“Class, get yourself together!”

The homeroom teacher, Mr. Yoo, hollered as he stood in front of the class. He was trying his best to get his students to be quiet because he had something to announce. His eyes were focused on a group of students in the back of the room, by the back door. They were talking and fooling around really loud, obviously didn’t give a bother that their homeroom teacher was trying his best to get their attention. He clapped his hands loudly with a quick whistle. That really got the whole room to be quiet and all eyes on him.

Mr. Yoo took a step back and faced me with a welcoming smile. “We have a study abroad student joining us this semester. I’m going to let her introduce herself so, please, be respectful. You hear?”

I walked up to the front of the room with a smile plastered on my face. I glanced around the room, not very fond with the fact that I had all eyes on me. I straightened up and gave everyone a quick bow, which I managed to remember to do so, thanks to no other than Do Kyungsoo. I stood back up and introduced myself. “Hi, everyone. My name is Lee Johae.” I paused when I heard chairs screeching against the ground. I continued once I didn’t hear it anymore. “This is my very first time attending a Korean high school so I am quite new to a lot of things. I’m looking forward to getting to know each and one of you during my stay. Thank you.”

“Very well.” The class clapped as Mr. Yoo stood beside me. “Johae, take a seat in front of Kyungsoo.”

Looking in the direction that Mr. Yoo was pointing at, I felt myself feeling more at ease than before. My shoulders were no longer as tensed as it was when I stepped into the room. A small smile appeared on my face when I saw Kyungsoo raised an arm up in the air. Mr. Yoo gestured me to go on and take my seat. I bowed to him and quietly made my way down the aisle to where my assign seat was located at, right in front of Kyungsoo.

“Guys, I’m giving you guys a good twenty minutes to mingle among yourselves.” Mr. Yoo announced once I was settled in my seat. I placed my backpack on the joint desk and focused on Mr. Yoo, who was hugging a huge stack of folders in his arms. He looked away from the folders and faced us, “I have to step out for a bit so I’m expecting you guys to behave. Please, don’t be loud. If I get any complaints from the teachers down the hall, I will take away your free time privilege for the semester. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mr. Yoo!” Mr. Yoo left the room.

-

Diverting my attention away from the large cafeteria, I looked to my right to see Chanyeol walking up to me. He stood right beside me and flashed a smile. He faced the front and began looking around as if he was looking for someone he knew. I faced the front when I saw him snapped his fingers with a hiss. He looked down at me with a wider smile. He didn’t say a word to me while reaching for my wrist. He gently wrapped his fingers around it and gave me arm a tug. He started walking in the direction that he was pointing at, which was just straight ahead.

“Did you find a vacant table?” I asked, letting him pull me while the students that we walked passed were staring at us, wondering what I was to him since they’ve never seen me before. “Chanyeol?”

He guided us to a table that was located directly in front of a wide, open window. Sunlight was beaming in, giving us some warmth. It was actually a very good spot, in my opinion. I liked the fact that outside the window was a grassy yard with a huge tree a mile away. Outside, there were a few students enjoying their lunch with their groups of friends. Sitting under the shade of the tree, there were a couple of students playing on their guitars. It was an absolutely perfect view to look at during lunch time.

“If you don’t want the sun to get in your way, I suggest you sit with your back facing the window.” Chanyeol suggested as he took a seat right across from me. He had his back facing the window. “At some point, the sun can be a bit irritating to the eyes. I couldn’t handle it even if I rather look out the window than a bunch of students eating their food.”

“I don’t think it’ll bother me that much. I like the sun.” I said, tucking a couple of strands of hair behind my left ear. I let out a hum before looking away from the window. I looked at Chanyeol, who had just tossed his backpack onto the empty chair beside him. “Do you guys often sit here?”

Chanyeol nodded as he turned to his left to his backpack. “We used to sit outside a lot but once we decided to sit in here, this spot became our spot.” He shrugged, “We sort of claimed this table unannounced. No one seemed to have an issue with us sitting here so we didn’t care.” He pulled out a j