This morning I can’t help but feel a little paranoid.  Making the local gang angry was not on my to do list, and maybe I should have consider the repercussions before I stood up to them, but that guy had no right to beat the other one up.  And then he has the nerve to give me a hickey.  Yes, when I did get back to my apartment and got ready for bed, I noticed a large purple hickey on my neck.  Disgusting.

    Luckily the power of make-up is on my side and now you can’t even tell it’s there.  The phone started ringing, causing me to run halfway across the room just to answer it.  If my parents woke up before their alarms they would be way angry at me.  When I answered, it was the doorman.

    “Ms. Choi, you have seven boys requesting to see you.”  How in the world did they figure out where I live?  They must have followed me home yesterday, great, now I have to deal with them even before I head to school.

    “Tell them they have the wrong person”

    “Right away ma’am.”  I hang up and go over to the kitchen to grab a banana for breakfast.  Not even a minute later and the phone starts ringing again.

    “Yes?”  My voice comes out more annoyed than I intended it too, but it’s way too early in the morning to deal with this.

    “Seolhyun, we know you’re up there so you either come down or we come and get you.”  I don’t recognize who’s voice it is, but I can tell it’s definitely one of the seven.  I hang up on him and start planning my attack.  How do I get out of this building without being seen? 

    Without wasting any time I head for the kitchen.  There is an exit out the back and I don’t have to go through the main entrance to get there.  I sneak a peek out to see if the got7 boys are still there, and they are, crowding the elevator.  Every time someone comes out they either get scared or don’t care and walk right through them.

    Luckily they don’t know about the stairs.  I start sneaking through the kitchen, hoping that none of the kitchen staff will stop me.  Of course, speaking too soon, I see a pair of black working shoes blocking my path.  When I look up I see a middle-aged woman, her hair is pulled back into a hair net and she has a scowl on her face.

    “Only staff is allowed back her young lady.”  Busted.  Time to turn up the charm.

    “I’m so sorry, it’s just, there are some scary men out front looking for me and I wanted to sneak out without them seeing me.”  I do my best to give her big eyes and act like I’m really scared.  Her scowl falters a little and she moves out of the way.

    “I saw them earlier scoping out the area, they were looking for you?”  Oh shoot.  If they checked out everything they know about this exit, which means I only have a limited amount of time to get a head start to school.  She must have noticed my panic and pushed me towards the door.  “If this happens again, ask for Soojung.”  She pushes me out the back door and closes it behind her.  Well that went better than I excepted.

    I quickly started walking to school, if I get there before they even noticed I’ve already left maybe I’ll be in the clear until lunch.  Seolhyun why did you have to already make enemies on the first day of classes?  Five minutes has passed and I can see the school ahead.  I was walking a lot fast than I usually so I slowed down a little, trying to look casually and blend in.  A hand rested on my shoulder, causing me to jump.

    “You alright Seolhyun?”  Thank the Lord it was Minji.

    “Yea, sorry, just had a stressful morning.”  She links arms with me and continue our walk to the school.

    “So, your the new talk of the school!  News of you standing up to got7 has spread like wildfire.  Everybody knows!  There are also a ton of rumors spreading around about you.  Some of them are good, and of course some of them are bad.  People are bound to be jealous, especially because Jackson has claimed you as his.”  We successfully made it into school and I feel like a huge weight has lifted off of my shoulders.  

    Minji leans in closer and whispers to me.  “I also heard that Subin has a target on you now because she’s in love with Jackson.”

    “Who’s Subin?”  I guess that would be enemy number two already.

    “Subin is the daughter of the headmaster of this school.  She could probably get anybody kicked out if she wanted to, and she likes to flaunt that power too.”

    “I thought the got7 gang ran the school.”

    “Well they do, but Subin can get her dad to do just about anything.  So she is kind of like second in command.  She thinks if she gets in with the gang somehow she will be queen of the school.  Rumor has it they did hook up but he dumped her right after.”  Minji keeps look around like this Subin girl is going to pop out any second.

    “If what you said about Jackson is true, about him being a playboy and hooking up with girls, then why is it such a big deal if he’s just trying to hook up with me?”

    Minji gives me wide eyes and grabs my hand tightly.  “Jackson has never ‘claimed’ somebody as his, he just gets with any girl that shows interest.  Your the first one that he has actually shown interest in!”  Fantastic.  Well maybe he will give up quickly because I will not be sleeping with him, ever.

    We reached my classroom and I say goodbye to Minji.  I’m glad I at least made friends with somebody.  When I entered the classroom everybody stopped what they were doing and looked about me.  This is not what I want to deal with this morning.  I sit down in my spot and they are still staring at me.  I get annoyed so I start staring them down one by one and they go back to minding their own business.

