Chapter VII - Sophie's Troubles

Woken up by the morning alarm, Sophie dreaded the idea of going back to school. It was hard getting up so early, but she loved running in the morning. Tying her hair into a ponytail and putting on her running shoes, she joined Arthur once again. She was quieter than usual, Arthur didn’t pry too much though. After all, he had mornings when he wasn’t as chatty, but the bigger issue is that he could tell something was wrong. After the run, Sophie took a quick shower and got ready for school.

The sun was shining, and the weather peaceful. It didn’t match Sophie’s mood at all. Even though it wasn’t far, she preferred taking the bus and getting there as fast as possible. She did so to minimize the anxiety she felt on the way.

With her looks, grades, and naturally charismatic personality, one would assume she’d be the popular type in school. That would have been the case, same as in her old school, but things don’t always go as planned.

“Hey, Sophie!” yelled out her best friend and classmate, Ha Ari. “You ready for class?”

“First class is English, so that’ll be easy at least,” Sophie commented, as the two proceeded to make their way into the school.

J High was a private school with thousands of students. It was renowned and tough to get into, expensive too.

As the two walked into the classroom, most of the classmates became silent.

“I told you she’d come back,” said a tall black-haired girl in the back, surrounded by three more girls. “Bitch doesn’t have guts to skip.”

“Come on Sophie, just ignore them,” Ari said, pulling on her hand.

The girl with black hair was called Jeon Hana. She was the main reason that Sophie dreaded going to school for the last week or so.

“Sophie, you know what’ll happen if you don’t obey me.”

Sophie pulled away from Ari’s grip.

“Sophie, don’t. . .”

“It's fine,” Sophie said looking down at the ground, slowly making her way towards Hana.

Ari loathed seeing the sight of her best friend being bullied, but Sophie stated multiple times that she should not get involved. Even though she told Sophie that they should just report it, Sophie was too stubborn about it, claiming it would just make things worse.

“How was your weekend?” Hana asked.

“Fine I guess. . .”

“That’s not how you should speak to me. Kneel,” she commanded.

Sophie froze in place. Everyone was staring.

“You’re going too far, Hana!” Ari yelled furiously.

“You wish to join her? Trash. . .” Hana threatened her. “Maybe we should make your life miserable instead, and see how she likes watching you suffer cuz of her.”

“Ari, please. . .” Sophie spoke up with a low dead voice.

It was humiliating having everyone watch her as she got on her knees in front of Hana.

“Sophie. . .” Ari mumbled with her head down.

Hana chuckled along with her girlfriends. She removed the cap from her nearly empty water bottle, slowly spilling it over Sophie’s head. Luckily, there wasn’t much left so her clothes remained dry. After she was done, she dropped the empty bottle on her head.

“Pick it up. I better find it a new one on my desk before next class. You understand? If anything, you’re clean now. Do you even shower?”

Hana sat down in her seat, observing Sophie slowly getting up.

“Thank you,” Sophie mumbled.

Showing little to no emotion, Sophie tied her hair into a ponytail and proceeded to her seat obediently.

The teacher entered the classroom moments later, and the lecture began like nothing ever happened.

This was hardly the worst thing that Hana has done to Sophie. Due to Hana’s older brother Jeon Sung-Ho, a popular guy and a known bully in the second year, nobody dared interfere except for Ari.

Even though Sophie was the best in class when it came to English, she remained quiet when the teacher asked questions.

The class ended uneventfully.

“Sophie,” Hana called out. ”Buy me juice, won't ya? I’m thirsty.”

Sophie just quietly left the classroom with Ari following right behind. Of course, Hana wasn’t going to give her money for it.

“You can’t let her have her way like that,” Ari complained. “You gotta stop listening to her.”

“You know I can’t,” Sophie mumbled, her voice trembling finally.

She was trying her hardest to hold it all in. It was bad enough to endure it, she didn’t need anyone telling her to fight back an impossible battle.

Without a shred of dignity left, Sophie returned to the classroom placing both the water bottle and juice on Hana’s table.

“Don’t forget, lunch's on you today. Better not run off.”

“I won’t,” Sophie assured.

The rest of the day proceeded to follow the same theme. Bullied every break between classes, and during lunchtime, Sophie was forced to buy them all food with what little money she had. Thanks to their tasks, she didn’t even have enough time to eat, going hungry for the rest of the day.

When the final bell rang, a sense of relief took over. It was finally time to head home. This was the highlight of Sophie’s school day. However, even that was ruined, as she found herself surrounded by Hana and her friends, all bearing a devious smile.

“Bathroom, now. . .” Hana commanded maliciously.

Sophie bit her lip to the point where it nearly bled. The girls left the classroom and it was only Ari and a few other classmates left.

“Ari, you go ahead. I’m gonna go get some stuff from the store anyway.”

“Sophie. . .”

“Ari, please.”

“See you tomorrow. . .” she said defeated.

Sophie didn’t waste any more time. If she made them wait, it would only get worse. It was just a bit more before she could finally go home.

Making her way into the girl’s bathroom, the doors behind her shut. Two of the girls were blocking the exit. Hana was washing her hands, while another side bitch of hers held her bag.

“Good, you’ve arrived. I was beginning to wonder if you’d dare oppose me.”

Hana wiped her hands and slowly approached Sophie.

“You’ve been pissing me off recently. You dared be cheerful around me last week. Did something good happen?”

