I woke up startled by my loud alarm. I was still half-asleep, but quickly came to my senses. From today on, I’ll be going to a new school. Living, in a new dorm. And also, making new friends - hopefully.

I got up to my bed, and took out a white cotton t-shirt, and a pleaded-skirt, from my drawer. I walked into the washroom, and got dressed. I climbed down the stairs to see my mother, Key, and Taemin already in the kitchen.

“Oh, Good morning!” I said, excitedly.

“Morning,” Key said, “My dad’s here to pick us up, and Taemin’s tagging along too, he’ll be waiting in the car.” He seemed more energetic then usual.

My mother ran up to me and gave me a hug. “Good luck,” she smiled and waved at us, as we were departing.

Key and Taemin walked out the door, and I followed them into the car. And soon the engine started, and we were heading off. I looked through the window, and saw my mother waving at me, I waved back. I think I made the right choice, in choosing “St. Aline”.

“Oh! What happened to Ayumu?” I quickly remembered.

“Minho, Jonghyun and Onew, are picking her up, don’t worry about it, you’ll see her when we arrive.” Key said.

As the car kept going, I drifted into a deep sleep.

--

Where am I? I looked around myself, and saw a bunch of trees, I studied them for a moment. There were cedar trees, Maple trees, Tulip trees, Oaks, and even Willows.

A few moments later, the leaves began falling off the trees. They were in so many colors, I could list them all at the top of my head. Orange, brown, purple, yellow, and red.

As the last leave dropped, the sky became dark.

I saw a shadowed figure, come closer towards me. The moon came out, and a light shinned above us.

That shadowed figure looked somehow familiar.. Yet I couldn’t remember where I had seen that face.

It was a boy. He had amber, brown hair, that framed his face. He held out, something from his pocket, it was golden, As I was about to reach forward, I felt a force upon my chest,

Everything dimmed out. I heard voices.

“Hee yeon, wake up.” I recognized that sugar-sweet voice immediately.

“Ayumu?” I replied. As soon as I got to my senses, I looked around, peach-painted walls, rosy pink curtains, and a lovely satin carpet.

“Exactly.. Where am I?” I looked down, I was laying on a couch, it was soft, cozy, and also shaded in a rosy pink to match the curtains.

“St. Aline, you made it.” She smiled at me.

“You fell asleep in the car.” Taemin chuckled.

Key was at the front desk, signing us all in. Moments later, Minho, Onew, and Jonghyun, all walked into the room.

“Oh, She woke up!” Onew nudged my shoulder.

“Come on, lets go check your class” Jonghyun quickly changed the topic, before a whole conversation could get started. He was really impatient, I learned that about him yesterday.

“Oh, okaay!” I walked along the hallway this place was HUGE. I’m pretty sure I’ll get lost, one day, or another. As I walked I glanced into the multiple classrooms, almost all of them were designed, as little kitchens, well class sized actually.

As we took a right turn, we headed into the office. I looked for my name on the rankings. Onew explained that the students were all split up depending on their rankings, you would work with people on the same level as yourself, so you could improve, and hopefully move up on the charts.

“Oh! I’m in team A.” I said happily. “Oh! You guys are in it too.. Wait.. If your all rated top students, how was I put into your group?!” I literally yelled it out loud.

A group of girls looked at me, angrily.. As they walked to their next class. I have a bad feeling about this.

“Well, we did recommend you, I guess the principal thinks highly of us.” Key said.

“Aishh, I’m stuck with Team C.” Ayumu whined. Minho comforted her. He seemed oddly really gentle, and understanding despite the fact that he didn’t really talk that much.

“Well, we’ll be heading to our dorms, class doesn’t start until 11:30, so you have a few hours to get settled in your dorm.” Jonghyun said.

The five boys walked to the opposite direction of us. For some reason, hiding their faces.

A tall, and skinny lady appeared in front of us, she had long straight chocolate-brown colored hair. That came past her shoulders. As she headed to towards us, she greeted us.

