"Excuse me, do you know how to get to the YG Women's University?" I asked in flawless English.

Unfortunately, the ability to speak perfect English in Korea apparently had limited usefulness, with the young woman I had questioned frowning at me in utter confusion.

I had no time for this. "Never mind, thank you!"

My eyes fixated on the back view of a girl rushing towards the subway. Hold up. Wasn't she wearing the exact uniform I had on?

"Excuse me, wait up!" I yelled, trying to somehow catch her attention.

To my surprise, she spun around, eyes scanning the vicinity keenly before meeting mine.

I was rendered speechless momentarily, gazing at her in awe. Holy . This girl had to be the prettiest girl I had ever seen in my life. 

I snapped out of it when she continued towards the subway. "Hey, please wait up!" I eventually caught up to her, feeling slightly winded, before my breath got completely taken away by the sight of miraculous beauty right in front of me.

"Ahhh..." the girl smiled knowingly, raising her hand towards me.

I stared at her outstretched palm dumbly, what was I to do? Hesitantly, I lifted my palm to meet hers in a high-five.

"We two late, both get detention." The girl announced in broken English, still beaming that radiant smile of hers.

For someone going to face disciplinary punishments, she certainly didn't seem even the tiniest bit worried. 

"Isn't that terrible, getting detention on the first day of school?" I asked as we hurried towards the incoming subway.

"Me always detention." She burst out into a random spurt of giggles so infectious I began cracking up as well.

"You, in detention? Whatever for?" I was genuinely curious, the girl looked like she wouldn't hurt a fly!

"I no listen. No do homework. Professor angry." She replied in her limited English, which I somehow found increasingly endearing.

"By the way, what's your name?"

"Jisoo. Kim Jisoo." She smiled shyly at me, extending her hand towards me slightly.

"I'm Roseanne, but you can call me Rosé or Chaeyoung."  I took her hand in a firm handshake, trying not to think about how soft it was in my grasp.
       

Jisoo was weird. She laughed for at least 5 minutes when I told her that I had found the location of the YG Entertainment company instead of the university by mistake. She began calling me 'Pasta' 5 minutes into our train ride. But she sure knew how to make a girl feel comfortable, even with the slight language barrier between us. Soon enough, we established an unorthodox style of communication, where she spoke Korean and I spoke English, and we could understand each other perfectly, but had to respond in our respective mother tongues. I wasn't complaining though, I was surprised my limited social skills had even gotten me anywhere.

Upon our arrival to the university, a girl who looked every bit as foreign as I was strolled elegantly towards us.

"A leopard never changes its spots, does it?" She shook her head in mock disappointment as Jisoo held out a peace sign cheekily.

"And...you are? The partner in crime of our model student here?"

Jisoo flung an arm around my shoulders. "This is Pasta! Nallalisa, you can speak English with her!"

'Nallalisa' rolled her eyes before extending her hand towards me. "Ignore Jisoo, please, call me Lisa. And I'm assuming your name isn't 'Pasta'?"

"I'm Roseanne, but call me Rosé."

"I think I'm starting to think like Jisoo, because I get that pasta reference right away, which is honestly not a promising sign." Lisa pointed an accusatory finger towards Jisoo.

"Do we get detention for being late?" I enquired worriedly. Talk about a fresh, encouraging start to the year!

"Well, there's a reason Jisoo never gets detention for being late, though she'll still get put in there one way or the other. Being an extremely understanding student council member, I'll let you girls off the hook, like I always do." She whispered that last part.

"As expected from my favourite student council member..." Jisoo patted Lisa on the back before waltzing through the school gates. 
                                                  
I hurriedly bode Lisa farewell before catching up to Jisoo. "Hey, what class are you in?"
                                                 
"404."

"Omo, we're in the same class!" I exclaimed.

"That doesn't bode well...for either of us." Jisoo chuckled softly.

"Why not?"

"We're in the nerd class. The goody-two-shoes class. The know-it-all class. The teachers' pet class. Infamous Class 404." 

"Why were we put in there then?" I was slightly appalled by the thought, I could never stand those who put on saintly fronts when around teachers even if they were far from pleasant in reality.

"Apparently our results are up there with the best in the batch somehow. " Jisoo stopped in front of our classroom door, hand on the doorknob. "Ready?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Ready as I'll ever be."