I totally can’t believe that Minzy would leave me like this!  Then again, Hyorin is her cousin and Minzy always told me that family comes first.  “To me, family will always come first.  You’re like my sister so I’ll always protect you and be there for you when you need me.” Is what she told me.  Why isn’t she helping me out now?!?  Then again Hyorin is her blood related family, and I’m just a person who hang out with a rich girl.  I sighed heavily.  I wanted the day to be over.  I didn’t want to go through the rest of the day without Minzy.  I was so excited to come here BECAUSE of Minzy.  She’s the one who persuaded me.  She gave me the uniform and her parents even paid my tuition because my parents couldn’t.  I felt like crying.  I wanted to run out of this stupid, crazy school and scream my heart and lungs out.

“Hey!  Aren’t you that girl who was with Hyorin sunbae’s cousin?” a voice said to me.  I jumped back and looked up.  A girl was staring at me and smirking.  It wasn’t the kind of smirk that CL puts on.  This smirk wasn’t mocking.  The girl’s cute smirk turned into a wide smile.  “Yo, my name is Kang Sora!  You know like the singer Sora but instead of Lee, I’m Kang.  I’m supposed to be in a grade above but I was held back one year.  Don’t mind that, haha.” she said.  She held out a hand towards me.  I took it and shook it.  “Hi, I’m Cho JungHee.  It’s nice to meet you.” I kindly said to her.  Kang Sora had this beautiful smile.  She was cute but not like Minzy cute.  Minzy had a baby face and her aegyo is adorable.  I don’t think that Sora does aegyo but she had this personality that made her super cute.  She turned around to look at someone and she called in a loud voice, “Bae Suzy!” and a girl spins around.  She half jogs and half skips to us.  This girl, Suzy, gives a huge smile and says, “Hi!  I’m Suzy!  Hey!!!  You’re Gong Minzy’s friend!!!  Ah!  You’re so lucky!  You have a bright future in this school!  The future that everyone wants.  So lucky.  Oh hey look ,we have some classes together, how fun!  I’m glad we’re same grade.”  Her gushing all this all at once was making me sick.  I don’t like how everyone sees me as Minzy’s friend.  Sigh.  I wanted to go home.  I think Sora saw my grossed face because she shoved Suzy.  “Yah!  You’re overwhelming her!  Why are you so excited all of a sudden?” Sora yelled at her.  Suzy hung her head down and I realized that this was the girl that CL and Hyorin was mocking.  “Ah!  It’s okay.  I’m just kinda upset.  I’m like alone without Minzy.  See….  Uh, don’t tell anyone but I’m not rich.  The only reason why I’m here in this school is because Minzy wanted me to be here with her so I really don’t know anyone else.” I stuttered and I felt my face turn pink.  Sora looked at me and looked away almost immediately.  She seemed mad for some reason.  Suzy gave me a small smile.  “Hey, if you’re not sitting with Minzy later during lunch, then sit with me and Suzy.  We’ll introduce you to our other friends so that you can have more friends and not be lonely.  The elites have a totally different schedule then us.  They have private classes and seldom classes with the rest of us.  You won’t see Minzy a lot this year.” Sora said.  Great.  I come to this freaking school because of Minzy and now I can’t even have classes with her.  This totally .  I think I should tell Mr. Gong that I want to transfer out to the regular school where all the other people are.  I would be able to see other friends and not be stuck here with people I don’t even know.  Sigh.  At least Suzy and Sora are nice to me.  Maybe I’ll be able to make some friends here…

The bell rang and Suzy jumped out of her seat.  Sora looked up and gathered her books and started her way to her next class.  Suzy looked at me and smiled.  “You have class with me next!” she beamed.  “ Let’s walk together!”  I was grateful that Suzy was being so nice to me.  We walked down the hall in silence.  It was extremely awkward.  I was sort of grateful when we bumped into Minzy but I wanted to kill myself when I saw the elites.  Hyorin stared down at me literally because of her heels.  Eunjung and CL were giggling but Minzy seemed so happy to see me.  Suzy was trembling under CL and Hyorin’s glare.  Is Suzy really trying to get their attention?  Why is she so scared?

”JungHee!!  How was your first class?  Oh I see you already made a friend!  Hi, I’m Minzy!” Minzy enthusiastically chimed.  I looked at Suzy.  She just nodded and replied kindly and quietly, “I’m Bae Suzy…”  Poor, Suzy.  She’s definitely terrified right now…  I wanted to hug her but I couldn’t.  I wanted to grab Minzy’s hand and run so fast we go back in time when we were still elementary school students but that’s impossible.  I was kind of glad that Hyorin broke this awkward silence.  “Minzy.  We’re going to be late for French class.  We should leave so these girls can go to their next class as well.” her near icy, yet beautiful voice echoed softly down the hall.  “Oh, yeah!  I’m taking French, too, JungHee-ah!  I’ll see you later!  Bye!!!!” Minzy called as she ran to catch up with the other sunbaes.  Suzy looked like she was going to pass out.  “OH MY GOSH!  MINZY SPOKE TO ME!” she gasped.  Yeah…  She’s definitely an attention seeker.  What’s so significant if an elite talks to you?  Gosh, I’ll never understand these people.  “Are you alright, Suzy?  Let’s hurry up and get to class.” I dragged Suzy to art with me.  Suzy explained to me that even an elite knowing your name is something amazing.  She started telling me all this stuff that Minzy failed to do earlier this morning.

