Chapter 2

"Who told you that?" Da Hae yelled from the toilet stall. She so badly wanted to open the door and confront the girls but she was already mid-pee. "Who's out there?"

She heard some shrieks and the scrambling of feet as the girls ran out of the bathroom.

"Hey, don't leave… argh, stupid pee!" Since she'd been holding it for a while, it was one of those pees that seemed to go on forever. When she was done, she ran out to the hallway with unwashed hands but all she saw was the usual crowd of people roaming around.



***

"Do you think Chang Min's been going around spreading this rumor?" Soo Hyun asked. It wasn't like he was her favorite person but she wouldn't have predicted he'd turn out to be such a slime ball.

Da Hae shrugged. "I don't know. But why today? Why not last week? We've been 'not having sex' for a while so why the sudden need to spread lies?" She pulled out her phone. "We only have a few minutes till the next class so I'll just text him to meet me as soon as class is over."

"No need," Soo Hyun said, pointing at the other end of the hallway. "He's over there."

It was only when Da Hae looked up that she noticed the hundreds of eyes trained on her. If they'd been staring at her all morning, how come she was only just noticing? She called her boyfriend but her voice couldn't carry over all the noise so was walked briskly to him.

He was standing and smiling with one of his teammates and as far as Da Hae was concerned, he looked far too relaxed for someone who was the current subject of the school's rumor mill.

"… you're so crazy," she heard him say.

"Whatever. Oh, speaking of which, I heard you had an interesting night," the friend said, patting his arm.

"Hey, you know how I do. You know you can trust me," Chang Min replied before giving him a hi-five. "I get what I want." He was literally beaming with pride.

What? "Really?" Da Hae interrupted. "What did you get?" She suddenly felt rage building up inside of her. Did she really hear what she thought she heard?

A surprised Chang Min turned to her and smiled. "Hey, babe,"

"Don't 'hey babe' me. You had an interesting night, huh?" She could already feel her eyes rolling into the back to her head. He had an interesting night?!?!

He looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Oh, did you overhear us?"

"Yes," she said with her fists placed firmly on her hips. "Can you tell me about it? Because I was with you last night and I don't remember anything interesting happening." From the corner of her eye, she saw his friend, Jin Hee, retreating from them although he didn't go too far before he stopped and continued to watch the scene unfold.

"Hey," Chang Min said in a soothing voice. He reached for her shoulder but she brushed him off. "What's your problem?" His eyebrows knitted in a frown as he waited for her reply.

"What's my problem? Are you going around spreading rumors about us?"

His frown deepened. "What rumors?"

"Rumors that we slept together last night?"

"What? Hell no!"

"Really? Then what were you just saying to Jin Hee a minute ago? You get what you want? What did you get? What exactly happened last night?"

He looked away from her. "W-W-Well--"

"W-W-Well," she mimicked. "Why are you stammering?" When he didn't say anything, she continued. "What the fcuk is this, Oppa? I mean, are you so pathetic that you have to make things up about us? We didn't have sex last night. We've never had sex!" she screamed then looked around at the crowd that had formed. "Yeah, you heard me. We've never had sex, okay?" She looked over at Jin Hee. "Did you hear that? So you can spread it around to all your loser friends. And," she said, turning her attention back to Chang Min, "it's obvious that we never will. Oh, and if this isn't clear enough, we're through!"

****

"So I was looking at the dating tips and it looks like I've already fcuked things up with me and Sung Joon."

"Yeah?" Da Hae said, piling her plate with food she knew she wasn't going to eat. Even though she had every right to be pissed, as always, she'd overreacted ever so slightly after all, she didn't really have any solid proof. Plus her little performance had only helped to further ignite the rumor mill. It seemed like her school had suddenly transformed into a whole bunch of corners filled with people whispering about her. She looked over at her cousin. "So what did you do wrong?"

Soo Hyun waited for her to finish with the potatoes then took the spoon and put some in her plate. "Apparently, you're not supposed to be so eager and give the guy your phone number immediately. And I told you how I gave him mine without him even asking." She pouted. "Maybe that's why he hasn't called."

"Probably."

Soo Hyun stopped walking. "What?"

Da Hae laughed. "I'm only kidding. But in all seriousness, it's only been a day." Da Hae lifted her tray and waited for Soo Hyun to finish serving herself then they walked away from the buffet table. As she did ever other school day, she turned the corner towards her usual lunch table but this time, instead of her friends smiling and yelling at her from the table, they all looked away as if they didn't want her to join them. She pretended not to notice the hint and walked over anyway. She dropped her tray on the table and sat down. Her cousin slid in next to her.

"Eh, Nam Da Hae, why are you here?" Bo Ra, Jin Hee's girlfriend asked.

"What?" she looked up at her, hoping that her face expressed the intense boredom she was feeling. Hadn't she already had enough drama for one day?

"I repeat: why are you here? Why would you want to eat with losers?"

Losers? Da He sighed. Oh…. She looked over at Jin Hee then back at his girlfriend. "Can we not do this? I'm kind of hungry."

Bo Ra hissed then stood up and picked up her tray. "I have no desire to sit with someone who thinks I'm a loser, okay?" She walked away from the table and the rest of her 'friends' followed suit.

Da Hae sighed then picked up her apple and bit into it. Did she really have the energy to deal with all this bullshit? She shouldn't have called them losers but she'd been very pissed at the time. She decided to give them a few days to cool off before apologizing. She put the apple back on the tray.

