Step By Step | Sehun & Irene

3 | Trauma

The yellow printed sheet lies flat under his fingers, marked in bold red ink. 'Detention: 3:15 - 4:00.' A flicker of heat starts up deep in her stomach that grows steadily, and Irene waits in silence. The principal rips the page out and stashes it in one of the school reports.
"I'll make sure he learns a lesson."
"Uh – t-thank you, sir."
"No, thank you. This behavior is purely unacceptable, Irene! You've just potentially saved the reputation of our school."
Her shoulders rise as she draws in a breath, content with what she heard. She really didn't want it to end this way, but nevertheless, Irene bows down to show her gratitude.

She leaves the room, smoothing out her blouse. Irene briskly finds her way to the Science department, lugging some massive stacks of Biology core text around with her. With every step she took, she couldn't help but feel a string of remorse hang heavily in her stride. It was pointless really, feeling guilty over something that had to be done.

"Irene Hyun?"
The substitute teacher fumbles with the name list, adjusting her glasses. "Present." she quips.
Irene conceals her face with a handful of her jet black hair as a couple of students turn back, watching her silently.

The first three periods go by awfully slow for her liking. If the stares weren't enough, Irene still had to sit through lunch. The cafeteria would be jam-packed the first week back and oh, was she dreading the experience that was about to come.

Irene scours the cafeteria, squinting her deep brown eyes to find her friends. She spots Seulgi, who was seated with another girl, Wendy Son.
Wendy was a vivacious being, a little silly at times, but ultimately was mega-talented. She was majoring in Music, and had some true talent in the field. Seulgi on the other hand, was an art student, majoring in Design and Textiles. She found the subject 'tolerable', as she would always describe it to those who asked her about it.

Nimbly, Irene walks over to them and sets her tray down in front of them. "Hello," Irene says as she opens the plastic seal, releasing the smell of the delicious peachy aroma. She took a bite of the pudding and looked up at her two friends, her cheeks stuffed. Not a sound peeped out of them. Wendy bites her lip as Seulgi looks around the cafeteria, spying the crowd.

"Ehem? Earth to Seulgi and Wendy?" Irene sounds out a second time, trying to get them to say something to her.
"I'm sorry, but that was a bold move, Irene." says Seulgi, setting her plate aside. Wendy nods and leans down, slipping into a low whisper. "He could've beat you up." she says, putting emphasis on the three final words, 'beat', 'you' and 'up.'

Irene squints her eyes at the two girls, finding their words a little too strange for her ears to handle.
"Okay Sehun? He would never do that. Well– to me, at least." she replies, contradicting herself.
Seulgi looks at Irene and her glossed lips part.
"Hey, hey, hey. Don't be too sure. You never know what he's capable of doing."

Irene stifles in a laugh, twisting her dark hair behind her. In a state of calmness, she replies to the girls, "I think I've known him long enough. He's not that type of person around girls. Like, he treats them decently. Right? Am I right?"

Seulgi sighs, a little dumbfounded with the words Irene was putting into her mouth. "Irene, please. Remember Daisy? The cute and chubby one from last year? Do you remember what he and his vile friends did? They fat-shamed her every chance they got. Disgusting bunch of pigs."
"Don't take my word for it, but I'm pretty sure Sehun initiated those torments." whispered Wendy, her pupils dilating with uneasiness.

"Okay, yeah." Irene mutters, and stands up from her seat. Wendy calls out to her, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to face him myself!" she jokes, shooting them a sarcastic wink.
Irene's fabricated smile quickly turns into a frown the minute she leaves them. A part of her could not simply believe her friends were acting that way, like it was meant to be her fault. The two people she treasured the most made her seem like a big threat.