According to Suzy, Hyorin sunbae is the last elite in her family and the next heir to the elites would be Minzy.  Now I know why Suzy was gushing over me.  I’m best friends with Minzy so that’s why my future in this school is really bright.  Although I’m not rich, my status in this school would make me elite.  I nearly puked at the idea.  For the next three years of my high school life, I will be looked up to like I’m some queen or something.  How freakin’ lovely!  I longed to have a peaceful, calm, fun, exciting high school life.  Now I’m stuck being a freakin’ elite.  I think Suzy saw my disgusted face and said, “Don’t worry!  Being and elite you have more opportunities than us!  When we have our oversea school trip, you get to be in almost VIP like places!  Oh you’re so lucky to have Minzy as your best friend.” Suzy gushed again.  I seriously wanted to smack Suzy because of all this gushing and admiration. 

Lunchtime came around and I was glad to get out…  Sort of.  When I entered the cafeteria with Suzy, I felt like everyone was staring at me.  Because of this morning’s little “scene” everyone kind of knows me, and it’s not the way I wanted people to know me.  Since I am Minzy’s friend, everyone immediately thinks that I’m an elite.  I felt like they were staring at me like some freak show.  Suzy whispered, “The elites don’t eat lunch with us so Miss Minzy isn’t here.  You can eat with me, Sora, and our other friends!”  We walked over to where a whole bunch of teens were sitting and chatting while eating lunch.  I saw Sora and she gave me a big smile.  She walked over to me and swung her arm around my shoulders.  It was almost like how Minzy used to do when we were little.  “Oy!  This is Cho JungHee!  Be nice to her, you rascals!” she called towards her friends.  The group of guys and girls stared at me.  Some were staring at me blankly, the others smiled and waved at me.  I really wanted to learn their names.  Suzy noticed me studying their face so she grabbed my hand and lead me to the head of the table.  She gestured the boy next to me.  “This is Sungmin.  He’s our age.”  Sungmin looked at me and gave me a warm smile.  She pointed to the girl next to him.  “And that’s Vicky.  Ah!  That’s her nickname.  Her full name is Victoria Song, and she’s Chinese.  Even though her last name seems Korean, she’s really Chinese!” Suzy said as she giggled.  “And that’s her boyfriend.  Khunnie, well that’s what we call him.  He isn’t Korean either; rather he’s Thai.  His last name says it all!  His name is Nickhun Horv…  Horv…?  Horvij….?”  The boy looked up annoyed and said in a clear Korean speech, “IT’S HORVEJKUL!  HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN ME AND YOU STILL DON’T KNOW IT?!?”  I laughed and Suzy blushed.  “Sorry…  They’re seniors as well as the elites.” she mumbled.  She continued, “Over there is Lee Seunghyun.  He’s so cute and funny, you should get to know him!”  “It’s SeungRi….  I told you guys to call me SEUNGRI.”  In Korean, SeungRi means “victory” so I wondered what he was so victorious about.  “The only thing you’ll ever have victory is being world’s biggest DORK!  Sigh, he’s our age as well so he might be in our afternoon classes next semester.” Suzy retorted.  She continued going on with the names, “Now next to ‘SeungRi’ it’s Park Jibin.  He’s supposed to still be in Junior High but he’s just really smart that he ended up 2 years ahead of all his peers.”  I stared at the hoobae in amazement.  “Ah, Suzy noona!  You don’t have to explain everything.  And besides, it’s all elementary stuff anyway; you’re all just stupid and slow.  Haha!  Noona, saranghae~” he joked.  Jibin was completely adorable.  Kang Sora hit his head lightly and joked back, “Okay okay, Mr. Junior Einstein.  Now quit the jokes.”  I looked around and I saw two girls talking by themselves.  “Who are they?” I asked Suzy.  Suzy looked at me and replied, “Those are the Jung sisters.  Jessica and Krystal Jung.  They came from America.  Krystal is our age and her sister Jessica is a senior, too.  They always talk together but they’re open when it comes to the group.”  The Jung sisters looked up upon hearing their name.  They looked at me and waved.  Suddenly I heard a voice behind me.  “Sorry I’m late guys.  My locker got jammed.  Oh hey, you’re the girl that was with Minzy this morning right?”  This is exactly what I was upset about.  I don’t want to be known forever as Minzy’s friend!  I have an identity too.  Who the hell is this?!?  I spun around and saw a boy with chestnut colored hair and adorable face.  “Hey.  I’m Taemin.  And you are….?”  I couldn’t speak for like the longest time ever.  “Uhh…. I-i-i… Ahem!  I’m Cho JungHee.” I stuttered.  Why are you so stupid, JungHee?!!?  Taemin laughed and smiled at me.  “It’s nice to meet you, JungHee.”  Taemin was really adorable and cute.  His smile was irresistibly charming.  I smiled back at him.  Suzy gave him my schedule and he said, “Sadly we don’t have any classes together this semester.  Maybe next semester we’ll have classes that are same.” 

Lee Taemin…  Maybe it won’t be bad as a year…  This just may be the high school life that’s suited for me…  I stared back at the table.  Nickhun and Victoria leaning heads together and staring at their couple rings, the Jung sisters laughing together like loveable sisters would, Jibin with Sora were like dongsaeng and noona, SeungRi and Suzy bickering and calling each other names, and Taemin laughing and talking with Sungmin.  Yes, I think it would be a good year even though I won’t have Minzy by my side all the time.