COLORS:
Jinyoung
Sukhyun (the teacher)
Nana
Eunjung

Chapter 4: Enter Stage Left

“Ah, get a grip! This is a big step, I know that. . . But there isn’t any point to worrying so much about it, at least not this soon.”
Jinyoung follow the teacher into the classroom and look around, partially so he won’t have to meet the curious gaze of his new classmates. It’s pretty spacious; the ceiling is unusually high and there’s lots of space left over around and inbetween the desks. An entire wall taken up by blackboards and the high, old fashioned windows only make it seems larger. The students’ desks are just standard wooden desks with a shelf underneath for books and wooden chairs with metal frames. Simple and efficient. Jinyoung stop walking in front of the classroom and face the other students. They all look normal, like students in any other school. But then, why would they be here right? They’re probably like him and have something wrong with them, only it’s just not immediately obvious. Then, he notices that one of the girls seems to be missing the thumb of her right hand. It’s a little jarring. Despite the natural tendency listen when someone’s talking about you, Jinyoung tune out the teacher’s speech halfway through while he introduces him to the class. Jinyoung notice a flash of dark hair and see that someone is looking at him. A girl with long, straight hair that is pretty eye-catching. As she sees him looking back at her, she covers her face with her hands as if it will make her invisible. There is one boy with a cane leaning against the lockers at the rear of the class. It’s weird seeing someone so young with a cane. Another girl seems to be making some weird hand motions. “Sign language?”  She peers at Jinyoung over the rims of her glasses, then go back to whatever she’s doing. She’s kind of cute. So is the cheery looking girl with golden hair sitting next to her. She’s really hard to miss; Jinyoung don’t know how he didn’t notice her the moment he walked in. . .
“ . . . please welcome our newest classmate.” The teacher claps his hands and so does everyone else, except one girl in the first row who has only one hand. Jinyoung cringed a little, but hide it by bowing in thanks for the applause he did not deserve. A collective silence tells him that he should open his mouth now.
“So. . . Jung Jinyoung imnida.” And after that? “My hobbies are reading and soccer. I hope to get along well with everyone even though I’m a new student.” And after that?
“I’m being so boring. That is exactly like every self-introduction ever. I should say something more. Something more exciting.”  He end up saying nothing, and the teacher picks up from there. Everyone seems to be satisfied even with what little he said, though. A few girls are whispering to each other, throwing glances at him. “It could’ve gone worse.” . . . He listens to the teacher as he drones about getting along while letting his gaze sweep across the classroom. Everyone seems to be listening to the teacher intently and when he’s done, they clap their hands again which feels like a weird thing to do. The first row girl claps on this round, with her one hand against her other wrist that ends in a bandaged stump. It makes Jinyoung feel a little bad.
“We’re going to do some group work today, so that’ll give you a chance to talk with everyone. Is that okay with you?”
“Yeah, it’s fine with me.”
“That’s good, you can work with Eunjung. She is the class representative. She can explain anything you might want to know. And who else would be able to do that better, right?” “How could I know?”
The teacher passes out the day’s assignments and announces that they will be working in groups of three. It hits Jinyoung that he doesn’t know who Eunjung is. Slow. The teacher seems to catch his helpless expression.
“Oh, right. Eunjung is right there, Jung Eunjung.” As the teacher calls out her name, the cute, bubbly looking girl with bright golden hair and dark eyes waves her hand at him. He take a seat next to her, by the window.
“Hey, I guess you’re Eunjung, right? It’s nice to meet you.”
“Hahaha~!” “What?”He is caught off guard by her laughter.
“It’s nice to meet you, too! But~! I’m not Eunjungie, I’m Nana! This is Eunjungie. Eunjungie~!”  Giggling, Nana points to the girl next to her, the one Jinyoung saw using sign language before. It looks like she has been staring at him this whole time. She nods once nonchalantly to show that she acknowledges his presence . . . but only barely. She has short, yet carefully, neatly bushed hair, a pair of round-shaped glasses balanced on the tip of a dainty nose, and dark eyes that seem to alternate every few seconds between analytical and slightly bored.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“. . .” She immediately looks at Nana, who smiles and makes a few quick gestures with her hands. Eunjung nods and makes a few gestures of her own. Jinyoung starts to wonder if the teacher was messing with him, saying things like “you’ll be able to talk to people” and “who better to explain things to you.”
“I can see you’re a little confused, right? Right? But, I understand why you would think I was Eunjungie! Eunjungie is deaf, so I’m the person who translates things back and forth for her. I’m like an interpreter~! She says it’s nice to meet you, too!”
“. . .”
“You’re the new student, aren’t you? Well, Eunjungie, of course he is! If he wasn’t he would have been standing up there for no reason, right? Right~? He seems like a very interesting person, doesn’t he~! We knew there was going to be a new student, but we didn’t know you would be here today. So soon! Jinyoungie, right?!” “Jinyoungie. . .?” 
“Yup~! It fits, doesn’t it?” (note: In this story, Jinyoungie is a model! LOL!) “Did I say it out loud? It’s just a surprise. I’ve never liked that nickname.”

