Lilly Dori had just come home from another exhausting day at school, only to find her parents sitting at the table with a paper in front of them. This was quite odd to Lilly because her parents were rarely ever like this.

“Uh… what’s up guys?”

                “Lilly, sit down. We need to talk.”

Immediately Lilly racked her brain for something horrible she’s done to cause this sudden gathering with her parents. She hadn’t done anything bad recently, just her normal schedule: school, homework and taking pictures around town.

“Am I in trouble?”

                “No no, that’s not it. Your mother and I just fear that you’re not socializing like you should be. That’s not healthy for you.”

“I like being on my own though. I get to find things out by research, like right now my current project is South Korean culture.”

                “Yes, we know that and we’re proud that you’re finding new things out. It’s exciting to hear that. We’ve just decided that since you aren’t talking to anybody from school or around the town that’s your age, you should enroll to try and be in the Best Friend across the Sea program at your school.”

Mr. Dori slid a small but colorful pamphlet with the words “meet your new best friend!” across the top, sporting a hopeful smile on his face. Lilly picked up the paper and read it over, letting out a soft sigh. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk to her peers at school; every time she tried she would get laughed at or just be asked to take pictures for the person.

“Do I really have to?” Lily asked with a small plea in her voice that they would reconsider.

                “Yes. You have to. It’ll be fun!”

The somewhat fake enthusiasm in her mother’s voice wasn’t helpful, but Lilly decided to go ahead and enroll in the program. Not much could go wrong: the person she’d be writing to would have no idea who she is, she could lie about everything. That’s not how you make friends though, is it?

“Okay, fine. I’ll go talk to the counselor tomorrow about enrolling. Can I go now?”

Both of the adults nodded and Lilly grabbed her bag, going upstairs to her room to upload her newly taken pictures to her photography blog on Tumblr. Her followers didn’t really know her, just first name and that she took pictures. They don’t even really know about her appearance or that her favorite animals are goldfish and cats or even that she’s been diagnosed with depression since the age of 12. It was better that way though; she wanted to be known for her pictures, not for herself.

Lilly uploaded and organized the pictures into their separate posts and put them all in her queue for the next few days, then pulled up the internet to find more out about this Best Friend across the Sea program. From what she found out, it was a pen pal program to help a student from the United States and a student from Asia, Europe or Australia to have a better understand of the other’s culture and language through pictures and letters. This was perfect for Lilly, since she was very interested in learning different cultures. Plus you get a new friend out of the experience, so why not join? After printing and filling out the application, Lily finished her usual Thursday night routine and headed off to bed, excited to start her adventure and start writing whoever will be her pen pal.

Donghae laughed to himself and shook his head as he listened to two of his best friends. He knew that Kyuhyun would pick the game over his girlfriend, but Hyukjae couldn’t grasp the concept of why.

                “There’s no way I’m missing the premiere of the new game. I can’t do that; Soo will just have to understand why.” Kyuhyun retorted, throwing the ball back to Hyukjae.

“I don’t even understand, so how will she?”

“Because Kyu’s a game !” Sungmin, Donghae’s last best friend reminded them from his position on the couch.

All four boys laughed and shook their heads, knowing that Sungmin was absolutely right. Kyuhyun was the video game lover of the four, just like Hyukjae was the dancer, Sungmin the musician and Donghae the baker. They were an odd yet perfect combination together, and coincidentally the most popular boys in school. Although according to Donghae, he was only liked because of the cookies and cakes he brought to school every week.

“Oh hyung, are you really going to join that dumb pen pal program thing?” Kyu asked, going over to steal a freshly made cookie from the kitchen counter. The two other males perked up and started to question, not knowing what the youngest was talking about.

                “I was considering it,” Donghae simply replied, not taking his eyes off of the cake he was currently decorating. “It’d be interesting to talk to somebody that lived in America.”

“Hyung, you barely even know the English language.”

                “I know enough to get by, and plus pictures will help!”

This interested the musician and dancer even more. “Pictures?” They both asked, going into the kitchen to get an explanation of what was going on.

                “Yes, pictures. We send pictures and letters to each other to better understand the language and cultures.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to understand them?”

“Do you get to choose your partner?”

“Will you get hooked up with a hot girl?”

“What if you fall in love with each other?”

                “Yah, stop with the questions! I’ll know more tomorrow at school!” Donghae scolded, shooing the trio out of the kitchen. They quickly left with glum expressions, but a smile was across the baker’s face as he thought about the program. He was grateful to be one of the three students picked, but as far as he knew, no other schools or country had their students picked. He would be patient though, yet couldn’t help but consider the possibilities of maybe falling in love with an American girl. It happened before to others, so why not to him? He deserved happiness.

The yelling from the main room caught Donghae’s attention, and he chuckled and shook his head as he went to give them cookies to calm them down. He wouldn’t answer any more questions about the program, but he knew it would be a very exciting adventure.