Secrets and Lies

11.

iyoo hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the previous night. Zelo's stupid words and actions had put a stop to that. Even so, she couldn't tell Yongguk about the younger boy, especially since she was uncertain to what her boyfriend would do. It wasn't like she believed the blond boy's accusations. That was just ridiculous. No, it was definitely not like that. There were several reasons to why Jiyoo did not want to tell her boyfriend. Mainly because she'd done something she regretted. And in all honesty, she couldn't afford to lose Yongguk. He meant everything to her.

School was just like normal. The only difference was that Eun Ae had sort of found a new victim to terrorize, and that was unfortunately Sohwan. The new girl would just take the blows and then move on like nothing had happened. It'd come to a point when Jiyoo couldn't just stay in the shadows and watch as Eun Ae had her way with the new girl.

Just because no one stood up for her when she was being bullied didn't mean that she, too, needed to pretend like everything was normal now. To enroll in a new school, and that during senior year was probably more than enough. So, Jiyoo decided that enough was enough when Eun Ae and her two followers were going at it during lunch.

"Having fun?" she plopped down at the table the four other girls were sitting at. Sohwan's head was hung low as Eun Ae was making fun of the girl's hair. "Don't stick your damn nose into things that doesn't concern you." Jiyoo wanted to laugh, it was everyone's business when someone was bullied. "Then it wouldn't matter whether I go and woo your boyfriend a little, because really, it doesn't concern you." it wasn't exactly the same thing but she knew that Eun Ae would react, and that was the only thing the girl wanted. A reaction so that she would leave Sohwan alone.

But it didn't go as planned.

"I dare you, do it. But be prepared to get humiliated. Dongyeol doesn't like ugly girls like you." that was not really what she had expected. Nonetheless, she was definitely going to do it. Eun Ae's last sentence hadn't even bothered her. Jiyoo knew how boy's rolled, and it was not that hard to get attention. Though, before moving over to the boy's table did she want to make a deal, "why don't we just make a deal?" Eun Ae was interested to hear more, "what do you have in mind?"

"What do I have to do in order for you to leave Sohwan alone?" Jiyoo would normally never do anything for another person, especially not for someone she didn't even know. But the girl couldn't stand seeing Eun Ae behaving like that. "Hm, let me see." to do something embarrassing was maybe no an ideal thing. Not that it mattered that much either way. Jiyoo was seen as a freak already. Therefore would it probably not make any difference if the girl humiliated herself or not.

"I dare you to kiss my boyfriend." Eun Ae smirked, she knew that such a task would be impossible for the little red-haired devil. Unconsciously did she begin to think about the kiss between Zelo and herself. Jiyoo couldn't do it. The girl knew that Yongguk would find out about it eventually. Not that she minded him beating down that Dongyeol, the boy was equally as much of a bully as Eun Ae. "So freak, are you going to save this one or what?" Jiyoo watched how the other girl raised her can of coke and held it over Sohwan's head. Fuck. Why did she even bother to care when no one else did?

A few tables away were Daehyun sitting, he was casually flipping through a music magazine whilst occasionally taking a sip from his bottle of water. For him it was just any other day. The only difference was that he could spot Jiyoo at the same table as Eun Ae, something that was a rare sight. The boy knew that they despised each other. Scrap that. The whole school did probably know that. Daehyun shrugged his shoulders, maybe the two of them had decided to just bury the hatchet and move on. Not thinking too much about he retreated back to his magazine. What Jiyoo did was up to herself.

Or so he thought until he, out of coincidence, looked up and saw how the girl advanced towards the table Dongyeol and his crew were sitting at. Daehyun sighed inwardly as he grabbed the magazine and hastily stood up. That girl seemed to have a fetish of putting herself in danger. To mingle with Dongyeol was not the brightest idea. He glanced over at Eun Ae. The smirk on her face told him that something was up. Daehyun couldn't understand what thought, and he was not going to stand by and watch as Jiyoo mingled with people who indulged themselves in dangerous activities. It was with quick steps that he made his way over.

The girl hadn't taken any notice of the incoming boy. Not before she felt a hand grasping onto her wrist, an action that made her turn around in haste. She'd first believed that it was Eun Ae. Though, it became rather obvious that so was not the case when Jiyoo saw the blond hair. "What do you want?" immediately did she wonder whether Zelo had spilled the dirty details of what'd happened at the supermarket. Seriously, the girl was going to chop that boy's cock off if he'd done so.

Daehyun yanked at her hand, he was not going to stand there and explain about why Jiyoo couldn't continue with whatever she was up to. "Aren't you going to let go?" what was the problem with the blond-haired boys. Both Zelo and the freak was acting all weird. Pulling and dragging away people seemed to be a hobby the two of them shared. Daehyun shook his head as his gaze flickered over to Eun Ae. The smirk on the girl's face had disappeared and it was with a troubled feeling that he saw how she emptied a can of coke over an unfamiliar girl.

Jiyoo had also seen what'd taken place and glared at the boy when his eyes met hers again. "Why did you have to butt in?If I could've just done what I was supposed to then that wouldn't have happened." she yanked her hand free and stalked off. Jiyoo's life felt all of a sudden really chaotic. Three new people had stepped into her life and caused a total mess. Zelo was definitely the one who'd brought her the most problems. China boy and Sohwan hadn't really been a trouble, not directly.

But now Daehyun, too. She couldn't understand why he'd interrupted her like that. It wasn't like the boy had said anything important. He hadn't said anything at all for that matter. Plus,the deal had went down the drain and Sohwan had paid the price for that. "FUUUUUUUCK." Jiyoo ran her hands through her hair, she was frustrated at about just everything. Neither did it help that China boy, all of a sudden, appeared in front of her.

Tao gazed down at the girl, he hated to see her like that. The way her eyes glistered made him sad. He'd seen her being bullied from afar. But Tao had never been able to step in and help her out. Mainly because he was scared. Not of Eun Ae and those other two girls, but of Jiyoo. Well, scared and scared. It wasn't exactly the correct word for his feelings either. The last thing Tao wanted was for the girl to feel humiliated and embarrassed, something he guessed Jiyoo would be if he helped. He'd noticed the way she wanted to take care of herself.

"AWH, JIYOO HAVE FOUND ANOTHER FREAK, SEEMS LIKE THE BLOND ONE AREN'T ENOUGH FOR HER." Eun Ae's loud voice echoed in the hallway as she passed them by, and that was soon followed by laughter from other students. Jiyoo rolled her eyes, it was not the first time she'd heard a sentence similar to that one. The originality in Eun Ae's statements were obviously rather lacking.

She glanced up on the taller boy, a thought had precisely struck her. Why was he even bothering to look out for her?

Tao blinked, a tad confused, when Jiyoo parted her lips and let the words flow. He understood a word or two here and there, and that was it. He could see the frustration in her eyes when she'd stopped to let him answer. The boy couldn't reply as his vocabulary of Korean words weren't enough just yet. Instead could he only look at her whilst shrugging his shoulders. He, too, were frustrated at not being able to understand and speak freely, like he wanted.

Daehyun had just exited the cafeteria when he spotted Jiyoo together with another student. He narrowed his eyes when he remembered the other boy. It was the same person who Zelo had been about to knock down the previous week. Though, what made him curious, yet worried was the fact that he had no background information on that boy. It was with an unsettling feeling that Daehyun turned on his heel and walked away. He would need to find out more about that new student. Daehyun needed to be certain whether he was one the boy could trust or not.

<