Back At Your Door

Here I am again. I don’t know why I keep on doing this. I don’t feel good or bad, I don’t feel anything at all. No matter what I’m doing or where I am, if I feel like going here, I’ll be here at all costs, just blankly staring at the horizon. I’ve been like this for almost a year now; I’ve tried consulting several psychiatrists about this habit of mine and I’ve received the same answer over and over again. They say I always come back to this place because I unconsciously think of her and that very thought leads me back here, the place where it began and ended.

Chapter 1

The sound of my alarm clock is echoing inside my room and like any other teenager, I tried my best to open my eyes and reach that damn thing to turn it off. As soon as it stops, I let out a sigh.

I get up and get ready for the evil that lies ahead… school. I’m an incoming senior and at this point, I should be thinking of my future and all that complicated stuff but then again, I’m me. I don’t like having to deal with these kinds of things but when the time comes for me to actually decide then I will but for now I’ll just get through this day.

I head out and drag my feet to school. I don’t hate school but I don’t like it either. I categorize it as something I have to do; I guess I’m like this because I’m not much of a morning person. The only thing I like about mornings is how the cold air hits my face, it feels refreshing and it keeps me awake while I walk.  I reach school with 30 minutes to spare, I go to my first class and well of course no one’s there yet. I always seem to arrive earlier than the others even though I don’t really like waking up early, oh the irony. I figured I could just sleep with my spare time.

…

“Yuri!“  I heard my name so obviously I looked up.

I see a familiar face. A small girl, in terms of height but she compensates with her very loud voice.

“You’re here early.” I respond. It’s not like her to come to school this early.

“I heard that two new students got drafted into our class.” She said excitedly.

“And, you’re here early because…?”

She made this “duh” face like she’s pointing out that I should already know her reason.

“I wanted to call dibs if they’re hot.” She plainly said.

After hearing what she said, I couldn’t help but point out the flaw in her logic

“You do know that they could be both girls, right? And they might not swing that way?” I said with a mocking tone.

…

“Ha! I’ve already thought of that. If they are then they can be my girl BFFs.” She made yet another disturbing face; she stuck her tongue out and squinted her eyes.

What is it with this girl? I will never understand her.

“Mr. Kwon and Ms. Kim… “ A soft yet audible voice called out to us.

It was our former homeroom teacher, Mrs. Han. Taeyeon was much closer to her than I was so she ran up to her and embraced her. The last time we saw her was way back when we were still in our freshman year.

“My oh my, Taeyeon! You’ve grown a little bit, I see. “

Taeyeon suddenly pulled away from their embrace and of course, made another disturbing face.

“What do you mean little?? I’ve grown a lot, you know! Even Yuri said so!!”

I snickered and simply denied everything she had to say about her height and me stating that she “grew”

“Like, I’ll ever say anything like that.” I said as I approached them and bowed to my former teacher.

“Ah, respectful Yuri, as always.” She gave me a smile.

Our teacher started asking us questions about our plans after High school. I plan to get myself into an Arts College and major in Music, that or I’ll just take up Business because that's what most of the people around me expect me to take but I don't really care. Taeyeon, like me, hasn’t really decided on whether to take Theatre or Music. Their conversation was long and full of laughter, well at least for Taeyeon. She has that weird laugh that I can’t really explain but then again, I really can’t explain anything about her. I on the other hand just kept my mouth shut since I didn't have anything to say.

“Well, I was just passing by to see my students and help my nieces find the school. You two, work hard now! And make sure you see me before going away for college!” We bid farewell to our teacher and I sat back down while Taeyeon went off somewhere.

Nieces huh? If my guess is right then the two new students must be her nieces.

I’m all alone again so I decided to get my notebook out and draw. I don’t really decide on what to draw, my hand just kinda moves on its own. It sounds creepy as hell but that’s how it is.

People started coming in to class, some of them said hi to me so I gave them a quick nod or a small smile. I’m not really much of a talker. Some people call me socially awkward but I’m not, really. If I do find a need to talk to anyone, I can assure you that I can communicate normally. I don’t hate everybody and no, I’m not going through some depressing phase in my teenage life. I’ve always been like this, no more no less. I think this is the reason why people automatically think I’m dating any girl who I talk to for longer than 5 seconds. I guess Taeyeon’s an exception since she’s an old friend and it’s really obvious that she doesn’t think of me that way and I don’t too. I got too immersed in my thoughts that I didn’t notice that our homeroom teacher was already in front.

“Good morning, class.. “ She trails while she rummages through her bag, looking for something. While she was at it, I kept my notebook to avoid getting it confiscated for whatever reason teachers have to get things from students. 

“Ah! Here it is. “ She pulls out a piece of paper. “Class 3A.” She finishes her sentence.

Don’t be fooled by the letter next to that number in our section. The number represents our year level and the letter uhm well... It’s what distinguishes us from the other classes. We aren’t arranged by academic capabilities, everything’s random.

Our homeroom teacher explained the usual first-day stuff. She also warned us about our behavior. Even the slightest case of misbehavior can get us ineligible for graduation.

“From what I heard, this year’s batch showcases the most promising individuals...”

Promising, huh?

“ ..Before I start discussing this year’s scholastic calendar of activities, I’d like to introduce everyone to two new students.”

Our homeroom teacher, who hasn’t even introduced herself, proceeded to walk over to the door to usher in the two new students. Before they reached the door, I put my head down and attempted to sleep this period off. Don’t get me wrong, I just really don’t want our homeroom teacher to make me tour the new students around. I did it last year and it was horrible. There were about 30 new students from different years last semester and they were the curious type. Asking questions like: When was this built? How long have you been attending this school? How’s the food in here? Do you eat out?

Long story short, I couldn’t have that go on for the whole day so I passed them on to someone else and got away from them as fast as I could, God knows how much I can’t take being cornered and bombarded like that.

I heard footsteps and then a series of murmuring.

“Please introduce yourselves to the class.”

There was a slight pause before I heard a voice.

“Good Morning, everyone. My name is Wu Kris.” This guy’s voice was low, almost like he’s some sort of killer.

Oh? I guess I’m wrong. Maybe they got drafted into another class or maybe they're in the lower class. 

The murmuring stopped as he spoke but it quickly began again right after his introduction

“So you’re Kris, and you are?”

At least Taeyeon will have someone else to bother.

“My name is..” My ears perked up. It was a girl’s voice, a soft voice at that. I wanted to look up but I really didn’t want to have even the slightest chance of touring these two.

“..Jung Jessica. It’s nice to meet everyone, please do take care of us.”

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