Chapter One: 

The Beginning of The End

I like to think of myself as an average girl. I mean... I’m not ugly but I don’t think I’m all that good-looking either. My daily life consists of me going to school then and coming home and locking myself up in my room while I fawn over fictional characters in dramas for the rest of the day. You can pretty much call me an introvert. I live alone with my aunt since my parents are living overseas.  The thing is, she’s barely ever home anyways, so who do I have to converse with anyway?

Ever since the day I was pushed out of my mother’s womb, my goal was to just lay low and go through life without any problems. So far, that’s been working out great for me. I get good grades in school and I don’t cause any problems which makes everybody happy. I don’t have the most outgoing personality, but that’s because I just choose not to. I like to mind my own business because associating myself with others will just cause awkward situations in the long run. Well… except when it comes to Nara. She’s been my ‘Day 1’ since we were in diapers. If anything, she’s more like my sister than my friend. She’s probably the only person who really understands me.

There’s not much to understand anyway. I just really, really, really find people annoying. But is that so wrong? Because of my hatred for people, I’ve never experienced what everybody seems to call ‘LOVE.’ To be honest, it’s not like I don’t want to experience it. It’s just that I’ve never really put in the effort to find it. I feel like it’s just a big waste of time, especially at my age. I’ve seen it happen countless of times. Sure, it probably starts out great at first. You finally get together with the person you’ve been crushing on for so long, but then it just leads to heartbreak and pain. Let’s not forget crying. God, I hate when people cry. All it does is ruin your perfectly well done makeup and makes your face swell up like a balloon.

Does watching romantic dramas all the time make me a hypocrite? I don’t think so. Although I may fawn over fictional characters, it’s all just for my entertainment. I never wished to sleep with them or have their babies. That’s just ridiculous.

Senior year is going to start in a few days. God bless, my final year of high school. I don’t really mind the work, it’s mostly just having to wake up everyday at 6:00 AM. I’m not really a morning person, but let’s be honest; who really is? Yeah, exactly. Just like before, I plan on getting through this year without any problems. It should be easy considering I’m probably invisible to most people. Hell, I don’t even think anybody at school knows I exist. And guess what? I’m more than fine with that!

A loud buzzing started to strain my ears. I turned over to pick up my phone next to my pillow. Holy , the screen is always so bright when I wake up. I always forget to turn down the brightness before I fall asleep. I swiped away the alarm clock and sighed. I hate this. I didn’t do anything productive all summer and now it’s already the first day of school. I stared out the window, trying to take in the fact that it was still dark outside. I really hate this. I kicked my blanket into the air before deciding to get on with my life. After getting ready, I quickly ran down the stairs to find my aunt in the kitchen sipping on her daily morning coffee.

“Wow, you’re actually up early for once.” she taunted with a smile. It’s true. Although I set an alarm for 6:00 AM everyday, I always end up going back to sleep for another 30 minutes. There’s only rare occasions where I’d actually get up from my bed after turning off my alarm.

“Well duh, I can’t be late on the first day of school.” I replied while putting on my shoes. My jacket pocket began to buzz. I took out my phone and swiped it with my finger.

“Hurry up! I’m outside! We have to get there before it gets packed!”

“Okay, okay! Calm down. I’m coming out now bye.” I quickly hung up and stuffed my phone back in my pocket. “Bye Imo! I’m off to school. Nara’s waiting for me outside.” I shouted out as I began to walk out the front door. She waved bye to me and I was off.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Nara kept swinging her hand gesturing me to hurry up. I don’t understand why she’s rushing me. It’s not like this is anything new. I hate being rushed. I opened the front gate and she quickly clinged onto my arm and started leading the way. And by leading the way, I mean she forcefully pulled me along side her.

“Can you relax, you know I’m not a morning person.” I said as I tried to fight her un-human strength. She rolled her eyes at me and laughed. After walking for about ten minutes, our destination was finally in view.

“Look there’s no people there yet!” Nara squealed as she began to run off without me. I can’t believe she dragged me around this early in the morning just for this. I looked up at the building in front of me.

‘Starbucks’

I proceeded into the cafe and looked for a table to sit at while Nara ordered our drinks. The cafe was pretty empty at the moment so I went to sit at the table near the window. You know, the ones where everybody who walks by can see you and stare at you while you drink your coffee. When we were freshmen, we would walk to Starbucks early every morning just because it seemed like the ‘cool’ thing to do. Of course, until we realized that all our money went missing after a few weeks since it’s so overpriced. Now we only come once in awhile. It always gets busy about 20 minutes before school started because it’s only a 5 minute walk from school. I’m not actually a coffee lover. To be honest, I think it's gross. it doesn’t even wake me up. If anything, it probably makes me feel even more tired. Nara on the other hand is a coffee addict. I don’t know what it is but that girl really loves caffeine. And I’m pretty sure that’s a bad thing. After a few minutes, she came to the table with our drinks and sat down. The only thing I ever drink from here is the Strawberry Acai refresher. It’s fruity and not bitter like everything else. I really hate bitter tasting things. I’m more of a sweets lover. Nara always gets an Iced Americano which is basically just espresso shots and ice water. Why? I ask her that all the time. How can people drink espresso shots, nevermind coffee. Just thinking about it makes me want to gag. If I could compare it to something, it would be like liquified garbage.

“How can you drink that garbage?” I asked her while taking a sip of my sweet and savory drink.