KimKim's Kids

XV. The Week After

There's a good and bad side to everything. High school had its fair share of it. Wonyoung was well-liked by her peers. She had a few new friends and she always knew Nako, Hitomi and the older sisters had her back. She was smart and respectful, like her moms taught her to be, so the teachers all loved her too. But that made her a target to a certain group.

The bullies. They were never very open about it. The comments were mostly whispers when they would pass by her in the hallway. Snickering to themselves while they throw stupid terms like "nerd" or "teacher's pet" at her. Sometimes even worse words were used. There were the occasional shoves when she would run into them when no one else was around or they would 'accidentally' knock her things over. 

She would be lying if she said she didn't fear this would happen. She was partly prepared for it already when she decided to join a year earlier than the other kids her age. But still, it hurt. 

Sakura and her shared everything with each other and she never once heard her older sister complain about mean students. Maybe it was because Sakura was the princess of the school. Too many people loved her for any group to outwardly hate her without receiving major backlash. Yes, the bullies appeared in front of the older girl from time to time but the hate was never directed towards Sakura. She would usually be the one to step in if she heard the comments. 

If she helped strangers like that, why wouldn't she help her own sister? Because she didn't know. It was just the second week and Wonyoung convinced herself that it would pass eventually. The hurt still showed at times and of course, Chaewon and Minju picked up on it. When they asked, she said she wasn't feeling well and that she was just worried about keeping her grades up. They could tell she was hiding something but they kept quiet about it and just comforted her in the moment. They would ask her about it later when she was okay with talking about it but right then, some hugs and kisses from her moms would be the best solution. 

Wonyoung didn't want to tell Sakura because she was in her senior year and very busy with photoshoots in between all that. She knew her older sister would probably scold her later for hiding the truth but for now she didn't want to be a bother. She didn't get to spend as much time as before with her sister so she wanted it to be filled with only happy things.

One day, when she was walking to her class and one of the bullies commented those words again, Wonyoung was tired of it. She was tired of being a target solely because she was smart and respectful. 

She glared back at them, "I don't know why you keep picking on me but you can stop now," she told them through gritted teeth. She wasn't going to wait for someone to come to her rescue.

The two guys scoffed. The turned to face her and for a moment, Wonyoung faltered. She regretted it for just that moment but then she stood up straighter. Yeah, she was tired of it. The guys stepped forward, faces surprised that the girl they picked on would dare to talk back. Wonyoung wondered how many kids they picked on and who all didn't stand up for themselves.

"Listen here freshman," the taller guy jabbed a finger in her direction, still moving forward, "you don't get to say that. I'm a sophomore. I'm your senior. I get to do what I want," he continued. He pressed his fingernail into Wonyoung's shoulder and the girl had to control her expression even though the sharp pain begged her to do otherwise.

"Don't think we won't beat you up just because you're a girl," the second guy seethed, a disgusting smirk on his face.

At this point, though they were quiet, they had gotten the attention of some of the students but all were too afraid to step in. There were quiet whispers and looks of pity directed towards Wonyoung. She hated that even more. She decided to turn around and walk away before things got worse but the bullies pulled her by the shoulder and pushed her back against the lockers the minute she tried to step away, the sound of her body hitting the metal startling many of the students.