Street Cred

Chapter 14

Byeol's eyes widened as she realized the situation she was in. There were 4 boys surrounding her, and one of them was much, much taller than the others, but they were all taller than her. Byeol spun around to look for a way away from the boys, and she saw a big gap between two of the shorter boys. Taking a deep breath, Byeol took off running and broke through their circle. She smiled but kept running. She could hear the heavy footfall of the boys behind her, but she didn't stop. Unfortunately she was headed in the direction opposite of her class. Byeol turned a corner and realized her mistake when she faced a dead end.

She stopped abruptly and fell to the ground as someone crashed into her. Byeol went to stand up and when she did, she saw the same four boys standing in front of her, one of them rubbing his head.

"What do you dick-wads want?" Byeol huffed and let out a big breath.

"Well. You sure have a potty mouth, don't you princess." The tallest boy looked down at her as he walked over.

"Why the fuck do all these hoes think they can just give me a nickname? My name is Byeol. Moon Byeol. That is the only thing you can call me. Got it?" Byeol glared up at the boy. She was done with Yeonjun calling her 'sweetheart' and she sure as heck wasn't going to let this giant call her anything other than her name. "Not to mention, I've had a shitty day already and it doesn't seem to be getting better. So you can either just man-up and tell me what you want, or I can scream and cause a scene that would land all four of you in detention for harassing me."

"Okay, okay." Tall boy held up his hands and backed away from the girl. "My name is Mingi." He nudged his friend next to him.

"I'm Wooyoung, nice to meet you." the boy smiled at her.

"What's up? I'm San." Byeol couldn't deny that he had a nice face, all of them did actually.

The last boy gave Byeol a sour look so she stuck her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes before speaking. "I'm Jongho, also known as the guy that you crashed into."

Byeol rolled her eyes. "Excuse me, but you're the one that crashed into me." Jongho rolled his eyes again. "Yeah, keep rolling your eyes, maybe you'll find a brain back there. Now, what do you guys want? I have a class to get back to."

"We saw you at the race on Saturday, just wanted to warn you. People will start associating you with those guys now that you've been seen with them." Mingi leaned back against a locker as he spoke.

"Okay? And?" Byeol looked at him in confusion.

"They won. They hold the biggest title now. People will try to get them to give it up. Basically, you've got a target on your back now." Jongho sounded unamused as he spoke.

"Oh I do? Is that why you ran into me?" Byeol smirked as she saw Jongho clench his jaw.

"Enough children. Byeol, we aren't asking to be friends with you, but we don't want to be your enemies either. We, well the older guys thought it'd be best to warn you of what could happen." San spoke up. "Yeonjun is nothing compared to what some of those guys, especially the group from China will do."

"Great. Thanks. Now if you'll excuse me, I really should get back to class." Byeol pushed through Jongho and Wooyoung as she started walking back  to her class.

The rest of the day just kept getting worse. In her next class, Byeol's teacher redid the seating arrangements and Byeol was now seated next to Soobin who was one of Yeonjun's friends. The taller boy didn't cause any trouble, but Byeol was uneasy knowing that he was part of the same street racing group as Yeonjun.

And when Byeol was getting her lunch from her locker, some girls were playing around and ended up spilling coffee all over Byeol's shirt and lunch. They immediately apologized, and offered to help her clean up, but the poor girl just walked away. After throwing her lunch in the trash and wiping away some tears, Byeol ran up the stairs to the rooftop. She didn't feel like facing Minki and the others after the morning she's had.

She felt her phone buzzing and took it out to see Minki calling her. After declining the call, her screen lit up again, but this time with Jeongin calling. Byeol didn't want him to hear her crying, so she declined. Her phone started ringing a third time and Byeol angrily looked at the screen, but only to see her mom calling. She took a deep breath and answered the phone.

B: Hey Mom.

M: Byeol! Sweetie I have some great news! Your father has officially moved his business to Busan! He bought a house instead of a hotel room, and he wants us to come live there.

B: U-us? As in me too?

M: He said he would like that. But he will still be busy and not home very often. But we'd all be together. As a family.

Byeol could feel  how happy and excited her mom was. But the only emotion that Byeol felt herself was anger.

B: He wouldn't know the meaning of family if it hit him in the head. I have not seen my that man in 4 years. He only ever talks to you. Don't you see that? I try everything to get him to acknowledge me, I have the best grades in school! And he still won't look at me because I'm not a 'son'. No, I'm not moving to Busan. You can tell him that if he agrees to pay for me to stay here, he will never have to hear from me again. Just see how easily he'll take that deal!

Byeol ended the call and tossed her phone on the ground beside her. She saw the screen lighting up with texts and calls, and she had had enough. The girl grabbed her phone and threw it across the roof. She brought her knees to her chest and hugged them as she cried.

She had been crying for about five minutes when she heard the rooftop door open and familiar voices were heard. Byeol held her breath and tried to be quiet so they wouldn't come near her, but she knew there was no use when she saw Jeongin appear in front of her.

As soon as he saw her red and puffy face, Jeongin ran to her and pulled her into his chest as he sat beside her. Minki and the others eventually found the two and the girl's heart broke seeing Byeol in such a state. Minki saw Byeol's phone lying on the ground and picked it up. She walked over to her friends and handed the phone to Jeongin.

Jisung coughed, getting Minki's attention. He nodded his head towards the door, meaning to leave the two alone. Hesitantly, Minki placed a kiss on Byeol's head and gave her friend a quick hug before leaving the sobbing girl with Jeongin.

After everyone had left and it was just Byeol and Jeongin, he pulled her away from his chest and wiped her tears away as she began to calm down.

"Byeol, what happened," Jeongin spoke softly as he cupped her face with one hand and gently rubbed his thumb over her cheek.

"I- a lot has j-just happened today, a-and my mom I h-had a fight," Byeol let out a small sob.

Jeongin's heart broke to see the girl he cared so much about so sad. He pulled Byeol into his lap and laid her head on his chest as his arms wrapped around her. While leaning his head on hers, he started to hum a soft melody.

Within a few minutes, he heard soft snores coming from the girl. Jeongin smiled at her sleeping figure and leaned his head back against the wall. He wouldn't let her miss the rest of the day, but she most definitely needed a break.

He continued to hum random melodies, Byeol's soft breathing filling the silence between his melodious humming.