A/N: I just published a separate imagines book for NewJeans. From now on, if you wanna read NewJeans imagines from me, you can check out that book !!
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TRIGGER WARNING:
[ bullying ]
***
When you were little, you were picked on a lot by the older kids in your elementary school for crying so much. They would bother you during recess and purposefully do things to make you cry, they would throw things at you in the classroom with the same goal (to make you cry), and they would steal your food at lunch with, again, the same goal.
And it always worked.
But there was one girl who always stood up for you through it all.
FLASHBACK:
TWELVE YEARS AGO
You stumbled forward as you were pushed from your seat on the swing set. Your bottom lip trembled as your fingers picked at a loose string on the sleeve of your yellow sweater.
"That was mean!" You stuttered out. You tried to make an angry face, but the tears were already rolling, your lips were already pouted, and your eyes were wide with upset.
One of the boys stuck his tongue out and said, "Who cares? No matter what we do or don't do, you'd cry anyways, ulbo!"
A girl squatted down in front of you and poked your forehead with a nasty smile on her face. "My mommy says I'm better than all of the other girls because I don't cry all the time like you, L/N Y/N." She quipped happily, although she was continuously jabbing your forehead with enough force to send you back.
You sniffled once. Then twice. And then you started wailing.
The girls and boys standing around you all widened their eyes at the loud sound, and they scrambled away from you.
It was silent around you, minus your cries, which began to die out into quiet sniveling again.
Then you felt a hand on your shoulder and a presence sitting down next to you on the uncomfortable mulch ground.
"Are you okay?!" A loud voice asked.
You turned to your left and saw a little girl your age looking at you with wide, concerned eyes. You recognized her from your class.
Hami, I think? No... Hana? Ani, ani. Ah! Hanni!
"Hanni?" You questioned quietly.
A bright smile spread across her face as she giggled. You couldn't help the small smile that won your lips after seeing hers. It was contagious.
She giggled again as she introduced herself dramatically. "Yep! Hanni Pham, at your service. Nice to meet you, Y/N! You're really pretty, by the way! I stare at you a lot in class, too, did you know? Did you, did you, did you?" She seemed very hyper.
You shook your head shyly, looking up at her with doe eyes. You raised your hand to wipe your tears, but paused when you felt soft fingers wiping them instead. You looked into Hanni's eyes as she stopped wiping them, however, keeping her hands on your red cheeks and squishing them around.
"Let's be friends forever, yeah?" Hanni asked, leaning in close to your face with a wide smile.
You smiled back and closed your eyes as you put your hands over hers.
"Sure thing."
FLASHBACK END.
And the bullying carried on into middle school. This time, besides being made fun of for crying all the time, it was also because you were considered a "nerd." You were often forced and threatened into doing others' homework. But Hanni always protected you.
FLASHBACK:
SIX YEARS AGO.
Another droplet of water fell from a strand of your hair, hitting the floor meaninglessly. But your tears fell the same way. Falling, only to mean nothing to the people looming over your small figure. You looked up with fear-filled eyes, staring at their blurry figures. Your glasses were lying crushed somewhere in the locker room.
"Look at you, all cold, wet, and shivering." One girl taunted, sneering at you. You bit back a sob as you hugged yourself.
"Now. You have two choices. You either do our homework like we asked, or you're asking for more punishment. Take your pick, ulbo."
Ulbo. The name that you were known by around the school. A crybaby. Always crying like a baby anytime someone does the bare minimum to her, they all say. They all laugh at you in the halls of the school, and take advantage of the fact that you're too nice and vulnerable to go against their forceful requests for you to do their homework and projects.
You sniffled and wiped your nose. "I-I'll do i-it. It'll... It'll be- be done by tomorrow. I- I swear it." You stuttered. You hated the power they had over you.
One of the girls was about to say something to you, but the door was suddenly thrown open with a great force. You flinched and hugged your body tighter. Fresh tears, however, brimmed your eyes when you saw who it was standing in the doorway.
Hanni. Your knight in shining armor.
You began to cry happily as a shaky smile graced your lips. A laugh escaped you as Hanni ran towards the girls, screaming out a battle cry as she chased them around with a metal ruler and swung it at them with a mischievous smile.
She eventually chased them out of the locker room. When they were finally gone, Hanni placed her hands on her knees and took a few deep breaths. Then she abruptly whipped around and ran to you. She fell to her knees in front of you and placed her hands on your shoulders. She gave you a pained look, before pulling you into a hug, guiding your head to rest in the crook of her neck.
You cried against her skin as she stroked your hair.
