thought she was, I needed to be extra weary of her in the future. “You know there’s this girl in my class…”

“That was so goddamn rude to my friend today and didn’t bother apologising after standing him off when he asked for her phone number. Yea I know her, she’s my sister.” He says.

“Okay okay I get it I’m sorry okay! It was just that she was sending devil glares at me.” I reply.

“Excuses.”

“I’m not lying! I want to know more about her! It’s that rich girl with pink nail polish and seems to boss everyone around. The one that looks indecently pretty?” I ask.

“Oh you mean Sooyeon?”

“Is that her name?”

“It should be. The one with the Gucci school bag right?” I nod. “That’s her alright.”

“What’s she like?”

“She’s pretty nice. She treats everyone rather well. And I think she has a huge crush on Baekhyun and probably on me.” Luhan grins, making me almost choke on my own saliva. “Why were you scared by her? She’s so friendly!”

Friendly? Are we even talking about the same girl? How could that person that gave me that look even be termed as nice? There must be some mistake. “Are you sure that’s her? Because the girl that almost wanted to kill me with her eyes just now sounds nothing like that. In fact, I suspect she’s already murdered at least three other girls. That being Baekhyun’s previous table partners.” I say.

“Nah you’re just crapping. Sooyeon is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met!” He says. “Perhaps you’re the one that’s overthinking everything.”

A look of what seems to be realisation shoots across Luhan’s face as he points his index finger at me. “Omigod! I know! You like Baekhyun don’t you? That’s why you were so nervous that you ran away and now you make up some lame story to frame it all on Sooyeon!” He accuses.

The moment I hear him say those words, I burst out laughing. Sometimes I really give kudos to my brother for coming up with such acclaimed rubbish. That boy sure has a whole ton of imagination.

“It’s true isn’t it? I’m spot on aren’t I?” I don’t even bother replying as I just drag myself towards the direction of my bed. This first day of high school was both tiring and crazy and I was worn out.

“Omigod I’m going to message Baekhyun like now to tell him—”

“DON’T YOU DARE!” I shout, quickly shaking off a crazy thought of what Sooyeon would do if word went around that I like Baekhyun.

“Someone has a guilty conscience.” Luhan sings.

“My god I do not! I don’t like Baekhyun for goodness sake! I just met him!” I argue.

“But alas, that’s what they all say. That’s before they fall into the clutches of his boyish charms. Just like how they all do for yours truly here.” He boasts. And I had to cover my mouth to prevent myself from vomiting out my lunch out of plain disgust.

I shake my head as I continue walking towards my room. My brother’s words were extremely unreliable and I know that from the countless times he has lied to my parents, telling them he’d be over studying when actually he was getting wasted somewhere.

The smile on my face disappears instantly the moment I close my door. I allow myself to sigh and loosen the tension in my cheek muscles. Too much smiling I guess. Inwardly, I pray that that girl, whether her name really was Sooyeon or not, would not cause me any trouble. And just in case, I do the same for Baekhyun.