You know those days when you wake up and you just know that something’s going to happen? You just have this feeling that today’s going to be a crazy day. You jam your toe into the corner of your bed, you trip on your fuzzy slippers, and your bicycle tire pops as you move it out of your garage. As if running out of milk wasn’t enough for you to worry about…

“Wa... Jinjja... Daebak...” Closing your garage, you started running towards Seoul International High School. You told yourself that being late isn’t a big deal since checking in at the office as the new student will make you late to homeroom anyways. Being late for any reason isn't really good though... Your conscience obviously liked to burst your bubbles. “I hope their cross country team is good…” You absentmindedly mumbled to yourself as you jogged along with your backpack.

Upon your arrival, the warning bell rang and everyone began to shuffle to class with their schedules in hand. You surveyed the vast campus. Slightly OCD, you found that the school put your house to shame. The grass was kept so perfect it looked fake and the white buildings practically reflected light. Everything and everyone looked so blindingly perfect that you wished you were wearing a pair of sunglasses. How much effort does it take to make this place look so shiny? But then again… this place is rich… Squinting into the distance, you found what seemed to be the office building. As you began to walk in that direction, people sent you judging looks, probably for wearing "cheap" shoes and no makeup. Not that you cared. Your NMD's are beautiful, thank you very much. With a deep sigh, you prepared yourself for spending four years of your life at this rich-infested school. Here goes nothing…

As you pulled open the doors to the office building, a waft of strong perfume squirmed its way into your nose. You cringed. Crossing your fingers, you hoped that the woman behind this head-ache inducing smell wasn’t as snobby as you knew all those Barbie dolls out there were. You walked over to what seemed to be the front desk.

“Can I help you?” The lady sitting there asked exasperatedly without lifting her head up from her paperwork.

Someone didn’t take their happy pill today... You rolled your eyes at her rudeness. “I’m new here and I would like my schedule, please.” You gave her the best smile you could muster on a Monday morning. “My name is –insert your own name here- Lee.“ You waited patiently as she glanced up at you, set her pen down, and began to type.

“-Your name-… -your name-...” Then something seemed to register inside her head. “Ah!” She gasped as she whipped her head up to look at you with sparkles in her eyes. “You’re that scholarship student! Mr. Lee’s daughter, right?” You nodded and gave a forced smile. “I’m Ms. Kim!” Her attitude seemed to have taken a 180 degrees flip.

I have a name, you know? And we’re not even blood related so it'd be nice if you stopped staring at me like I was made of money... You wanted to snap at Ms. Kim but you realized that it would make you sound bratty. And bratty was not an acceptable adjective in the Lee household. If the Lee’s heard you weren’t behaving like a proper Lee again, you’d probably get punished worse than last time. And last time? Well, you didn’t want to think about last time.

The lady quickly threw her pen and paperwork aside. She got up from her desk and strode over to the file cabinet behind her. Fumbling with her keys, she finally pulled open the drawer.

Poor lady, she must be feeling nervous because of me…

She shuffled through some folders and pulled one out. “Everything you need is in here.” She said in a fake sweet voice. “ID card, schedule, map, student planner, and some complementary school supplies!” She winked at you. You winked back out of courtesy and started walking towards the door. “Now just come in anytime if you need anything!” She wiggled her perfectly manicured fingers as a wave of goodbye. You looked over your shoulder, smile plastered on your face, and returned the wave.

Tch. Probably expects me to gush to HIM about how fabulous of a front desk lady she is… Too bad I barely talk to him if at all. You sighed as the door closed behind you. You pulled out your schedule and map from the folder and studied them.

