Sera made her way outside to the front of the school. She was in such a hurry to get out of there that she triped on her own feet. Thankfully she caught herself, but her lugguage fell down the steps and burst open. Her clothes were now scattered all over the steps of the school. 

The boy she had met on the first day she arrived, was jogging past when he noticed Sera scrambling to pick up her lost items. "Do you need help?"

"No, I'm okay" Sera tried not to show her panic. 

"I get the feeling that you don't like taking help from others." He walked over to her and started picking up her things anyway. "here"  he handed her a few shirts he picked up.

"Thanks" She took the shirts from him and tossed them into her suitcase.

He eyed the suitcase. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Yeah" she admitted "I'm going home"

He looked confused "What why? You just got here"

She sighed "I'm not cut out for this kind of thing"

"What do you mean? That's ridiculous"

"Everyone here is clearly adapting better than I am. I'm not smart or athletic like the rest of them. No one is struggling like I am."

He laughed. 

"What, why are you laughing?"

He looked at her and smiled "You think none of are classmates are struggling"

"Because they're not. Have you seen them?"

"Well if you can recall, I am one of your classmates. And I can tell you right now, that this school isn't easy for me"

Sera was confused. From what she saw in class, he was one of the best.

"Why do you think I'm out here right now?" He said gesturing to his running clothes. "I'm doing extra training, just so I don't look like a fool in class"

A light bulb hit Sera. 

He put a hand on her shoulder "No one finds this school easy at the start. The only difference between you and the other classmates, is that you didn't know what you were getting yourself into."

Sera started feeling a bit uncomfortable with him so close to her. "Okay, I guess I can give it another shot"

"There you go!" He smiled, "My name is Hyungwon by the way" 

"Sera" she replied

"Nice to meet you Sera." He started walking away "See you in class tomorrow"

"See ya"

-

The next day she felt slightly more optimistic, heading to class. She stopped by Minhyuk's room on her way to class. The door was open, so she just walked in. His room was messy, with clothes all over the floor and books lying around. She noticed his sleeping body still lying in bed. "Minhyuk? What are you doing sleeping? It's time for class!" She sat down on his bed and shook him slightly.

His eyes popped open "What time is it?"

"Time to go" she laughed.

"Sera! You didn't leave!" Minhyuk yelled.

"Yep, I decided to give Grandview, a second chance" She got up from his bed "Now hurry up, class starts in five minutes"

"Yes mam" 

-

Sera walked into her first class with an open mind. She saw Hyungwon sitting in the same seat as yesterday, and waved to him on her way to her own seat. 

The professor walked in. He announced that he was their world language teacher and that he was going to teach them Mandarin and German to start. Sera found the class horrendously difficult, seeing as though Mandarin and German have nothing in common. But she wasn't lost. She kept up with what the teacher was saying and took notes on all of it.

-

After that class they were sent to the gun range, located under the school in the basement. Sera listened carefully as the professor explained how to shoot and load gun. He gave them different types of guns and made them practice loading it for an hour. The goal was to try and shorten the time it took. Sera found no difficulty in loading the weapon but the time it took her to do so was no where near the other classmates.

Once they knew how to load the weapon, it was time to learn to shoot. The professor explained how to stand and fire a gun. Then they were each given their own targets to shoot.

Sera missed most of the time but every once in a while made it on the target. Never did she hit a bullseye, but she didn't let this make her feel discouraged.

The professor annouced that they were allowed to keep their target sheets. Some of the students signed theirs, prooving that it was them. Even though Sera's wasn't spectacular, she still wanted to keep it for the memory. She picked up her target sheet and began to sign it.

Some of the other girls started to laugh at her and her sheet. "Why would she want to keep it? It's trash" she heard one of them whisper.

Sera was about to stand up for herself when Shownu appeared. "Hey knock it off"

They quickly shut up.

"I came down here to bring you all outside for physical training" When no one was moving he grew angrier "Now!"

They all ran towards the exit. Sera hung back so she could thank Shownu.

Shownu stopped her before she could speak "What are you doing just standing around?"

Sera froze. 

"Get to the field cadet" he commanded.

-

After the gun range, they were sent to the locker rooms to change. Then they met out on the field with the coach and the student assisants. Sera stood next to Hyungwon. 

"Good afternoon class" The coach projected her voice "How did you like the gun range?"

One students voice broke through the crowd "It was great"

"Glad you liked it." She grabbed her clipboard and read it silently to herself. "Looks like today we'll be playing our first game of capture the flag"

The students cheered happily.

"They must really like capture the flag" Sera whispered to Hyungwon.

"That's because it's not just any game of capture the flag." he told her "plus it's a great points opportunity." 

The coach spoke up once the students calmed down. "Today you will be split into two teams. The team captians are Shownu and Jooheon."  Jooheon was carrying a large box and the coach gestured for him to come forward. The coach took the box from him and dropped it on the ground "These are your weapons" She opened the box and pulled out a gun. "They're dart guns. When you get hit, you'll feel a slight pinch" She fired the gun at Jooheon.

"Ow!!" He winced in pain. 

"When you feel that, you are out of the game" The coach continued. "First team to grab the other team's flag wins and the loosing team will have to do push ups. Shownu, Jooheon, pick your teams."

