Hwa groaned when she heard her alarm clock go off.

She blindly reached around for her phone in her bed, not wanting to open her eyes and be bombarded by sunlight. She felt like a vampire already and it was only after day one of working the night shift. When she finally located her phone, she pressed the snooze button on her phone. Just five more minutes, that's all she needed. 

When her alarm went off the second time, she grudgingly left her warm blankets and swung her feet over the side of the bed. Once she was on her feet, she ruffled her messy blonde hair and made her way downstairs to the kitchen. It was seven in the morning and she had class at nine. She'd only slept four hours and was already regretting her decision to work and go to school. She the coffee machine, pouring coffee grounds in. She liked her coffee strong. 

While the coffee was brewing, she ran upstairs so that she could start getting ready. She tied her hair up in a bun on top of her head in the bathroom and swiped the toothpaste along her toothbrush. When she was done brushing her teeth, she grabbed her facewash and scrubbed her face, hoping she wouldn't get any surprise pimples. After her face was clean, she her flat iron and ran to her closet to figure out what she was going to wear. She decided she'd just wear a sweater and jeans. 

Hwa grabbed her backpack and phone as she ran downstairs. Immediately, she encountered her step father. He was sitting down at the table reading a newspaper. She slowed her steps when she saw him, not wanting to disturb him. She poured her coffee in a cup and looked around in the cabinets for something to eat. His presence behind her was like a dark force shadowing her every move. No matter how hard she tried, she could not shake the feeling that he just didn't like her. He never spoke to her if he didn't have to, but...neither did she.

Hwa shook the thoughts from her head. She had enough to worry about without thinking of her step father with a heart made of ice. She took a bagel from the refrigerator and popped it in the toaster. That'd be good enough. Once she spread cream cheese on the bagel, she grabbed her backpack and phone and was out the door and on her way to class. 

School, she had to face it, was such a drag. 

Hwa wasn't like everyone else she knew. She didn't have a passion. She didn't know what she was in college for besides the fact that it was expected of her to go. There were times she thought maybe she was on of those girls that needed to take a major trip to find herself and then start college but there were two problems with that. One; her mother would never let her do that. Two; she was a homebody. Some people, she realized, just weren't driven by a specific passion. Some people just...wanted to live and love and more than anything, have that love returned. 

Yeah, some people were boring like that. They just want love. 

She fought falling asleep during the lecture. She wished she could find it interesting; she really did. Perhaps it was lack of sleep. 

Or it's because I have no interest in anything and my life is going nowhere, fast, said the tiny voice in the back of her head. 

When her final class was over, Hwa walked quickly to her car. Unlike a lot of students, she didn't have any friends that she hung around with after class. She was there to get her classes over with and be done with it. That wasn't to say if she had the opportunity to have friends she wouldn't take it, though. It just wasn't likely. Most times, Hwa didn't know where she fit in. She was pretty, she looked like she had her life together but often times she was told she was unapproachable, cold, standoff-ish. But it was only to defend herself. Truthfully, she wore her heart on her sleeve when she came to trust others. And that left room for heart break. She was terrified of being hurt. 

Oh, what a cliche!

It was cliche to be popular but it was also cliche to want to be popular. Where did that leave her?  

In a weird limbo. 

About half an hour later, she was back home with only about two hours to spare before she had to get ready for work. She was so tired she didn't know what to do. How would she find the time to do her homework when every time she looked up, she had to be at work? An overwhelming feeling of stress came down on her and she suddenly wanted to cry. Swallowing the lump in , she pulled out clothes from her drawers so she wouldn't have to rush to be at work on time. 

Times like this, she wished she had that one special friend to talk to, to tell her everything would be fine. But she didn't have that. Instead, she had "friends" that she had nothin