Name: -your name-

Student ID Number: 1932712

Birthdate: 12/27/93

: Female

Grade: 9th

Counselor: Mr. Park

Seoul International High School

Homeroom: Mr. Hwang: 6:30-7:00

Period1: Honors Geometry- K105: Mr. Doan: 7:05- 8:00

Period2: Honors Biology- E207: Mr. Jeong: 8:05-9:00

Break: 9:00-9:15

Period3: Latin I- L109: Mrs. LaPlante: 9:20-10:15

Period4: Cooking- Kitchen2: Mrs. Irie: 10:20-11:15

Period5: Honors Language Arts- J201: Mr. Son: 11:20-12:15

Lunch: 12:15-1:15

Period6: Honors World History- A105: Mrs. Malkin: 1:20-2:15

Period7: Cross Country- Field: Coach Evans: 2:20-3:15

One look at the map and you realized that the campus was bigger than you expected. Being directionally/geographically challenged was one of your bigger flaws. You glanced at the building behind you and shuddered. No matter how lost you were, going back to Ms. Kim definitely wasn’t at the top of your list of solutions. Well. There goes my Monday…

A gloomy mood settled around you as you wandered the school grounds. Wow... Did the wind suddenly stop or... It was suddenly so quiet and the leaves on the trees were so still you thought you were walking through a painting. Walking into the nearest building, you peered through the window on the closest classroom door. Although it was dark in the classroom and the projector was on, you couldn't hear any sounds and there was literally no movement inside. Okay... This is getting weird... The video could be frozen but the people shouldn't be... right?  

You looked again for confirmation. But their backs are turned to me... Maybe I'm just imagining things... Suddenly you felt a strong pull on your body that began to lead you towards the exit doors and in a certain direction. Your hand reached for your necklace, a reflex habit you developed when you were nervous. Instead of finding it flat against your body, it seemed to be floating in the air. You grabbed onto the pendant and gave it an uneasy glance. Your eyes widened when you found it faintly glowing. WOW the sun is bright today... There must be a reason for these uncanny happenings. Maybe you were just hypersensitive and overthinking things because you didn't like this school, or being lost for that matter.

You picked up your walking pace hoping you could catch someone coming out of class to go to the restroom. And then, as if the divinities above took notice of your situation and deemed you worthy of their help, a handsome boy materialized in front of you. You yelped in surpise and stumbled to the ground in shock. HOW DID HE EVEN GET HERE? He DEFINITELY was NOT in my field of vision a second ago. You rubbed your eyes and did a double take. “Holy! Where did you even come from?”

Maybe she remembers? He looked at you in shock, which you read as offended. 

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to offend you…” you incoherently muttered. He extended his hand towards you to help you up. Suddenly a blinding flash came from the ring on his finger. Your eyes squeezed shut as you flinched backwards but suddenly your body jolted forward. Your eyes shot open as you reached for your neckace and brought it back to your body. Catching sight of the boy's slightly surprised expression and still outstretched hand, you recomposed yourself with a cough. “Uh... Thanks.” You laughed a little awkwardly as you took his hand and got back on your feet. It can't get anymore embarrassing than this, right? Or maybe he didn't even see that? That would be preferable... Or even more preferable is me hallucinating. You tried to mentally reassure yourself that everything's that's happened so far was all just a trick of the mind. 

You noticed that he seemed to look at you affectionately. But you don’t even know him so you threw that thought away. "I'm -your name-." You extended your right hand towads him. 

"Kai." He gave you a dazzling warm smile and you sort of melt. When your hands touched, there was another spark of light. 

It's just a reflection of sunlight. Stop overthinking. “So uh…” You shuffled your feet, nervous and uncomfortable. He was kind of ridiculously good looking. So good looking your heart was skipping beats and rapidly at that. “How come you’re out here? Are you new, too?” As composed as your speech was, you felt extremely flustered by the way he was intensely staring at you.

“No. You were here.” He declared, dead serious, eyes gleaming with a mixture of excitement and happiness.

Upon hearing his answer, you broke out of your ogling trance and took a few steps back. Your eyes became slits. “What do you want from me? My dad’s money? Because for your information, I don’t even get any so just leave me alone!” You don’t even know why you blew up like that. Maybe because you were hoping a good looking guy like him would want to be friends with you for you and not Mr. Lee and money. How disappointing…

“Your dad?” His words snapped you out of your thoughts. You looked at his face which had confusion written all over it. 