    The teacher calls the class to attention and he begins the lesson for the day.  Thank goodness I made it to class without dealing with those bullies, now I just have to deal with everybody else.  There are so many rumors flying around about me and I can already hear the whispers of the classmates.

    “I heard she got kicked out of her old school because she stood up to the principal.”

    “Well I heard her boyfriend is a model, that’s why she rejected Jackson.”

    “I heard Jackson already got with her last night and now he’s done with her.”

    Oh course none of these are true, but I ignore all of the whispers.  No reason to start a fight in the middle of class.  Everything was going like a normal day until the door in the back was thrown open.  Now everybody is staring at somebody else, and that somebody else is none other than Jackson.  His gaze connects with mine and he gives me a smirk that made me cringe.  

    “Mr. Wang, you are interrupting my class, which need I reminder you that you are not apart of.”  Our teacher looks a little nervous and I don’t blame him, Jackson has a stare that could kill.

    “Should I remind you and the students about what I found you and a fellow teacher doing the other day?”  He suddenly pales and quickly goes back to teaching.  I can’t believe Jackson just threatened a teacher.  I go back to my work, hoping that he will leave me alone.  I know, wishful thinking.

    Jackson slowly approaches my desk and I can feel everybody holding their breathe.  He towers over the guy adjacent to me.  “Move,” he yells in the poor guy’s face who trips over his seat and quickly goes to an empty one.  Jackson sits down and grabs the side of my desk and pulls it to his, making a loud screeching noise.  Why is this happening to me?

    Everybody is still staring at us, I rest my head in my hands and let out an annoyed sigh.  Jackson slams his hands of the table causing everybody to jump.  “Ya, if you still want eyes then I suggest you look away before I rip them out of your skull.”  Oh my gosh can this get any more embarrassing?  I don’t think anybody will be looking at his now.  I go back to taking notes, trying to ignore the elephant in the room.

    Of course Jackson won’t let that happen.  He puts his arm around me and leans in to whisper in my ear.  “Where were you this morning princess.  We waited for an hour.”  His hand tightened around my shoulder showing that he was upset.

    “I told you, you have the wrong person.”  Now it’s mine turn to give him a smirk.  When I do look at him it almost scares me.  He doesn’t look angry or mad or even like the usual dangerous gang guy, he looks like he has a twinkle in his eyes and is enjoying every minute of it.

    I grab his hand off of my shoulder and I place it on his desk and start taking notes again.  I have to pay attention, only two more hours until lunch and then maybe I can shake him.  Luckily for me, Jackson doesn’t say much, just tries to keep touching me in some way.  He eventually resorted to holding my hand and rubbing his thumb over my knuckles.  I don’t like it one bit, but he threatened to kiss me in front of the whole class if I didn’t let him hold my hand.

    Every time someone even takes a slight glance towards us Jackson gets ready to pounce.  It would be comical if I wasn’t annoyed that he was in this room with me.  Only fifteen more minutes until lunch and the whole room is ready to bolt.  Jackson is getting antsy, “this is so boring,” he says to me loud enough for everybody to hear.

    “Then leave.”  I say in a matter of fact tone.  Seriously, everybody wants you to just nobody will say it.

    “Okay.”  Jackson gets up and never lets go of my hand.  He drags me out of the room with him and I can’t do anything about it, dang he is strong.

    “Hey what are you doing!”  I rip my hand out of his and head back to the classroom.  That is until he grabs me by the waist and slings me over his shoulder.  “Ya put me down before I kick you in the balls again!”  He laughs but doesn’t put me down so I start flailing in every direction to try to get out.  Finally my foot makes contact with something solid and by the whimper of pain from Jackson and suddenly being drop, I must have made contact with something familiar.

    Wasting no time at I all I make a break from the lunch room.  Luckily class lets out and a flood of students all head for the lunch room too, easier for me to blend in with the crowd.  When I look behind me Jackson isn’t in sight thank goodness.  I quickly grab my meal and sit at a secluded table.  At least I thought it was secluded until Minji comes running up to me.

    “Seolhyun!  I heard all about Jackson and what happened in your room!  Are you okay?”  Geez, anything that happens spreads like wildfire here.

    “Yea, I’m fine, I can handle myself.”  Minji sits down next to me and starts filling me in with all the latest gossip of the day.  Apparently Jungkook cheated on Jae-eun with Seulgi while in the janitors closest yesterday during after school hours.  And before you ask, no I don’t know who they are, and no, I do not care.

