After a few more minutes of a short tour of the Mori Hills Prep, both Haylie and Joshua finally reached their destination. Along this new hallway are the classrooms. Class 1 till 30 are on the left of the main hallway and Class 31 to 60 are the right. On the second floor are for Class 61 to 120. Joshua stood with a smile as he touched the knob on Class 17.

"Welcome to Class 17." He said before pushing the door open to a class where loud noises just burst out into the hallway of boisterous laughter and chatter. Haylie took a step into the classroom and immediately the noise slowly died down. She followed Joshua to the front of the class where everyone had their eyes on her.

The classroom is just as majestic as the school. Everything about the school look classy. The table were arranged in rows of two tables. Immediately Haylie noticed the girls sitting in the first two rows on the left side of the class. The other boys were scattered around. Some are sitting on the tables and some are standing against the walls and most of them, except for Joshua and another boy, had their uniform on wrong. They are all either missing an item or just messily put on. A few had white or black T-shirts under their jackets instead of the required white shirts. The girls, however, had on the right uniform that is exactly the same as Haylie's.

"Guys, this is Haylie. Haylie this is everyone. You can sit next to Sara, there." Joshua politely pointed to an empty chair next to a girl with long hair tied in a pony tail. She had a pretty face but there is something intimidating about her. Haylie nodded her head and made her way to the empty chair. All eyes followed her until someone called out to Joshua and the noise starts again.  In that simple glance around her class, Haylie was able to notice a few of the boys. The one who had on the perfect uniform, the one boy with the blonde hair that looks way too young to be fifteen and she only notices him because he sits in the front row right next to another boy who looks way too young but with black hair and there are two more boys sitting at the back of the class, both looks tough and very good-looking. 

"Hi, I'm Sara." The girl next to her said just as she settles down. "This is Minhee," she introduced a mousy and petite girl sitting in front of her who turned and smile brightly, "and that is Tia." she continued and introduce the slightly chubby girl sitting in front of Haylie. "Welcome to Class 17."

"So why are you assigned to this class?" Minhee asked. Haylie shot her a questionable look. 

"I don't think she gets you, Minhee." Tia replied. "Today's your first day?" Haylie nodded. "Well, good luck."

"What have you heard about this class so far?" Sara asked. Haylie could tell that three girls mean well but they are also overwhelmingly friendly. 

"I haven't met anyone else other than Joshua." Haylie replied. Is this what Principle Song meant about them being unique. The girls smiled and nodded knowingly. 

"Just so you know, no new students were ever sent to our class. You're the first." Sara exclaimed. "Which dorm are you assigned to?" Haylie turned blank. There were still so much more that she doesn't know other than her class schedule. He blank and confused look must have been readable because Sara immediately smiled knowingly. "Principle Song must really know your parents. She skipped your dorm and sent you straight to class."

"My Mom is attending to my dorm." Haylie replied. 

"Who is your Mom?" Tia asked, clearly curious and excited to know. 

"She's...no one but she's married to one of the PTA member of this school. He was the one who sent me here." The was no denying the grudge that Haylie was holding back against her step-father. Sara bit her lip and Haylie noticed the other two girls turned and face the front. 

"Well, there's nothing for you to hate here. Everyone in this class is not as horrible as those you see in the movies. Especially the ones about boarding schools." Sara continued.  "Everyone here is...special."

"That's what Principle Song said."

"You don't seemed convinced."

"I barely know any of you. And I've only been here in less than thirty minutes."

"True," Tia replied. "Well, here's a short summary about us. Sara is the drama queen. Minhee is the weird one and I'm the fat one who likes to eat." Tia's confidence about her self-portrayal seemed to intrigue Haylie. "Sara may be a little annoying but she gets away with everything because she's smart and beautiful." 

"Tia has come to embrace her body." Minhee turned and excitedly talked about her classmate. "She feels beautiful no matter what her size is."

"I love to eat and good food that tastes good are fattening. But no one can deny I have flawless skin." Tia added, tapping her cheeks with the tip of her fingers.

"I can't agree more. Tia may be big but she's flashy and boys love confident girls." Sara started. "Minhee here is not weird. She's just a little less normal compared to the two of us. Like she has her own world inside her head." Minhee smiled proudly. "That's what we love about her."

"So tell us a little bit about you." Minhee encouraged. Haylie's tongue suddenly froze. Never in her life has she met anyone as colourful and bright as the three girls that she had just met. She never really have any close friends. She doesn't recall knowing anyone who would talk to her like the girls did. Haylie swallowed her parched throat and was about to start speaking when the classroom door opened. 

"Good morning, Class." An aged woman, slightly chubby with white hair all pulled up into a neat bun, stride into the class and all the way to the front of the class. 

"Good morning, Mrs Sanders." There were a few groans and huffs as she made her way. 

"You know, I ought to put some of you in detention considering today is Monday and you should be in your proper attire. However, I am willing to let that go if you stop with the groaning and start with standing up straight in your chairs." Immediately, the groaning stopped and everyone starts sitting straight in their chair. Including Haylie.  "As I have mentioned last week," Mrs Sanders began, "I will assigned your book report partners today. But I was recently informed that there is a new student in this class." She turned to her notebook and took out a piece of paper. "Miss Ryan. Haylie Ryan?" She turned to look around the class before Haylie pulled up her hand. "Ah, there you are. Now if my memory serves me right, there are now seventeen students in this class." Haylie loves the way Mrs Sanders speaks. She sounds like one of those proper wise female characters from old English movies that she enjoys watching. "That means three of you will be in a group while the rest of you will be in pairs. Miss Lee?" Mrs sanders turned towards Sara who suddenly stiffened up when her name was mentioned. "You will be in the trio with Mr Kwon and Mr Lee. Seokmin Lee." There was a definite annoyance in Sara's face as she grimaced at the mentioned of the two names. Apparently, the other two boys were not in favour of the partnership either. 