Having lived your life around fake people who should join the acting business, you could tell he was being genuine. Realization dawned on you. He ACTUALLY doesn’t know who my dad is… Your arms flew around his neck and you squealed. “OHMYGOD! YOU DON’T KNOW WHO MY DAD IS!” You bounced on your tippy toes in glee. Then you looked up into his eyes and gave him a giant smile. He looked into your eyes with a lopsided grin. I guess she’s not mad at me anymore.

The grin pulled you out of your ecstatic state and you pulled your arms back so fast you think they might get whiplash. Thanks for not reminding me not to do anything embarrassing, conscience… You coughed several times into your arms to hide your blush.

Then as if nothing had happened, he asked, out of the blue, “Does your Earth parents treat you well?” They better…

Your eyes slowly landed on his face which you found to be entirely too serious to be joking. Is this guy for real? “E-excuse me?!” You asked, bewildered by his choice of words. Aliens don’t exist… Do they? And you bursted into laughter.

Kai wore a confused expression. Why is she laughing? Is there something on my face? He inquired you with his eyes.

And you replied in all seriousness. “If you think you can troll me just because you’re good looking, please take the next bridge out of my sight.” You were about to leave.

“But there's no bridge here.” He deadpanned.

You blinked at him, not sure of what to say. Is he joking? Sarcasm? No. It doesn't look like it... “Do you live under a rock?” You blurted out. You couldn’t think of any other reasons and the idea of him being an alien was just too preposterous. But he did say something suspicious… EARTH parents? What other kind of parents could I have? Mars parents?

He gave you a quizzical look. “Why would I live under a rock?” Kai’s eyes widened. Does her Earth parents make her do that?! He gripped your shoulders ready to get some answers but you started chortling. Kai let go of your shoulders more confused than ever. Why does she keep laughing?

Once you caught your breath, you explained. “It’s a saying! Like… Uh… Somewhere over the rainbow!” You snapped your fingers as you remembered another common saying.

“What's over the rainbow?” He looked to you for another explanation. Earth is so complicated…

You stared at him, dumbfounded. “Where are you from, again?” You weren’t about to give a lecture to a stranger about rainbows. This guy must be from some reality show where they make rich people look like idiots on camera. There must be a hidden camera around here somewhere… You started looking around apprehensively. Just try me, buddy. I’ll make YOU look like an idiot on camera!

“I’ve been waiting for you to ask!” You heard another voice behind you and whirled around. Your eyes widened a fraction. This boy was just as good looking as the first one who is now behind you. You blinked rapidly thinking that it must be your imagination. To your dismay, he doesn’t disappear. Instead, he stepped forward. “I’m Xiu Min!” He told you with a wide grin.

You studied his face and stifled a giggle. It looked round, soft, and white like the pork buns your Chinese nanny loved to make. You resisted the urge to reach your hands out and pinch his cheeks. “I’m –your name-!” You gave him a pretty smile. You felt your mood instantly become better because of his friendliness. But that didn’t last long.

“We’re from Planet Exo! Two galaxies away from this one! We’re here on a mission to bring you back home so that you can claim your rightful throne as the princess!” He eagerly explained. 

You sighed. “Look, I don’t have time for this. I have a class I need to go to and I’m already super late as it is.” You gave them both a wistful look. Why couldn’t they have been normal? You gave a deeper sigh as you began to walk away. “Nice meeting you both, though! See you around!” You smiled and waved. Having weird friends is better than having none, right?

“You don’t have to worry about the time. I’ve stopped it from the moment you walked out of that building.” A third voice spoke up.

The new sound caused you to whip your head in its direction. “HAHA! You’re funny!” Your voice rose to a high pitch. An annoying voice at the back of your head concluded this must be why the leaves were so still even though on the way to school there was definitely wind. You were on the brink of banging your head against the wall. You looked to Kai and Xiu Min for reassurance. Please tell me he’s joking. You pleaded them with your eyes. You’ were driven insane by your adopted family enough at home. You did not have enough sanity for this. Unfortunately, you only saw them raising their thumbs up at the boy. 

