SEOHYUN

"Did you buckle your seatbelt?" My mom asked as she glanced at me from the rearview mirror. I nodded my head and took out a book from my backpack. "Yes, umma. I always do."

She returned the smile and started the ignition. "Are you ready for school?"

"Yes, umma." 

It was always like this every morning. Since my mother was the Academy Disciplinarian in the school I studied in, we always woke up early and left together. My father always went ahead and drove his black sedan to work because he was the Public Librarian. Mother drove the Chevrolet Orlando family van.

We drove to school in our usual comfortable silence and I calmly leafed through the pages of the self-improvement book my father gave to me last week. It's a book called, "No One Will Live Your Life For You!" and I enjoyed the book so far.

Being the daughter of an Academy Disciplinarian and a Librarian gave me pressure from time to timecbut I'm mostly okay with it. I was raised fairly well by my loving parents and I picked up on their personalities, too. I was also raised with proper values and ettiquetes at home and I always acted on them everywhere I went. In school, I knew some students called me 'boring', 'uptight', and other words I didn't want to even say but that's just their impression based from how I carried myself. I may be boring to some of them but their opinion never mattered to me.

When we arrived, mom dropped me off in front of the school gates and I waved her goodbye after I went out from the van. Mother originally wanted us to go walk from the school parking lot until we reached the building but I told her that I wanted to enter through the school gates just like the others.

I bowed to the security guard and made my way toward the school building with a smile on my face but it disappeared when I heard an awful sound.

Scrunch.

My left eye twitched at the all too familiar sound of a crushed candy wrapper. I sighed, picked up the wrapper and threw it into the trash bin which was only a few metres away from where I stood. Can't they throw their garbage properly? It's not as if the trash bin was too far away, too. I shook my head and walked on. I heard a sound of an unwrapped candy from behind me and out of curiosity, I turned around. A student popped a candy into his mouth and threw the wrapper onto the ground. Since he wore headphones, I figured he wouldn't hear me if I called him so I approached him and tapped on his shoulder. "Excuse me."

He turned to me with a nonchalant expression on his face but once we established eye contact, he took off his headphones. "Yeah?" he asked. I pointed my finger to the candy wrapper on the ground in reply. He shook his shoulders, muttered that "It's just a wrapper" and walked away. I was too stunned to immediately react.

Just a wrapper? I quickly picked up the wrapper and ran after him. When I caught up to him, I blocked his way, took his hand and paced the wrapper on his palm. He stared at the wrapper and then to me. When he remained silent, I spoke. "You should know that Littering is a Minor Offense here in school. It's in your Student Manual." I noticed that his school necktie was missing so I continued. "You should be aware about the Policies in wearing the uniform. You must wear your necktie."

He only stared at me at first but he wordlessly threw the wrapper into the nearby trash bin. Then he turned around and made his way back to me. What now? He looked at me in the eyes and took out his necktie from the pocket of his pants. The student wore his necktie in front of me with a bored expression on his face. If he noticed how uncomfortable I grew because of his proximity, he hid his expressions well.

"I threw the wrapper and wore my tie. Can I go now, Ma'am?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. I nodded and looked away from him. He wore his headphones back on and walked away. Students nearby who saw everything laughed and spoke in hushed tones. I quickly walked to my classroom on the second floor of the building and sat on my chair. My cheeks burned from embarrassment but soon enough our Homeroom teacher, Mr. Shim came in. He placed his things on his table and clapped his hands together. "Everyone, please settle down. You have a new classmate today."

He turned his head to the direction of the door and nodded at the student who was outside. A guy walked in and the girls immediately lost their minds. Not literally, of course.

"KYAAAAAAA!! IT'S HIM !!!!!!"

"THIS IS THE BEST DAY!!!"

Huh? Who's here? I don't know him... Or so I thought. Although I was seated at the back of the room, I easily recognized the new student's hair and headphones. It's him. 

Mr. Shim told him to introduce himself and his eyes scanned around the room. He looked like he was looking for something, or someone but he shrugged and smiled to everyone in general. The girls swooned.

"Hello, everyone. I am Jung Yonghwa and I am a transferee from Sejong Boys School."

Sejong Boys School? The all boys school two blocks away? I have heard of it, but I was never interested. It's not like I hate boys, in fact I have a lot of male friends both inside and outside of school. I just don't look at them like how most of the girls in school do. They saw boys as prospect future boyfriends while I saw them as good friends.  

"Since Yonghwa is a new classmate, let's grab this chance to get to know him a little." Mr. Shim announced. Then he looked at Yonghwa. "Our class usually fires questions to new faces in here so with your consent, we'll have the Q&A shortly."

All of the girls, except for me, grinned from ear to ear when Yonghwa nodded his head. Mr. Shim turned to the class and smiled. "Fire away." Then the countless questions started. Well, most of the questions came from drooling girls but some boys also asked questions. I mostly watched from the back and observed this Jung Yonghwa.

"Yonghwa, what are your favorite colors?"

"Gold, silver, black and blue."

Silver and black are not colors.

"What is your favorite food?"

"I eat anything that's on the table but I prefer eating meat."

I almost raised an eyebrow at that. What about vegetables? It's not healthy to eat meat when the body needs enough nutrients. I am a huge fan of vegetables but I also eat meat from time to time.

"Your favorite liquor?"

"Cola."

Yuck. Cola is at the very bottom of my list.

"Your favorite instrument?"

"Guitar."

I don't know how to play that instrument but I am a genius with the piano. 

"What is your specialty?"

"Imitation."

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