Prologue:

 

It was the first day of first grade.

 

You were wearing your new blue sneakers (‘because pink was too girly’,you had whined at your mom when she wanted to buy you the sparkly pink princess shoes) and your short hair was tied into two pigtails.

 

“Stop tugging at your skirt Jinri. I know you want to wear shorts, but now that you’re in first grade and going to a real, big kid school, you have to wear a skirt as part of the uniform, ok?” Your mom smiled fondly at you, straightened your uniform, and kissed you on the forehead before gently pushing you past the gates into the schoolyard.

 

The teacher was a nice looking lady who wore a big blue skirt and shirt with flowers on it. Her black hair streaked with grey was tied up in a bun and her eyes crinkled kindly when she smiled.

 

“Annyonghaseyo Teacher Park” you bowed politely, speaking in a shy voice.

 

“You must be Lee Jinri!” She smiled at you and led you to your seat where you sat next to another girl.

 

The first half of the day was uneventful. The teacher made every student introduce him- or herself by saying their name and their most favorite thing.

 

The girl who sat next to you said her name was Soojung and her favorite thing was the butterfly hair clip she was wearing that her dad had bought her from America.

A boy, you think he said his name was Kyungsoo, had the biggest eyes ever and looked like he was going to cry when he was talking in front of everyone.

 

There was a really pale boy, his name was Oh Sehun, said his favorite thing was milk. He was extremely skinny and when he pronounced the ‘s’ sound it sounded like ‘th’. Two boys sitting together at the back began to giggle.

 

“Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Settle down. Its rude to make noise when other people are talking”.

 

After learning some of the hangul alphabet and simple math it was snack and recess time. Each of you received a carton of milk and some crackers.

 

You were watching when Chanyeol was passing by Sehun’s desk he accidentally knocked over Sehun’s milk. He looked around wide-eyed for a moment and ran back to his own desk to escape getting in trouble. When Sehun returned from the bathroom and saw the spilled milk you saw his lips begin to tremble and tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

You rolled your eyes before getting up and walking over to Sehun.

 

            “Here, have mine” you held out your own, unopened carton of milk to him.

He immediately stopped sobbing and looked at you curiously with wide eyes.

            “Really?”

You nodded before shoving the milk into his hands and walking back to your own seat.

 

You stayed in during recess because you really had no interest in playing with any of the other kids. Instead you asked for some crayons and paper so you could draw. You loved to draw.

 

When you guys learned more after recess you quickly became bored because you were a fast learner compared to many of the other kids.

 

When the school bell chimed, indicating the end of class, everyone stood up said bye and bowed to the teacher before running out of the classroom.

 

You had to take the school bus back to your house. You were the first one on the bus and you found a large seat in the back.  You set your backpack beside you and stared out the window, wondering why your mom had made school sound so exciting because your first day had been pretty boring and uneventful.

 

“Hey Jinri, can we sit here?” a familiar voice interrupted your thoughts. You looked up. Oh, it was milkboy. Next to him was another boy. He was extremely tanned compared to Sehun and he wore a baseball cap.

 

“This is my friend Jongin, he’s in B-class though” Sehun introduced; the other boy just looked at you curiously and offered a small smile. They both stared at you expectantly.

 

Your mom did tell you to try and make friends, and these two kids did seem nicer and more fun than the girly girls in your class…especially that Jung Soojung.

 

“Mmmm okay. You can sit here”

 

ever since that day, the three of you have been inseparable.