Episode 10

The two of us stand in front of the principal's desk, he's sat down, leaning back with his arms folded. He didn't look pissed off like I thought he would be but he didn't seem happy either.

"What were you both trying to achieve back there?" He breaks the silence but both of us remain quiet. "I feel embarrassed that you both attend this school." My arms fold as I look away from him. "Well? Is no one going to own up to this?"

"Jing Li hit me first for no reason. I swear I did nothing wrong. She just came at me Sir." Aera blurts out.

My jaw drops. I drop my arms and face her. "Oh hell no. You've done nothing but piss me off since—"

"That's enough." The principal interrupts me. "Aera, please go and wait outside. I will speak to you after."

Aera huffs and I have to try not to laugh at how childish she seems. She slams the door shut behind her and I jump a little. Geez. Someone is having a temper for getting into trouble for the first time in her life.

Principal Kim leans forwards on his desk, placing his hands into a praying position, his fingers intertwined.

I take a deep breath. I know exactly what happens next. I'm told that I am not fit for this school, my behaviour isn't accepted and I am to leave the school immediately and never to return. I've heard it so many times that I could probably say exactly what he was about to say to me, word for word. It's like they have a script.

"I'll leave now and save you the trouble of kicking me out. Thanks for the opportunity." I bow my head a little and turn to leave.

"Jing Li? I'm not kicking you out." I stop and turn around to face him. "You've been here for around a month so far and this is the first incident you have had. You are holding high grades in all of your classes and hanging around Taehyung has helped his grades too. Looking at your previous records, you failed your classes and had some form of issue within the first day."

I walk back towards his desk.

"You will have a detention as punishment but that will be all. I really hope Jing Li, this will be your first and last time in my office like this."

For once, I don't have any words. This is the first time that a school actually wants to keep me.

A smile grows on my face. "You really won't regret this Sir. I promise."

"Now, I do have to let your mother know as it is procedure." He explains.

"That's only fair. But, what about Aera? Please tell me that she will be punished." I say.

He chuckles at me. "Don't worry. She will receive a detention as well and yes her parents will also be notified of her behaviour."

I silently cheer a little. "I mean, yeah she needs to learn her lesson."

After leaving the office, I walk past her, smiling. "Good luck. I'm not leaving."

"He didn't kick you out? B-but why?" She exclaims, standing up from her seat. "You punched me."

"And you punched me. I hope you don't get bullied in detention."

Aera's face drops and the colour drains from her face. Principal Kim peers from around the door. "Aera?"

I smile at her as she sheepishly enters the office. When the door closes behind them, I laugh and do a little happy dance because I don't have to leave.

When I reach my class, the lesson is nearly over and everyone watches me as I return to my seat. I can feel everyone looking at me while I try my best to catch up on the lesson. I never used to care about people looking at me but this just feels uncomfortable.

Once class is over, everyone stands up to leave and Taehyung walks over to me.

"How did it go?" He sits on the chair in front of my desk.

"Just one detention and Aera got the same."

Taehyung smiles. "She deserves more than that but goody goody Aera will hate that detention more than anything. It will seriously ruin her perfect record."

"She'll probably beg daddy to pay the principle to remove it from her record." I laugh.

"When's your detention?" Jimin asks.

"I think Monday which is fine. I need to go home and have a relaxing bath as my body hurts." I rub my arm.

Taehyung nods. "Yeah, come on. Let's get you home."

We all stand up and start walking back to my place. Jimin suggests we stop at the ice cream shop for some ice cream as he was craving some caramel ice cream. I got strawberry and Taehyung got the same.

Once I got home, I noticed my mom's car was in the driveway. I unlock the door and walk in. "I'm home!" I shout.

There's no answer.

Weird.

I can hear banging upstairs. "Mom?" I shout up again but still no answer. I grab the baseball bat from the door and slowly walk upstairs. I see her bedroom door open and the noise gets louder.

As I enter, I hold the bat up, ready to swing if needed.

I walk in to see my mom's suitcase on the bed, open. I drop the bat and she comes out of the bathroom with some of her things. "What the heck are you doing?"

"We are leaving." She states, placing them on top of her clothes in the suitcase.

I look at her confused. "Leaving? We visiting Grandma for the weekend or something because you never told me and I have a test I need to study for on Monday."

She stops and looks at me. "We are leaving. That means this house. Grab your suitcase from your bedroom.'

"Mom. You cannot be serious right now."

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

I mean, no but this is ridiculous.

I fold my arms, closing myself off from her. "You're packing like this is forever."

"That's because, Jing Li, it is. I found us somewhere to stay in Gwangju and I spoke to a school and they were happy to take you as they specialise in misbehaving teenagers."

She holds out a leaflet and I take it to look at while she carries on. "Wait, I was in one fight. You can't just up and move us because of one fight that wasn't even one fight."

"I knew from your first day that something would happen so I made sure to look around for somewhere and I came across that school. When I received the phone call from your principle this lunchtime, I called around and got everything sorted. We leave tonight."

My eyes open wide and I can feel myself wanting to cry.

"No. You cannot make me."

"Oh yes I can."

I screw up the leaflet and throw it at her. "Why would you do this to me?" I shout. That's it. My temper comes out. "I finally settle into a school, get high grades and make sure to live a normal life like a teenager. You wanted me to be like this! I'm finally becoming that girl and now you're doing this? I even made friends and I love them so much."

The tears from the anger spill down my cheeks. "Please don't do this to me."

"I want the best for you." She places her cold hand on my cheek and I wince. "We are going."