18

Jisoo's POV

I was walking down the hall, ready to go do my morning checks for Yusoi. I sigh, feeling nothing but guilt overwhelm me. I look up from my clipboard and notice Haeun.

"What are you doing over here?"

"You know why I'm here, I just heard the news."

I sigh.

"Do you know what you're going to do yet?"

She shakes her head. Her breathing was abnormal and her hands were shaking. She places her hand on her forehead, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.

"I just feel so bad." She admits, on the verge of tears.

I place my hand on her shoulder.

"I guess it's now or never." I say.

She looks at me like I had just said something bad. I realize my mistake.

"Right. Sorry." I say, feeling worse. "Would you like to go in first, then?"

She looks at Yusoi's door, reaching for the handle. She pauses.

"Maybe she won't be mad."

She scoffs.

"Have you met her?"

I sigh.

"Yeah, you're right."

She takes her hand away from the handle and groans. She begins to pace back and forth in the hallway.

"I can't do this." She says with tears in her eyes.

"Haeun-" She ignores me and pushes past me, quickly walking away.

I sigh and open the door to Yusoi's room.

"Morning checks." I announce as I walk in.

I notice that she isn't in her bed. It was messy and an empty container sits on her food table.

"Yusoi?" I ask a little louder as I look around her room.

I knock on the bathroom door and when I get no answer, I open it. Nothing. I begin to panic. I rush out of her room and over to the secretary's desk.

"Hana, have you seen Yusoi?"

She looks up from her computer and shakes her head.

"No, I haven't seen her at all. Is she not in her room?"

I shake my head. I look around. I rush over to the elevator, traveling to the security room.

"Hey, I need to see the security tapes for this morning."

The guy in the room sets down his breakfast.

"Why?"

"Just do it!" I yell.

He looks at me, startled and types on the monitor. I peer over his shoulder, watching the footage.

"Stop!" I say.

He hits the spacebar, pausing the video. I look at the screen, horrified. I cover my mouth, unsure of what to do. I rush out of the room, not saying another word to the guy.

"Haeun!" I yell out to her as I rush out of the elevator.

"Not now Jisoo."

"Yusoi is gone." I say before she can have a chance to leave.

She looks at me with the same expression I had in the security room.

"What?"

-

Yusoi's POV

I take a deep breath in as I step onto Saebom's campus. I look around, some of the students giving me weird looks. I ignore all of them. I walk around, unsure of where to go. I spot someone familiar. They look over in my direction, a shocked expression appears on her face.

"Yusoi?" She asks, surprised.

She begins to walk over to me and I begin to walk over to her.

"What are you doing here?-"

"Hi Gowoon. Do you know what classroom Jugyeong is in?" I ask, cutting her off slightly.

She raises her eyebrow.

"Well, I do. Seojun is in her class."

"Can you take me there?" I ask in a nervous tone.

She nods her head and begins to lead the way. I try to look down so less people would notice me that way I won't get caught.

When we get inside, the voices of everyone become ten times greater. God, do their voices echo? I ask, my head feeling a little fuzzy. I brush it off and try to steady my breathing.

"My god, and to think people called her the school's angel." Someone says, snickering after their sentence.

I stop and Gowoon notices.

"What's wrong?" She asks, but I ignore her.

"Hey." I say as I walk over to the girl who made the comment.

"Who are you?" She asks with a confused and disgusted face.

I take her phone from her hand.

"Hey!" She yells.

I look at the post she was looking at. Jugyeong... There it was, a picture of Jugyeong from our old school. I noticed some of the comments underneath the post. I clench the phone harder and toss it at the girl, it dropping to the floor.

"What the- Hey!" She yells at me again.

I walk back over to Gowoon, signaling her to continue. She looks back at the girl, then at me and starts walking again.

-

"Here." She says as we stop in front of classroom door.

"Thank you." I say to her before harshly opening the door.

The classroom was buzzing with talking. I look around and notice Suho and Seojun conversing. I also notice someone sitting a little too quietly while reading a book. I walk over to her.

"Hey, Soojin." I announce.

The classroom falls silent. Soojin looks up at me, confused at first while trying to remember who I was.

"Oh, you're from the party."

I snatch the book out of her hand.

"Hey," She says with an annoyed tone, "I was reading that."

I close the book and chuck it at the chalkboard. A loud smack resulted from it, a few people becoming startled.

"Yusoi?" I hear Seojun say.

Soojin stands up, inches away from my face.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asks in some bitchy tone.

I scoff, having an annoyed expression appear on my face.

"How does it feel to know that you ruined someone's life?" I ask her quietly.

She looks stunned for a second, but goes back to her cold expression. She shoves me aside and walks over to grab her book, dusting it off. I was about to say something when she walked back over to me. She turns to me.

"Good." She replies, taking her seat.

That's it. She opens her book once more, but she's already made me plenty upset. I feel my heart beat faster from the anger that was building up inside of me. She's just like Semi. Before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed her book again and before she could do anything, I hit her over the head with it. I hear people gasp as a harsh thud from hitting her head was the only sound in the room. She brushes her hair out of her face and looks at me, maybe even madder than I was. She stands up and raises her arm. She was about to swing when someone holds her wrist. Seojun.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asks her.

She groans and takes her wrist away. Seojun tries to take me away from her, but as he does, I harshly throw the book at her chest.

"You're pathetic, you know that?" I say to her.

She scoffs.

"All of you," I say, now directing my attention towards everyone in the classroom. I push the arm that Seojun was holding me with off of me. I look at him and he looks at me. I look away and back at everyone else.

"Jugyeong said you guys were nice people. She said that she was happy to have met you all. She said that you guys were all her friends!" I scream, feeling frustrated.

"But, she lied to us." Someone exclaims.

I hear others agree with them.

"She lied about nothing! She was still the same person she's always been. She was still kind-hearted. She was still selfless. She was still the same Jugyeong! All that changed was that she decided to invest in cosmetic products! What gives any of you the right to judge her? You know that picture you all saw? The one that's making you call her a liar. She was bullied ruthlessly because of her appearance! Do you honestly think that it was so wrong of her to want a fresh start at a new school? Does that make her a monster? Huh?"

They stay silent. I look back over at Soojin.

"You're no better than the bully at her old school. You're just the same as that self-centered witch."

She looks back at me, furious. I see her clench her jaw.

"Soojin, what is she talking about?" A girl, with more of a chubby figure, asks her.

I break contact with her.

"I guess that goes for all of you. You're all no different from her." I say.

I push past Seojun and make my way out of the classroom. I storm down the halls feeling sick to my stomach. My head feels even worse than before. I stop to try and catch my breath.

"Yusoi!" I hear two voices call out to me.

I steady myself, turning to look at them: Suho and Seojun.

"Yusoi, where's Jugyeong?" Suho asks me, worried.

I open my mouth to answer, but I feel my chest tighten up. I close my eyes, clenching my chest. I let out stiff breaths, trying to breath in. It's happening again. I fall to my knees.

"Yusoi! What's wrong?" Seojun asks, kneeling down, holding my other hand.

I gasp multiple, looking up and making eye contact with Seojun. I feel my body become heavy as I lose consciousness.