The usually quiet school parking lot was currently very busy, with many faces and voices gathered together. The many teenagers from year 2 class 1 were waiting beside the huge bus that had been hired to drive them. Most students were already there, but naturally there were still some missing, and the teachers were instructed to wait around for them as long as they could. But that time was running out, as the class was going to a school trip to Jeju Island, and they had to take a plane to get there; the airport wouldn’t wait for late students, the plane could leave without them.

“5 more minutes and we’re leaving!”

An adult voice called out, sounding fairly lost amidst the loud teenagers. The only way to properly find a teacher was from looking at their clothes. As all the students had their uniforms on, the teachers’ normal clothes occasionally stood out, and they purposely avoided the navy color so not to accidently mix with the kids.

Among all the chattering students, there was a quiet girl who paid careful attention to the teachers’ every word, and had them in her sight at most times. Her uniform was the most properly worn out of all the teenagers, the navy blazer was ironed and properly sized, her white inner shirt was buttoned all the way up, and her tie was perfectly symmetrical under her shirt’s collar. Her navy skirt went down to her knees, at the proper height it should be, setting her apart from the other girls in the class, whose skirts were modified or rolled up to appear shorter.

But the skirt and her proper buttoned up uniform weren’t the only things that set her apart from that cheerful crowd. Her entire appearance was quite unusual when compared to everyone else’s. She was simple, something most people her age did their best to avoid being. Her hair was kept black, as it was her natural color, and straight. She didn’t style it with curls and waves like her classmates; she simply brushed it and left it as it was. She also didn’t have any make-up covering her face. The school didn’t allow such things, so she didn’t wear them, but many of the other girls disobeyed those rules, and applied products to enhance their beauty.

Another thing that set her apart was the distance between her and any other student. They all had their groups, and happily chatted with their friends, excited about going on a school trip together. She had no one with her. With a serious expression, she waited for the time when they’d be told to ride the bus, still and quiet, simply observing her surroundings. She was invisible to the other teenagers; most didn’t even realize she was between them.

But that was her own doing. When first day of class came, months ago, she made no effort to make friends. She was cold and unfriendly to those who approached her, and pushed people away with her stiff and disconnected actions. She didn’t care about them, so they let her be alone.

She didn’t like teenagers; nor kids, as a matter of fact. She didn’t get along with people her age, she felt far more comfortable when she was surrounded by adults. Older people always seemed to understand her better, and a good example of that was the fact that her best friend was her grandmother. Her grandmother and her friends always seemed like better company than any of the kids in her school could ever be. They were kind and understanding, and they shared her interest for history and other academic subjects. She knew no teenager her age would willingly spend their free time learning new things.

So she just let the school hours pass by, studying hard, and being by herself. She didn’t need any friends, she was far better off on her own.

“Ah, there he is! Now there’s only one more missing! If he doesn’t arrive soon, we’re leaving without him.”

She heard the teachers talking among themselves, and turned to see who the latecomer that had finally appeared was. She sees a very familiar looking boy running up at full speed to reach the group. His uniform was messy, his inner shirt’s buttons opened freely down his chest, allowing the white undershirt he was wearing beneath to be seen; his tie was nowhere in sight, and his shirt wasn’t properly tucked into his pants, which were slightly too short for his long legs, rising up at his ankles. At first sight it would seem that his uniform was such a mess because he had to hurry his way there, but those who knew him better and saw him every day knew that that was just the way he wore his school clothes. It was the stylish thing to do, and it constantly gained him complaints from the teachers.

The boy had dyed brown hair – which the school also frowned upon, but he somehow managed to get away with it – and it was appearing to be messy, but it had been clearly placed like that for style. Even though he was late, it was clear that he had taken some time to fix his appearance before getting there. He ran towards the class with a bold smile, and most students either screamed for him to hurry, or laughed at his tardiness.

That boy was Kim Mingyu, one of the most popular and well-liked students in their class. He was the best-looking –which gained him the girls’ votes – and also the most entertaining – which gained him the boys’ votes – so his popularity was something unquestionable.

She had a different view of him though. She wouldn’t deny that she also found him handsome, and he was definitely a funny character, but those weren’t the things that made her want to watch him. What she found most interesting was his personality; he was able to fit in perfectly with whoever he talked to, and act silly with them, but he was also serious in the needed occasions. She could see that he was smarter – despite him constantly acting as if he’s the dumb one – and more mature than most of their classmates, and he was very comfortable in his own skin. She liked that in him, and it was easy to understand why he fit in everywhere, because he was able to adapt to all the different personalities that were around.

The boy joined his friend, who happened to be directly beside her, and she could hear him greeting them. The boys talked happily and loudly, and she looked away, trying to just ignore them and return to her peaceful state, but it was hard not to listen in to their conversation.

“Oooh, school trips are the best time to finally hook up with someone! It’s time for us to get a girl, guys!”

She heard one of the boys cheering, and the others followed. Amidst those noises, she could distinctly hear Mingyu’s laugher, which made her aware that he was still a part of the conversation without needing to look back at them.

“Overnight trips are the best! Girls get all romantic when the stars come out; it almost gets too easy for us!”

She started feeling annoyance towards the way their talk was going. Those boys were preying on their classmates without much consideration, and it was upsetting. But even though she had truly already expected something like that out of them, it still affected her to overhear it being stated so clearly like that. They were teenagers after all, and for her, all other teenagers aside from herself were some level of stupid.

“And the greatest thing is that it’s such a long trip, 4 days! Even if we strike out on our confession from day one, we still have 3 more days to get a girlfriend!”

A boy mentioned, and the rest cheered, all seeming really happy. She could tell that they didn’t even care who was going to be their girlfriend, they would just take anyone that accepted them. She couldn’t understand how someone could think like that, she would never be able to face love in that way. She had read and heard one too many romantic stories to know that those sorts of guys who say things like that were always the useless ones that tried to get in the way of the main couple. She had no patience to deal with such people, she always hated those characters.

“But, Mingyu! You have to leave some for us, okay? You can get any girl you want, but don’t make them all fall for you, give us a chance man!”

With that statement, all the boys started teasing Mingyu in various ways, all requesting for him to step down and let them get some romance. One boy went as far as requesting Mingyu to tone down his handsomeness, to which the group laughed and replied that that was impossible. Many of their female classmates’ names started slipping away from their mouths, as they started making requests and calling dibs on the girls they wanted.

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she heard that, feeling even more annoyed than before. But even though she had such strong feelings against that behavior, she would never step in or tell them off. She was the type to just complain and call them names inside her head, to the point of even imagining the whole confrontation where she’d walk up to them and put them in their place, but she’d never do it in real life. As mentioned before, she preferred to stay away and be invisible, and that meant putting up with all the gross stupidities she heard.

But she couldn’t always be as secluded as she wished, and as she heard the boys’ voices turning to whispers, she heard her name being thrown around. They were trying to be discrete, which mean they had noticed she was standing right there, but she had very good hearing, and she could still understand what they were saying.

“What about Maeri?”

“Who?”

“Baek Maeri. Over there.”

“Oh right, her! I always forget about her.”

“She’s a bit weird, the way she doesn’t talk to anyone or barely responds when we talk to her, but at least she’s pretty cute, isn’t she? I wouldn’t mind dating her.”

She felt bothered, almost disgusted, to hear them talking about her like that. She had expected that when she distanced herself from the other students, they’d at least respect her, but they were clearly unable to do that.

“Leave her alone.”