I blink twice to adjust the contact lenses on my eyes. Okay. I’m ready. I grab my bag, and get out from my house. I’m glad I need to go to the campus in the afternoon, it gave me more time to get ready. But the intention of going there is depleting my spirits.

     I’m a freshman and the faculty arranges a summer camp for us, which will last for three days and two nights starting two days from now. I am honestly stressed. I have to prepare every precaution possible, since staying out for that long guarantee a lot of burden for me.

     How long am I going to live like this? I look around the street as I walk to school, and sigh. Stepping up my confidence game will be convenient, but I still find difficulties. I just hope everything will be fine during this camp.

     I enter the faculty main hall carefully, hands clutching my bag strap. Oh God, so many people… So many people I don’t know. There are at least a hundred freshmen in my faculty, and I haven’t familiarized myself with them, not even half of them. I try to look for someone I know, and after wandering for a few minutes, I find a classmate, Kim Dahye near the west entrance. She waves to see me, and walks towards me once I get closer. “Hey! Have you heard?”

     “What?” I raise my eyebrows, confused.

     “Rumor says we’re going to an abandoned high school for one of the night course! The committee is so mean.”

     “Ah… I hate it.” I sigh.

     “I know right! But I hope we’ll be walking in groups or even better, with some guys. That’d be exciting!” Dahye proceeds to laugh. She has a quite distinctive high-pitched laugh, and it makes a few people turn their heads to see her. Among them I spot a tall, sharp-eyed guy glaring at us from our left, and I suddenly shudder. His aura is no joke, is he mad? I’m already terrified from seeing him, I don’t know if I could survive the night course.

     The camp orientation begins, and we take notes of what stuff we should bring, and medical check in advance if there are some students who can’t physically take part. It’s a good thing I’m perfectly healthy, but my heart really wants to just stay home during the camp.

     During queue time for nametags, I see the sharp-eyed guy again on the line next to mine, and I immediately let my head down. He simply looks scary, is it just me? He has thick eyelids that make his eyes look half-closed, but still intimidating. I can’t forget his glare from awhile before. With those eyes, any look from him will become a glare.

     “Student ID number?” the staff asks me, and I mention them. The staff furrows her eyebrows a bit while looking at the screen. Expected. “Lee Aria?”

     “Yes.” I say slowly. As if my initial condition wasn’t enough, my parents just needed to give me a three-syllable last name. I receive the nametag, and walk away from the queue after shoving it inside my bag.

*

     The camp starts out in a joyful atmosphere, and we’re staying in groups based on the room arrangement, and thankfully I know all the members. Everything should go smoothly for the next days…

     “Wow, we were just listening to speeches and playing games, but why am I so exhausted?” Dahye comments when the day ends, and we’re waiting for our turn to shower. There are two other girls in our group. “They say tomorrow will be exciting… But they didn’t give us the rundown. I wonder what they’re preparing.”

     “The buses are still staying outside this lodging, are they going to bring us somewhere tomorrow?” Kwon Mari wonders curiously.

     “The night course!” Dahye exclaims. Our faces get dark, and we collectively let out deep sighs.

     “If we’re going by room assignment, please don’t leave me alone, guys.” I mutter. The others laugh, and another person finishes showering.

     “Aria, do you want to go now?”

     “I’ll shower last, it’s okay. Go ahead.” I answer immediately. Going now will be difficult… I’ll do it nearing bedtime.

     Finally I’m the last to shower, and I’m going back to the room with my eye mask already sticking to my face. I should be careful… Thankfully the corridor is empty. I take quick steps to my room, and the light inside is turned off. Perfect. I slowly open the door, and use the flash light from my phone to get to my bed.

     “Is it you, Aria? Just turn on the light first.” someone murmurs.

     “No, it’s okay.” I respond.

     “Oh, you’re too nice.”

     It’s not that I’m nice or anything… I’m hiding something. I find my bed, and put the things I was holding on the nightstand, and lie down. I take off the eye mask, and lie down. I don’t actually need it on the first place. “Good night, guys.”

     My friends take turns to reply, and off I go to dreamland.

     This must be a dream… Why is Dahye holding a fire extinguisher? But there’s no fire. I look around. There’s nothing. I realize this is a dream, and I don’t really try to do anything. But the siren sound is so annoying… Why does it sound so vivid?

     “...and gather in the hall, bringing their nametags. Right now. I repeat, the students need to wake up and…”

     The siren continues after the flat voice, and I open my eyes. The siren was not a dream. I hear my friends squirming on their beds. “What is it? What?”

     Someone turns on the light, and I hide under my blanket. I pull open a bit near my legs, trying to look around from there.

