Love & War | Daerin

III

Haerin hates Danielle.

She doesn't remember exactly when she started hating the girl - only that it's been a very very long time.

Haerin had tried to be friendly with Danielle once upon a time. Although the cat-eyed wasn't fond of the idea of making more friends back then, the thought of making enemies was worse. So, because of this, she told herself to be somewhat friendly with everyone.

They were in their first year. Danielle was on her way back from the stock room after volunteering to get some supplies for her class. However, she had completely underestimated how much there was to carry back and how heavy they were. Coincidentally, Haerin was walking in the hallway at the same time and offered Danielle a hand upon seeing the girl struggling.

Now looking back on it, she wished she hadn't because Haerin swears that was the first time she had ever heard a person growl. It was like trying to pet a riled-up chihuahua.

The other time was in their second year during PE. The boys in their class were goofing around, competing in who could spit out their chewing gums the furthest. One of the boys had blown their gum out so far that it reached Danielle on the other side of the court. It landed perfectly in the centre of her head and Haerin was the only one to notice. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it - to save the girl from embarrassment - so she stayed low when she approached the cheerleader. She thought she had been discreet when she put her arm around the cheerleader to fish out the gum out of her hair. But Danielle felt the tug and she quickly turned around.

Of course, the first thing Danielle had to see was the proximity of Haerin's hand next to her hair and then secondly, the gum between her fingers. The younger girl shook her head furiously, pointing behind her to the real culprits but when Danielle looked over her shoulder, there was no one there. The boys had run away, leaving Haerin in the centre of the crime scene with the weapon in hand.

Haerin knew that nothing she could say would convince Danielle that she was actually trying to help her out. So at a loss, the cat-eyed girl could only cuss under her breath.

Haerin tried multiple times to be friendly with Danielle but had been unsuccessful in every single instance. She has no idea what she's done to make the cheerleader dislike her so much - not intentionally anyway.

So Haerin thinks, if that's the case, then the easiest choice here is just to hate her back.

And that's what she's been doing ever since.

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"You're doing it all wrong," Danielle points out. They are now in English class - and it is their first-day being partners (yay!).

The teacher had just finished assigning them their topic for their project. Each pair had been allocated a human emotion to write an essay on and present in front of their class.

Comically, the two girls were given 'Love'.

Haerin grabs the piece of paper that their teacher had handed out and decides to busy herself by starting a plan for their work. Only the heading and a sentence down and Danielle had already sunk her claws into her.

Haerin puts her pen down and raises a brow to gesture for the girl to continue. Danielle rolls her eyes, "First of all, you wrote that heading way too big. This isn't nursery, honey," Haerin pokes her tongue against the inside of her cheek as if her tongue is herself and the only thing stopping her from attacking Danielle is the wall of her mouth. "Secondly, the first thing your big brain wrote is that love is unconditional. That is not only cliche but it's also most definitely incorrect."