"I'm the baaaad guy. DUH." Aera sang along to her alarm ring tone. She jumped out of bed in a happy mood, glad to have had a good night's rest after many sleepless nights. She slipped on her furry slippers and walked to the bathroom. 

Aera always woke up early, so that she could get the bathroom all to herself. And, so that she could get out of her house as fast as she could, so that she wouldn't have to see Mingi, or hear mother nag at her endlessly. Only that meant that she wouldn't get to meet Yuqi, or her father, both of whom she loved with all her heart. 

She left her slippers at the entrance of the bathroom, not wanting them to get wet. She stepped inside barefoot. She looked into the mirror, and just observed herself. She always believed that the way a person dresses, or the condition of their face, or skin, reflected their personality. Her hair looked like a bird's nest, drool was splattered over parts of her jaw, dried up and icky, and the dark circles. The dark circles were the worst. They looked horrible, like bruises. It never mattered when she had a good, 8 hours' worth of rest to the dark circles. The lack of sleep was too much, that it overpowered the times she actually did fall asleep. 

Most of the times she fell asleep, memories of Dae dying would surface, eating her sanity alive. The man who stabbed him, the look in Dae's eyes right before he died, his lifeless eyes as they poured into hers, the mysterious man vowing to return one day, and the mad look in the killer's eyes as he smiled maniacally at Dae's dead body, right before he ran away like a coward. And then she would wake up, screaming. She would then get out of bed, wear a hoodie, grab a pack of cigarettes, and head out into the woods. 

Deep inside the woods was a treehouse that the two had built without their parents knowing when they were young. Back when Dae was still alive, the two used to go there every night and smoke. 

Dae's loss was too much for Aera. She missed him, much, much more than words can describe. 

Aera slammed her fists on the cold sink as tears spewed out her eyes. She missed him. She missed Dae. She turned on the faucet and washed her face repeatedly, rubbing the water harshly to hide her tears. Tears were a weakness for her. She could not be spotted with a weakness. She just couldn't. And she didn't know how to explain it. All she knew was crying, or showing any emotion at all to anyone not in her immediate family was a weakness. A crack in her build. 

And a weakness meant that people could exploit it, and leave her broken, and hurt. And she couldn't get hurt, not again. 

She ripped her clothes off of her, leaving them in bunches on the bathroom floor as she turned the faucet off.  She stepped into the shower cubicle, naked. She switched the shower tap on, her hands shaking. The hot droplets hit her back, hurting her with its extreme temperature. But Aera wanted exactly that. She always wanted to hurt herself all the time, as a punishment for what she did. For watching Dae get killed helplessly, and not rushing to help him when he needed her the most. She deserved it. She deserved all the pain in the world. 

She scrubbed herself thoroughly with soap, washed it off and dried herself with a towel. She wrapped it around herself after drying her hair. She walked back to the sink and washed her face, brushed her teeth, and walked out the bathroom, still in her towel. She slipped on her furry slippers and walked back into her room. 

She quickly changed into her school's uniform, which consisted of a plaid navy blue pleated skirt, a white shirt, a blue bow, long white socks, black shoes and a navy blue blazer on top. Of course, Aera turned the skirt into a short skirt, and replaced the bow and blazer with a grey sweater. She left her beautiful, luscious, brown hair open, and walked out the room. 

She went downstairs, walking out the back door after grabbing her wallet and school bag lying on the kitchen island. 

She was ready for school. Well, as ready as one could be. 

⩽⨝⩾

Aera entered her classroom slowly, pleased to find it empty. She walked to her usual place beside the window at the end of the class and hung her bag on the back of the chair and sat down on her seat. She pulled her laptop out of her bag and plugged her earplugs in as she started streaming big bang theory. 

Moments later, people started to file in to the room, no one daring to go near Aera. And Aera couldn't care any less about her surroundings. 

⩽⨝⩾

"Jisung, remember, you just need to approach her. Alright? I've already made sure that you both have the same classes, so all you need to do is become friends with her. And don't worry if you land in any trouble, I've managed to become a big shareholder in the school." Taeyong reassured Jisung as the dreamies got ready to leave for school. Jisung gulped and nodded as he got into the back of the car, Yuta waiting to drive the boys to school. 

Jisung was squished into the corner, as he sat beside Jaemin. Jisung plugged in his ear plugs as music filled his ears, looking serenely out the windows. He switched his phone on, rereading the details of the mission (which he had downloaded on his phone). What Jisung didn't know was that Jaemin was peaking over the former's shoulder and reading everything. Jaemin cautiously pulled one earplug out of Jisung's ear and whispered, "She's cute. You don't need to be fully professional in this mission." 

Jisung jumped in the air, his head hitting the roof of the car, one of his hands hitting Jaemin's head. The americano that Jaemin was holding spilled onto Haechan, Haechan screeched with the impact of the cold drink on his pants, which made Yuta turn his head around to see the mess. Yuta smirked at the scene and turned back towards the road, saying, "If any of that coffee reaches my car's seats, all of you are dead." 

The trio's eyes' widened as they immediately helped Haechan with cleaning everything up. 

"Alright. We're here." Yuta announced as the car screeched to halt. The dreamies got out of the car. 

"Jisung?" Yuta called.
"Hm?" Jisung hummed in reply as he turned to see Yuta. 
"Jaemin's right." 
Jisung turned a bright shade of red as Yuta drove away. He turned back around.

The rest of the dreamies scattered, each one going to their own class. Jisung put his hands into his pockets and made his way towards the direction where he thought his classroom would be. 

"Hi! I'm Mirae, my friends call me Mi-Mi, and you are?" a girl asked Jisung as she just appeared beside him, scaring Jisung a bit with her loud and obnoxious voice. 

"Jisung." he mumbled in reply. 

"Pretty name! You're a new student, right? Well, you must be since I haven't seen you around here before!" she beamed. Jisung nodded in reply as moved a bit farther from her. 
"So which year are you in?" she happily asked, as she moved closer to Jisung, making him feel uncomfortable around her. 

"Junior" he mumbled, his voice barely audible, as kept his vision on the ground, not sparing Mirae a glance. 

"OMG! I'm also a junior! Which class are you in?!" she asked, visibly excited. 
"Class D" 

"NO EFFING WAY! I'M IN THE SAME CLASS! Do you want to walk to class with me?" she squealed. 
Jisung opened his mouth to say no, but the girl had already grabbed his arm by then, skipping giddily. 

The day was going to be really long, wasn't it?

⩽⨝⩾

Why hello there. 

I am really horrible in the first few chapters aren't i?

Chapter's heavily unedited so excuse all writing errors please!