Sooyoung, Tiffany, and Jessica walk together through the halls of their school, making their way to their first class. Much like every day, the halls are bustling with students, teachers, and staff with the occasional janitor mumbling about how messy students are these days. Tiffany is explain to Jessica about the latest gossip she’s been hearing and Jessica replies every so often how ridiculous the rumor is. Sooyoung is only half-listening to her friends; her mind is elsewhere. The reoccurring dream she has been having is starting to worry her.

 

She has never had a reoccurring dream that is so vivid happen to her before. So why now?

 

“Hey Soo! Oh Sooyoung!”

 

Sooyoung blinks and turns to Tiffany. “Um, sorry did you say something, Fany?”

 

“I was just asking your opinion,” Tiffany explains. She eyes Sooyoung carefully. “Hey are you alright? You don’t look good…”

 

“There’s nothing wrong.” When Tiffany and Jessica give her I-don’t-believe-you looks, Sooyoung waves them off with a hand. “Really guys… It’s nothing.”

 

Jessica crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow at her tall friend. “We don’t believe it… but okay. Just remember we’re here if you want to talk. It’s not like you to be this spacey.”

 

Sooyoung gives her friends a smile. “I know.”

 

“Anyway, I know what will cheer you up!” Tiffany lightly jabs Sooyoung in the side. “It’s your favorite math tutor over there!”

 

Sooyoung’s face turns immediately red as she knows who Tiffany is talking about. Not far from them, Sooyoung sees Kim Taeyeon talking with her fellow friends Lee Sunny and Kim Hyoyeon. She and Taeyeon are in the same math class, but Sooyoung has been having problems in trigonometry lately. The teacher had Taeyeon help her with tutoring sessions. They became fast friends and somewhere along the lines of multiple tutoring sessions, Sooyoung fell for the girl… hard.

 

“Go say hi!” Jessica teases, giving Sooyoung a hard shove towards Taeyeon.

 

“H-Hey wai—“ Sooyoung bumps in Taeyeon. The shorter girl swerves around and a smile forms on her face as she realizes it’s Sooyoung. That smile makes Sooyoung nervous and she could feel herself turning red. “Hey Taeyeon-ah!”

 

“Hello Sooyoungie,” Taeyeon greets. Sooyoung could not help but feel extremely happy whenever Taeyeon calls her that; it was Taeyeon who gave her that nickname after all. “Are you ready for today’s session?”

 

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Sooyoung replies enthusiastically.

 

“Great! I’ll see you later then?”

 

“Always… I mean of course!” Sooyoung’s face flushes at her mistake.

 

Taeyeon chuckles at the pink color on Sooyoung’s cheeks. “Bye Sooyoungie!” Taeyeon leaves for her class with Sunny and Hyoyeon trailing behind her.

 

Sooyoung stands there, momentarily staring at Taeyeon, and lets out a content sigh.

 

“Feel better now?” Tiffany grins, coming up from behind Sooyoung.

 

“I guess,” the tall girl says sheepishly.

 

“Alright girls, it’s time for us to go to class,” Jessica interrupts Tiffany’s teasing. She links her arms with Tiffany and Sooyoung. “Shall we go?”

 

Tiffany and Sooyoung nod and they walk together with Jessica to their first class.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

After entering their classroom, the three friends take their designated seats. Ms. Jeon, their economics and homeroom teacher, enters with an unknown girl behind her. She taps the board with her knuckles to call the class’ attention. “Everyone! Everyone! Eyes in front please,” Ms. Jeon says loudly. “We have here a new student. Please introduce yourself to the class.”

 

The new girl faces the class with a hard expression but bows. “Hello, I am Kwon Yuri. I hope you all will take good care of me.” Despite her words, it was obvious Yuri isn’t honest by the sound of her tone.

 

Sooyoung observes the new girl. Yuri is a slender girl with tanned skin and jet black hair. Sooyoung couldn’t help but notice the well-defined curves Yuri has. As Sooyoung’s eyes travel upward Yuri’s body, she soon locks eyes with the new girl; Yuri is glaring start at Sooyoung. Knowing that the new girl is looking straight at her, Sooyoung raises a brow at her. Yuri notices and narrows her eyes at Sooyoung.

 

A painful shock courses around Sooyoung’s eyes.

