Cha Eun Sang ran outside the gates of Jeguk High trying to catch up to Rachel.  She looked around and saw no trace of her.  “Boy, she’s fast,” Cha Eun Sang thought.

She made a move to turn around and walk the opposite way when she thought she heard a voice. She stopped in her track.

She looked around again and this time she saw Rachel sitting on the curb, phone held against her left ear. Cha Eun Sang walked towards Rachel but decided against it when she saw that Rachel was still talking to someone over the phone. She practically sat on the road so Rachel’s parked car provided her a good cover; not near enough, not far enough either. She could still see Rachel’s face and hear her voice clearly.

“Just forget it, mom,” she heard Rachel.

She frowned. This was the first time she saw Rachel this upset. Sure, she always looked high and mighty and intimidating and fierce and angry over things, but, never upset.

Looking at her now, Cha Eun Sang realized that she could never blame Rachel for having this air or sense of entitlement. She must have grown up with a sense of entitlement; that’s how she must’ve been brought up.

“I don’t know! You tell me! After all, I’m just a means to justify your business ambitions! It doesn’t even occur to you that, you know, I might have gotten hurt,” Rachel tugged at her pony tail.

She saw Rachel breathed deeply. “It doesn’t even occur to you to check how I’m doing because I’m not a daughter to you! I’m just a commodity that you can trade with anyone who—”

Rachel’s voice broke in mid-sentence. Cha Eun Sang saw Rachel end the call and put the phone in her blouse’s pocket. Rachel had both of her hands on her face, and she could tell she was crying by the way her shoulders shook violently.

She felt like a criminal watching Rachel in her almost if not most vulnerable state. She decided to leave. She stood up from where she was sitting, but, Rachel was already in front of her before she could even step away.

Rachel glared down at her. There were no signs of tears in her face, no signs that she was crying just a few moments ago.

Wow.

“Just how long have you been here, Cha Eun Sang?”

Rachel’s voice hinted more at surprise than anger.

She shrugged her shoulders. “Not that long, really. Just long enough to hear and see everything. No big deal.”

Rachel’s eyes grew wide. “What?”

“What?” she asked back.

Rachel crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her. “If you’re here because of that, don’t bother. I don’t need anyone’s pity!”

“Don’t be so defensive,” she countered.

“I’m not defensive!”

She smiled. Rachel sure sounded defensive.

“Nope. I don’t pity you.” She paused. “Why would I pity you when you’re twenty folds richer than I am?”

Rachel smirked. “So, what are you doing here?”

She smiled sheepishly at her. “I just wanted to thank you.”

Rachel frowned.

“For what you did earlier,” she automatically supplied when she thought Rachel must have forgotten about it.

Rachel stayed poker face. “Poker face game way too strong,” she thought.

Rachel uncrossed her arms and walked towards the driver’s seat of her car. “I didn’t do it for you.”

“But, still. Thank you.”

She had the misfortune of running into Kang Ye-Sol and Lee Bo Na earlier when she was fixing her hair in the bathroom.

“What the hell?” She screamed in frustration when Lee Bo Na suddenly grabbed her bag and threw it on the trash bin.

Lee Bo Na crossed her arms and laughed. “That bag isn’t expensive, anyway.”

She counted from one to ten lest she breaks this girl’s face.

“How can you survive at Jeguk High with just a scholarship? Look at you!” Kang Ye-Sol examined her from head to toe.

“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” That was Lee Bo Na.

She narrowed her eyes. “Why does it bother you so much?” She paused to get her back from the trash bin. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d thought you’re threatened by my presence,” she said while shaking off whatever dirt got to her bag.

Lee Bo Na laughed dryly. “Wow! Where are you getting that nerve from?”

Kang Ye-Sol eyed her sharply. “Where else besides Kim Tan and Choi Young Do?!”

Lee Bo Na made a move to grab her hair, but, the last cubicle violently opened just before all her hair exit her scalp.

They all looked at the last cubicle and she could tell that everyone was as surprised as her to see Rachel standing there.

“What are you doing?” Rachel asked calmly.

“Why are you even asking?” Lee Bona snarled.

Rachel smirked. She walked closer to Lee Bo Na until the latter is standing against the tiled bathroom wall. “Because you disturbed my sleep.”

“It was Cha Eun Sang’s fault! She started it!” Kang Ye-Sol reported.

Cha Eun Sang’s eyes darted back to Kang Ye-Sol. “What? Are you out of your—”

She stopped in mid-sentence when she heard Rachel answered Kang Ye-Sol. “You liar,” Rachel said in a calm voice. Which, she thought, was kinda scary.

Lee Bo Na pushed Rachel away, but not strong enough because Rachel pushed her back against the wall.

“Whatever your problem with her is,” Rachel pointed at her. “I don’t care. Just don’t pick fights in my presence.”

“A-are you taking her side?” Kang Ye-Sol asked sheepishly.

Rachel did not answer the question, yet she asked Kang Ye-Sol. “What is your deal? So what if she’s here as a scholar?”

“Are your parents the ones paying for her education?” Rachel asked, the question directed to both Lee Bo Na and Kang Ye-Sol, obviously.

“Just leave her alone!” Rachel added, then she let go of Lee Bo Na.

Lee Bo Na and Kang Ye-Sol looked at her with eyes like dagger, then left. She watched them leave the washroom, mouth agape in disbelief.

Did Rachel just save her from those mean girls?

Rachel was fixing her hair and she was looking at her through the mirror.

“What?” Rachel raised an eyebrow at her.

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

Rachel shrugged her shoulders, then left the washroom before she could even thank her.
 

“Hey! Hey! Hey!”

She jumped when Rachel horned.

“Get out of there unless you want me to run you over.” Rachel said, car engine’s on.

She looked at her. She realized there might be more than meets the eye to the Rachel she thought she knew.

All these bravado she projects might just be her defense mechanism, who knows?

With that, she felt like she wanted to make Rachel feel better after whatever happened between her and her mom. Or maybe about everything that wasn’t okay in her life. Also, she wanted to thank her for saving her from Lee Bo Na and Kang Ye-Sol.

She moved over to knock on the passenger’s seat window. Rachel rolled the window down. “What are you doing?” She asked, sounding angry.

She smiled. “Do you want to eat ice cream?”

Rachel frowned at her. “It’s on me,” she said.

“Why?”

She laughed. “What do you mean, why? Ice cream is like the best food in the world!”

“It does not qualify as food,” Rachel protested. “It’s a dessert.”

She held her hands up. “Sure. Fine. Whatever. So, do you want to go eat ice cream?” She paused. “You know, ice creams are effective ways of relieving stress. Plus, it’s really delicious.”

Rachel looked up at her. “Okay. But I don’t want you to think that we’re friends now.  We’re not friends.”

She laughed. “Okay. We’re not friends.”

Rachel nodded. “Just schoolmates who will eat ice cream together. Also, I don’t want you to talk about your life or anything about you.”

She frowned. “Why?”

Rachel shrugged. “Because I’ll be forced to listen and if I listen, we’ll become friends.”

She laughed almost hysterically. “That’s stupid. But, yes. Whatever.”

Rachel stifled a smile.

She had always seen Rachel smile sardonically, but, it was the first time she saw her smile that way. Almost if not totally genuine. 

Rachel smiled a bit. “Get in.”

And she gladly did.