Shownu and Jooheon fliped a coin to see who got to go first. Shownu won and picked Kihyun first. Seeing that Kihyun wwas the only other senior, Jooheon was slightly upset. 

One by one they each picked another one of the students to add to their teams. They took turns until it was just Sera that was left.

"Looks like Sera will be on Shownu's team" the coach announced. "Now, take your flags and begin!"

-

The game was played out in the woods. On the edge of the perimeter there was rope to mark the boundary lines.

Sera followed Shownu's team to the far left side of the woods. They stopped to talk strategy and come up with a plan.

"Kihyun, any ideas?" Shownu looked towards Kihyun for advice.

Kihyun held his chin "We should hide our flag away from the boundary line, in case they walk the perimeter"

Shownu looked around "We could hide it here"

"I say we should try and cover it with leaves" one student spoke up.

"Good idea" Shownu agreed "I'll put you in charge of that"

The student looked pleased with himself.

"What about our offence plan?" Kihyun stated "We need to find the flag quickly, before the other team"

Shownu nodded "The best place to hide a flag on that side of the woods is high ground"

"Shouldn't we take the fact that their leader is Jooheon into account" Sera spoke up and everyone turned to look at her. "Wouldn't he know not to hide it on high ground"

Shownu ignored her. Even though when anyone else had ideas he listened. "Here's the plan" He assigned most of the students on offence, to go after the flag with him. Sera was told to stay back and help guard the flag.

Time went by slowly. It had only been minutes since the others left but Sera was bored out of her mind. She decided to slip away from the other students gaurding the flag.

In her mind, Jooheon would be the type of person to hide the flag in plain sight. Rather than hiding it behind tons of gaurds. She was making her way to the other side of the woods when she heard the sound of someone approaching. She quickly hid behind a tree and held her breath as they walked by.

"Jooheon is really good at this game" One kid said.

"No way they can beat our strategy!" the other laughed.

Sera waited until they were gone to keep moving. She walked towards the direction that they came. Trying to walk quickly but quietly.  Once she was closer she heard a noise that sounded like a twig breaking. She held up her gun, ready to shoot. But she relaxed when she saw it was her fellow teamate, Kihyun.

"What are you doing here?" Sera asked.

"I could ask you the same thing" Kihyun replied. "Shouldn't you be gaurding the flag?"

Sera shrugged "They don't need my help" She looked around and noticed he was alone. "Where are the others?"

"They found a ton of students guarding one area"

"That must be where the flag is" 

"I don't think so" Kihyun shook his head "I've been thinking about what you said, we should take in the fact that Jooheon is leading them. And I think he has all those people there as a distraction"

"That's a risky bet" Sera told him.

"True. But I have a good feeling about this one"

Sera pointed ahead "I saw some of the other team members come from over there"

"Let's go then"

-

Kihyun and Sera made their way through the woods. As they walked, they could hear the sound of the other teams battling it out in the distance, but they kept going. 

Suddenly, out of no where Kihyun's ears poked up and he pushed Sera into a bush. The branches scrapped her arms as she fell. She fell onto her and leaned back against her hands. Kihyun leaned over her and held a finger to his lips to tell her to stay quiet.

Sera tried to listen to hear what was out there but couldn't hear anything over the sound of her heartbeat. In the bush, he was practically on top of her. He was so still, Sera thought he could be a statue. The sat like that for a few minutes in silence.

After a few moments, he stood up. "I guess it was a false alarm"

"Kihyun!" He was about to keep moving but Sera stopped him "Look! There it is!"

In the middle of a clearing, Sera could see the flag standing on it's own. She was about to run after it but Kihyun stopped her. "Wait, it looks like a trap"

Sera looked at him "What do we do?"

"One of us should cause a distraction" Kihyun concluded "They shouldn't have more than one or two gaurds with all the people they have out on the field"

Sera agreed "I nominate you"

"Me? Why do I have to be the distraction?"

"Because you came up with the plan" 

Kihyun sighed "fine, I'll go"

Kihyun stepped out into the clearing near the flag. He walked up to the flag and, just like they expected, a student came running out of the clearing with his gun in his hand.

Sera decided to take this opportunity to grab the flag. She ran as fast as she could straight towards it, not even slowing down when she heard Kihyun get shot by the opponent. Next thing she knew, the flag was in her hand. As soon as she touched it, all the guns shut off letting everyone know the game was over.

Kihyun stood up from the ground and brushed the dirt off his clothes. "Looks like you did it"

-

They all walked out onto the field to meet with the rest of the class.

"Good job cadet" The coach clapped her hands together "But don't let it go to your head, understand?"

"Yes ma'm" Sera felt proud of herself.

Kihyun patted Shownu on the shoulder "Looks like you should've listened to her"

Shownu shook off his hand "beginners luck"

-

After  she had freshened up. Sera made her way to the mess hall to celebrate her win with Minhyuk.

"See I told you, you could do it!" Minhyuk beamed.

"I know, I shouldn't have doubted you" She agreed.

Minhyuk held up his glass "Let's make a toast to your new success!"

Sera laughed "To success!"

"To success" he agreed.