The morning air is stifling, thick with humidity as Spring is fading into Summer. Mark pulls at his collar, loosening the tie on his school uniform. A bead of sweat is making its way down his face, along his high cheekbones and down further until it drips off his jaw to land on the strap on his book bag.

       It's his first day at a new school but he isn't nervous. He's used to this, moving around, making new friends that he'll never keep in touch with once he moves again. Same old, same old. Been this way for years now. He gets close to others, but not so close that it makes goodbyes hard.

       When he arrives at the bus stop it is only him and another student. The girl goes to his school too, he can tell by the uniform, but he doesn't know which class she's in. She's a peculiar thing with long black hair pulled into a messy ponytail on the right side of her head. Her arm is raised above her head, her hand clutching what looks to be a tape recorder. Mark's gaze followed the length of her arm, his brows pulled together in wonder. His eyes catch site of a birds best and when he strains his hearing he can hear the barely audible chirps of baby birds calling out for their mother.

       Mark relaxes his brow and clears his throat. The girl lowers her arm, the movement slow, and looks over at the one who disturbed her.

       "What are you doing?"

       The sound of the bus drawing near had the girl looking away from Mark. A twinge of annoyance showed on Mark's face for having been ignored, but he didn't say anything. He followed the girl onto the bus and paid the fare with a card his father had loaded with money. He walked through the crowded bus, suspecting that there wasn't going to be an empty place for him to take a seat.

       Before he could find a place to stand and a bar to hold onto the bus started forward, sending Mark stumbling into people. He let out apologies directed at no one in particular and quickly grabbed hold of a bar. He reached into the pocket of his uniform jacket and pulled out some earbuds. He set them in his ear and browsed through his phone for something to listen to. He felt someone bump into his arm as the bus turned. He glanced over just to see the girl that has gotten on at the same stop as him. She had her tape recorder held out towards the chattering patrons of the bus; students, business men and elderly woman heading to the market. There was a small smile set on her pink lips, as if she found some kind of solace in the mess of sound that surrounded them. Mark rolled his eyes and turned up the volume on his phone.

       Seeming to notice the sound coming from his earphone the girl raised her tape recorder to Mark's left ear. She was pursing her lips at him, seemingly contemplating what he was listening to.

       Mark glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He pulled out an earbud and asked, for the second time that morning, "What are you doing?"

       The girl met his gaze and lowered her arm. "I'm recording sound."

       "Yeah, but why?"

       The girl shrugged and turned away from him. Mark noticed when she slipped the tape recorder into the pocket at the front of her uniform. He let out annoyed breath. He didn't like when his questions were avoided, but he was also to stubborn to act like he cared so he didn't pursue the matter.
The bus finally came to a stop down the street from the school and it was chaos as the horde of students began to push themselves off the bus. The girl behind him grabbed onto the edge of Mark's bag as they began to follow the crowd, using him as a way to balance herself when people tried shoving. When they had stepped off she let go of and walked around him, her steps much quicker than his. He watched her go and as she was greeted by a group of girls. Those other girls had better choices in hairstyle, Mark though to himself as he rolled his eyes. He hoped he wouldn't be seeing her around too much more that day. Her and her curious tape recorder.

       Unlike most people who transferred in the middle of a school year, Mark was not nervous. He yawned as he walked into the school building, his eyes instantly found the sign that told him where the office was and he went straight there.

       The secretary desk was neat, files and folders sat in a tray at the edge of the desk, a computer monitor sat at one corner, the keyboard was slightly askew in front of the chair behind the desk, and seated there was a thin woman with light brown hair. Her name tag said Fei Wang. She was pretty, the kind of young secretary you see in movies and who is having an affair with her boss. Mark didn't get that vibe from her. She was actually too pretty and too young. She was probably dating guys her own age.

       When Mark was about to announce his presence the woman looked and smiles at him. Her smile was bright and easy, very friendly. She reached for a piece of paper on top of her stack of folders.

       "You must be Mark." She handed him a name badge and a piece of paper that had his schedule printed on it. "Your class representative should be here any minute to give you a brief tour of the building and to introduce you to your classmates." Fei looked at the clock and shook her head. "That girl is always running late."

       Mark was about to say that he didn't need a tour when an all too familiar girl came running in, her side ponytail hit her in the face as she came to stop and a few strands of hair clung to her lips.

       "Sorry. I completely forgo-" she looked over at Mark. "-ttt. Oh... you're the new student. I should have known." She brushed her hair from her face and gave a short bow in Mark's direction. He instinctively ducked his head. "I'm Suzy, your class representative." She pointed to her name tag as she spoke her name, Mark's gaze went down to the girl's chest to read the little rectangle attached to the front of her uniform. It read Suzy Bae and indicated she was in class 3-A. His eyes met hers again, but she quickly turned away and started out of the office.

       Mark shoved his schedule into his pocket and attached his name tag as he followed behind the girl from the bus stop. He only felt slightly annoyed that they were going to be in the same class. It was probably inevitable that they would become friends between seeing each other at the bus stop and in class. He wouldn't have minded so much if he just knew what in the hell she was doing with that damn tape recorder. He didn't even know why it bothered him. He couldn't even remember the last time he had seen a tape recorder in person – if he ever had. It was so outdated and most people used digital recorders now, but this girl was carrying around an old tape recorder that probably belonged to one of her parents.

       Suzy was talking as she led Mark down the hall. He was at her side now and only half-listening as she told him which rooms were which. Only when they finally made it to their own classroom did Suzy stop talking. Mark took a step into the classroom and gave a sigh. It was your typical setup, rows of desk, two-by-two, set up so there were aisles between each pair. Just like at every other school he had attended the students were sitting on top of the desks talking to students sitting in their seats. There were kids standing around and play fighting, while others were rushing to finish their assignments from the day before.

       “The seat next to mine is empty, so if you want you can have it,” Suzy said. “Or you can try and get someone to trade with you.”

       “It's okay.” Mark adjusted the strap on his bookbag and eyed the room a bit more. Suzy only nodded and started for her own desk in the center of the room. Mark watched after her before slowly following to take his own seat. There wasn't a way for him to escape his fate. It looks like he was stuck with this strange girl.