Seunghee readjusted the straps of her backpack as she made her way towards the bus stop. It was the first day of her at Seoul High School as a transfer student, going into her last year of high school. She checked her watch once again. 8.13am.

“2 more minutes”, she mumbled to herself.

The rundown pale yellow bus, with peeling paint stopped. Seunghee stepped onto the bus, and found a seat next to a stained window. The scenery outside was as plain, much like her old suburb. She had expected Seoul to be as interesting, as pretty, as dazzling, as modern as seen in photos, but it was just ordinary, like anywhere else.

Having moved schools from a small town, she was  a little excited to be seeing a lot of people instead of the same faces daily. She was quite content though, confident she won’t be alone because she had her best friend from primary school, who moved to Seoul that went there, only that she was still on holidays, and would be back at school three weeks late.

As the bus came to a stop, she waited until everyone got off the bus and bowed quickly to the bus driver and headed off in the direction of everyone.

Joining school when everyone was already familiar with everyone else was a bit awkward though, Seunghee thought. Transfer students would always have a small disadvantage. It wasn’t the fact that everyone already knew each other, but scared that she wouldn’t be able to catch up with everyone. Seoul High was known for its bright, intelligent students, and yes, she would be counted as smart, but she was still nevertheless, nervous.

Students flocked the corridors, talking to each other happily, holding onto their jumbo-sized textbooks. She made her way to the administration’s office and knocked quietly.

“Come in”, a male voice said.

Seunghee carefully made her way into the office. It was far less interesting she imagined as well. Books piled up to a metre everywhere, loose sheets with students’ profiles, a notebook opened with pens of a different colour everywhere. This was the reality of the best school in Korea.

“Are you Jang Seunghee?”, he asked. The male teacher’s glasses were on the tip of his nose, making him look stern.

“Yes, sir”, she answered.

“Okay, please come this way. I will lead you to your classroom.”

She followed behind him tensely, students eying her from head to toe as she walked.

“Is she new here?”  She’s cute” “Her skirt is so long” ,she could hear people saying.

Snapping out of her thoughts, the teacher stopped in front of a faded red door.

“This will be your classroom for most of your lessons. Be here before 8.45am everyday, and welcome to Seoul High”, he said. And with that, he left.

Grabbing onto the door handle with sweaty hands, she slowly entered the classroom. Everyone’s attention turned to her. She scanned the classroom; tables for two, with under desks, no books out, messy classroom with a few artworks and many maths formulas hung on the walls. Seunghee found herself a seat next to the window. She took out her pencil case, and by now everybody hard returned to their normal state. Nobody greeted her but she was fine with it. It wasn't like she expected a grand greeting from everyone.

The teacher came in.

“Good morning class, I am Mrs Jung. I will be your homeroom teacher”, she said.

Everyone stood up and bowed.

“Good morning Mrs Jung”, the class replied in a monotone voice.

-

A little less than an hour had passed. Seunghee was frantically trying to write down all the notes the teacher had written. Her hand was getting really sore, but she still kept copying the board. While Mrs Jung was writing on the whiteboard, the door quietly opened and a tall, lean boy with messy brown hair sneaked into the classroom.

Seunghee looked up, at the sudden sound, she was always really sensitive with sounds. She gasped. She recognised him immediately as the boy who witnessed the death of his own parents that died in a car crash. Seunghee didn’t know his name, she merely remembered the face, only his sad, pained face. She was eleven when the accident happened and was buying a pack of chips, when she suddenly heard the brake of the car, and the shattering of glass outside. After running outside, she saw a small silver lexus with its wheels facing up and two adults, which looked like a couple inside.

 “Mum! Dad! Mum! Dad!” she could hear a boy around her age yelling with tears on his face. The boy cried as the doctors took away his parents into the ambulance.

“Mum….Dad….”, he whispered softly. And he started crying; harder than ever. Seunghee could remember her own heart breaking, watching the boy cry. No one would be able to forgot those sad, lost eyes.

And here he was, at Seoul High School. The boy from six years ago, crying for him parents to come back.

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Author's Note

Yay! First chapter's up. Hope you enjoyed it!