Sophie remained quiet.

“Answer me bitch,” Hana commanded, slapping Sophie across the face.

It lacked the power to leave a mark, but regardless it was humiliating.

“My brother returned from the hospital,” she said wobbly.

“So the dweeb woke up huh? I guess that good for nothing brother of yours really did fail to kill himself. What a loser lol. . .”

“Don’t talk to him like that. . .” Sophie mumbled.

“Whatcha say? Take out all your money,” Hana demanded, she was clearly annoyed.

“What?” asked Sophie shocked, this was now just pure robbery.

“We're going out later. I need cash, so spill it.”

“But I need it. . .”

"Do I look like I care?”

The girls laughed. Sophie slowly took out her wallet, but before she could take out the money, Hana took it from her.

“Is this all you had? How are we supposed to pay for karaoke tonight?”

Hana sighed, as Sophie was left speechless.

“Please. . . I need some to buy food for the house.”

“Is that so?” Hana asked with a devious smile.

She took all the money out and threw the wallet onto the ground before kicking it to the side.

“What a bad daughter you are. Not only did you complain, but you also spent all of your money instead of helping out at home. No wonder your mother abandoned you. I’d be miserable too if you were my kid.”

“How dare you talk like that?” Sophie sobbed but was furious more than anything.

“You bitch!” Hana yelled, pulling Sophie to the ground by her hair.

Sophie screamed in pain but was quickly silenced as the other two grabbed her from behind.

“Talking back to me now, are you? You forget your place.”

Sophie bit her lip and remained quiet. She knew she messed up allowing herself to be provoked. She was fit, but no way could she take four girls in a fight. She never punched anyone before.

“Take off your socks,” Hana commanded.

“What?” Sophie asked confused.

“I said, take them off. Want me to make your life worse then it is? Maybe you'd try and KYS too. . .”

The girls let go of Sophie. She was dwarfed by the other girls, shook and fearful. Following orders, she took off her shoes and socks.

“I can’t believe I’ll be touching these smelly things. . .” Hana said, grabbing the socks.

Sophie was confused, but it was quickly made clear what the plan was when Hana threw them into the toilet.

“That’s better, they are clean now. Pick them up and put them on. It’s a present to remember today on your way home.”

Sophie was shocked. It was clear that they would not let her go unless she did it, but how much more humiliation would she have to suffer from her classmates.

Hana leaned in and whispered into Sophie’s ear. “Your brother is returning soon to school. Do you think that if I tell my brother to bully him once he comes back, he would actually kill himself? Wouldn’t that be funny?” Grabbing Sophie by her ponytail, she pulled her head back. “Don’t disobey me you good for nothing bitch.”

Hana let Sophie go, watching her crawl to the toilet, unable to stop crying. Slowly dipping her hand in, she pulled them out. The wet socks were hard to put on and cold to touch. The idea of it made her want to puke. Though she endured for the sake of her brother. In truth, that was the main reason she even got bullied in the first place.

Her school life changed massively once the girls found her weakness. Before then, she was the popular type. Countless boys would approach her and the other classmates liked her. Her studies were on par with a college student, and her looks would stun anyone. Hana and the others despised her, but as soon as Arthur got hit by a truck, word spread that the loser from the second year tried to commit suicide. This was a massive blow to Sophie’s reputation. It started with simple bullying, one that she could easily brush off, but then the threats started. They couldn’t wait for Arthur’s return to school, in order to bully him into suicide again. To stop this from happening, Sophie submitted to the hardships of Hana’s actions, all to protect him. Once that happened, things only escalated. With her being so cheerful, as Arthur has significantly changed, she only caused Hana and the others to bully her more. Reporting it as Ari suggested wouldn’t work because even if Hana was punished for it, nothing was stopping her older brother from taking revenge.

Even though her brother did change, and it was possible for him to potentially endure the bullying, Sophie couldn’t bring herself to risk losing him again. Especially after becoming so much closer to him. She couldn’t tell him that either because she was afraid of how he’d react. Arthur was commonly beaten up during his first year of high school, by some of the kids from his grade, mostly due to a few knowing him from middle school.

“Let’s go girls. Karaoke time,” Hana said, leaving with the four.

Sophie was left alone in the bathroom.

The wet socks made every step while leaving school, degrading. The noise that her footsteps produced were just as bad as the feeling of actually wearing them. Other kids watched her as tears ran down her cheeks. Would have been worse had she not washed her face beforehand.

Out of money and pride, she took a detour and went to the park. The one that they ran through daily. Taking off the socks, she began crying quietly again. Unable to do anything other than setting them to the side, she put her shoes back on and crawled into a fetal position. Clinching her bent legs and burying her face into her thighs.

“Why?” she asked out loud, her voice brittle and muffled.

She couldn’t fathom why anyone would go so far just to degrade her.

Could it get any worse?

This was the only thing she thought about, but deep down she knew the answer was yes.

About half an hour later, she finally regained a bit of her strength, threw away the socks in a nearby bin, and made her way back home.

“Welcome home,” Arthur yelled from the kitchen upon her arrival.

Sophie used this moment to rush past and lock herself up in her room where she remained for the rest of the day. When asked, she simply explained she wasn’t feeling well, but that there was no need to worry. Arthur left food in front of her door. Something was going on, and if she wasn’t going to tell him, he intended to find out.

Chapter End.

Thank you for reading.