The door shut behind Jezebel as she pressed her back against it—she hoped her parents wouldn't notice the time so it could give her the chance to slip into her room without too much notice.

Quietly on her toes, she peeked her head into the kitchen. With no one there, she stepped forward to get a quick glass of water. Jezebel had grabbed her glass cup and pressed it against the wall of the water dispenser at the refrigerator to fill the inside.

"Coming home just now?"

The voice of her mother startled her as she stopped and whirled her head to see her mother and father standing at a safe distance. Their gaze in their dark eyes peered at her sternly; they never liked when Jezebel went out at night even though she followed their orders and would be home at 10 p.m. She even checked the clock time in her car before coming inside the house.

It was only 9:49 p.m.

"Yeah?" Jezebel said with her voice unsure. 

She'd try her utmost best to stay on their good side. Having been born Korean with both Korean parents, they make all the decisions in the house and decide just about everything. Their way is like the law, and she didn't want to go against them.

"Where have you been?" her mother asked.

"To the movies... I went with someone," she answered.

"And who?"

"I went on a date with a guy, but it's fine. We didn't work out though."

They never need to know what she'd do in her free time and why she spends all her frivolous time with boys and disguise them as dating like most teenage girls do all the time.

"You know I don't like that. You're wasting your time. You have such a big future ahead and boys shouldn't be a factor right now," her father claimed. It was usually the same with hearing his speech about boys and that he didn't like them. If only she could go on to say "me too."

Jezebel nodded pretendingly. "I know, abeoji. But boys." She put on her dearest act with a daydream look in her eyes.  

Her mother twisted her expression into a disapproving one. "You're young and pretty already. You don't know what's good for you because you're inexperienced; you should be focusing on school instead of boys. You can't afford to fall behind."

It was never fair to have to hear this again. Jezebel was on top of her classes with straight A's and her report card was shown to be spectacular. Even teachers tell her to keep up the good work. She'd come home straight away after school and put in the hours of studying. She couldn't afford to be lazy even though she would like to.

Though it was tempting to tell them they had nothing to worry about, reminding them was a pain in the butt. She held her tongue and stayed quiet. Did she already have to feel worthless and get reprimanded? Her eyes looked down to the kitchen tiles.

"Don't forget that you're sleeping soon," her mother mentioned.

They'd never let her forget her bedtime at 11 p.m.

"Of course, I'll get ready before sleep." Jezebel sauntered out of the kitchen with the glass of water in hand and went to her room. She gulped down some sips of water before placing it down on the dresser table. 

She had to wash off her makeup by the bathroom sink, the residue of it going down the drain. Her face was all clear, and she looked like a baby face. She ran down her face with cool water more times until it was enough.

Jezebel checked her side profile in the mirror and tapped on her cheek lightly.

Looks good.

Done with brushing her teeth early, she brought herself under the covers in her bed and faced her attention to the ceiling. Thoughts resurfaced when she remembered how his face looked when she told him how she wanted nothing to do with him. She was a baddie, wasn't she?

Jezebel was her own Kdrama heroine who just needed her beautiful self and a ferocious attitude to shatter immature boys into bite-size pieces.

The moment a boy was remotely interested in her by looking her way or talking about her. She dug around for pieces of information about what their intent was—to impress them was a no-brainer since they all looked at her with lust in their eyes.

Every guy who wanted nothing more than the trophy version of herself would get a taste of their own medicine so they know whom they shouldn't mess with.

Even when word got around and they were aware, they still wanted to try their shot as soon she impressed them with her cute look and natural charm she carried with her. 

Her aegyo was her weapon.

She made an effort to sit up and reach for her notebook on the bedside table, taking her black pen. Opening up to the most recent page, Jezebel skipped a line down to write down her entry. 

