Chapter Text
Heejin sighed at the sound of the door’s jingle. After working at Blockbuster for about two months, she knew that creeps and stoners were the ones who came into the store at such a late hour.
She never had any problems herself during night shifts, but she would definitely say she was glad to have her supervisor in the backroom some nights. Seokmin wasn’t the scariest guy out there, if anything he was pretty harmless to begin with, but another comrade to possibly die with her was always reassuring.
Turning around haphazardly to see who came in she couldn’t help the lump that formed in her throat. Heejin stopped restocking movies on shelves with some urgency to dead sprint into Seokmin’s office.
“Holy shit.”
Heejin couldn’t believe it.
Park Chaewon was in her fucking store.
Park Chaewon was in her fucking store… in the sci-fi section?
“Hey! What’s up kiddo?”
Heejin stared at the man child criss-crossed in front of the television the owner bought. The box was nearly as old as she was and half the time didn’t even work. In the background the intensity of the tv’s static was kind of concerning but Heejin had more pressing matters to attend to.
“I need you to take the customer up front.”
“Ew, is it the weird guy with the overgrown soul patch?”
“No, it’s a girl.”
Seokmin’s eyes lit up with interest.
“Is she a cute girl?”
Heejin nearly gagged.
“Jesus Christ Seokmin, no. She's my age.”
“... Then why would I want to deal with her?”
“Bro, please? I ask of you nothing else.“
“Why? You don’t like her or sumn?”
“God you ask so many questions, just-“
“Shhh it’s back on.”
Heejin’s eye twitched as he shooed her away. The sound of a laugh track trailed after her as she left the office along with Seokmin’s own obnoxious ass guffaw.
Heejin peeked over the counter to see her school’s most popular girl in a pair of white velvet joggers and a mint colored dragon ball shirt. Chaewon’s famous blonde hair was tied in a ponytail and every so often she had to push her wire framed glasses back up her nose. The girl who constantly made everyone’s life the nine layers of hell was a complete nerd, and Heejin had no idea what to do with this information.
Her discovery was short-lived. When Chaewon turned around content with her selection, her face dropped in a scowl upon seeing who was behind her. The sound of a death knell rang each step the girl took to Heejin.
“Ah hm,”
Heejin cleared her throat nervously.
“Welcome to blockbuster?”
Chaewon huffed very aggressively, and the way Heejin’s voice croaked couldn’t have helped the situation she was in.
“Listen, cut the shit. Why the hell are you here?”
Heejin was speechless, she couldn’t quite tell if she was being serious or not. From the fact she was behind the Blockbuster’s desk, her greeting to Chaewon, or the fucking name tag pinned to her chest, Heejin figured that maybe all the bleach was finally getting to the bitch’s skull.
“Well, I kinda work here.”
Heejin was becoming worried about the tape in Chaewon’s hand, if she said sike right now it could probably get snapped in two. She really didn’t feel like having that being taken out of her check.
“Oh my God, no loser. Where’s Heeyeon?”
“Heeyeon’s sick, I took her shift. What about it?”
Technically she wasn’t sick as more drinking her break up away. Heejin wasn’t ever scheduled for Thursday nights, but she took the hours she could get.
“Secondly, how the hell do you even know Heeyeon?”
Chaewon kissed her teeth and nearly took out Heejin’s liver with how hard she shoved the VHS tape to her. It was clear she wasn’t going to get any answers from how puffy Chaewon was in front of her. When she looked down, Heejin couldn’t help the dry laughter that came out of her mouth.
“What the fuck is so funny?”
Quickly averting her eyes and awkwardly focusing more on checking out a rental than she has in her entire life, she confessed.
“I’m sorry… I just didn’t take you as a Ninja Turtles fan…”
The heat coming from Chaewon could’ve warmed up the pizza bagel Heejin had earlier on break. Chaewon took in a deep breath and gave her the signature fake smile she was notorious for. The one Heejin has seen too many times for her liking.
“I’m not expecting much from you, never have.
So listen:
One word.
One word from your grimy, disgusting mouth.
And you’re dead.
Got it?”
Heejin didn’t care much for gossip, or people for that matter. But seeing the fear in Chaewon’s eyes for a split second for sure tempted her. Alas, she nodded anyway.
Once she had the tape, Chaewon flipped the employee off and left the store faster than Heejin could say cowabunga.
Although she discovered many things that night, Heejin was certain for one.
School was going to suck ass tomorrow.
=======
“Hey!”
“Hey yourself, and remember-”
“Yes, if I get crumbs in your dingy, piece of shit car, I’m walking to school.”
Heejin turned her head to face the boy who got in the front seat, watching him take another spiteful bite of the pop tart in his hand.
