Chapter 1: The Usual

The sun rising and the birds chirping their morning song, you woke up early with a groan escaping your lips as you tried to block out the sun's rays that were passing through your curtains in ease. Muttering some inaudible complaints, you always regretted that day when you chose to install some curtains into your room rather than some blinds that would do their job much better than those flimsy pastel pink curtains that were draped to the floor. 
Sitting up where you stretched upwards to get rid of the soreness from your back, you looked up to your hanging wall clock and saw that, as usual, you've woken up at seven in the morning.

Forcing yourself to get out of bed, you walked out of your room and into the bathroom that was in between your sister's room and yours. Getting ready, you brushed your teeth and washed your face without bothering to shower since you've done so last night and braided your hair.

Like every other day, you walk downstairs without making much noise and walked into the kitchen which was lacking a mother or father standing and seated by the kitchen island. It wasn't something you should get depressed over but you really did want to relive those old times once again. Sighing, you forced yourself to get over it - Something that you shouldn't really be telling yourself.

'What should I make today since it's my turn to cook?' you ask yourself as you looked through the fridge and cupboards. There weren't enough ingredients to make an American breakfast so you decided to make the simplest breakfast meal that had come to mind, pancakes.

Quietly maneuvering around the kitchen, you gathered the ingredients and began making three servings of pancakes with berries mixed inside and honey on the side for your brother who's a sweet tooth at heart. 
Making pancakes wasn't that hard so it didn't take long for you to finish making everything with lots of time to spare. Using that time to make a small lunchbox filed with fruit sandwiches, lettuce and salami sandwiches, you picked up your bag and headed towards the door where you looked down to your wrist.

It was eight, meaning that her siblings were going to be late once more. Sighing as you placed on your shoes, you whispered into the silence that you were leaving for school before opening the door.

And once you opened the door, you heard your sister screaming as she realized the time before it was followed by your brother cursing at your sister for how horrible she was doing with her little part-time job which was to wake them both up at seven-thirty in the morning.
Shaking your head, you closed the door behind you which muffled your older siblings' complaining of waking up late. Hearing them run around the house in order to get ready, you continued to walk to the street where you looked down the hill to see your close friend, Sakura, walking towards your direction.

"Good morning Sakura," you greeted where your Japanese friend smiled and adjusted her shoulder bag. "Good morning to you too, you," she replied before taking her spot on your right where you both began to walk to school together.

Sakura was from Japan where she moved over here due to her parents. She's a year older than yourself and loved everything about her Japanese background. True to her parent's origin, she practiced a lot with her custom-ordered katana which cost her a lot of money. Whenever people asked her the reason of learning swordsmanship, she always replied that it gave her a sense of responsibility whenever she held onto the sword.

Humming, you smiled when you heard Sakura join in with you. Usually, they would take turns each day to hum out a song. It was a fun game to play when it came to their friendship because they weren't one of those people that preferred their headphones over the company of their friends.

"Infinite this time?" Sakura questioned where she chuckled to how passionate you were about Korean pop-culture.

Nodding your head, you knew how much Sakura secretly enjoyed listening to K-pop. Your eyes landing on the small Korean pop-culture store that you usually walk past, you eyed the various albums on display and stopped abruptly. BTS was on sale, but you were on a lookout for SHINee since they were the ones that got you into this hectic world.

A nudge from the side, you looked over to Sakura who was smirking at you. "Any costumes that I should consider making for you?" she asked jokingly before pushing a stray strand of hair away from her face and behind her ear. 
Her eyes watching you look back and forth from an album to her, she laughed when you pointed to IU's album. "Alright, I'll try to make that for you before I hit the convention crunch time," she replied before grabbing your hand. "Come on, we need to goyou."

You nodded your head before feeling sadness wash over you. Being a fan of so many K-pop bands and groups, you rarely attended any of the concerts that happen here due to your recent operation. Each time you would walk by the store, you would always ask yourself when it'll be the time that you'll find yourself standing within an arena or stadium with an official lightstick in your hand where idols sang their hearts out to you and everyone cheering alongside with you.
Closing your eyes, you frowned. As much as you appreciated Sakura for making some of your favorite costumes worn by the idols you watch from the screen, you really wanted to see them perform live right in front of you rather than from a live recording.

"I love you, you know that right?" you whispered as you opened your eyes. Looking at Sakura, you watch her give you an empathic smile.

She knew your pain. She understood you well.

"You're most welcome. I mean, you're free to abuse my craftsmanship anytime," she softly joked before holding your hand. "We should go to school now. I'm sure that your locker is going to be full again since rumors had it that you were going out with someone," she then said with some of her Japanese accent showing through her speech.

Finding yourself somewhat smiling at her joke, you nodded your head. As much as you wanted to watch a group perform on stage, you knew that having your best friend standing by your side was better.

Walking into school, you and Sakura ignored the looks that everyone was giving to you. If you had to describe the feeling of it, it was like watching a cliche American movie where when popular girls entered the school, everyone would stop what they were doing to just catch a glimpse of them before returning back to their own business. "I'm surprised that you've gotten used to this," you whispered over to Sakura.

The crimson-haired girl looking at you, she rolled her eyes. "I get stared at all the time while I was in Japan due to my crazy-hair color," she replied where you both headed towards the main building where the lockers were.

Walking, you were stopped by one of your English classmates that was walking out of the building. "Oh you, you might want to check out your locker because there have been some boys slipping stuff into the gaps,' he informed you before walking away.

Sakura laughing where you just stood there in surprise, she nudged you again. "I knew it. I told you you," she said before walking ahead to see what your classmate had meant when he told you that.

