The walk to school the next morning helped Ye-eun clear her head.
Whenever she allowed herself to think about what had transpired the day before, she felt like digging a hole, crawling into it and never coming back out.
She sighed as the school gate approached. I hope nothing weird happens today, she thought, straightening her spine with the little resolve she had left.
Lost in her thoughts, it took her a few seconds to notice the sudden shadow that fell over her, shading her from the sun.
That's odd, she thought. There aren't any trees around.
She looked up beside her to see what the disturbance was, and her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
Casually walking beside her was the last person she had wanted to see. Ree Jae-Hwa's form towered over her, casting shadows as he absent-mindedly walked next to her.
Just her luck.
He noticed her staring at him and turned to look at her. Ye-eun watched with trepidation as his neutral features slowly brightened in recognition.
"Hey, you're that girl from yesterday, Hye-jin's friend." His grin was wild and blinding. But she was too busy looking around them to notice. If only he hadn't said anything to her. The other students would wonder who the girl was that Ree Jae-Hwa was talking to. She didn't want to draw even more attention to herself. They were already receiving a few curious glances.
"Uhhh.. yeah," she said, inching away slowly. Please stop talking to me, she cried inwardly.
He didn't show any indication that he noticed and continued, "How come I had never seen you before? What's your name?"
Ye-eun looked around for a way to escape and almost sighed when she found none. She couldn't exactly be rude to Korea's rising star.
"My name is Seo Ye-eun. And we're in different classes."
"I see," he seemed to ponder over that, then looked back to her."I didn't realise it yesterday because of everything going on, but you're really tall."
Ye-eun flinched. That was very abrupt. Was he going to make fun of her just like the others?
"Do you play any sports?" The question came as a shock to her, and she looked at his face for any sign of mockery. Instead, she just found him eagerly awaiting her reply.
"U-uh, no"
"Really?" He seemed surprised. "The what would you think of playing volleyb–"
"Stop pestering the poor girl, Jae-Hwa."
Ye-eun watched as another tall guy came to walk on the other side of Jae-Hwa. The first thing she noticed was his golden blond hair. It caught the sunlight, making it gleam like honey in a glass jar. His face was angular, and his jawline strong. She stared a second too long.
She turned away, her cheeks heating. His appearance seemed to draw the attention of the other students, too, as they stared admiringly. The two boys standing side by side drew almost all the attention directed their way.
"Sorry, he was causing you trouble." Ye-eun didn't realise he was talking to her and jumped with a start as she noticed he was waiting for a reply.
"I wasn't pestering her, Sung-jin."
Ye-eun's heart leapt into her mouth. Did she just hear Jae-Hwa say Sung-jin? As in Han Sung-jin? She glanced at the blond boy now scolding a sulking Jae-Hwa. Maybe she was just mistaken. There were a lot of Sung-jins.
"You shouldn't be bothering everyone you meet to join the volleyball team. It's bad manners, and the coach wouldn't like that."
Ye-eun's heart dropped. Yes, he was definitely Han Sung-jin.
Like Ree Jae-Hwa, Han Sung-jin was also a part of the school's volleyball team. He was extremely well-known as he was dubbed the volleyball genius of Seojeong in just the short while he had been there.
Ye-eun wondered if not only was she a bully magnet, but now also a prodigy magnet. She shuddered at the thought. She saw her opportunity as they passed through the school gates into the school.
With a quick bow in the two prodigies' direction, she scurried in the opposite direction to her class.
***
Ye-eun had hoped for a normal day, but wasn't surprised to see that it wasn't as she had hoped.
After she had settled into her seat where Hye-jin was asleep next to her, she still decided to throw a small greeting, not expecting her to hear her. But the sleeping girl had.
She lifted her head, her eyelids drooping with sleep, and looked at Ye-eun, confused. Then her face lit up, making Ye-eun recoil in surprise.
"Hey, how are you?" Hye-jin rasped.
"I'm okay, how are you?" Ye-eun couldn't keep herself from beaming.
"Good." She replied, resting her chin on her arms. "Sorry again about yesterday."
Ye-eun, taken aback by the sudden apology, stumbled over her words. "I-it's fine, I didn't mind at all, I understand."
The timid girl squirmed under the red-eyed girl's evaluating gaze. She finally sucked in a breath of relief when she nodded slowly and went back to her nap.
Ye-eun realised she had just had a good conversation with someone for the first time since she came to this school. Emotion overcame her.
Smiling to herself, Ye-eun decided that the day could still be a good one. Hee-young still hadn't come to school, her gang wasn't bullying her, and Hye-jin had returned her greeting. Everything felt right.
But it was short-lived.
Ye-eun felt a chill run through her as she noticed the stares of everyone in the classroom were focused on her.
Dread twisted in her gut, her sweaty palms clenched tightly. Her eyes roamed the classroom frantically, trying to find the reason for their stares.
Was it because she had spoken to those guys that morning? Or was it something else?
Her thoughts raced, blood roaring in her ears.
Realising she was crumpling pages of her notebook, she forced in deep breaths through her nostrils and released them in a slow, steady rhythm.
That's when she heard bits and pieces of the whispers floating around the classroom.
"...serious injury…"
"..That's why she's here…"
"...feel so bad for her.."
Ye-eun's eyebrows raised, noticing they weren't talking about her or even looking at her, but rather Hye-jin, who was the topic of their conversation. Concerned, she glanced at her, checking whether she had heard everything that was being said. But if Hye-jin was listening, she made no indication. She was either asleep or very good at hiding her irritation.
She tried to ignore them by busying herself with reading some notes, but she kept on overhearing things like;
"Her last match was a disaster."
"She'll never play again…"
"...The broken prodigy.."
These people were speaking like they knew Hye-jin from somewhere, and it bothered her. Was all this really because of the Hee-young incident from yesterday? Or was this something else?
Ye-eun was almost certain it was He–young that was behind this. The timing was too perfect. She had probably dug up something from Hye-jin's past and made it look terrible.
Curious, she strained to hear the conversation of the two boys sitting in front of her.
"...maybe I should get an autograph." One of them whispered.
"What use would that be?" The other whispered back, and they both snickered.
Ye-eun couldn't stop the scowl that crawled over her features. How dare they talk about her like that?
Fortunately, when the teacher walked in, the whispers and looks immediately stopped.
Ye-eun briefly wondered what all the whispers meant. And if they were true, Ye-eun realised she wasn't the only one in this class trying to disappear.