What the is going on. Am I seeing right? A week ago they hated each other’s guts. How could things have progressed this far? How could Ellin keep this away from us?

A million things went through Gummi’s mind as she stood behind a wall, peeking her head from the corner enough for her to have seen and heard what Jinyoung had just said to Ellin. He was hugging her now, and Ellin closed her eyes, standing there silently. Jinyoung slowly pulled her away and placed both of his thumbs under her eyes, brushing away her tears. “This is ridiculous. This isn’t Ellin. What the hell happened last week for this to be happening” Gummi thought in disbelief. A second later, Gummi received a text. She turned around and leaned her back against the wall, checking what it said.

“Gummi, it’s Baro. You were right. Your conclusion, it was right. Apparently the substitute teacher locked the room and tried to do something with Ellin, but nothing serious happened since Jinyoung apparently stopped it.” – Baro

“What the-“ Gummi said under her breath. “. I better leave before they find me here” Gummi thought, quickly running downstairs. The bell soon rang and she made her way to her next class.

Gummi stared at both Ellin and Jinyoung, who sat next to each other due to the teachers seating plan, but it began to tick Gummi off now. “Before Ellin dreaded her seat but now she’s probably in love with it,” Gummi thought. “Do I tell Minsun and Choa? I mean I have to… I don’t want to pull an Ellin and keep something this big a secret,” Gummi thought bitterly.

When the last bell rang, instead of waiting for Ellin like Gummi usually did, she just left without warning, pulling Minsun along with her. “Unnie, shouldn’t we wait for Ellin? Why are you pulling me with such force? You seem kind of mad, what happened?” Minsun continued to storm Gummi with questions as Gummi dragged the both of them to Choa’s homeroom.

Choa got up and put her books in her bag. As she placed her hand on the last textbook and was about to pick it up, someone’s hands got in the way, placing it hands on top of hers. Choa’s face crunched up in annoyance. She looked up and rolled her eyes. “Don’t touch me Shinwoo,” she said flicking her hand away. She pushed Shinwoo and proceeded to pick up her book. “Stay out of my way from now on. Do you understand? Do I need to repeat it for you? Since clearly you never understand when I tell you to back off!” Choa said angrily. Shinwoo just stared at her with a hurt and speechless expression. She sighed and shook her head before she turned around and walked out the door. Shinwoo and Soyul watched her as she left the room.

“I wonder what happened” Soyul thought. She was dying of curiosity. It pained her to think about how she used to be so close with her. How she used to know everything about their endless drama. About how included she was in their plans and schemes. Her heart ached just thinking about it. “You had no choice, just breath” Soyul comforted herself, but her heart still hurt and she was still angry. Angry at herself and angry at the people who forced her to abide to their authority. She felt like a coward.

Soyul watched Shinwoo head to the door; she could tell he was going to chase after Choa by the look on his face. Soyul quickly followed him and grabbed his wrist. “Don’t Shinwoo, didn’t you hear her?” Soyul suddenly spoke out, furrowing her eyebrows at him. Soyul didn’t know why she was doing what she did, but she desperately wanted to do one thing to help Choa after all she’d done to her and the other girls.

Shinwoo let out a dry laugh “Are you kidding me right now Soyul? You? Out of all people? None of this would have even happened if it wasn’t’ for you” Shinwoo irrationally said before leaving the room, even more angrier than her already was.

Soyul stood there, her expression blank. Her face tilted down, her heart feeling even more pained than it was before. It took every last muscle in her to hold in her tears as Shinwoo’s words echoed in her head. “What the was that all about?” Joohee asked Soyul. “Were you really defending that Choa?” Soyuls fists clenched at the words that left Joohee’s mouth. “Stay out of it, Joohee” she spat, and quickly after left the room.

“Yah, Choa!” Gummi called out. Choa let out a sigh of relief “Finally some faces that don’t make me want to shoot myself”

As soon as Choa walked to Gummi and her sister, Gummi grabbed her hand and dragged the two outside.