Shaking your head, you quickly walked to her where you saw her stop in front of your locker. "Already in sight and at the verge of falling out," she mocked before giving you space to open it.

Like what she had predicted, there on and under your sports uniform were some piled envelopes which were quite obvious in what they contained inside. "You're kidding me right now... After everything?" you questioned in which Sakura shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm just reminding you, remember that post I tagged you in on FaceBook? I'm just telling you, man, you can call all of them to come to a restaurant and you'll be living the life of a rich bachelorette with everyone trying to win your love," she joked in which you began to laugh as well.

Putting the envelopes together into a pile where you placed it into your locker neatly, you closed the locker and was about to walk with Sakura before you tripped over your own feet and fell onto your bottom. 
While Sakura was laughing at your clumsy fall, almost every guy gasped and rushed over towards your direction where the girl frowned and quickly stepped in between to stop them. "Alright, stop right there," she said with narrowed eyes.

"Are you alright you? Do you need us to call the ambulance?" one the closest boys to your right questioned in worry.

Coughing since you were surprised and saliva went down the wrong tube, you forced yourself to smile and to stop coughing. They were worried about you and sometimes, their worry seemed quite fake. "I'm fine, thank you for worrying about me though," you said, not wanting to have some false alarm where her siblings would come rushing over here to simply check up on her condition.

You head looking up at Sakura, you narrowed your eyes when you saw how entertained she was about the situation. "Are you going to help me up?"

She smiled. "Hai, hai," she laughed before giving out a hand to you where you took hold of it. With her lifting you up in ease, she offered her water bottle to you. "Drink up you sputtering seal."

You rolled your eyes to her jokes. She was indeed someone that you would need to get used to.

 

The school was nothing other than it being boring. Having no choice but to attend, you knew that your brother was concerned about your future and hence him always nagging you to do well in all of your units.

As usual, some boys faced their fears and would try to confess to you. Sometimes you knew that it was a game, and sometimes you knew that it was a true heart-to-heart confession in which the results would always be the same - "Sorry, I don't think that I'm ready to enter a relationship."

Walking to get your lunchbox from your locker with Sakura walking beside you, you sighed. "How do celebrities keep up with all of these confessions?" you asked as you both made a turn to walk down the stairs. 

Sakura humming, she really didn't give you a proper reply since she would never see herself going into a relationship with a celebrity. She was more of a realist and dedicated her heart to her boyfriend that was waiting for her to graduate and come back to Japan.

"Don't worry about it too much and keep on doing the usual - I mean, it's not like every single guy is going to confess to you, heck, even the girls have crushes on you," Sakura replied before taking a sip of her apple juice.
"What do you mean? I don't understand why everyone is doing this to me," you whispered in which she caught your question.

Hearing her snicker, she took another sip from her drink before replying. "You have too many traits that are admirable. Those that confess either have admiration or false love for you," she bluntly stated before stopping abruptly where she then groaned. "I have some English tutor that I need to go to. Apparently, my speaking is good but not my reading," she said before excusing herself.

"I'll try to make it back before the end of school! See you soon, you!" she yelled out before jogging away.

With no Sakura eating with you today, you decided that it'll be best for you to sit under the shade and eat while listening to the latest album that may be on Spotify. You weren't much picky about the music and artists, but you were hoping that GOT7 had an album out since SHINee has been too busy to release an album together.

Grabbing your lunchbox, you were about to head out until someone tapped on your shoulder. You head turning to look at a shy girl waiting for you, you decided that it'll be more proper for you to completely turn to face her.

"Uhmm... you, I heard your conversation with Sakura. If you'd like, would you like to join my table and eat in the school's cafeteria?" your shy classmate asked.

You smiled at her. Emilia was a very nice and considerable student that you've studied once with two years ago. Her being your Mathematics classmate this year, you knew that connections are everything.

"It's alright, I have some self-studying that I need to do after anyways. Thank you for asking me though," you said where Emilia nodded her head in understanding. "No, no! It's alright, don't stress too much while you study. I'll see you in class in the afternoon then," she replied before walking towards the direction of the cafeteria.

Sighing, you were relieved that Emilia wasn't one of those pushy types. Whenever people saw you alone, they would never stop to have you sit at their table for image's sake.

You feet moving, you walk out of the building and over towards your usual spot by the large oak tree. With very little noise around you and the shade cool and free from the sun, you sighed in relief as you slowly sat down and rested your back against the trunk of the large tree.
Your little hangout spot being the calmest within the school, you were glad to know that no one really liked hanging around at the back of the school since most of the teacher staff rooms were position at the back.

The tree protecting yourself from any curious eyes, you closed your eyes for a bit and relaxed your muscles. With no one here to pressure you, you took out your little revision notepad and iPod from your pocket.

If Sakura was done with her classes then she knew where she'll find you, so while you read your notes aloud in sync with the Korean audio lesson, you began to smile each time you recited a phrase right.
You were almost fluent in Korean. Just a little bit more and you'll be able to completely understand every single lyric from a Korean song and script from a Korean drama.

After roughly ten minutes of learning, you quickly ate your lunch before you sat there in the comfortable silence with some chill Korean music playing on your headphones. 
Slowly closing your eyes, you found yourself slowly falling asleep where people walking past you smiled before leaving you and minding their own business.

Sooner or later, however, the school notification bell chimed and woke you up. "Can you please head towards the principal's office with her school bag?" the speakers announced.

Packing up everything where you picked up your bag and stood up, you looked around in confusion. 'Am I in trouble?' you ask yourself before making your way towards the principal's office as instructed.