The blaring alarm pulled her from her peaceful slumber that morning. 

A soft groan left her lips as she turned, reaching out and searching for the familiar form of her digital clock. Where was the snooze button? It was far too early to wake up. Especially on a Sunday. She could've sworn that she had turned of the alarm last night...What time was it? It felt like 4 in the afternoon. 

"Ellie, wake up!" Her mother's urgent voice called from downstairs. "You need to get ready for school quickly, or else you're going to have to walk! We both know that you'll get lost, so you'd better get out of that bed!"

"Mom..." She groaned as she reluctantly rolled from the warm sanctuary formed by her sheets. Setting her feet against the carpet, she ran her hands through her hair before slowly opening her eyes so as not to blind herself from the ever dreaded sunlight. Still it was in vain, and she cringed a bit from the pain before forcing her eyes open again to adjust to the light, a soft sigh leaving her lips as she rubs the sleep from them. 

Ellie looked around the room that she was staying in. She refused to call it her room. She even refused to call this place her home. Home was familiar. Home was where the heart was, and her heart was not in this country, let alone this tiny apartment located in Seoul. Taking in her unfamiliar surroundings, a pang of sadness made itself known in her heart. She wanted so desperately to go home, to America. She wanted to see her friends, and her teachers. But she couldn't, thanks to her mother's job deciding to ship her out to South Korea in order to run the new branch of their company. 

Standing up, she made her way over to the dresser that was stocked with her clothes, pulling out a fresh pair of underwear, and socks. She cast a sidelong glance at the school uniform that she was being forced to wear with a look of disdain on her features before placing the articles of clothing that she had just retrieved down on the dresser, grabbing a towel and making her way into the shower.

She could already tell that it was going to be a long day. 

"Try to make a friend okay? I know that you don't like the fact that you're here. But you'll get used to it soon." Silence was the response that Selene recieved from her daughter, who sat in the passenger's seat of the car, an aura of controlled misery surrounding her. The unspoken words of rage on Ellie's behalf caused a very tangible tension to fill the small cabin of the grey Prius that they owned. Clearing a bit in an unsuccessful attempt to make the situation less awkward, Selene spoke up again. "Call me if you need help with getting home. But I'm sure that your classmates won't mind helping you out. Remember the manners lessons, and don't worry too much if you make some mistakes with talking to people okay?"

"I know mother." The girl muttered coldly, pulling her long brown and blue hair into a ponytail before she opened the door of the car, grabbing her backpack before setting foot on the pavement outside of the small high school she would be attending. Closing the door, she gave her mom a last fleeting look that begged her to just allow them to return home, but the old bat stood firm. Ellie heaved a great, distressed sigh before she watched her mother drive off. "And so it begins." She said darkly before she turned, walking into the building. 

"Ilhoon hyung." Sungjae poked his friend, frowning as the elder ignored him. The brunette was always tuning out his surroundings with his music. "Hyung." The raven-haired male said again, prodding Ilhoon a little harder this time. Casting a lazy glance at the younger boy Ilhoon pulled out one of his headphones, a look of irritation settling over his face as he did so. 

"Mm?" He hummed out, wondering what Sungjae could possibly have to say. It wasn't that he didn't like the younger. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Sungjae was one of his best friends. It was simply the fact that he didn't like to be bothered in the mornings. He was barely awake enough to stay upright, so it was always lovely when he didn't have to put energy into sustaining a conversation. 

"I hear that we're getting a transfer student today." Sungjae said with a grin as he noticed the way Ilhoon's eyebrow rose. "So you really haven't heard about it?"

The brunette shook his head. "I haven't. Do you know anything about them yet?"

"No, not really. I just know they're from America, but I'm hoping that we get a cool guy to talk to. I want to learn about what people do over there." 

"Don't they just do normal people things?" Ilhoon asked blankly, blinking a few times before his eyes were attracted to a flash of blue in his peripheral vision. Turning his head, he met eyes with a pretty girl with black and blue hair. She was very obviously not Korean, and she looked extremely confused as to what she was supposed to be doing here. She looked at him for a few moments before she quickly looked away, her eyes going to the paper in her hand. 

"Oh, looks like it's a girl...She looks kinda weird. I mean, who has blue hair?" Sungjae furroed his brows, not quite sure what to make of the girl that both males were blatantly staring at. 

"I think it looks cool." Ilhoon said with a shrug. "She looks lost. You should go help her out." He lightly pushed Sungjae in the direction of the transfer student. 

"But you speak better english than I do!" Sungjae hissed, planting his heels against the ground to keep himself from being so easily man handled by the older male. 

"I really don't though." Ilhoon rolled his eyes, looking around. "Should we just let her find her own way? Maybe she doesn't speak Korean..."

"I speak Korean quite well actually." A female voice caused the two to stop their squable, looking at the girl with eyes as wide as dinner plates. Ellie looked between the two guys with green eyes that seemed distant, almost to the point of boredom. "Well, considering that I've only been studying for a year." She shrugged, clearing awkwardly, since the two still hadn't spoken. "Um..I'm Ellie." She bowed slightly, not knowing whether or not she should even be using such formal language with these guys. They seemed like dimwits anyways, so more than likely they were younger than her. But then again, this was high school, and maturity wasn't exactly in abundance here. 

"I'm Ilhoon." The brown haired boy spoke first, and Ellie once again made eye contact with him. A small smile bloomed on his features, and she couldn't help but to think that he was kinda adorable with the way that his eyes curved up into two crescent moon shapes when he grinned. 

"I'm Sungjae." The raven-haired male introduced himself with a small bow. "It's nice to meet you. We were just talking about if we should help you. I was going to let you wander the halls like I did until you got it right. But Ilhoon hyung was trying to make me- OW!" The younger male cried out as his hand went up to cup the back of his head. He glared at Ilhoon incredulously. "Did you just hit me?" 

"You were rambling again." Ilhoon shrugged cooly. "What did you want me to do?" He looked to Ellie again. "So do you need any help with getting around?"

"Ah yeah...I need to get to B107. I think it's biology..."

"Oh well, we were going to go there. So we can show you the way!"

"Sweet." Ellie nodded as she walked ahead of them. She made sure to keep her pace slow enough for them to catch up and eventually pass her up. She was simply trying to get the point across that she didn't really want to dawdle in the hallways, shooting the breeze when there was learning to be done.

Ilhoon watched the girl in awe. He had never met anyone like this girl. He was the type to find most girls annoying, but this Ellie girl...She was so...For the lack of a better word: cool. She had a cold exterior, but the way she held herself made Ilhoon suspect that there was something that made her worth getting to know. 

Especially if she felt that same curiosity that he felt toward her.