✔ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐃: 𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑟

CHAPTER 12

My mother had little time for my school career.

Just as little as she now had time for Minja.

But when I had begged her to come to the parent-teacher conference to listen to my grades, she had come reluctantly. My mother had listened to the teachers' speeches for a maximum of five minutes, because they never talked about me for longer than that. I had always done well at school, worked hard, understood straight away and was quiet. I never got into trouble, not even when I accidentally took my classmate's pencil case and she thought I had stolen it. I didn't do things like that and luckily people believed me. But today, today I was sitting on this uncomfortable chair in a room that reeked of cigarette smoke. I knew they tried to hide the stench with humidifiers and plants, but it was clear that the principal smoked here a lot. But he could do what he wanted, so why not?

And we were here to listen to a lecture. Was that the end of my good grades?

Would I now get the worst marks in behavior?

My hands were shaking.

But not so much because of the grades, but more out of fear.

To the left of the room I could hear quiet sobbing and whimpering, the mere presence of the two girls who had been tortured by Bongcha - flanked by the coach of the soccer team - had made me immediately aware of what we were here for. Without the principal first cloaking himself in mysterious silence, only to announce menacingly in his deep voice why we were standing here.

"I have been told that there has been bullying at our school. Do you have anything to say about this?"

There was silence for a few seconds until Bongcha sat up in the chair and began to speak: "As captain of the cheerleaders, I would like to announce that we do not support such practices."

Not bad, you could almost have bought her serious expression if ninety percent of those present hadn't known it was a lie. It was even brave of Bongcha to be the first to speak when she was the one who was dirty.

I lowered my gaze to my hands and plucked at my cuticles in nervousness.

"Do the others have anything to say about this?" the principal asked, his narrow, wrinkle-covered eyes wandering over the rest of the cheerleaders. But since no one dared to speak and everyone was silent, he let out a sigh.

The coach cleared his throat and then intervened: "My boys told me that they all had a suspicion. But there is one boy in my team who is said to have seen it. We could ..."

Daesy let out a horrified gasp, and everyone tried not to look in her direction.

She was probably afraid that Beomgyu would think badly of her now. He was most likely referring to Taehyun, who had been shooting at us like a hunter at his prey. I didn't like remembering the angry expression on his face.

My heart had stopped when I saw the ball fly past Bongcha's head. She managed to dodge at the last moment, but she hadn't had much time to get to safety before Taehyun had already picked up the next ball and shot at her again.