Summer 2006,

I don’t remember clearly what the exact date was, but it happened around the end of July or early August. 

I was preparing to have dinner with my family, mom, dad and my older brother when I received a phonecall from one of my classmates, telling me that our highschool entrance exam result were out.

At that time, after graduated from middle school, we had to take an exam to get into the highschool we applied for. The competition was really instense, I must say.

Ever since primary school, I was always that one classmate that teachers loved, I had never failed out of top 5. That pretty much summed up the high expectation of everyone for me, and of course, I had to choose the best highschool, which meant I had to guarantee my score was really good.

Was I confident? I knew I did the test pretty well but I didn’t know I if I did well enough to pass. So despite being told constantly how good I was, despite everyone kept saying that if I couldn’t pass then no one could, my hands still shook violently as I dialed the call center phone number.

Well we have that one call center when after every national exam, we can call and get our result. I still remember clearly the awful feelings while I was waiting for my score.

My grade was 90 out of 100. That once again, made others believe that I was excellent, and that I would never fail in anything.

I was so happy and relieved that I couldn’t finish that meal, barely ate one or two spoons and then picked up the phone to ask for my friends’ results.

Some passed, some didn’t.

Exams and tests like that are somehow really cruel in my opinion, no matter how hard you study, no matter how good you are in all those years of studying. One mistake in your important test, you fail. There’s no second chance. Failing these entrance exams is like commiting a crime for us.

My best friend, who was far more studious than me, was one of those students who couldn’t make it to the school we applied. It wasn’t like everything was closed, they still had a lot of different schools to choose from, it’s just that the quality of those schools were bad and they had to pay double, or triple for tuition fee.

But more than that, it’s the pride and confidence of those students which was damaged.

In the end, she attended another school, and we barely met again, at one point when our lives were too occupied with school and stuffs, we stopped meeting.

For a 15-year-old girl like me, got passed into a well known highschool at that time was something really huge and scary at the same time. I was alone in a whole new environment, were other students better than me? Would I adjust and adapt in this new school? Would I have my first love? Would I love or hate my highschool days? I had tons of questions like that in my head.

I was excited, and I was nervous, at the same time.

Summer 2006, that was when everything begun.

Autumn 2006,

We started new semester in September, I was the only student from my middle school applied and passed into this school. That’s why I felt so lost standing alone in the campus on my first day.

We were assigned into classes according to our grades, so I was in class 10A4, a pretty good one. It’s 10A4, not 10A1 – 2 or 3 because those 3 classes were for special students, special means they were best of best. I was good, but I was not that outstanding student.

So on our first day, all students had to gather in campus before heading to our classrooms.

You know, we don’t move from this room to another room for each class, we only sit in our classrooms, teachers are the ones who go to the rooms they teach. 

It’s funny that even though teachers already drew a line for each class to line up, no student wanted to be the first on in line, so we all lined up in the back and saved a space in the front, waiting for someone, who was brave, or who came late to stand in that position. On that day, I was that one student cause I couldn’t find my class lineup in this huge campus.

You had know idea how scared I was, I was timid girl who never wanted any attention. I was wearing glass, I had brace, what a typical nerd right? However, one girl came and save me, she was late too, so she came standing straight right in front of me, didn’t fail to flash at me a bright smile. That girl had long black silky hair, fair skin and slender body. 

"Hi!"

She spoke first.

"Hi!"

"We're in the same class right? 10A4?"

"Yes we are. What's your name?"

"Choi Jinri. Just call me Jinri, my house is nearby so I overslept a bit!"

She had eyesmile, and plump lips. Her face was the type which made you feel relieved, and I must say, for that one moment, I knew we would be close someday.

And it was true, she became my bestfriend until now.