You closed your eyes for a good five seconds, to clear your head, and opened them. Without warning, you were met with nine other boys standing next to Kai and Xiu Min. The new boy had somehow made his way next to them in the time span of you blinking and you almost screamed. You weren’t used to being in the presence of… TWELVE hot, y, delicious, handsome, and cute looking boys. This must be a dream… An extremely wacky dream. I’ve been watching too many dramas and reading too many mangas and…

“Suho hyung! Why is she wearing two different socks?” You heard one whisper to the other.

“Shh…” Said hyung put a finger to his lips. “Some Earthlings get offended if you question their fashion sense.”

Another snickered. “D.O.” Suho sternly said. D.O. crossed his arms.

“Well, Sehun started it!” D.O. huffed.

You snorted. They think I can’t hear. Hah! They must all be color blind! You looked down thinking your socks matched. To your mortification, they didn’t. One was blue and one was green. Now you knew why your fellow classmates were judging you. God must be trying to torture me to complete insanity… You looked at the sky with a bleak expression. And with a last thread of hope, you closed your eyes and pinched yourself, desperately wishing you were still slumbering. You yelped in pain.

The twelve seemed to have been in deep whispersation because all of their heads whipped up at once. “Princess, are you okay?” One of them took a step towards you.

“Yes! I’m okay!” Your hand shot out to prevent him from advancing. You were a little dizzy. Is this some sort of inception?

He fell back in line with the others quietly.

“Suho hyung…” One of the boys who haven’t spoken yet whispered. “Do earthlings like to hurt themselves?”

“No, Baekhyun, earthlings do that because they’re trying to confirm if they are dreaming or not.” Suho replied matter-of-factly.

Baekhyun’s eyes grew. “Will we have to do that here on Earth? Will we not be able to tell dream from reality?” She made it sound so painful.. He shuddered involuntarily.

Suho patted Baekhyun’s back. “Humans only do that when they’re in denial.”

“Ohhhhh!” Baekhyun nodded.

As their conversation ended, you were ready to hop onto the next flight to Iceland and never come back. This is getting wayyyyy out of hand. You tried the deep breathing exercises your yoga instructor taught you. Heeee hooooo heee hoooo.This is all a dream… This is all a dream…

Then all at once reality came crashing back to you as you felt a hand on your shoulder.

“WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE? WHY ARE YOU HERE? GIVE ME A CLEAR EXPLANATION FOR GOD’S SAKE!” You flailed your arms wildly and accidentally whacked Kai in the face. And then all was silent. “S-sorry!” Your eyes widened to the size of saucers. You watched him rub his throbbing jaw. Your hand extended then retracted then extended then retracted. You weren’t sure if he was angry or not and you kind of didn’t want to find out.

He moved his jaw several times to check you haven’t broken anything. Then he looked right at you. “I’m Kai, a member of the Exo Knights here on a mission on orders of the King and Queen to bring you back to Planet Exo so you could be the princess once again.”

“So you’re telling me… That I’m a princess? From a different planet?” You figured he wouldn’t be joking around after getting hit in the jaw.

Everyone that was present nodded approvingly.

“Okay.” You rubbed your temples, trying to prevent your oncoming headache. “Just… Introduce yourselves or something.”

“Comrade D.O.! Reporting for duty!” One of the twelve with wide eyes called out and saluted. Everyone looked at him. “I thought we agreed to all do it!” He was appalled by his "comrades"’ abandonment. “I can manipulate earth…” He huffed out, glaring at the rest of the boys.

The boy to D.O.’s left laughed softly along with the rest. “I’m Lu Han. My specialty is telekinesis.”

The boy on the very left stepped forward. “I’m Kris. I fly.” He gives you a nod.

“Riiiiiiiight.” You nod uneasily.

