“Wake up.” That familiar voice came ringing into her ear.

“Nnn…5 minutes more, please??” she groaned as she rolled on the bed from left to right.

“Oi. Wake up already. The bed sheets would be hard to fix back if you roll them around your body like that.” That voice came again. “Yeah, yeah…I’m waking up…” she replied and finally opened her eyes to greet a new day with a lazy ‘good morning’.

 

“Sora, really…you’re already 16 and still you slack off like this. When are you going to grow up?” Sora couldn’t take the nagging anymore and so she got up. “You know Mary, for someone who’s just 2 years older than me; you sure do nag a lot.” Sora said as she saw Mary in the next room preparing food.

“I’m not nagging. I just say what I see and reprimand you for it. But of course, if you want to sleep more, go on ahead.” Mary replied, saying the last line rather sarcastically.

 

Han Sora was born in Los Angeles, USA.  Her father was of Korean descent while her mother was of Japanese descent. Her name ‘Sora’ meant ‘Sky’ in Japanese. She was raised and graduated elementary in the States. When she was about to go to middle school, she won a scholarship from a Taekwondo tournament in South Korea for a prestigious martial arts middle school in the country. Taekwondo practically came from South Korea and the best of the best are in the country. She didn’t want the chance to slip out of her hands so she decided to move.

 

She is fluent in both Korean and English and knows a little Japanese from her mother. She lived with a couple of relatives in Seoul in her first year until they had to move and sell the house. She moved out and stayed in an apartment from then on.

 

Mary Luchist was her guardian. She goes to South Korea every summer to accompany her and check up on her as Sora’s parents have instructed her to. At the same time she was also Sora’s good friend.

 

“It’s the first day of high school you know. You should really be more serious about this.” Mary said and put food on the table.

First day of high school, oh yeah…just months before she graduated middle school. How time passes by so quickly for them.

 

Sora had a hard time when she got to Seoul for the first time. Having to live with people she wasn’t so familiar with, going to places where she wasn’t familiar of. Gladly Mary was there to accompany her in times when she gets lonely or sad. And now she’s graduated and going to be attending her first year in high school.

 

“I can’t believe that you’ll be going back to the States and never coming back Mary.” Sora replied and munched on the bread that she was eating. “Don’t worry about me Sora. I’m just following orders. And besides, it’s about time you stand on your own 2 feet. Your parents are starting to trust you now and besides you’ll have new friends. Now, just hurry up with your eating.” Mary said and went to her room to fix her bed.

 

“New…friends…” she thought and said. After finishing up breakfast she went to the kitchen counters.

“*Sigh* Already the first day of high school. How time passes by so quickly.” She then started to wash the dishes.

 

As a Taekwondo prodigy, she has won countless tournaments in both South Korea and in the States. Her family lineage is known for their elite martial arts genes in both her mother and father’s side. Although her parents don’t possess the elite gene, she was blessed to have gotten it and showed impressive use of it.

 

She’s really famous in the martial arts world, but even so, she was sent to South Korea by her family and even they were so eager about sending her away.

“The Smith International University has the best Taekwondo Club in the region. The Taekwondo Team members are fully trained by the best instructions there are aided with top notch training facilities.” Sora said.

“That is what the principal told me.” She added.

 

Soon she finished washing the dishes and went back to her room to prepare while Mary went out of the room and cleaned the rest of the apartment.

She held onto her uniform. “High school…” she looked at it with anxiety.

 

There’s no time to spare. She wants her first day at high school to be a memorable one and being late is not one of it. She quickly went to the bathroom and took a bath. She changed and prepared herself. The school she was going to was an internationally well-known university with both high school and college in one place.

 

The name of the school was named after the founder of the school who was George Smith, thus bearing the name Smith International University. It was a very expensive school and covers a VERY BIG area.

 

“Sora, are you done?” Mary knocked on her door and waited for her reply. “I’m done. You can open the door.” Sora replied.

Mary opened the door. She got a bit surprised at what she saw. The uniform really looked good on Sora.

 

The white long-sleeved blouse revealed her still developing figure. The green necktie also looked good. The checkered skirt of green and yellow green which measured just above the knees looked perfect.

 

“So I guess you’re ready to go off now.” Mary said and smiled with delight.

“Mary…” Sora then went to her and hugged her.

“We’ll see each other again, I promise.” Mary said and hugged back. “I’ll really miss you.” Sora said.

 

It was a very emotional moment. Sora owed everything to Mary. In middle school she didn’t have any friends from school. She was just always so busy with sports that she didn’t have time to mingle. Mary was one of the few who stood beside her during those times.

 

“You don’t need to. Always believe that I’m just near you, watching.” Mary said and then they broke the hug. “I’m going to cook you dinner for when you go home before I go to the airport. Take care of yourself Sora…okay?” Mary said as they got out of her room and handed her the bag.

“De. I will.” She said and managed a big smile on her face.

“Go on now or you’ll be late.” Mary said and gave her a little push.

“I’ll be going. Have a safe trip back to Los Angeles okay?” Sora said in English. “I will.” Mary replied. Sora then got out of the apartment and down the elevator.

 

She made her way to a bus station and rode a bus to Smith International University. SIU was a tad bit far from where her apartment was. Although she did prefer living somewhere near the university, she didn’t bother moving anymore because she was fine with where she was.

 

She then got off in a quiet neighborhood. She took out the pamphlet of SUI which had a map of both the location of the school and a map inside the school.

“Where is the school??” Sora said and noticed how few people are there. She looked at her watch. “Oh great. I’ve got 20 minutes more.” She said then started to walk around.

 

She saw a couple of students in uniforms the same as her, but the skirts only had different colors. There were blue skirts and golden brown skirts.

She decided on following them and dang she was smart to do so!

 

Before her were these big gates with a big sign on top.

“Wow.” She said as she saw the university doors.

 

Steel gates as high as you can imagine. The bars were bended and curved so carefully that you cannot even imagine how expensive the gates were. On top of both gates was the school crest. On top of the gates was the name of the school painted in gold. The gates literally looked like the gates of heaven.

 

“This...is a school?” she said to herself as she stood outside, awed by the gate, wondering what other things she would be awed with inside the university.