tagged | skz

eight

sooyun walked along the sidewalk, her hands stuffed in her jacket pockets. it was a bit chillier than she was expecting but she didn't mind too much.

she had spent most of the night restlessly tossing and turning after she returned home from jeongin's. she eventually gave up on sleep and just got up and got ready for the day. after all, even with everything going on, she couldn't skip school.

like the previous day, she had taken the detour to the convenient store. she pushed the store door open and it dinged. the old woman was behind the counter, sitting in a stool and her eyes were glued to a thick novel.

the woman closed her book and stood at the sound of the doorbell ringing. she smiled sweetly at sooyun. "back again?" sooyun nodded, bowing at the woman, who bowed back.

sooyun excused herself and walked into one of the aisles. she pulled her phone out and saw that she had thirty minutes until school started. she pocketed her phone and started looking through the aisles.

she grabbed a container of instant cheese tteokbokki and followed the directions to cook it in the microwave. she grabbed a melon soda from the fridge and paid for her food as she was waiting. then she sat at one of the tables in the store and ate her rice cakes.

"tteokbokki for breakfast?" the woman came over, her shoes scuffing against the floor. sooyun flushed a bit and looked up at her, bowing a bit. the woman waved her off and sat down next to her. "something the matter, young seo?"

"ah," sooyun wiped her mouth and forced a smile. she didn't want to worry the poor woman so she decided to lie. "no, im just a bit tired."

the old woman smiled knowingly. then she pulled something out of her apron pocket and placed it in sooyun's palm. a single chocolate. "have a good day at school, young seo. and don't worry, things will get better." i sure hope so, sooyun thought.

the old woman stood and walked to the back of the store before sooyun could say anything else. sooyun sighed and stuffed the chocolate into her jacket pocket. she quickly finished her food and threw it in the trash.

sooyun said a quick goodbye to the woman, who briefly stopped her restocking and waved goodbye to her. then sooyun walked out of the store and walked the two blocks to the school.

as she stepped onto the school grounds, a great rush of dread came over her and she stopped, peering up at the school. she wasn't ready to see minji or the others who were at the table.

she was sure they thought she had gone crazy for going off like that. she felt awful about it. but somewhere deep down, she had to believe that killerkitten was making her do this for a reason. maybe killerkitten wanted her to find out who they were.

no, sooyun shook her head. that sounds ridiculous. sooyun gripped the straps of her backpack and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. then she headed into the school, keeping her head down until she was at her locker.

sooyun placed her backpack into her locker and grabbed her books for her first four subjects. then she headed into her classroom. she was glad the teacher never assigned seats yet because she would have been forced to sit beside minji. and she just couldn't face her just yet.

she sat down in a seat in the left corner and ducked her head, drawing random doodles in her notebook. the first bell rung and her classmates began filing into the classroom and taking their seats, including minji.

minji and sooyun briefly made eye contact and minji was the first to tear her gaze away. sooyun's lip settled into a frown and she sunk into her chair. she watched from across the room as minji hurried to an empty seat and looked straight ahead.

"good morning class," the teacher said. the class chirped their hellos back and the teacher began talking about today's lesson plans as she usually did during homeroom. it was quite boring without minji making side comments about things. just as sooyun felt like she was about to nod off, she heard her name. "and today's cleaners will be seo sooyun and kim minji. so please stay after school."

just great.

👤👤👤

the day seemed to drag on. when lunch had come around, sooyun skipped out on eating in the cafeteria. instead, she looked for jeongin, hoping he would have some answers for her. when she couldn't find him, she went back to the convenience store and bought a cup of instant ramen and a triangle gimbap.

she had sat on one of the benches outside of the store and ate her food quietly, just watching everyone who walked by. there was a group of giggly underclassmen who walked into the store and she envied how happy they seemed.

meanwhile, sooyun was feeling anxious. she was worried that jeongin wouldn't have any answers for her. or even worse, maybe killerkitten got to him, too. sooyun hated the thought of it all but there was nothing else she could think about right now.

after she finished eating, she tossed her trash away and walked back to school. the bell rung just as she walked inside, signaling lunch was over and it was time to go back to class.

sooyun walked into her classroom and quietly slipped back into her seat. she averted her eyes as her classmates started coming back in. the late bell rung and the teacher came in, closing the door behind her. then she started going into her lessons again.

sooyun forced herself to take notes as the teacher taught. and before she knew it, the last bell of the day rung and the teacher quickly said her goodbyes as everyone left. everyone except sooyun and minji.

sooyun couldn't even bring herself to look at minji as she stood from her seat and started cleaning the classroom. minji watched her carefully. her feelings were hurt. she didn't know if she wanted to cry out of sadness or out of anger.

"hey, seo sooyun!" sooyun jumped at the sound of minji's raised voice. sooyun turned her head slowly and looked at her. "are you just going to go on, ignoring me?" sooyun turned away from her, which made her even madder. "do you know how much you hurt me yesterday? why did you do that...in front of everyone?"

sooyun's eyes watered and she bit her lip hard. "i had to," she mumbled and minji scoffed. sooyun turned back to look at her, tears streaming down her cheeks. "okay? i had to.!" her voice got softer. "you don't understand."

minji's mouth fell open in shock and she tried to say something else, anything. but she couldn't. she had only seen sooyun cry a handful of times. before she could say anything, sooyun ran out of the classroom.

sooyun ran down the hallway and straight into the girls bathroom. she wiped the tears from her eyes as the bathroom door opened. sooyun looked over and saw minji.

"will you please just talk to me?" minji was practically begging. sooyun just shook her head and minji frowned. "is it killerkitten?" sooyun looked up at her and minji's frown deepened.

before minji or sooyun could say anything else, there was a loud crashing sound in the hallway. and then an ear wrenching scraping sound. minji and sooyun looked at each other as the sound continued, an unshakable feeling of fear crawling up their backs.

someone was in the hall.