“Unnie, enough! Why are you acting like this!” Minsun asked, annoyed.

“Listen guys, Ellin and Jinyoung have made up” Gummi blurted out.
Choa and Minsun both looked at each other with squinted eyes, they looked back at Gummi as if she were crazy “Unnie, are you okay?” Choa asked.

“Choa, I don’t think she’s joking. She’s been angry for the whole day. This may actually be true?” Minsun said unsurely.

“I saw Jinyoung saying some cheesy disgusting crap about how he still loves Ellin and then he hugged her and Ellin just stood there? Closing her eyes? And was allowing him to comfort her?” Gummi ended all of her statements in a question because even she couldn’t believe it. “Oh and earlier this morning he was comforting her too… it’s like they’re best friends” Gummi said, outraged by what was going on.

“Wait, hold up a sec. Comforting her about what? About how he ruined her life and is the biggest coward on the planet?” Choa asked, puzzled.

“Oh right… girls, you know that creepy tech sub… apparently he almost ually assaulted her. I almost fainted when I heard the news. I just, want to teach that sub a real lesson,” Gummi explained. “Unnie, slow down, this is too much to take in at once” Minsun said, feeling dizzy. “Yeah, please tell me this is just a rumor and not the truth” Choa pleaded.

“Girls, it’s the truth. You know why I know it is? Because the rumor going around is not that Ellin was ually assaulted by the sub, but that Ellin ually assaulted the sub”

“WHAT!?” Minsun and Choa yelled in unison. “I know. Today has been so hectic, I don’t even know how I made it all the way through” Gummi groaned, brushing her hands on her face in frustration.

“Wait, so how is Jinyoung a part of this?” Minsun asked, still not completely understanding what was going on.

“Oh right, Jinyoung was apparently the knight in shining armor who saved her. I mean, if that’s the truth then I’m really thankful, but… I don’t know. After all he’s done? Is this enough for Ellin to simply accept him with open arms?” Gummi questioned. “That’s not even the part that bothers me” she continued,
“I mean, maybe it would be easy for us to understand her heart if she actually told us what the has been going on! But no, she never told us about the incident, and she never told us about Jinyoung, nothing” Gummi began to fume, the twins also beginning to feel hurt.

Minsun rolled her eyes and shook her head “So basically, Jinyoung knows more than we know, her friends who have stuck by her through thick and thin…So this is why you were giving them death stares” Minsun realized.

“So what now? What do we do? I’m just so done. I mean, first Soyul, then Shinwoo and now this. I’m just so done guys. I’m officially done with this year,” Choa sighed, putting her hand against her forehead in frustration.

“I know you have a lot on your plate Choa, so don’t worry. I’m going to approach Ellin on my own and then we’ll see what happens from there. Just know we’re here whenever you need us, okay?” Gummi comforted.

“Yeah, I know. I just can’t wait for this year to be over” Choa said.

“Same” Gummi and Minsun agreed.

“Jung Jinyoung!” Someone yelled as soon as Jinyoung walked through his house doors. At that moment, Jinyoung knew exactly what was going on. “Are you insane!? Get in here right now!” Jinyoung’s aunt yelled, dragging him to the living room. There sat his mother and his father, who both looked incredibly displeased. Jinyoung became afraid, wanting to run away, but he knew he couldn’t. His father looked like he was about to throw something and Jinyoung just wasn’t up for that. He was already exhausted from the hectic day he had at school, the last thing he needed was his father to yell at him and teach him a lesson.

“Sit down” his father ordered. Jinyoung obeying him right away. “Look, I know what you’re going to say but-“

“Shut up and listen” his father interrupted. “I knew this would happen the minute I heard that Ellin child was going to your school” Jinyoung’s aunt muttered, shaking her head.