“Welcome, to St. Aline’s Korea Campus, I’m the counselor for the girl’s dorm. You can call me Sa Ra. Follow, me I’ll take to your dorm.” She slipped her hands into her pocket to grab a metallic silver key.

She walked over past the hallways, and out the door, we followed her, until she reached a cabin looking building.

It was built out of a honey-brown colored wood. It had a nice homey feeling to it. She took out the key, and unlocked, the door, inside the cabin, was a girl’s dorm. It was empty at the moment because everyone must be in there classes.

“Here’s where you’ll be staying,” She told me, with a smile.

I examined the hallway, creamy white walls, with lots of windows. There were, golden-wooden pannel floors, and as I kept walking forward, Sa Ra turned around, she pointed her delicate fingers at a door.

“This is going to be your room,” She unlocked the door, and handed me the keys, there were two of them.

“Ones, for your friend. You must be Hee Yeon, and Ayumu, right?” she said.

“How did you know our names?” Ayumu replied.

“It’s my job, I know all the girls here.” she smiled at us. “Here, this will be your room, for the year, there are 3 girls per room, so you’ll have another room mate, she already moved in.” she told us.

Ayumu, and I stepped it. The room was decorated very elegantly. There was blush pink wallpaper, and lovely-made beds. The pillows, and cushions were a light shade of orangey-yellow. There was also matching blankets.

As we stepped to the left, there were 3 closets. All in line with each other. I opened the first one up, there were 7 uniforms. Ayumu opened the second one, there were also 7 uniforms.

“Those are for you, our school supplies you uniforms, that you’ll have to wear to every class. You can wear what you want when school hours are over, and your curfew is 10:30pm.” Sa Ra said. “Quickly, get changed and leave your luggage, in the closet!”

I put down my hot-pink brief case, and grabbed one of the uniforms - they were a shade of blush pink too, they matched our rooms, the hallways, and well basically the whole school. I walked towards the washroom, and got changed.

I took a brief look at the washroom, the walls too, were also pink. Strangely the toilet was pink too, so was the bath tub, and the sink. I felt kind of overwhelmed by the whole “pink” concept. But other than that, it was also decorated really nicely. The tiles on the floor had complicated patterns on then, and the ceiling was filled with multi-color stripes.

As I finished I opened the door, “I’m done,” I said.

Ayumu, went into the washroom, and got changed pretty quickly. As she came out, she quickly tied the satin bow onto the top of her blouse.

Sa Ra handed us our schedules, “You have cooking right now, it’s period 2, they should be taking attendance in 10 minutes so you better get there as soon as you can.” She walked out of the dorm with us, and locked the door.

She walked us into a room, it was about the size of the gym - in my old school. I stared in awe, it has huge.

There were cooking utensils lined up at every station, and also aprons hung on the side. There was a stove, oven, and counter space for you to work at. There were about 5 kitchens in total.

Ayumu, and I followed Sa Ra, she spoke to the teacher, and explained why we were slightly late.

The lady nodded her head, and Sa Ra walked out the room.

I’ll be taking attendance now. “Team A, Kim Jonghyun, Kim Ki bum, Choi Minho..” surprisingly, it wasn’t in alphabetical order, well - this is different.

“Kwon Hee Yeon, new student?” she questioned.

“Dae..” I answered. People around me were giving me death glares. Well, mostly just the girls. They seemed upset about something.. It couldn’t be me.. Could it?

One of the girls stepped out. She had curled blonde hair, and it brushed along her shoulders as she confidently walked forward.

She smirked. “So, she’s the new student that was recommended?” she said it as though she was in disgust. “Hee yeon is it?” she flipped her hair, and took a step forward.

People behind us were whispering, and they seemed to be laughing, spreading rumours, about - me.

“So, what makes you so great?, you were put in ‘Team A’ right off the bat, anyone would kill to be in your position.” I was confused. What did she want? I didn’t do anything to her..