Target: Brandon Fleming

Motive: wants to show off, talks about fragile and innocence, mentions stereotypes about the way of asian girls

Out on a movie date where he wanted to watch a scary movie. He'd buy me snacks and drinks. I pretended yet again to be a scared little girl and held onto him. We kissed and made out. Almost... almost he made a move on me by putting his hand under my dress. Disgusting. I backed off before he could. I gave him a good kiss before putting down my angel-like persona and telling him I don't want to speak to him again. He thought he was so confident, but I had him where I wanted him.

Date of deed: January 11, 2022

Jezebel smiled smugly. The entries were expanding full of boys and how she broke each of their hearts. She needed a list so she didn't need a reason to feel guilty for leaving them when she disposed of them like trash. For each new boy she goes out with and dumps his heart, she keeps track.  

She called it Boys and the hearts I break.

Sitting in chemistry homeroom the next day in her second-period class, Jezebel sighed at her desk, waiting for the bell to ring so the class could get started already.

The class was waiting restlessly, either with their head bent over at their desk, catching up with seconds of sleep, looking at their phone at the last minute, or chatting in a bored tone to their desk neighbor. She might look wide awake, but really, she wanted nothing more than her sleep in her bed.

As though it heard the students' thoughts, the school bell alerted the sound through the entire school. Just in a flash before the bell ceased its ringing, a student made their appearance walking in through the door. He was a brunette with his hair sticking up neatly to the top and jagged-like—a hair with an attitude that said, 'Yeah, deal with it.'

Oh, it was that guy. With his too cool to care attitude in his navy green jacket and the white shirt he wore underneath, and his skinny blue jeans, it was no other than Mackinley Rineer, the school's infamous rulebreaker and social misfit. He flashed his ravishing smile at Mr. Rezendes, who in turn looked at him grimly.

"You're late, Mackinley," Mr. Rezendes said.

"Am I?" Mackinley shot up an eyebrow at him. "Class just began, and I believed I came at the right timing."

This was more than a couple of times occurrence with him dealing with Mackinley. "You know the rules. You're at your seat by the time the bell rings."

"Are you going to delay me from my time of education? I came all this way that you should be grateful. I'm in your classroom, and here I am." He raised his arms in a show of fashion, brightening the curve of his lips.

"You came just before the bell died down."

"I'm still on time, aren't I? You haven't locked the door yet, so that counts as a win."

Few students chuckled out a laugh. Mr. Rezendes brought a hand up to his temple, massaging it in circles. "Just go take your seat before I change my mind," he sighed.

Mackinley smiled broadly to himself, holding onto a strap of his backpack and making his way down to the back row of the seats.

During the first fifteen minutes of class, Mr. Rezendes went over the objective and outline of a new lab assignment. Jezebel paid attention and took notes. When he concluded his last points, he clapped to the front of the class.

"Okay, everyone, work with your partner for twenty minutes. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to raise your hand," Mr. Rezendes instructed.

Discussions quickly filled the room. The seat beside Jezebel was empty, and she raised her hand. Mr. Rezendes directed his finger at her.

"Yes?"

"My partner is absent. Does that mean I'd have to work alone?" Jezebel wondered.

He saw the empty seat beside her and then scanned around the room; everyone had a partner to work with. At the last second, his eyes light up in the back row of the room. "Mackinley." His voice called to him as Mackinley looked up.

"Is your partner absent too?"

"Oh, yes."

He glanced back at Jezebel. "You'll be working with Mackinley." Tapping on her desk lightly, he made the move to leave.

Her eyes widened in shock. I have to work with...him?! She turned her head to the back of the room, and he looked at her with slight amusement coming to his countenance and gave her a short wave.

Do I have to go over there? Jezebel checked at the empty seat next to her, it was the middle row, but she didn't really want anyone to spot sight at the two of them. Gathering up her workbook and her notebook, she dragged her feet to where he was.

She sat down beside him, setting down her stuff on top of the desk. Mackinley looked over at her. "Hey, new partner."

"Hi," Jezebel said slowly and dull.

He put his elbow on the table, a knuckle resting against his cheek as his eyes quickly studied her. She shrank her expression a bit when she noticed what he was doing.

