Fire~~ Hot, hot, hot hotter. I reached over to my phone to turn off the alarm and plopped back down onto my bed. 7:00AM. September 1st, the first day of school. Great.

I stayed in bed for another 10 minutes before I got up and took a short shower, getting ready for school. As I was going down the stairs for breakfast, one of the servants, Seulgi, looked at me in surprise. “Oh, Miss Hyemin, you’re up already? I was about to go and wake you up.”

“Thanks Seulgi, I usually wake up by myself, so you don’t have to worry about waking me up in the morning. And uh, you guys can just call me Hyemin.”

All five of them looked at each other first, before Joy spoke up. “Okay, Hyemin, breakfast is almost ready. Mr. and Mrs. Jeon should be coming down soon.”

Just when breakfast was done, my stepdad and mom came down together. My stepdad saw me first. “Hyemin, you’re up early. Excited for school?”

I deadpanned at his question. “Yep, totally.” He laughed at my response, probably sensing the sarcasm in my voice.

I quickly ate my breakfast and prepared to take my leave. My stepdad and mom yelled after me from the dining room. “Have fun.” “Stay safe.” “Make some new friends.”

I yelled back at them. “Yes. Okay. I will. Bye.” I opened the door, and wah-la, Jaesuk was standing right there waiting for me.

-----

Walking into the school administrative office, I found my homeroom teacher, Ms. Park, and got my schedule for this semester. “You’re going to be in class 2A, which is just down the hall to the right, and I will be your homeroom teacher, so you will see me every day in the afternoon. Your locker is further down the hall to the left. Your first class for math starts in 15 minutes, so just wait in the front of the room until Mr. Kang comes in.”

I bowed to Ms. Park before leaving. “Thank you. See you in the afternoon.”

As I walked into the room, several people noticed me and started whispering among themselves.

One of the girls in the front whispered, “Woah, who’s that girl? Is she new?” Another girl responded, “Never seen her before. Dude, look at her uniform, it’s from the most expensive store downtown that I’ve been trying to get my dad to buy stuff for me.” The guy next to her commented, “Wow, she must be rich. And look at her legs, they’re—ouch!” The second girl smacked him in the head.

I rolled my eyes at their comments.

Mr. Kang comes in and nods toward me. He tapped his stick on the podium before clearing his throat. The whole class settles down and turns their attention on him.

“Good morning class. Welcome back to another exciting new school year. Most of you were in this class last year, but from today onwards, we will have a new student join our class.” Everyone starts clapping as he turns towards me before continu