“Stop pretending you don’t know, your in SHINee’s group, your in THE top group of the school, you haven’t even done any work, and your name has been on the top list, even though you haven’t even been to this school yet, as long as we have.” She took a step forward.

Minho walked up to me, and pushed her aside, “Don’t talk to our team captain like that.” he said, in a low voice.

Jonghyun joined, “She’ll beat you any day, Hee yeon can make better sweets than the ‘Ice Princess’ when ever.” He stuck out his tongue.

For a second there was silence, and then the next second, you could hear a whole bunch of girls gushing over “SHINee” as they would call them. The group of five boys - they really were well known.

The teacher spoke up, “Calm down, that’s enough. Team A, please sit down. And you too, Jung Hyo Rin.” So that’s her name.

She continued to go through attendance. “Team C, Lee Soo Jin, Park Tae Hee.. Seito Ayumu”

--

(After attendance)

“To your stations!” The teacher called.

“Yes, ma’am!” everyone said in unison.

All twelve teams moved to their stations, Teams ranking from A-D, were in our class. There were 4-6 people per team. So about 20 students. Our team was one of the largest. I followed Key into the kitchen our team was going to use, there were no walls, it was basically a fridge, oven, counter, stove, utensils, pots, and etc. Planted in the middle of the room.

The Kitchens were 3 metres apart from each other, measured exactly. They were spontaneous, shinning, cleaned, and very professional.

In front of us there was a table, filled with non-refrigerated ingredients. Each team had a full table - Same ingredients, same amount.

So everything was equal, the ingredients in the fridge were perfectly equivalent too.

“Today we’ll be making Parfaits, Be creative everyone!” She gave us no instructions just a theme.

“Are we usually not told what to do?” I asked Onew,

“Well, usually we have a lesson the day before, and then the next day we’re expected to make something out of that lesson - to see what you learned.” Onew explained.

“Oh.. I see” I said back.

“I guess you weren’t here yesterday, but don’t worry there’s a text book on the right” he pointed at a thick gray book - finally something not in a girly pink shade.

“Thanks!” I smiled, and flipped through the pages, “Lesson 7.. Let’s see..” It was all in French. And my French wasn’t so great.. I wish Ayumu was with me.

I glanced over to see what Team C was doing, Ayumu’s team members were getting along with her pretty well, I sighed.

Jonghyun was over by the counter, tempering dark chocolate. Like a professional.

Taemin was mixing milk and eggs, in a metal bowl with a whisk, while sprinkling flour in with his other hand, he was also boiling something on the stove.

Minho was dicing kiwis, and rinsing cherries. Cutting them so finely, it was hard to believe.

Onew was boiling green tea, and Anko. Adjusting the temperature ever so often, and skimming foam from the water.

Key was kneading marzipan, and shaping it into little candy figures, they looked almost like they were moulded, but he made them by hand. He was also sketching out a rough drawing of the finished parfait, he was designing it.

And well, as for me, I was in the middle extremely confused. So, I opened the text book and started reading. “Verser.. La? Far..in? Dans.. une tasse a mesurer, environ..?” What does that mean?

Well, since I was clueless I looked over Minho’s shoulder. He was dicing the fruits into even tinier bits. “What should I do?” I asked.

“You could make the biscuits to go on top of the parfait” he suggested.

“Oh, thanks! Good idea!” I walked to the table, picked out some flour, eggs, and sugar.

I walked over the counter, opened the drawer, and took out a whisk, and metal bowl. I turned to the sink, washed my hands, and dried them.

I turned back, and put ¾ cups of flour, ¾ cups of sugar, and 2 eggs, into the bowl. I beat then together until the mixture was even. Then I spread some corn starch onto the counter, and kneaded my mixture until it was completely finished.

“I MADE DOUGH!” I said to myself.

“You did what?” Taemin asked?

“Dough!” I replied happily.