"I'm glad we're partners today."

"This is the first time we talk."

"I know. Don't you like when something spice up your boring routine?" he asked.

"You're talking about routines with me?" Jezebel stared at him, confused.

"It's Jezebel, right? Jezebel Cho. I heard rumors in my last homeroom that you left a guy named Brandon upset after your guys' date."

Rumors always spread fast. She watched him carefully. "I'm not sure I know what you're talking about."

"You don't have to pretend with me; I know already. You're the face of the angel in our school, and you have tons of admirers. You go out with lots of guys, but they never work out. You break a lot of guys' hearts, but still, a lot of guys want to pursue you, thinking you're a great chase," Mackinley stated unashamedly.

This was at first that any guy confronted her like this; many of them would grovel under her feet.

"Where are you from?" she questioned.

"Is my American accent good?" Mackinley smiled dryly. "Originally from the UK. I claimed myself to be a British-American."

She lifted her chin up with her eyes narrowing at him. "I heard some things about you too—you like to bend your way around the rules and don't take them seriously. That you think you're too good for them."

Mackinley Rineer had a different idea. Something about school and general society being domineering to serve the elites than just for the people, following the path of hierarchy and oppression. That was all Jezebel knew about him, like how he had performed an act at the beginning of class to talk his way out of his tardiness, he never followed exactly with the set of guidelines.

"You're not afraid of me, are you? I don't actually bite," he said.

Annoyance fired up inside quickly for her; she swore there were daggers shaping her eyes at him. She didn't expect that they would actually have to interact and would prefer to keep each other at a distance. Maybe this was why.

Even though he seemed like a conceited person, there was no far interior motive he had for her as far as she knew. He was the type to be watchful of his surroundings and didn't talk to many people even though he actually flourished in good looks, receiving a few sets of admirers who kept their eyes on him from afar.

But from him opening up this interaction, he was a lot more troublesome up close.

Jezebel forced a smile to her face. "Let's just start our lab assignment, yeah?"

Chemistry class never felt the longest until today. When it was over, she walked out of there so quickly and hunt down a friend to talk to, almost like she was pushing past people, she needed a reset break. To keep together her sanity and to relay events.

"Breella, Harmony!" Jezebel's eyes spotted them, and she hurried over to where they stood.

"Hey Jezebel," Harmony greeted chipperly.

"You'd never guess what happened in chemistry," Jezebel said.

"Did you burn something?"

She chortled. "No, nothing was burned."

Breella looked at her inquisitively. "Did it involve someone?"

"Yes!" She breathed a heavy sigh, closing her eyes momentarily. "I partnered up with Mackinley for a lab."

"Mackinley?" Harmony's eyes didn't believe it. "How was he?"

"Repulsive, but normal. He's just," she paused, gestured with a hand out to them, needing to catch herself for words, "nauseating like the stomach flu."

She shook her head quickly. "I won't have to talk to him again anyway."

"Yeah, what are the odds of that?" Harmony said.

Breella's expression was vigilant as she mentioned with a warning. "He looks troubled to me. You're better off not knowing him anyway."

Jezebel turned to Breella with an astounded expression, clutching her books more closely to her chest to assure no fall would account on her watch. Breella's words were usually held to be true, and the gravity of it was huge.

"Sounds like he's really the one that would get under your skin, and no one would be monitored under your radar. I like this side." Jezebel had to admit, feeling better already.

So what's next now? Another boy to go out with and break his heart? She was definitely ready.

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Hello, here's your unexpected dose of the second chapter. I said later I will be giving consistent updates, and it's still in progress, but maybe small treats can be good. It'll be semi-random, but that's usually the fun part, right? ;)

And here you have it, meeting our second most important character. What do you think of Mackinley so far? Any thoughts about him? I can't wait until you get to know him further as he'll be unexpected at most times. 

Look out for further updates the next time I have something up. Also, we're heading into June. Any summer plans? 

Please vote and comment as it means the world to me.