“I don’t really see how.”
“It fits you~! You look just like I imagined!”
“. . .”
“Hahahaha~! Yeah, you look exactly like Jinyoungie!”
“I wonder why everyone seems to think so. . .”
“. . .” Eunjung taps her fingers on the desk to get Nana’s attention. They gesture back and forth to each other excitedly, their hands a blur. Nana seems a little overwhelmed.
“Ahaha~! Er, sorry about that! Eunjungie wants to know that she’s the class rep, so if there is anything you need to know, you can feel free to ask her.”
“. . .”
“Do you like the school so far? We can show you around a little if you haven’t had time to walk around and . . . . Familiarize? Yourself with it!” Nana stumbles with the hard word a bit, making it stick out in her otherwise fluid translation.
“Thanks, that would be pretty helpful. Yeah, I just came straight from class today.”
“. . .”
“Hahaha~! That’s no good! You should always try to learn as much as you can about where you’re going before you go there. Not just with school, either~! Always! Even if it’s a trip to the convenience store! Really, Eunjungie? Hahaha~!” “Learn about where you’re going? I guess I didn’t bother to do that, or just didn’t care enough to do so.” He didn’t look forward to this, even if he committed himself to go along with it half-assedly, but anyway. He doesn’t say anything, and Nana signs something that ends in a shrug. What was that? Jinyoung seems like it’s about him. He feels like slumping over in his seat. Nana and Eunjung are both smiling, but that shrug hit him unexpectedly deeply.
“You look down, are you okay?”
“. . .”
“Don’t take it the wrong way, please~! I hate it when people are afraid to ask questions! That’s how people learn things, by asking~! Asking for help is perfectly normal, as much as needing help! Stop looking like you just failed a test! Wahahaha~!”
“All right.”
“. . .”
“Ah, and another thing, you don’t have to call Eunjungie something so formal like ‘Eunjung’ or ‘class rep’ all the time! Just call her Eunjungie~!”
“. . .”
“Ahaha~! Okay, maybe that’s too casual. Maybe ‘Eunjung’ would be more appropriate?”
“. . .”
“Yup, yup~!  ‘Eunjung’ is fine!”
“Heh. Okay, that would be a lot easier for me.” He feels a lot more at ease. Both of them seem so friendly, so he feels like an idiot for being so apprehensive earlier. Especially about Eunjung, who he assumed would be all business. Well, she still seems like that. Just less so, maybe.
“. . .!”
“Huh? Oh, right, we haven’t even touched the assignment! We should start to work now, or Eunjungie will get mad.”
“The assignment is also kind of long, so we should start now if we want to finish it before the end of class.”
“Wahaha~! That too!”
“. . .” Eunjung glared at the two of them impatiently. Jinyoung don’t need to know sign language to understand that.
“Okay, okay, I get the message.”
“. . .”
“After class; we can take a walk around the grounds together. It’s a nice day today. Okay~?” The assignment is actually very challenging to get through, combining aspects of being both difficult and unnecessarily long. Still, they finish it a few minutes earlier than anyone else in the class, despite their late start. Eunjung and Nana are really capable. They’re quite different, though. The class rep is as calm and professional as she looks, while Nana is a lot more playful and girlish. Not to mention a little more easily distracted. To be honest, the two of them did most of the work. Jinyoung feel guilty about that. The clock tower bell ring, signaling the end of the period. Time for lunch. Without knowing what else to do, he follow Nana, who is beckoning him into the hallway and down the stairs.