~Donghae~

“Hey, check it out.” Jessica said. “Look over there.”

I fix my eyes upon where Jessica was pointing, which was towards the office, and I saw an unfamiliar student. What caught my attention the most was his dyed platinum blonde hair. Hair that unnaturally blonde looked like it should be dead, hanging on to life, but it looked fluffy and healthy from what I could tell. I’ve never seen a student dye their hair such a light blonde before, and it suited his pale skin in a way. His hair was short with a fresh undercut and his facial features were sharp, especially his jaw. He didn’t look young enough to be a freshmen but not old enough to be a senior either.

“I bet he’s a dancer. He totally has the body of one.” Jessica said.

“How can you even tell? He looks underweight.” I said.

“Maybe he’s a singer.” Kibum guessed.

“Nooo, he doesn’t look like a singer… More like a rapper.” I shoved my hands into my pockets.

“Maybe he’s a sculptor?” Kibum guessed again.

“Maybe he’s all three!” Jessica shouted cheerfully. “Look! It’s Mr. Song! Let’s go say ‘Hi’ to him!” Jessica linked her arms with Kibum and mines and dragged us all the way to SM’s best singing instructor. Mr. Song was a young, enthusiastic man who liked to hear all his replies in song, or at least he preferred to hear them in that way. He had a bow tie  and he liked wearing checker patterned suits that gave me terrible headaches and didn’t do him any justice to look any more attractive than a tiled floor.

“Goooood moooorniiiing~” Jessica sang in her soft high voice. I smile at her adorableness and sang ‘good morning’ in my deep, smooth voice. Kibum on the other hand just smiled as if people should be pleased he even bothered putting the effort to look happy in their presences in the first place. But if gave this guy three scripts he’ll go all out, you wouldn’t even know which is the real him, you’d be seeing 3 people in one. That’s how good he was at acting.

Mr. Song, who was pleased with our greetings – or at lease mine and Jessica’s and replied by singing ‘good morning’ in an opera voice, we all listened attentively. The blonde guy was directed over to us and Mr. Song put a welcoming hand on his shoulder introducing him to us.

“Let me introduce to you a new student that’ll be attending SM Academy, his name is Lee Hyukjae. He’s a junior this year, so do show him around and help him out a bit.”

Hyukjae bowed at us and we all bowed back. His lips were pressed together like he he didn’t care meeting us.

“I have to return to my classroom so I’m counting on all of you to be nice to him, alright?”

“Yeees Mr. Soooooong~” Jessica and I sang in harmony. We look into each other's eyes and a smile tugged on both of our mouths.

“Ahem.” Kibum cleared his throat, grabbing both our attention back to reality. “Welcome to SM -- Where only the talented can enter. I’m Kim Kibum.” He said as he stuck out his hand for a hand shake. The American part of him was showing. Hyukjae shook it and furrowed his eyebrows.

“Does everyone say that?”

Kibum made a haughty expression. “It serves as a lovely reminder that we’re one of the best out there.”

Hyukjae gave him a look as if he could challenge that. I cleared my throat, hoping they weren’t going to go anything further than their exchange of glares.

“I’m Lee Donghae, and this is my girlfriend Jung Jessica.”

“Hi!” Jessica chirped as she waved. “Let’s get along well.”

Hyukjae nodded, shooting her a more pleasant smile than the one he had on his face earlier. “As do it.” He said.

 “So what’re your talents?” I asked, curious.

“Talents?”

“Yeah, do you draw, act, rap-” Kibum listed out.

“I dance.”

“Just dance?” I said.

“I guess…” He shrugged, like he had nothing else to offer.

I smiled awkwardly because I had no idea what else to say to him. Usually kids in this school were multitalented since entertainment industries like to see variety, but there are exceptions. If you were proficient enough to show you were worthy then this school might consider approving your application. We all just stood there and let the silence suffocate us until Jessica finally broke it.

“Oh, Donghae dances too by the way. What kinds of styles do you like to dance?”

I was thankful for a second for her save, but slightly hoping we could’ve ended it there and leave this guy lost in the halls.

He looked unimpressed, but there was a hint of interest that he wanted to say more. Instead, he left it vague. “I pop and break dance. I also do hip hop.”

“Really? Me too.” I said, recovering swiftly. “Mr. Moon and Ms. Kang are excellent teachers. So I can assure you that you won’t be disappointed.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Well, I guess I’ll be going now. So, see you guys later?” He said. He looked like someone who was used to seeing faces and didn’t bother remembering them later.

So far for showing this guy around…

Hyukjae left, heading towards a long corridor while Kibum, Jessica, and I stayed around the office area. Class wasn’t going to start for another 10 minutes so we all decided to spilt up to go see other friends. Jessica went outside and Kibum went to check out his first period, I just strolled around the halls and somehow ended up in the art room. I barely even recognized it since the walls were all . It was so dull, so empty at the moment. I remember that there used to be graffiti pictures, water paintings, graphic designs, and sculptures of animals and buildings covering every corner and inch of this room. It was always the most colorful out of every room, and some students even danced or sang while they painted on an easel.

“Is that you, Donghae?” I heard a familiar voice say.

Well look who's here.

“I think that is Donghae!” I heard a different voice cry out.

He’s here, too?

I turned around and it was none other than Amber and Jonghyun. “DONGHAE!!” They shouted while charging like beasts right at me. The impact of their hug made me crash into the wall and they bounced all around me shouting: “We found our missing dino brother! He’s back! The Dino siblings are now united!”

“Calm down.” I chuckled. We all hugged and they finally gave me some space. Amber and Jonghyun were both sophomores this year and we’ve known each other since middle school. They always stuck together, never leaving the other’s side unless forced to by unfortunate mismatched schedules. Their souls were pretty much one. People called us the ‘Dino Siblings’ because we all seemed to resemble dinosaurs, even though I didn’t have an actual sibling besides Jason who was adopted. I guess you can say that my ancestors go waaaaay back, get it? Sorry, lame joke.

Amber was a musician, blessed with the talents to play various instruments and a hand to paint the images of life down onto a canvas. She explored a variety of styles from abstract to geometric never finishing clean of paint on her shirt or face. Jonghyun was a singer. He loved singing ballads and he sometimes wrote his own song lyrics and made his own music for school showcases and talent shows. I had always thought of them as if they were my real siblings, we were really close. The people here were one of the reason I loved this school. It was like a second home to me. All my friends were like a second family and there was nothing better than to spend time with them on a bad day of failing to memorize lines or forgetting the next dance move. I’d rather be here at this school than to be at… Home.

Eunhae has met! Not the best first impression of each other, but a friendship yet awaits them! And then comes... Romance ;) However, I don't want to jump into love so quick since I want their love to develop bit by bit. :D Thank you~