Soo Hyun nudged her. "Wow, that was intense."

"Yeah… but whatever men. I am hungry." She picked up her plastic fork and wiped it clean. "Let's change the subject. So, you were talking about some dating tips earlier. Where did you get them from?"

Soo Hyun glanced at her cousin's face then took a sip of her Diet Coke. Over the years, Da Hae had tried to adopt this stance where nothing was ever a big deal but she knew that she still sometimes got hurt really deeply. But she could tell that she didn't want to talk about anything so she decided to just go to the flow. "Well," she said dramatically, "I got it from www.datingtips.com. Duh! Oh… oh… look, it's my Oppa, Sung Joon. Isn't he so cute? Oh my God, he's going to sit over there," she gushed as she discreetly pointed at him walking over to a table not too far from theirs. "How do I look?"

Da Hae glanced at her then got back at her food. "You look like crap."

Soo Hyun rolled her eyes then turned her attention back to Sung Joon. She sat up and stared hard at him, attempting to telepathically make him look at her and a few seconds later, it seemed to have worked because he looked in her direction. And smiled.

"OH MY GOD, he's looking at me," she said, trying her best not to move her lips so he couldn't read them. She tapped Da Hae from under the table. "Look! LOOK! He's looking at me."

Da Hae looked up. "Yeah, he's looking at you." She giggled. He really wasn't half bad. "But please, don't have a heart attack, okay? Because since this is the day from hell, no one will rush you to the hospital and you might end up dying in the cafeteria. Do you want the last thing you see to be ants crawling on the floor?"

Soo Hyun wasn't listening to her cousin. Instead, she was staring dreamingly at him and imagining what it would be like to have those lips kiss her cheek. She was limiting the fantasy to just her cheek because if she imagined him on her lips… She was still smiling at him when the blood gradually drained from her face as she noticed his eyes slowly move to the left and settle on her cousin. Hell no! "Oh, you bi.tch!" she yelled, shoving her cousin violently.

Da Hae watched her in shock. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What? I am so sick of the fact that I only get to kiss guys when they are wearing their beer goggles." Argh! Not again! She glared at a confused Sung Joon till he averted his eyes.

"What?" Da Hae was doing her best to dodge her cousin's attacks but she was so strong. "You're hurting me! Stop hitting me."

Soo Hyun shoved her one last time then folded her arms. "This is so not fair! When I'm alone, I'm fine. Guys notice me, they say hello and all that great stuff but when they see you, I suddenly disappear into the background. How the hell is that fair? You suck! I hate you. If we keep hanging out together, I'm going to die a virgin."

Da Hae covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing. Gosh, why was she so dramatic? "Just chill."

"How can I--"

Her sentence was cut short by the sound of someone laughing behind them. Both girls turned around to see a tall, brown-haired guy laughing and pointing at them.

"What do you want?" Da Hae asked. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with Yoo Dong Gun, who'd had been her number one stalker for pretty much all of 6th-8th grades.

"Oh, it looks like you've been banished from Wonderland," he observed in the deep voice that didn't quite match his preppy look.

"What?" Da Hae tilted her head up and eyed him.

"Actually, it looks like you've been banished to Wonderland but because you're here, everyone else has left." He kept laughing.

"Wow, you're so funny," Soo Hyun said dryly.

But Dong Gun ignored her and kept laughing. "So this is the punishment you get for punching Chang Min in the face?" He was still laughing. "I would have so loved to see that."

"Gosh, Dong Gun, what the hell are you talking about? I didn't punch him, you retard. And why are you talking to me? I thought I'd gotten rid of you for good." And she'd been vicious – she'd posted his Valentine's card to her on the school notice board and made him the subject of ridicule. But at that moment, as she listened to him laughing like a hyena, she no longer regretted it. "Why can't you just stay lost?"

"Are you sure you want that? Am I not the only person talking to you now? Shouldn't be you grateful? No friends, no boyfriend… how does it feel to be a nobody?" He slid onto the bench and sat next to her.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Tell me something. How does it feel to finally be put in your rightful place as a loser?" He laughed. "You're no longer popular, huh? I bet you couldn't even buy a date now."

She looked at him incredulously. "I can't get a date? Have you seen…?" She stopped herself before finishing the sentence with 'me' because she knew it would make her sound like a conceited bit.ch. But it was the unfortunate reality. All she had to do was snap her fingers and 5 guys would come running. It was the way it was and the way it would be till she lost her looks. She cleared her throat. "We both know that's bullshit."

He pretended to think about it then he shook his head. "No. I bet you can't. Not now that you're no longer with the 'in crowd.' Not now that you no longer have any power. No… I don't think you can."

She scoffed. "In your dreams." She studied him carefully. Although he was being extremely annoying, it was somewhat refreshing that he hadn't tied her 'power' to her looks. She didn't know why but she was a little grateful for that. She turned around to make sure that none of her 'friends' were within earshot then she turned back to him. "I'm pretty sure I'm the same person I always was. I don't need them for that."

He shook his head. "Of course you do."

"No, I don't."

He moved his face closer to hers. "Then prove it."

"Are you trying to kiss her?" Soo Hyun asked laughing.

Da Hae looked into his small eyes and moved her face closer to his. Who did he think he was trying to intimidate? "Prove what?" she whispered.

"Prove that your reign isn't over. Prove that you're still someone. Prove that you can still get anyone you want."