 

Sooyoung grits her teeth hard to prevent letting out a grunt of pain. She puts a hand over her head, as she fights back the pain she’s feeling. Sooyoung gasps at the thought her eyes might undergo that change. She quickly takes out a pocket mirror and sighs in relief when she finds out her eyes are the same. Sooyoung barely hears Ms. Jeon ushering Yuri to take her seat in the second row near the windows. She studies the tanned girl briskly walking to her seat and sits down without looking at the students who are obviously staring at her.

 

There is something about Yuri that makes Sooyoung extremely wary of the new girl. The fact that Yuri’s stare caused her head and her temples to throb in pain also scares Sooyoung.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“That new girl is pretty, huh?” Tiffany suddenly brings up before she twirls a forkful of spaghetti to .

 

Jessica nods in agreement while Sooyoung just shrugs. “Kind of strange to be getting a transfer student at this time of year though. I mean, it’s already mid March, the middle of the semester,” Jessica comments, taking out her lunch from her bag.

 

“Well I heard from Kris who heard from Hyoyeon that there’s also a new transfer student in Taeyeon’s class,” Tiffany inputs. “Not only that, but I hear he’s Chinese! Just like Kris and Lay!”

 

Sooyoung absently nods at her friends’ words.

 

“Sooyoung, what’s wrong? Nevermind, you’re going to lie to us. We know something is wrong, Sooyoung, so spill!” Tiffany insists, her eyes digging into Sooyoung’s.

 

Sooyoung rubs her arm uncomfortably. “I don’t want to talk about it. It’s probably nothing anyway…”

 

“Doesn’t look like nothing to us,” Jessica frowns.

 

The taller girl sighs. “It’s that new girl in our class. After she introduced herself, she started to glare at me. At first I thought I was just imagining it, but she really was, as if I did something. I’ve never seen her in my life so I don’t understand why she was looking at me with such hostile eyes.”

 

“That’s all that’s bothering you? Just the new girl giving you a mean look?” Tiffany inquires further. Sooyoung nods, not wanting to tell her friend about the pain she felt looking at Yuri’s eyes. “Don’t let her intimidation get to you, Soo! Jessie and I got your back!”

 

Tiffany playfully winks at Sooyoung, causing the latter to laugh.

 

Sooyoung thinks that maybe Tiffany is right; maybe she is overthinking all this

 

After school, Sooyoung exits her final class and heads for the library to meet Taeyeon for tutoring. On her way there, she finds Yuri putting away books in her locker. Sooyoung stiffens at the sight of the new girl and is about to turn away, but stops when Yuri notices her. She gulps. “Um hi! I’m, uh, Oh Sooyoung! We have homeroom together.” She forces herself to extend a hand, trying to calm down her nerves.

 

“Kwon Yuri,” the new girl replies flatly, yet taking Sooyoung’s hand and giving it a polite shake.

 

“How was your first day?” Sooyoung asks, hoping to ease the tense atmosphere.

 

“It was… calming.”

 

“Ah…”

 

An awkward silence hangs between the two girls. Sooyoung scratches the back of her head. “Well you know, if you have questions about the school or whatever, you are welcome to ask me.”

 

Yuri closes her locker and burns her eyes once again into Sooyoung. Sooyoung is taken aback by the unreadable emotion in Yuri’s eyes. Luckily, this time Sooyoung doesn’t feel pain like earlier. Yuri steps aside and stands right next to Sooyoung. The question Yuri asks Sooyoung is not one she is expecting.

 

“Do you remember who you really are?”

 

Sooyoung’s breath hitches in at the question. She swerves around only to find Yuri walking away at a fast pace. Now she is breathing uncontrollably.

 

“Sooyoungie!”

 

Sooyoung jumps when she feels a hand on her shoulder and quickly turns around, startling Taeyeon. The shorter girl notices how pale Sooyoung is. “Sooyoung, are you alright?” Taeyeon asks worriedly. She places a hand across Sooyoung’s forehead and lets out a light gasp. “You’re breaking out in a cold sweat…”

 

“I-It’s nothing…” Sooyoung mutters, her voice shaking. She gently pushes Taeyeon’s hand away.

 

“Sooyoung…” Taeyeon whispers, her voice dripping with concern. Sooyoung cannot stand Taeyeon’s voice like this.

 

She grabs Taeyeon by the wrist. “Come on, Tae. I think it’s time to start our session.” Sooyoung gently leads Taeyeon into the library. Taeyeon forces a smile on her face and follows the taller girl inside. Normally, Sooyoung’s face would be burning at the thought of holding Taeyeon’s bare wrist like this. But Yuri’s ominous question lingers in her mind.

 

How did Yuri know about her hazy past?

 

And just who the hell is Kwon Yuri?