"Wait Sara? She will kill us." One boy with blonde hair and small slanted eyes spoke, clearly very much against the idea. 

"Yeah, Hoshi and I will never survive. She's a tyrant!" Another boy second. "Why can't we be with..." he starts looking around before mentioning another name, "Wonwoo. He's a book expert."

"Yes, he is. But Mr Lee," So that's Seokmin, Haylie thought to herself. "Mr Jeon tends to do the work on his own especially when working with you two. And with Sara, at least I know the both of you won't be slacking off and submit a report where both of your inputs are present." Sara huffed and closed her notebook roughly before resting on one hand and glaring at her English teacher. "Now this seems interesting. Perhaps Wonwoo will be a perfect partner for Miss Ryan." Haylie blinked and turned, searching for whoever this Wonwoo person was. Her eyes fell on the boy who is clearly staring at her with his steel cold gaze. There was nothing friendly or warm about this boy. "Mr Jeon?" The boy turned and looked at Mrs Sanders. "You will be with Miss Ryan. Since her arrival is unexpected, I'm sorry to say this Haylie, but I only have sixteen copies of the book. You may need to borrow one copy from the library. Wonwoo will take you there." Haylie nodded slowly and looked down at her notebook. "The rest of you, everyone in this side," Mrs Sanders pointed to the rows of table on the right, "Except for Mr Kwon, Mr Lee and Mr Jeon, please write your name in a piece of paper and place them in Dino's hat." The young boy with black hair looked up at the teacher, surprised before nodding solemnly. He pulled out a hat from his bag and place his paper in it before passing the hat to the boy next to him. The order followed until the last student at the back before Mrs Sanders took the hat. 

"Now everyone on this side, except for Miss Ryan and Miss Lee, will pick a name. Whoever you pick will be your partner for the next three weeks." Haylie perked up as she knew this was the best time to learn at least half of the names of her new classmates. "Miss Hans?" Mrs Sanders looked at Tia who opened her paper and read aloud her partner's name.

"Seungkwan." Haylie saw Tia turned and high five the other boy in the perfect school uniform who is sitting next to her on the other side. He had a proud smile on his face as he turned and smiled at Haylie. The order continued with Minhee who was partnered with Jun (who is sitting next to Seokmin). Haylie also learned the boy sitting behind her is Jeonghan (who was partnered with Joshua) and behind him, Seungcheol - the tall boy with the tough exterior, partnered with Dino. Behind Seungcheol is Mingyu and his partner is Ji Hoon and finally Minghao, who sits next to Mingyu, partnered with Vernon. She wrote down everyone's name in the order of their seats in the hopes to remember them. She also realized, Jeonghan, Joshua and Seungcheol sit by themselves.

"So that's done. Dino, kindly pass the books to the class." Dino walked up to the teacher's table and took the books and passed them around. "Now, you may move to sit with your partners. Mr Jeon, please take Haylie to the library and get her a copy of the book for our report." Mrs Sanders ordered as she passed a piece of paper to Wonwoo, who reluctantly pushed himself off his chair before making his way to Haylie. It appears, the two boys assigned with Sara moved and sat behind her and Sara made her authority known.

"If you two don't pull up your bits, I can assure you, the both of you, that you will fail. Unlike you I can afford to fail." Sara threatened.

"Dude, you can't sabotaged our grades."

"Oh yes I can, if you two don't do something."

"The discussion hasn't even started and I'm already stressing." Seokmin spoke to Hoshi. 

"You're ready?" A baritone voice pulled her attention away from Sara. Haylie turned and looked up only to see Wonwoo's cold gaze looking down on her. He was tall, that she was sure of.  Haylie found herself speechless as she tries to close her notebook and follow him to the library. Nervously, she bit her bottom lip and nodded. Wonwoo led the way out of the class and surprised her when he held the door opened for her. Perhaps every boy in this school is taught to open the doors for the ladies, Haylie thought as she recalled Joshua doing the same thing to her. "I assume Joshua already showed you where the library was." Wonwoo stated, he was walking and talking to her but his poker face made her nervous. Haylie nodded in response. "Not much of a talker are you?" Haylie turned and looked at Wonwoo who in returned had a knowing smirk on his face. 

"I...I don't talk much with people that I don't know." Haylie replied nervously. She didn't want to appear cold especially when Wonwoo exudes chill and steeliness. 

"I can accept that. You like to read?" Wonwoo asked. Haylie nodded slowly. She loves reading. It's the only thing that could take her away from the real world and into a world of her own happiness. "Me too."

"Is that why they called you 'The Book Expert'?" Wonwoo chuckled lightly. 

"Yeah." he answered nonchalantly.

"What kind of books do you read?" Haylie asked, trying to maintained the conversation. 

"Anything. Whatever seems interesting at the time. Have you read Alice in Wonderland?"

"Of course. My Dad bought me a copy when I was five. Why do you ask?" Wonwoo furrowed his eyebrows as he turned and looked at her. 

"That's the book that we have to report." He stated matter-of-factly. Haylie was stunned. She was so into trying to know her classmates and also the overwhelming conversation of Sara and the two boys, she didn't pay enough attention to know the book that they are about to do a report of. She knew the story in the back of her head. From the events to the characters and even the small witty conversations between the characters. She knew everything. Suddenly there's a feeling inside of her like a huge balloon blowing up. She was excited about this book report and she simply can't wait to get started.