“Your principle already told us everything, so I don’t need you to explain anything to me. You’re going to quit with your whole social justice act and you’re going to cut contact with that girl, do you understand?” his father voiced.

“But how can you expect me to act like nothing happened? If I haden’t gotten their on time, who knows what would have happened? And if it progressed further she would have been left even more scarred. But you know what? It still would have been just as easily swept under the rug! Why can’t you use your power for good, at least just once!” Jinyoung began to rage, raising his voice the more he let out his opinion.

“I said shut up!” his father yelled. “Do you know why you’re going to shut up and listen to me? Because if you don’t there will be consequences” his father threatened.

“I don’t care anymore! I don’t care, you can do whatever you want, you can’t control my whole life! I’m going to be my own person this time!” Jinyoung fumed.

“Jinyoung, if you don’t stop this, the principle will no longer raise your grades. Do you really want to risk getting into a good university because of this girl?” Jinyoung’s mother suddenly voiced, worriedly.

“I don’t care, I said I don’t care!” Jinyoung cried.

“Then maybe you’ll care about this; if you don’t stop this, I will make sure that girl and all of her friends are expelled from this school. Do you know what that means? They’ll be kicked out 2 months before they can even get their high school diploma let alone get into a university. Do you really want them to redo senior year because of you? And that’s only the beginning of what I’ll do to that Ellin kid” his father explained, making Jinyoung clench his fists in anger. Jinyoung didn’t know what to do or say anymore. He realized there was nothing he could do and knew that he was defeated. He had no choice but to give in, making himself want to die on the inside. “this can’t be happening, not again” he thought, his heart beat quickening. He remembered all of the things he had said to Ellin, all of the things he promised her, making him soon begin to cry in anger, frustration, and fear. He didn’t know how he would face her the next day.

Ellin felt extremely nervous the following morning. She was nervous about various things at once and tackling them all gave her a headache, making her not want to go to school, but she knew she had to. First, there was Jinyoung; their relationship a week ago had completely changed now, and she was feeling incredibly uneasy about that. She wanted to avoid him but every time she saw him she couldn’t help but feel some sort of safety since he was the only person who knew and witnessed what happened. Secondly, Ellin was nervous about having to fight with, not only the students who were spreading the false rumors, but also the schools big ups that created them to cover up the truth. Lastly, she was nervous about finally facing her friends and telling them what was going on. Honestly, Ellin didn’t know why she dragged it out for so long. She had just been so overwhelmed with everything that was going on that she seemed to almost forget that they didn’t know, mostly because she hadn’t really talked to them since the time she tried to confess what happened, and that failed attempt just made her even more discouraged to tell them. But Ellin knew these were all lame excuses so she promised herself that she would tell them everything today.

Ellin grabbed her bag and left her house, saying bye to her parents before she did.

“Ellin-ah, wait!” her mother called, right before Ellin shut the door. Ellin turned her head and saw her mother quickly walking towards her with a container. “Here, I made you and your friends some kimbap. Make sure to share it with them, okay?” her mother smiled happily as she placed the container in Ellin’s hands. “Mom…why? You didn’t have to do this you know” Ellin sighed at her mother, her tired face made Ellin upset. “Don’t wake up early anymore to make me lunch, just sleep in, okay?” Ellin requested sincerely. “Since dad already has to wake up early for work, I’ll tell him to make them for me instead” Ellin laughed. “Good idea” her mother laughed along, runner her hand through Ellin’s long blond hair. “Ok, let’s do that, but you better go to sleep earlier from now on, you look tired…and quite stressed, is everything alright?” Ellin’s mother asked, concerned. Ellin hadn’t told her about what had been happening at school and she wasn’t planning on telling her either “just the usual, school work and all” Ellin reassured. “Bye mom!” Ellin quickly bid her mother goodbye and ran towards her house gates.

Poor Ellin didn’t know what was coming her way that day. The beginning of the end of her senior year was to come much faster than she had even realized.