To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Get out of my way, freak.” Some unknown student snapped me as I walked through the hallway of our little school. Well, it wasn’t really little if you looked at it subjectively. It was the biggest building in town, even higher than the church in the middle of the town.

I flinched a bit and walked a bit more to my right to let the student pass me. I was almost sure that he was older than me. I was in junior year and that boy looked like he had to be in the senior year. ‘The year in which all students become bullies.’ I had once overheard a girl talking about the subject. To be honest, I think that it didn’t really matter if they were in senior year or in junior, they always picked on me no matter what I did. I was considered the freak, the outsider of the school. I was the one that nobody liked.

I looked down at my shoes and kept walking, trying not to make any eye contact with the people in the hallway. I heard whispers, taunting yells and giggles. I bit my lip and walked a bit faster, which I never should’ve done because I crashed into the one person I didn’t want to crash into.

We both fell down on the ground, I hit my back hard while my backpack flew away and slid across the hallway. I groaned and looked at the person across me. There on the filthy ground sat the most popular and nice guy of the senior year. He rubbed his back with his eyes closed as if he had hurt himself really hard.

I quickly looked around but the hallway was empty. I hadn’t noticed that the bell had rung and everyone was supposed to be in class. And everyone was in class except for me and… “Daehyun.”

Daehyun looked up when I called out his name and his eyes widened when he realized that he had collided with me. I immediately expected an expression of disgust on his face but it never appeared. Instead, his already big eyes widened even more. He pushed himself back on his feet and dusted off his pants. I just stared at him, looking how the handsome boy was trying to get himself cleaned again.

I expected him to just walk away and leave me on the ground as if I was some kind of filth, like all the other students would’ve done but Daehyun his eyes focused on me and he bowed down a bit and held out his hand for me to take.

I just stared at it. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to say! Even my mouth was hanging open because of the surprise and my jaw almost fell down when I heard him snickering before saying: “I just want to help you up, ehm…” He looked at me and it took me about thirty seconds before I realized that he didn’t know my name and I said with a shy and inaudible voice: “I’m Donghae. Lee Donghae.” I grabbed his hand carefully, still aware that he could be tricking me, and I stood up.

“East sea?” Daehyun asked me and I softly nodded, it was probably barely noticeable but Daehyun caught it one way or another. “That’s a strong name.” Daehyun smiled at me and I couldn’t help but blush. Not only was I interacting with someone at school without him bullying me, he was also very handsome which made me feel kind of inferior. I knew that Daehyun was probably trying to make me feel better by saying that my name was strong, because honestly I wasn’t strong at all. I was a cry-baby and someone who couldn’t stand up against his own bullies. Maybe Daehyun was mocking me? But I didn’t want to believe that because he was just so nice to me.

“It’s nice to meet you, Donghae. My name is Park Daehyun.” He began to shake our holding hands and I blushed because I realized that I had been the one who kept on holding his hand. I immediately let go. Daehyun snickered and casually put his hands in his pockets while I was fidgeting with them behind my back.

“It’s nice to meet you too…” I softly murmured while I looked down at my shoes again, I couldn’t believe what was happening! He smiled and ruffled my hair. I grew rigid of the touch but he didn’t seem to care about that and he kindly said: “You’re cute, Donghae. Well, I’ll see you around.” He waved a bit at me and then walked further to his own class.

I on the other hand, watched him leave with a huge blush on my face. He said that I was cute! It was like a wonderful dream to have someone say such nice things to me beside my parents. I giggled a bit while I softly touched my hair.

Suddenly I remembered that I had to go to class. I hurried to my backpack, almost tripped over a can that lay abandoned on the ground, and ran quickly to class.

I stood for the door, panting, and began to prepare myself for entering. I took a deep breath, ruffled my hair a bit and looked at my clothes to be sure that my classmates wouldn’t be snickering about something filthy that was stuck on my back.

I placed my h