I lay down on bed, trying to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in. Every few minutes I’d take a look at the digital clock beside me to see time passing, and the next morning aproaching.

The last day of summer vacation, it was, and tomorrow I’d wake up as a senior.

To say my high school life was tough and tainted with conflicts and struggles would be a lie. My high school life, in fact, was quite normal and plain. I was friends with some popular students, each known for different reasons, and I was friendly to everyone else. Me? No, I wasn’t that well-known other than being ‘that friend’. Was I just being humble? I don’t know, and I don’t care. No, I didn’t fight mental or emotional pressure by the toxic society I was surrounded with. My friends did; like Hanbin, or Hayi. Even Donghyuk had his days and don’t get me started on Jinhwan, Yunhyeong or Jiwon – who all, by the way, graduated when summer started.

So, if I weren’t all of that, then who was I?

I’m Goo Junhoe. I’m seventeen years old when the story I'm about to tell starts, but turn eighteen a few months later. Seventeen years old Junhoe lives with his parents and older sister. I play in the school’s basketball team, which is where I met Jiwon already during my first year. I’m not that good in studying; not in mathematics, not in languages, and don’t get me started on history (how much more boring does it get?), but I guess there was always still social- and computer science to give my high school life some purpose.

I have friends: Jinhwan, Yunhyeong and Jiwon, who were mentioned earlier and all graduated a year ahead of me. There’s also Hanbin, Donghyuk and Chanwoo, who are all in my year. There was also Changkyun and Mingyu, but I wasn’t that close with them, I guess. As for girls, I wasn’t close to many but there were a few I knew and spoke to every now and then.

I also had a girlfriend. Yein, she’s called. Lovely girl, of course. I always had a lot of fun with her. We met when I was failing English class and Jiwon was too busy with getting a tutor for math on his own. It all went smoothly, and I suppose it was a healthy relationship.
Just before the summer vacation started, though, she announced that she was transferring to a different school. It was a shocker, but I couldn’t say much other than ‘good luck and have fun’. For a while our relationship had gotten, well, casual. It was too normal; you’d almost think we were siblings or something. That would be gross. During the summer vacation she contacted none of our friends and I hadn’t heard of her since the last day of school. It was sad, of course. I cared about her, she was my girlfriend. Or is – I wasn’t sure. Before the vacation started we never really broke up. We didn’t kiss, we didn’t go on dates and we didn’t speak with sweet words anymore. We were like any other pair of friends, but we never really broke up. But then again, she didn’t contact any of us during the summer vacation (and the only way we knew she was alright was through her brother, Jungkook, who tweeted pictures of them every now and then).

So there was that.

But so many things would be different this time. This time, I’d be a senior. It was going to be different without half of my group of friends being around. It was going to be different; worrying about exams more than I usually did and making up my mind on what I wanted to study. It was going to be different without Yein after almost a year of being with her, but really, that was one of the last things on my list of worries.

I tossed and turned around in bed, trying to fall asleep. It was like I was back in elementary school, not being able to sleep due to the excitement of an important event the day after.

Finally after a little past twelve, I remembered, I dozed off.

//

“Alright so here’s the thing,” Chanwoo’s voice beamed after our little reunion. It wasn’t that special. There weren’t any I missed yous or long hugs exchanged since we all constantly met during the vacation. Actually, now that I think of it, our welcome back greeting mainly consisted out of groans and complaints about having to go back to school. But there was also some excitement to it with Chanwoo telling us about the four new girls who transferred to our school to give it a better reputation with foreigners.

“Did you see their instagram? They’re so hot, how lucky we must be.” Chanwoo said and I just shook my head at him with a laugh, “They probably won’t notice us anyway, who cares?”

“You, perhaps, they won’t notice. But me?” he said smugly to which I rolled my eyes. After that, he mentioned something about me being bitter over Yein not being around anymore, but the sound of his voice faded away a little when my eyes met with those of a girl who was smiling at me.

Yes, at me.

She had long, dark brown hair (assuming she dyed it) and she looked tall (or it might just be her small face making her proportions look balanced). Her eyes sparkled and her smile was cute, and a little awkward. It would be an understatement to say she was pretty. Funnily enough, the timing fit perfectly. Chanwoo just told me about the new girls, and here there is one still looking at me. Some seconds had passed and another girl walked up to her. I took the opportunity of lost eye contact to bid my goodbyes to my friends since the bell was going to ring soon anyway.

I hated classrooms. It was a square made of brick walls that were created to capture all your failures and embarrassment. You’d think that would be comforting, to know everything stays within it, but no, because it actually doesn’t stay within it. It happens within it, but watch it spread through the whole school and maybe, if you’re unlucky, also your family. The school year starts with homeroom class, as expected. I didn’t share it with any of the boys this year, sadly. Last year Donghyuk, Hanbin, Chanwoo and I were all in the same homeroom class (and Yein, too) which led to most of our classes to be shared. It was truly a wonderful experience. This year we’re all separated, my guess is that the teachers didn’t find it as wonderful as we did. Luckily there were still people who I was familiar with.

“Junhoe!” Doyeon called my name and I sat down on the seat in front of hers. She sat next to Ryu Sujeong; one of Chanwoo’s closer female friends. “Nice seeing you again, Dong. How was summer?” I asked her with a smile and she started telling me all greatness summer vacation brought with it for her. It was only when Doyeon suddenly stopped talking and looked up behind me that I noticed someone was standing next to my desk. When I turned around I saw her again, the new girl.

“Is it okay for me to sit here?” she asked me politely and I couldn’t help but notice the small accent she had while speaking. “As long as you’re not the red devil.” I told her and received groans from Doyeon, “My god, Junhoe you’re so lame.”

“Well,” the girl’s voice was small but noticeable either way, “seeing how I’m not a bulky airhead or a clumsy girl with a neck brace, I’m taking that as a yes.” She said and sat down next to me.

At that moment all I could do was staring at her with wide eyes and I was sure Doyeon did the same.

“What?” she turned to me with an amused smile and I told her I was just surprised. I was surprised that she got the reference to Scream Queens. She laughed quietly, “That show is my guilty pleasure, so of course I’d get it.”

She got it. She knew what Scream Queens was. She watched Scream Queens, and it was the first time in my life meeting somebody who watched it as well. Sure, the acting was crappy and the plot a little obvious but hey, if Pretty Little Liars can get that many viewers and fans, what makes Scream Queens any less?

We didn’t really talk much after that, or more like we didn’t have the opportunity to because the teacher closed the door and called her to the front.

She introduced herself: Myoui Mina, Japanese, and seventeen years old.