    “Well well well, if it isn’t the famous Seolhyun.”  I look up from my plate to see a bright blonde, obviously not here real color, with dark brown eyes looking at me with an intense stare.  Her hair is pulled up into a tight pony tail and her uniform is decorated with pricey looking accessories that screams ‘I’m rich.’  Minji grabs my arm again, she must do that when she gets scared.  This must be Subin.

    I raise my eyebrow at her and continue to chew my food.  Her pretty little face contorts into one of disgust.  “I hear you’re after my Jackson.”  She’s going to have to say a lot more than this to get me angry.  I still don’t say anything only causing her to get more angry.  “Are you even listening to me low life?”  She knocks my drink over and water spills on floor.  By this time the cafeteria is quite and all eyes are on us.  If she wants a show, fine, she’ll get a show.

    I go straight to my backpack and start searching for something.  “What are you doing babo?”  I find what I’m looking for and I can already feel my smile spreading across my face.

    “Here,” I hand her the familiar yellow package, making sure everybody can see it as well, “I think you need this more than I do.”  She takes it without realizing what it is, and when she does, her face is priceless.  I think everybody realized it was a tampon at the same time because the whole cafeteria bursted out in laughter.  My smile spreads even bigger when I see her storming off, trying to hide her face from everybody.  Ahh good old public shaming.

    Minji lets go of my arm and looks at me with disbelief.  “You just stood up to Subin.  What are you, some kind of super hero?”  She gives me a big hug and starts going off about all the bad things she’s done.  I guess Minji has been heavily bullied by Subin for the past year.

    Yet again Minji stops talking and grabs my arm.  What now?  When I look up this time it’s the got7 boys.  Well I knew I couldn’t avoid all of them forever.  Youngjae looks at Minji and gives her a look that causes her to bolt away quickly.  I don’t blame her, if they weren’t going to track me down, I would run too.

    “We need to talk.”  JB says while all the members sit down around me.  I continue to eat my food, waiting for what they are going to say to me.  “We want you in.”  Wait, what?

    “What?”  No seriously, what?

    “We want you in.  We have been wanting to get a girl in for a long time, but no one has caught our eye like you have.  No one has had such a strong personality like you.”  JB is slowly starting to get closer, like a child in a candy store getting excited because his mom told him he could get whatever he wanted.  I’m the candy in the candy store right now.

    “No.”

    “You can’t refuse us again.”  This time it was BamBam who spoke up.  “We get what we want.  And we want you in.”  That’s my cue to leave.

    “Watch me.”  I say and pick up my tray to leave.  They start following me but they keep their distance.  Of course they are drawing eyes, it’s not everyday you see the local gang following a girl around school.  Once I get back to my classroom Jackson sits in the same spot as earlier and pulls me to him again.  Nope, not this time.

    I get up and go straight to the front, I know there is an empty seat so I sit down.  People start coming back in to the room and the class continues on.  I glance behind me to happily see Jackson is gone and so are the rest of them.  Or so I thought.  Everybody is acting nervous and continuously looking at the windows.  When I look too I see them sitting outside, staring in, watching.  Well that’s not creepy at all.

    The rest of the day continues like that.  Even after school when I go to Minji’s room to help everybody, they are in the back just watching.  It’s almost time to dinner and I have a great idea.  I grab Minji’s hand and lead her to the girls bathroom.  Of course the boys follow like some stalkers and casually wait outside.

    “Why are they following you like that?”  She asks me and starts pacing around the bathroom.

    “They want me to join them.”  She instantly stops walking and grabs my face.

    “OH MY GOD WH--”  I cover quickly, we have to be stealthy if we want to continue with my plan.

    “Listen, let’s get out of here and get some dinner, I’m sick of them watching.”  I whisper as quietly as I can so they can’t hear.  There are other girls in here so I’m pretty sure they didn’t  Minji gives me an excited look and nods.  I point to the window, we are on the second floor but the vines outside will be perfect to use.

    When I open the window I test the vines and happily find they are sturdy enough to support our weight.  Minji looks nervous but I give her an encouraging thumbs up.  Let’s do this.

    I got down safely, but Minji almost falls.  Once both of us are on the ground we make a run for it.  Who knows if they saw us or not.  I know it sounds bad, but this is the most fun and excitement I’ve done in a long time.  Minji takes me to her favorite restaurant and we laugh all the way there.  I’m so glad I made such a great friend as Minji and we enjoy a nice meal together.  Once we are done and we say our goodbyes I head home without any creepers in sight.  When I do get home and get ready for bed, I get a text from an unknown number.

You will join us, whether you like it or not.  I’ll walk you to school tomorrow princess and you better be there.  But you should know, I like a good chase.  --Jackson

    Oh great, can’t wait.