You awoke to the sounds of your umma banging a broomstick against your door. "Hurry up!" She screeched. "Get to school! Don't laze about in here! Get out already!"

You rubbed your eyes sleepily and looked at the alarm clock. You still had an hour to go before school started. Looks like umma wanted you out of the house early.

You woke up and put on your new uniform to Cube High, smoothing out the wrinkles and fixing your hair as best as you could, rubbing dust and picking off a few spiders from the mirror surface. You looked around you room.

It was an attic. Everything was covered by a centimetere of dust. Your bed was a stained, dirty mattress with one raggedy old blanket and one lumpy pillow. Your closet was old and dilapidated. One leg was broken and was supported by a brick. Your alarm clock was lying on the floor, along with your books. Your parents didn't care whether you had a bookshelf or not.

You sighed, but then smiled. You couldn't change the way things were. Besides, it was pretty nice up here. You had a skylight on one of the slanted ceilings, and when you woke up, the sun shined in your face happily and you could see all the birds flying past it. Sometimes, in the early morning, you could open the skylight and feed bread crumbs to the birds. They quickly became your friends -- you're always friendly with the birds.

Also, it was very nice of your parents to give you a room of your own. You just had to think positively, and really, it was a very nice room indeed! Even if it was an attic.

Smiling cheerfully, you opened up the trapdoor in your floor and climbed down the descending stairs to the second floor. Dust followed you.

"Clean that up, don't make a mess around here!" Umma snapped. "What do you think I am, a maid?"

You nodded. "Yes, umma. Sorry, umma." You quickly took a mop and cleaned off the dust, before neatly putting the mop away and running downstairs.

"Good morning, appa." You said politely to your appa, who was sitting on the couch watching sports, a beer in his hand and his smelly feet up on the table.

"Appa, you shouldn't drink beer so early in the morning. It's bad for you." You said.

Appa glared at you. "Who do you think you are, ordering ME around? How dare you treat your appa this way, you filthy disappointment!" He flung the beer can at you. You squealed. The beer can fell to the floor, spilling everywhere.

"NOW look what you did!" Appa roared, towering over you as you cowered against the wall. "You stupid little girl, making this place a pigsty!"

SLAP! You cringed when he slapped your face. Spots swam before your eyes.

Umma walked in. "Hmph, what did the brat do now?"

"She spilled my BEER, that's what!" Appa snarled.

Umma glared at you. "What's wrong with this child?"

"Indeed! She ought to be whipped!" Appa grabbed your wrist and flung you against the wall. You bit your lip to hide back your whimper of pain. "Get out of this house! I don't want to see you here until after five, you hear?" Appa yelled.

"Y-yes appa, umma. I'm very sorry for making this mess." You stammered, grabbing your backpack and running out of the house.

You sighed and felt your cheek. It stung a bit. You stared at your wrist. A large purple bruise was blossoming on it. You grimaced and quickly covered your sleeve with it.

Taking a deep breath, you smiled to yourself. No point worrying about home. A new school was on its way! You're so excited!

"Always be optimistic," You sang cheerfully, skipping down to Cube High.

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Cube High wasn't exactly the best place to be. Only kids who were poor, kids with bad backgrounds, kids with bad reputations, or kids that can't fit in in normal society were sent there.

The teacher, a thin and nervous looking man, arrived. "U-um....class, please settle down....." He whimpered. "We have a new student today, class....."

The class ignored him, pelting him with spitballs and crumpled pieces of paper.

You walked in. The class raised their eyebrows as one. "H-hello...." You said shyly. "M-my name is ~~~~~~~. Nice to meet you. I hope we can all be friends." You smiled, but the class didn't smile back.

The teacher told you to sit next to a girl who ignored you, instead playing with her cell phone. You decided not to introduce yourself to her -- she'd probably bite your head off.

In the middle of class, a boy walked in. The girls immediately giggled and flipped their hair. The boy ignored them all.

You stared at him in wonder. He was.......no words to describe it.......beautiful. He had long, softly curling hair that framed his smooth, pale skin and face. His eyes were large and doe-like. But there was something wrong with those beautiful eyes-----they were blank, emotionless, with just a hint of sadness and pain underneath the surface. His face held no expression. He looked like a beautiful mannequin -- unmoving, unfeeling.

"Mr. Jang, I see you've decided to come to school today." The teacher quaivered. The boy ignored him, or didn't answer. He walked down and sat down in the seat behind you.

The girl playing with her phone next to you giggled and eyed him. "Who is that?" You whispered to her.

The girl didn't mind answering you, as long as it was about that boy. "Him? His name is Jang Hyunseug. Isn't he gorgeous?" She giggled again and curled her hair around her fingers coyly. The boy ignored her and stared out the window.

"What happened to him?" You asked.

The girl frowned slightly. "Nobody knows why he came here. Apparently, he was an orphan and he once had a little sister, but that's all we know. And he doesn't talk. Like, he's mute. He doesn't say a word, and he never smiles."

"That's horrible." You peeked at the mute boy quickly. "I feel so bad for him."

"Whatever," the girl snorted. "He IS unbelievably gorgeous. Shame he doesn't talk, though. He generally never comes to class."

You peeked at him every so often in class. He has such a pretty face......I wonder why he's mute.

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It was Gym class. Hyunseung finished running, and girls screamed and fainted when they saw him. He ignored it all. Running....what was the big deal? He didn't feel anything -- not the burn in his muscles, or the heat in his skin, or the stagger of his breath.

He felt nothing.

Gym class ended, and Hyunseung went to get a drink of water at the water fountain. A girl quietly went to stand beside him, waiting for her turn. She was very pretty, a smile permanently on her face.

He looked up, and you looked at him in surprise. You smiled cheerfully.

"Hello! You are Jang Hyunseung, right? Nice to meet you, I'm ~~~~~~." You said politely.

Hyunseung was surprised. Nobody had ever talked to him so friendly before.......or smiled at him like that.

You kept on smiling, humming cheerfully to yourself. When Hyunseung finished drinking, he stood up and looked at you again.

You smiled at him and waved. He noticed something -- a dark bruise on your wrist. His eyes widened, and for the first time, he felt something. Surprise. What happened to her? It looked like she got thrown against a wall....

You saw him staring at the bruise and sheepishly covered it, before leaning over to take a drink.

When you straightened up again, he was still there, staring at you. You smiled and bowed politely to him.

"You're a very fast runner, you know." You complimented.

Hyunseung said nothing, of course. You didn't mind.

"Oh, that's the bell!" You waved at him. "See you later, Hyunseung!"

Hyunseung watched you go. When you waved, your bruise flashed again.

For the first time, he felt emotions -- surprise and curiosity. Who was this pretty girl with the warm smile? Why did she have a bruise?

Why did he want to see her again?