be my girlfriend | k.s.w

17

The next day at school, Mirae takes a deep breath before putting on a big smile and walks through the gates of the school.

Just like any other day, she happily greets students, classmates and teachers as she makes her way to her classroom.

Walking in she could tell there was a harsh atmosphere, and seeing everyone look at her pitifully made Mirae even more confused.

Mirae just smiled, waving to her classmates as she walked to her desk, then seeing exactly why the room felt so tense.

Upon her desk were scribbles of words written in a black marker, loud and clear for her to understand what they said and who they had come from.

"Mirae!" A heavy weight jumped onto Mirae's back as she felt Haerin hug her tightly around the shoulders.

"Wha-" Haerin faltered beyond seeing the harsh words written on her best friends desk.

"Who the hell did this!" Haerin shouted, glaring at the students just standing around, watching the scene. As her eyes fell onto a group of giggling girls, Haerin stomped her way over there, grabbing hold of the girls shirt.

"Hana you did this didn't you."

"You tell me." Hana smirked, glancing at Haerin before looking over at Mirae who hadn't moved since seeing her desk.

"Hey you b*tch, are those words wrong though?" Hana laughed as the girls around them chuckled.

"Shut up."

"Haerin, I'm fine." Dropping her hand, Haerin looked over to Mirae, who stood calmly and smiled sweetly at her friend.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom, I'll be right back okay?" Haerin just nodded, watching as Mirae and placed her bag down, took out a handkerchief and slowly left the classroom.

Haerin glared at Hana one last time before looking down at Joha who was sitting at her seat, ignoring Haerin.

"You don't think we can't notice your handwriting Joha? How can you call yourself a friend."

-

Mirae breathed in deeply, biting her inner cheek to keep herself from crying.

"No she seduced Sunwoo while he was still dating Hana."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah that's what Hana and Joha said."

"Joha?! Isn't she friends with Mirae?"

"Exactly, Mirae's not so perfect I guess."

Mirae held tightly onto the handle of the bathroom door as she pushed it, walking in and drenching the handkerchief in the sink.

She watched as the two girls walked out quickly, looking at her with disgust. Mirae just sighed, wrung out the fabric and walked back to the classroom.

Walking into the classroom, she saw that Hana had left and everyone else had settled down. She walked to her desk, folding the damp fabric and wiped down her desk, seeing the black ink, smear into the handkerchief.

Haerin quickly grabbed the cloth from her friend, pushing her down into her seat.

"You study on my desk for a while, I'll finish wiping this." Haerin gave Mirae an encouraging smile, receiving one back as they both got onto what they were meant to do.

-

It was the end of the day, Mirae had skipped lunch but still wasn't hungry, she was tired and fed up with school. The whole day was exhausting, people looking at her weirdly, whispering.

Might as well yell at my face.

The bell had rung and everyone began walking out the class, as was Mirae. She packed her bag quickly and left the classroom, not forgetting to say bye to Haerin.

She had only just gotten out of the classroom, when someone forcefully pushed her against the wall of the hallway, making her fall to the ground. Students around her gasped loudly and the busy corridor suddenly became silent.

Mirae felt an ache all over her arm and side of her face as she looked back at whoever pushed her. With no surprise, Hana smiled at Mirae, her friends laughing at her.

"What are you doing on the ground?" Hana mocked. Mirae noticed that Joha was there, not looking at her, not giving he a single glance.

Sighing Mirae tried standing up, however, at her attempt Hana pushed her once again, this time kicking her harshly in the stomach.

Mirae held tightly onto her stomach as she moved her knees to her chest.

"Don't be so weak, we all know it's an act. Is this how you seduced Sunwoo, even though everyone knew he was dating me?"

It was still silent and although many students had surrounded the scene, no one spoke a word. Before Hana could speak, Mirae stood up laughing quietly.

"Did you just laugh?!" Hana moved towards Mirae again, slapping her face. She lifted her hand once again before Mirae caught her wrist, glaring at the girl.

"Isn't it funny how your blaming me?"

Mirae studied Hana's blank face as she pushed away her hand and wiped her lip, realising it had started bleeding.

"Is it because I'm the girl?" Mirae scoffed, her voice ringing through the corridor as she rolled her eyes and glared at Hana.

"Shouldn't you be mad at your so-called-boyfriend who decided to cheat on you?"

"Who are you to say anything your the one wh-"

"Oh so it is all my fault." Mirae cut off Hana, stepping towards her with a stone cold expression, causing the startled girl to take a step backwards.

"Your so pathetic. You gang up on the girl because your too scared to confront the guy. Your weak side is showing Hana. Stop acting so tough and making more problems when you can't even clean up your own." Mirae flared at her one last time before looking at Joha, who still, was avoiding any sort of interaction with her.

Without saying anything else, Mirae picked up her bag and turned around, pushing past the students who were just watching her being harassed.

It wasn't even a few steps away from the small student crowd that she stopped upon seeing a tall figure standing a little away from the crowd.

Mirae looked up, seeing Sunwoo who looked at her with sad eyes. His heart wrenched when he saw that the innocent sparkle in her eyes had disappeared and were covered in a layer of glossy tears. She stepped to the side, breaking eye contact, trying to walk away, when he grabbed onto her hand.

"Mirae please... can we talk."

Sunwoo held on tightly to the girl's hand, but became disappointed when she slowly pushed his hand away.

"There's nothing to talk about Sunwoo, everything was fake. Just forget about it."

Mirae tried her best to not show her face as she walked away, tears rolling down her face as soon as she turned away. Her breath trembled, threatening to let out a cry as she walked to the athletics field.

Sunwoo on the other hand, could only watch as the girl walked away, his hand hanging lifelessly by his side.