Jongin hadn’t been this nervous in a long time….it was his first day at a new school and he had to admit that he was bricking it. At his old school everyone thought he was so charming, sweet and incredibly down to earth but mostly he was popular because he was insanely hot. Everyone one knew admired him, guys, girls, teachers and even parents. He was worried though that at this new school everything would be different. After all the school is attended by the children of Seoul’s upperclass elite and Jongin thought that there was no way that he, the son of a struggling dance teacher and a housewife (who can’t even afford the school uniform), would fit in at such a fancy place. However, it turned out that Jongin’s estranged Grandfather had left him a substantial sum of money towards his education in his will and after his passing, the lawyer informed Jongin’s parents of the generous gift. His parents were ecstatic and transferred him almost immediately. Jongin on the other hand couldn’t have been less thrilled at the idea of leaving his friends and his dance academy. The only silver lining to this horrible grey cloud that followed Jongin was that at the very least his childhood friend Kris would be coming back from China and would be attending the same school.

Over the years they had kept in touch and Kris would always come back and visit but they had gone at least a year without seeing each other and even though they talked on the phone and messaged each other frequently, he had to admit that he had really missed his best friend. He recalled fond memories of hanging out with Kris and Ravvi in the park when they were children. But as Kris’ fathers business started to expand, they moved back to China, Jongin recalls their teary farewell and promises to stay best friends forever. And for reasons unknown, after he had complained to Kris that his parents had transferred him to Seoul Academy, he had messaged Jongin out of the blue to say that he was coming back to Korea to attend the same school. In hindsight Jongin thought that he should’ve probably asked why Kris had decided to come back but at the time he thought it was best not to ask. Kris was always a private person who didn’t want to worry Jongin so he thought that even if he asked Kris there were no guarantees that he would get an answer, or an honest one, so he thought that it was best to leave it.

The first day of school had finally arrived and as he climbed down from the bus he peered at the vast school grounds ahead. Directly in front of him he could see lines of luxury cars with rich heirs and heiresses carrying the fanciest designer gear and swag stepping out with assistance of their chauffeurs. They were all headed into the school grounds which consisted of several multi-story buildings dedicated to each subject and as it was an academy for the arts (hence why his parents had chosen to send him there) the art, dance and music buildings were prominently displayed at the front. Jongin was shocked as even the smallest building and grounds at this school were larger than the entirety of his old school. There were already students on the school fields playing sports and practicing their instruments. This school was really a world apart from his old one where students would be smoking weed and making trouble at this time of the morning – those that were actually in school at that time at least.

Jongin took a deep breath, preparing himself for his first day of hell, that he didn’t notice a huge Chrysler pull up next to him and someone casually climb out of the backseat. Jongin turned around and saw a very tall, blonde kid with a chiselled jaw and thick eyebrows. The giant smirked when he saw the slightly smaller boy staring and quickly gripped him into a tight hug and whined loudly and with a surprisingly deep voice “Jongieeeeee, I missed you~”. Jongin pulled back and eyed the man in front of him still clinging to his blazer as realisation struck him like a tonne of bricks “….Kris?” It had been a year since Jongin had seen his best friend in the flesh and Kris had changed considerably. While Kris was always a bit taller than Jongin with paler skin and sharper features, he never looked this…good. His body had not only grown in length but he was also fitter and his voice was much deeper, almost completely unrecognisable if not for his signature smirk that Jongin knew too well, Kris was always a lady killer and no one could resist that smirk. Kris beamed at him “It’s good to see you bro”. Jongin couldn’t have agreed more and quickly moved to hug his best friend tightly, making up for lost time.

After entering the school grounds Kris gripped Jongin and said “Jong you go off ahead…I am going to have a wander around. I’ll meet you later, we’ll have lunch together.” Jongin nodded a little confused as to why his best friend wasn’t heading towards the school office for his official induction, which included a tour of the grounds, but he simply shrugged it off and nodded in agreement. After getting lost several times in the main school building because of the large floor to ceiling windows that covered the entire complex which confused the new student, he stopped to ask for directions from a group of girls who were only too happy to oblige. After giggling together for what felt like a lifetime, one of the girls eventually pointed Jongin towards the school office. When he arrived the secretary informed him that the principal would like to officially welcome him to the school. He was asked to wait in the reception area while the Principal finished with another meeting. He took a seat closest to the door and glanced around the room at the other students also waiting. Across from him there was a tall man with several piercings and body art that didn’t have a care in the world, next to him was a girl who looked like she was at least 7 months pregnant and another boy who was sleeping. Jongin also noticed a petite girl, sat two seats from the sleeping boy, with raven hair, owl-like eyes with more white in them than usual and beautiful porcelain skin. She was exactly Jongin’s type, a natural beauty with minimal makeup and soft features that made the hormonal teenagers breathing falter and his heart race. These feeling were foreign to Jongin, he had had a few girlfriends in the past but they never lasted long because he was never able to connect with them emotionally. But when Jongin stared into the eyes of the girl sat in front of him, he felt an instant connection and he was sure that she felt it too. However, before he got a chance to act on it, the secretary summoned him into the Principal’s office. Cursing his bad luck, Jongin dragged his feet through the door.

After what felt like a lifetime telling the authoritative figure his life story and his plans for the future, Jongin was dismissed with his class schedule and list of extracurricular activities. But he knew that the only activity that he was interested in was dance and he couldn’t wait to see what the studios here looked like. Once he exited the room, Jongin couldn’t believe his luck when he saw the love of his life (slight exaggeration) standing just outside the door patiently waiting. The secretary introduced the raven-haired beauty from earlier as his ‘buddy’ who would take him to his classes for the rest of the day and will be responsible for helping him to settle into the school in the upcoming weeks.

The petite girl bowed a full ninety degrees at Jongin and said in a deep, velvety voice that didn’t match her adorable outward appearance “Hello, my name is Do Kyungsoo. It’s nice to meet you”. She smiled at him and Jongin’s heart stopped as he saw her lips form a perfect heart shape. He began to sweat profusely as he stuttered “H-H-Hi. I’m J-J-Jongin. Nice…you…look, I mean meet….nice to meet you”. His sweetheart then stared at him with wide owl eyes and a light blush graced her cheeks. “I’ll take you to your first class of the day which is….Science, I believe. Follow me and you shouldn’t get lost” she said while staring at the floor, appearing to be too uncomfortable to stare Jongin directly in the eye. They walked towards the science lab in complete silence, barely glancing at each other which only served to add to the awkwardness of the situation. They parted ways at the door and Jongin’s eyes lingered on her figure as he bowed in gratitude and headed into the classroom. All he could think was how he couldn’t be more grateful to his Grandfather… who knows maybe this new school wouldn’t be so bad. But for now all he could say was that this was the best first day he had ever had in his life.