     “I think we should go to the hall… Oh God, it’s 4 AM, what do they want? Where’s my nametag…” Mari’s hoarse voice fills the room amidst the continuous siren sound.

     “Oh no, are we really going outside with this face?!” Dahye says. “Quick, guys, let’s go. Aria, what are you doing? Let’s go!”

     The others jump down from their beds, and I make sure until all of them face the door. I pull away the blanket, and face the wall to take my nametag from my bag. The others start going out from the door, and I trail behind them. Other students are walking past our door, and I keep my head down.

     I’m ridiculously panicked today. This guarantees exposure. Should I go back and wear my lenses first? But I’m going to be the last to come, and I’m surely going to be finished… Oh God, what should I do? I’m already half-running, it’s even harder to turn around. I hope we’re just going to sit and listen to something…

     We arrive to the hall, and my heart skips a beat. The boys are lining up with quite a distance between them, with their backs facing us. At least that’s what I conclude from just looking at half of their bodies, directing to the floor. I still can’t lift my head… Not yet. Not now.

     “Girls!” someone shouts from inside. “Go stand behind one of them! Quick! Don’t be afraid, each of you will get one.”

     What in the world is this? The girls start murmuring, but in a second they run inside and stand behind the boys. We can’t really choose, can we? I keep looking at the floor, and try to find someone who is still standing with an empty spot behind him. The closer ones from the door are almost filled, and I walk to the last line, and stand behind someone who’s standing on the very end of the line. I couldn’t care less about who this might be, but judging from the legs I think he’s a tall person.

     I can hear a few girls still walking here and there, and once the noise stops, steps of the committee are heard. I’m still keeping my head down, and I thought my neck is going to break from this. I can’t let anyone know…

     “Now, boys, turn around.” the committee, a man in his 30’s, says. The boys turn around, and I see the one in front of me turning to face me. Who is he? What are we going to do? I hear others murmur, a few even laugh. Do they get someone they know?

     “Good. So we discovered that you all have perfect 1:1 ratio of boys and girls.” the committee starts, his voice gets louder. He must be just a few feet away from me. “Which is why we told you to be like this—“

     The voice is right beside my head. Why does he cut his speech?

     “Hey, you, why are you like this? Lift your head.”

     Oh no. The committee moves to the very front of me, and I swallow. My breathing gets rapid, and my heartbeats are running wild.

     “Hey. Lift your head.”

     I take a deep breath. I slowly look up, and I’m seeing two faces at once. The middle-aged man, and the boy behind him. In a split second I notice the committee’s reaction to see my face, but the boy I chose to stand in front of makes my heart skips a beat once again.

     It’s the scary, sharp-eyed guy.

     The guy keeps a poker face, and I avert my sight to see the committee again. He looks at me right in the eyes.

     “You had time to put on contact lenses?”

     That was loud. Really loud. Now the others are looking at me. Oh no. I can’t do this. I can’t go through this.

     I can see the guy next on the line staring at me, then whispering what he saw to the girl in front of him. Oh no. It’s going to spread…

     “I didn’t, Sir.”

     “Then? How are you going to explain this?”

     “These are… My real eyes, Sir.”

     The committee’s eyes narrow. “Blue?”

     I hear whispers. Mutterings. Mumblings. The committee glances at my nametag.

     “Lee Aria. Are you a foreigner?”

     “No, Sir.” my throat feels completely dry.

     He looks at me again. “Things you young people get surgery for… Unbelievable.”

     My mouth parts a bit. What did he say? So he’s thinking I made this condition for myself?

     “She didn’t, Sir.”

     Before I could let out any sound, a voice comes from nearby. It’s the guy in front of me. The committee turns around. “What?”

     “She didn’t do any surgery. She said those are her real eyes.”

     I see them doing a staring battle in front of me. I look away, and try to control my breathing. The committee turns back again to me. “You didn’t?”

     “I didn’t.”

     The committee sends me one last thorough look, and leaves the spot. I think I could finally breathe. The people near me are still making noises, and I can see some are stretching out their necks to see me.

     “Why didn’t you just say you wear lenses?”

     I look up, and my eyes meet the sharp eyes of the guy. I glance at his nametag. Kim Jongin. I get tense, but his words provoke me. “What?”

     “You could’ve just said yes. That’d make him shut up.”

     “You should be the one who should shut up.” anger boils inside of me. What does he know about me? How can he be sure that these are indeed my real eyes?

     “I don’t—“

     “Okay, moving on.” the committee announces again. “As I said, the number of boys and girls are the same, and we’re going to pair you up. You’re going to be a team until the camp ends. You should cooperate, or else you’re going to be punished together. There are rewards too.”

     My heart drops. I’m going to be stuck with this guy for the rest of the camp?

     Our eyes meet, and I immediately look down again. I can’t believe this.