Promise • 전정국 (DISCONTINUED)

19 | Not One of Them

"Your little smile somehow hurts me."

•••

I went to school the next day feeling a bit more cheerful that usual. I was so eager to tell Amy about what had happened the previous day. During lunchtime, I surveyed the cafeteria for my friend but she was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she had the runs and had to go to the bathroom?

It was worth a check.

I walked back to the main halls and into the girls bathroom. I bowed my body forward slightly to see if I could see her familiar turquoise converse sneakers that she usually wore to school. Nothing. I was about to walk out but I figured I'd take a quick pee before. I entered one of the stalls, grabbing the waist band of my pants but before I could tug them down, I heard a sniffle. I pressed my ear against the black wall that separated the stalls, trying to keep my feet in the same position as they were so that the unknown girl wouldn't think I was doing anything suspicious with my feet being so close to the wall that gave us privacy. I narrowed my brows and looked under slightly to see the shoes of the girl.

Wait,

"Chels?"

What was supposed to have come out as a thought came out as a question that I said out loud. Fuck. The sniffles quickly stopped.

"Y/N? Is that you?"

Well, no point in hiding anymore.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you.......uh, crying?"

"What? N-no. Allergies are very s-strong this time of the year. Plus, I'm not a punk ass bitch. I don't c-cry."

"Right. Well, feel better." I grabbed my bag from the little hook, ready to get out. The sensation for me to pee diminished.

"Wait! Y/N, do you think you can, you know, stay here a bit? I was getting kind of lonely."

My superego told me to stay and keep her company but my id told me to leave and not associate with anyone associated with Mina. At the end, my ego chose to stay. After all, you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, not that Chels was really an enemy to me. I just never spoke to her due to the fact that she associated herself with Mina.

I hung my bag back up on the stall hook. "Sure, I'll stay."

"Thanks a lot, Y/N. You know, things haven't been going too well for me."

"Do you want to talk about it? We still have a good amount of time before lunch ends."

"Yeah, I'd like that actually. It's been a while since I've been able to just rant."

"Well, rant away." I chuckled, gaining a giggle out of her, something I didn't even know she could do.

"Okay," she let out a sigh. "I know this might come out as a surprise to you but, you know how I'm part of Mina's little group right?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm just about tired of her shit. She always thinks she's so high and mighty, ordering me and Nicole around like we're some dogs. She acts like we have no knowledge about anything, I mean, I understand if she thinks Nicole isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but me, I'm a lot smarter than her! Did you know that Nicole doesn't even know who our president is?! Like, who doesn't know who our own president is? It's absolutely ridiculous. Today though, Mina really pushed my buttons. She called me a slut in front of a whole group of boys and threw me under the bus for something she did! I was so-"

I don't really remember what Chels had said afterwards. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard someone complain so much before in my life. I bet if I replayed her whole rant over 10 times, I still wouldn't even be able to remember part of it correctly. I kind of regret letting her rant to me, not because of how long it was, but because there would be no point in her telling me her problems when I could barely remember a thing.