They were all speechless.. Did I do something wrong?

“Uhm.. What?” I asked confused. They all laughed.

“So.. This is your first time making, dough?” Jonghyun asked, almost shocked.

“Yes, what’s wrong with that..?” I replied, what’s so funny?

“Well, you have a huge load of learning to do” Jonghyun sighed.

Taemin walked over to my counter and took a bit out of my dough, he simply just rolled it out, and knew what was wrong.

“Add ¼ cups of milk, its too dry it’ll get over-crusty when you bake it, and also kneed for another 25 minutes or so, if not, it’ll trap air, when its in the oven” he said.

He stood beside me, “Like this,” He said, he put his fingers on my dough kneading it carefully, and differently than how I was. It was simply - amazing.

He handed me a mould, “Here, you can use this, since you’re a beginner” He told me. He smiled, and continued making a creamy texture, adding salt in it every few minutes.

I put the dough into the mould, and popped it into the oven “How long should I bake it?” I asked

“240 degrees, exactly for 15 minutes!” Onew yelled from the other side of the kitchen.

“Thanks!” I replied. I set the timer, and closed the oven, I glanced over Jonghyun’s shoulder. He was still tempering dark-chocolate, so I decided to check what Key was doing.

There was a glass, placed exactly at the center of a transparent plate. Key was decorating the plate, Glass roses were arranged beautifully around the glass and the plate, vines swirled across the cup.

“Are those made out of glass?” I asked.

“No, actually, its candy - marzipan,” He replied.

“Really?! You can eat it?!” I asked shocked, they looked so perfect, almost as if they were manufactured.

“Yeah, were not allowed to use decorations, if we don’t made them ourselves,” He replied, smiling at me.

I blushed and turned away. Oh no, again? What’s wrong with me..? I snapped out of it quickly, we only had 35 minutes left.

“Oh! that’s right, the biscuits!” I ran over to the oven, and took out the tray. I made it - just barely, but the biscuits were safe. I cracked open the mould, The biscuits were shaped like hearts.

“There finished?” Minho asked.

“Yeah, they do look a little plain though..” I sighed, this was all I did for the group, and everyone else seemed to be working so hard.

Minho, saw that I was depressed, and came over to my counter with some diced fruits, “Here, you can use these to decorate” He said.

Taemin came over, with banana and strawberry icing. He took a biscuit in one and a funnel in the other, He swirled the icing into the center and put another biscuit on top.

“It’s a cookie sandwich now!” He said laughing.

Minho placed some diced fruits, into the frosting, just to add a pop of color. He smiled, as we saw my frown dissapear.

“Thank you..” I said, I was grateful, they were kind to me, and that’s all that really mattered. It doesn’t matter what Hyo Rin thinks of me.

The timer was ticking, 25 minutes left, to complete our task.

Minho was placing the fruits in the glass, Taemin was swirling frosting around, and Jonghyun added tempered-chocolate. They took turns creating layers.

Onew came in with his green-tea flavored ice-cream, with Anko, and cream, in the center. He took a scoop of it and placed it on the Parfait.

I added my biscuits on top, it was complete - almost.

Something was missing - but what?

Time was ticking, 15 minutes.

“Aishh! I forgot to boil some white chocolate!” Jonghyun said, in a hurry.

He swiftly ran through the ingredients and picked out some hard white chocolate. He the stove, to let it preheat. Then he grabbed a pot, and boiled some water in it.

As the water was boiling, he grabbed a metal bowl, about the size of the pot, and he put the white-chocolate inside. He put the bowl over the pot, and waited until the white-chocolate melted.

As Jonghyun was doing that, Minho added a cherry to the top of the Parfait, and some other finishing touches.

5 Minutes Left, it’s almost over.

Jonghyun ran all the way over to the counter and drizzled the melted chocolate over the plate “Finished!” He said.

The timer went to a 0:00, and the buzzer went off. We all let out a sigh, just in time.