"I'm sorry, Y/N. I wish I could do more. I hate those evil girls- I hate that they're the children of important people. Stuck up, good-for-nothing bi-"
"Han!" You interjected, lifting your head and slapping her shoulder playfully.
She giggled and leaned forward to rub her nose against yours. You smiled widely at her as your heart skipped a beat, hammering inside your chest.
FLASHBACK END.
PRESENT TIME.
Everything got worse when you reached high school. The insults got worse, the threats became more real, and the bullying became physical. No matter how much Hanni tried to protect you, nothing could've prevented what would happen tomorrow.
💧
It was a normal day for you. You wake up, contemplate your life for a few minutes, get ready, question why you even bother existing, and then go to school. The place you dreaded going to the most.
As soon as you entered the school building, you felt malicious eyes on you. You looked over and met the gaze of your biggest bully (abuser is more fitting) over the last four years: Kim Taehyung. He glared at you from afar, threateningly lowering his head to intimidate you, even from a distance.
You brushed it off and quickly walked away.
💧
It was now time for you to meet Hanni by the arts hall so that the two of you could walk to lunch together, so you made your way there. As you were walking, however, you caught the gaze of Kim Taehyung. Your eyes widened when you saw him start to walk towards you. You immediately shivered and ran away down the hallway, looking for somewhere to hide.
You found yourself in the orchestra room, hiding in a corner in a small space between the wall and a separate standing wall.
You heard slow footsteps enter the room, followed by a deep chuckle. You heard the sound of his knuckles popping. You clasped a hand over your mouth to prevent a whimper from escaping; you were scared beyond imagination. The reason being that, for the first time in your four years of high school, you were absent from school for an entire week and a half due to being sick, which in turn meant that you weren't able to do a week and a half's worth of Taehyung's homework.
"Gotcha!" You opened your watery eyes to see Taehyung looming over your shaking figure.
Tears fell, skin was bruised, and blood was shed.
💧
"Y/N! Oh my god, no!" You heard the footsteps getting closer. You didn't open your eyes. Instead, you flinched.
"Baby," You felt someone pull you up and hold you close to their body, your head resting on their chest. You'd recognize the scent anywhere.
Hanni.
"Baby, please. Open your eyes. Please." She cried. She was full-on sobbing at this point.
You opened your eyes, but they hurt. Everywhere hurt. It hurt to move, to breathe, to do anything. You looked up at her. She cried out in relief upon seeing your open eyes. She placed a hand on your cheek, caressing the soft skin.
"I'm so sorry, Y/N, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." She kept repeating.
You didn't have much strength, but the strength you did have, you used to weakly lift your arm. You placed your hand over hers that was on your cheek, and stroked it gently with your thumb.
"I'm- It'll be alright." You mumbled.
This seemed to make Hanni angry.
"No! Nothing will be alright until we get out of here, Y/N! As long as we stay in this school system, you'll always be faced with the bullying, the unfair administrators, and the shit end of the stick! I can't keep watching this happen. So I'm going to do something about it this time." She said. You could see the anger in her eyes. You already knew what she was going to do.
"Hanni- H-Hanni, no. Please don't do it. It won't be worth it." You pleaded.
She looked at you with warmth in her eyes. "Y/N, baby, I'd do anything for you, you should know this by now. We've been best friends for years. And it will be worth it to see those assholes getting what they deserve for putting you through something that you didn't. It'll be worth every last bruise that they receive." She seethed.
You finally snapped, willing your voice to be stronger. "Then what about me!?" You yelled.
Hanni's eyes widened.
"What about me, Hanni?" You cried out. "If you do this and you get caught and put in juvie for aggravated assault, how will I be without you by my side? What then? Have you ever thought about that? You're just gonna leave me here all by myself? If you do this, Hanni, you're not the only one who'll be affected. I- I can't. I need you and I lo-"
You were cut off by lips pressing firmly onto yours. It stung against the cut on your lip, but you didn't care. You just enjoyed the feeling of bliss you were experiencing.
When she pulled away, she rested her forehead against yours and sighed. "I'm sorry, Y/N. I'm sorry, okay? I didn't- I didn't think about that. So I'm sorry. I won't do anything to them. But I will be reporting this to the administrators, and if they don't do something about it, then I'll take it to the superintendent or the board of education." She stated firmly.
You smiled sweetly and nodded your head, basking in her warmth, completely forgetting that you were even in physical pain.
"So," Hanni started. "About that kiss. Girlfriends?"
You rolled your eyes and laughed, stuffing your face in the crook of her neck.
"Girlfriends."
***
QOTD: Who's your favorite 4th gen vocalist?
AOTD: Mine is IVE's Liz and NewJeans' Hanni.