“Doyeon’s ride isn’t nearly half as bad as the abomination you’re eating.”
“Sadly that means I’m the only one with taste around here, ladies.”
Sunwoo’s response caused Eunji to roll her eyes, and he silently pleaded to Heejin to back his statement up.
“Buddy, I hate to say it but… Who the hell likes the grape flavor?”
Heejin really did it now.
This was clockwork for the four teenagers. Ever since Doyeon had gotten her license last year the three juniors took advantage of it as much as they could. This morning’s carpool was no different from the last month’s since school started again, them all speeding across town in Doyeon’s janky Subaru Justy,
The only thing different was the empty space between her and Eunji.
When she met eyes with her, Eunji just shrugged nonchalantly.
“She mentioned this morning that she’s finally fitting in, who am I to stop her?”
Heejin nodded knowingly, ignoring the background of Sunwoo screeching about the ingenius of Kellogg’s creative team.
Nayeon was the group of misfits’ baby, Eunji’s little sister. Like many kids in their sophomore year, the need for acceptance consumed them. Nayeon, apparently, was no different.
The rest of the ride was chaotic, Doyeon could only handle Sunwoo so much until she just kept on raising the volume of her radio, and the boy just deemed that as a challenge. When they got to school, everyone in the parking lot was watching them.
Nothing new.
“Alright, toll time.”
Sunwoo sighed in resentment while the girls in the back snickered at his demise. The senior knew them since they were freshmen, and practically took them in. After a while Doyeon came up with a system, having to deal with all of them.
“Doyeon we both know I don’t have anything on me.”
“Aw, that’s tough shit.
I’ll cash it in later then.”
Whenever Heejin, Eunji, or Sunwoo pissed Doyeon off, they would either have to pay her up front… or suffer great embarrassment and shame after. They all knew of the exploitation, but they all also respected her for it.
When the friends exited the car they caught a few unsolicited yells from the passerby, in which the group collectively yelled back to kiss their asses.
Eunji nudged Heejin’s arm in concern.
“You were quiet the whole ride, you chill?”
Heejin nodded.
“I’m as cold as ice, dude.”
“Never say that again.”
“... yeah.”
Heejin did indeed feel as cold as ice. After her shift last night, Heejin’s parents once again asked her about her future, demanding answers she didn’t have. During lunch Heejin didn’t pay much attention to the quarreling of Eunji and Sunwoo or the looks of concern Doyeon was giving her. Heejin was silent the whole lunch period, until she had to take a piss
Heejin was washing her hands when Chaewon bum-rushed into the women’s washroom. This time, though, the girl was in her standard attire of a neatly pressed school uniform, her iconic wavy blonde curls, and the aura of distaste that always followed. Nothing was out of ordinary about the girl’s appearance except for the heavy blush of embarrassment that colored her cheeks.
“YOU.”
Heejin looked around the restroom before pointing at herself.
“Me?”
“YES, YOU IDIOT. CALL OFF YOUR POTHEAD FRIEND.”
Once again, Heejin was puzzled. After knowing Doyeon for a few years though, she learned that it’s best to let angry people blow off some steam.
Usually in Doyeon’s case it was a few kicks to a wall.
“The… Pothead friend?”
Chaewon had her head in her hands, closing her eyes before she killed the person before her.
“The boy. THE BOY.
Are you really that dim? I-”
Chaewon looked up to Heejin as if she wanted to set her on fire.
“You did this on purpose, didn’t you? You think this is hilarious, huh?”
Hands still wet, Heejin wasn’t sure if she was supposed to answer. Or move for that matter. Chaewon stalked up to her, barely a few inches away from her face.
“You’re actual scum, you know that?
You’re entire existence makes me-”
Chaewon lost track of her thought process when Heejin kept looking back and forth at her eyes, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
“Ew, stop. What are you doing?”
“Do you have contacts right now?”
“What? No?
You’re so weir-”
“Then why were you wearing glasses last night?”
“How’s that any of your business?”
A few seconds passed by.
“Oh my shit, fine. I wear them when I don’t want to be noticed.”
“... Like the turtles’ bandanas.”
“Can you literally not? Like are you just genetically incapable?”
Heejin shrugged and wiped her hands on her pants, paper towels be damned at this point. She side-stepped Chaewon to leave the restroom. Before she could reach the door, the bitch grabbed her sleeve.
“You didn’t tell anyone what you saw, right?”
Heejin completely forgot about their exchange last night, she had more important things to worry about. And she told her with a shrug.
“Honestly, I don’t give two fucks about you or what you do.”
With that, she left Chaewon in the restroom… only to see Sunwoo sitting in front of the restroom door.
Heejin smiled at the boy and beckoned him to follow her back to the table.
“Paid your toll?”
“Damn right I did.”