Monday morning I was early to school, so I was sitting in the cafeteria with some of my friends waiting for the bell to ring. I was rarely early enough to see the morning crew of kids who repeatedly arrived before the first bell, so it was a somewhat new experience seeing who was there. Among them was Hwang Tiffany , one of the junior girls on my cheering team. We never talked much although we occasionally stunted together. She was captain of her JV team, but switched to Varsity this year, where I'd beaten her out for it. I didn't feel sorry. I'd been on the team since my freshman year and felt entitled to it. Vainly, though, I felt as if she didn't like me because of it.

 

"Chaerin," Tiffany said brightly, sounding surprised to see me. "I didn't think you'd be here."

 

"How come?" I asked, honestly unsure.

 

"Well, after Friday, I didn't know if you'd be walking around yet."

 

"Oh," was all I said, beginning to understand. "Well, here I am."

 

"You're still cheering?"

 

"Yup," I said proudly. "I'm feeling a lot better. It was just twisted, I think."

 

"You should get it checked out anyway," she said. "You never know."

 

"I feel fine," I reiterated. "I would go if it still hurt."

 

"Hm," she said, obviously unsatisfied though my health had never previously been a concern of hers. "I wonder if you should be stunting so soon."

 

"I'm okay," I told her for the third time, this time a little more firmly. "It's no big deal."

 

"Just don't want anything to happen to you, Chae," she said as if we were closer than we really were. "That would really ."

 

______

 

Later that day, I stopped by Dara's classroom during a free period I knew she had. I'd already had English (and not done so poorly on the test after all), but I'd managed to lose my homework before the day even ended, so I took it as an excuse to see h