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"You want to go against Yena to be council president?" Headmaster Go questioned, so Mi-Rae nodded. "Okay, I'll let her know."
Mi-Rae nodded again, as if she was too good to use her words, and strutted out of the headmaster's office. She had been thinking of ways to embarrass you for weeks, get under your skin, do something to make you get back at her, and she thought of this. The thought of taking away your precious leadership position and making it her own put her on cloud nine. She also had something else on her plate for you, but that would come a little later.
As she rounded the corner of the stairs, she saw you and Yunho walking up them. "Perfect timing, Yena! Headmaster Go wants to see you."
You smiled at her. "Thank you, Mi-Rae."
She rolled her eyes and continued her journey down the stairs, while you continued yours up the stairs. You went to Headmaster Go's office and he had you and Yunho sit down.
"Mi-Rae was just in here," he paused and shook his head. "She wants to be president of the council."
Your eyebrows jumped in a pleasantly surprised way. "Really?"
"Really."
You nodded. "That's fine with me."
You stood up, smiling to yourself, but Headmaster Go stopped you from walking out. "Why don't you kick her out already, Yena? She's told your family secret to everyone in the whole school, she's trying to take first chair, and I've seen her snooping around in not only your business, but Yunho and Yumiko's as well."
"I want to put her in her place before we kick her out." You smiled. "If it gets too bad of course. If it does, she wouldn't learn her lesson if I just put her outside and told her to leave."
"She'd come right back." Yunho grumbled.
"Exactly, so that's why I haven't kicked her out yet."
The headmaster blinked a couple times. "Okay. Your call, just let me know when things are progressing."
You headed out of his office. "They're progressing now."
Yunho grabbed your hand and stopped you in your tracks. "Yena, Mi-Rae is being serious. You know that, right?"
"I know." You smiled. "I'm respecting her efforts."
Yunho was so confused. You held being first chair so dear to you, it was one of your greatest achievements. He couldn't understand why you would just let her compete with you. He had never seen you so coy with someone before, so he felt like you had a plan, but he couldn't be sure.
You were late getting to the cafeteria, on purpose. You wanted Mi-Rae to be in there before you so that you could sit down next to her.
"Hey, princess." You said as you sat down, all of her friends looking at you in fear. "I heard that you want to be president. We're doing a little debate tomorrow, so gather your thoughts tonight."
"I haven't even thought about what I'll say-"
You held your finger up. "I'm the current council president, so we're playing on my rules, yeah?"
You smiled and tucked some hair behind her ear as you got up. You loved getting under her skin, it brought you this sense of dominance that you didn't know you needed until you met her. You felt like devouring her, but then again, you didn't care enough. Maybe you wanted her to be president, just so you could get under her skin some more.
"What?" Yumiko questioned as you sat with her and Yunho. "You're all buddy-buddy with her now?"
You laughed and shook your head. "No, Yumi. I just like messing with her."
Yunho furrowed his eyebrows. "I've never seen you like this, Yena. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, of course."
Yunho was walking up the stairs later that night when he heard a loud crash from your shared room. He quickened his pace and opened the door to find you crying angrily on the bed. Some of your things were thrown across the room out of frustration. He had only seen you do this one time before, and that was when you were both fourteen. You wouldn't admit it, but you had a minor breakdown and never spoke about it again.
He sat on the edge of the bed with you and pulled you into his chest as you sobbed. It was sometimes scary for him to see you like this. You were always collected and intimidating, so seeing this major mood change was a bit alarming.
"What has you upset, baby?" He whispered.
"I don't want Mi-Rae in my spot." You sobbed. "I can't even think about her sitting in my seat without nearly getting sick. The only thing I'm proud of in my life is being council president, and of course having you and Yumiko, but ever since she's been here, she has made everything miserable."
Yunho rubbed your back in a comforting way. He understood. After all of the things that happened in your life, you were determined to do something good for yourself, and you did. If he were in your shoes, he wouldn't want someone taking that away either.
"Whatever." He heard you whisper. "I'll still have you and Yumi."
"Don't let her take this from you, Yena. You've put so many other people in their place so what's stopping you with her?"
You shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe because she reminds me of myself before I got my act together?"
"And someone put you in your place, remember?"
"Yeah. You're right." You looked up at him. "I'll be okay in the morning."
You gave him a kiss on the cheek and laid down, looking up at him. He smiled and laid down with you. He wanted to make sure you fell asleep in his arms before he took his shower.
You woke up and checked your messages, finding that Mi-Rae decided not to go against you as council president. Mi-Rae knew she couldn't go up against you and win- you had the whole academy wrapped around your finger.
Since it was a weekend, you didn't bother changing out of your pajamas, but you at least made yourself presentable. You rubbed the sleep from your eyes as you walked down the stairs, and you heard that painstakingly familiar laugh ring throughout the foyer. You looked down to see what Mi-Rae was doing and saw her bothering Yunho and Yumiko.
You leaned against the railing and watched her as she sat next to Yunho to get his attention, but your boyfriend stayed indifferent and continued looking at his phone. Yumiko was getting angry by the way Mi-Rae was grabbing at his arm, and she finally snapped when Mi-Rae went for his hair. Yumiko grabbed her wrist and pulled her up from her seat.
"Did I not make myself clear before?" Yumiko exclaimed. "I've already told you not to get on Yena's bad side, so what part of that didn't go through your head, Mi-Rae?"
She stayed quiet, making Yumiko roll her eyes. After a moment your best friend saw you on the stairs, smirked, then sat back down. This confused Mi-Rae, so she followed Yumiko's gaze and looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
You walked down the rest of the stairs and summoned her over to you with a gentle wave of two fingers. You grabbed her chin and smiled darkly.
"I'm tired of you, Mi-Rae." You whispered. "You don't belong here. Go pack your things."
"What? Don't I get three strikes or something?"
You laughed. "No. I mean, really, what do you get out your behavior? Would you want all of your family information spread around the whole of an academy that you're council president of? Would you want someone messing with your best friend and your boyfriend, Mi-Rae?"
"No."
"Exactly." You bit. "Go pack your things."
She looked away from you, embarrassed that you called her out. While she was upstairs, you sat next to Yunho and laid your head on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry she was so touchy." You said.
"It's not your fault. I wasn't really paying attention to her anyways." He replied. "I'm proud of you for doing what you're best at."
You looked up at him. "What's that?"
"Deflating people's egos." He laughed.
You shook your head playfully and continued waiting for Mi-Rae. When she did come downstairs, all of her things were with her and she was crying.
You followed her to the door and she turned to look at you. "Wherever you go next, Mi-Rae, be nice."
All she did was give you a look before walking away. After her departure, you felt so much better, like a heavy burden was lifted from your shoulders. Your peace, balance, and tranquility was back.
Yunho noticed the way you pushed your shoulders back and held your head high, he knew you were officially back. The whole school had been a bit timid of you, you had been so occupied with Mi-Rae that you didn't really take notice of any other students.
But when you walked into the cafeteria, Yunho and Yumiko behind you, the rest of the academy murmured: "Yena's back."
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