The one next to Kris stepped forward. “I’m Chan Yeol. I can make fire.” He says in a smooth, deep voice.

“Se Hun here! I can control air! ” The one next to Chanyeol raised his arm.

“I’m Lay. I specialize in healing.” He gave you a small smile. He seems reserved… I suppose having some calm people in the group is good.

“Kai. I teleport.”

No wonder he appeared so suddenly!

He smirked, knowing that you just realized.

“Leader Suho, reporting for duty!” He saluted you and winked at D.O. as if saying Don’t worry, I wouldn’t abandon you.

D.O. grumbled something under his breath.

He’s a good leader. Good for them. You hid a smile behind your hand.

“I’m Chen. I control lightning.”

“Do you control thunder, too?” You asked him, interested. You really didn’t like thunder.

He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment and shook his head. Why didn’t Master give me the power to control thunder? Then I would’ve been able to make the princess happy…

“Awww, darn!” You jokingly said and giggled. Apologetic that he had to feel apologetic for your own problem.

Xiu Min nudged Chen to tell him that he didn’t have to be so embarrassed. “I think she’s getting more comfortable with us.” And with that, Chen seemed to lighten up. I’m glad I could make her laugh.

“I can make ice!” Xiu Min jumped forward. And you laughed. He reminded you of the bun in the manga, ½ Prince.

“Xiu Min, you’re supposed to introduce yourself. The princess ordered us.” Su Ho looked over and reprimanded.

“Ah! Sorry! My name is Xiu Min! We’ve already met!”

“And I’m Baek Hyun!” The boy next to Xiu Min waved enthusiastically. “I can create light!” He ed his open hand towards you and light shined outwards. You drew back in surprise. Okay… Either he’s REALLY GOOD at magic or… You couldn’t really bring yourself to fully believe that they’re aliens yet.

“Baek Hyun.” Su Ho warned.

Baek Hyun pouted. “But then why does Kai and Tao get to use their powerrrrrrs?” He whined to the leader.

"They're using their powers for a reason!" Suho clucked his tongue in disapproval of Baek Hyun's behavior.

You suddnly had an urge to run up to the both of them and squish them until they couldn’t breathe. Baek Hyun's so cute??? But Su Ho is also cute in his old grandpa kind of way?? There was no denying your weakness for good looking boys.

And last but not least. “I’m Tao. I can control time.” Although his panda eyes made him look slightly intimidating, he sounded shy and sensitive.

The introductions ended and you were somewhat speechless now. Thoughts raced through your head. Do I pretend to accept them as aliens? Run away? Call the police? Or pretend they're actually normal?

“Hyung, the effects are wearing off!” You heard Tao urgently whisper. They gave each other surreptitious glances. It won’t be good if someone walks out and sees us all here…

They all walked towards you, ready to you to home room. What you saw, however, was more like twelve crazy kidnappers cornering you. You froze. Wait... I just want to go home and take a nice hot shower and hop under my covers and escape from this.... Not nightmare per se, more like hallucination? Nightmares usually don't involve so many good looking boys. 

“Princess, we must go to our home room.” Kris gently pushed you from behind. You stayed rooted to the spot.

“I.. I can’t.” You tell them. “I think I need to be taken to a mental hospital. I’m completely delusional…” You turned around and wobbled past Kris. “I think I’m going to call it a day…” You whispered to no one in particular.

Then as quickly as you had taken your first step towards home, you were swept off your feet. “Ahh!” What the-? You looked up at a smiling Lay. I guess the reserved one isn’t so reserved after all…

“Awww, hyung! I was gonna do that!” Chan Yeol whined. Lay shrugged and began to walk towards your home room. Everyone followed suit.

“Wait… Why aren’t you going to your own home rooms?” You looked back at the group of boys.

“We’re in the same home room.” Lu Han eye smiled, giving off a princely aura. You blushed a light hue of pink, embarrassed that you didn’t think of that before you asked.

His words processed through your brain again; this time without the influence of their overqualified looks. “Wait… ALL of you?” You asked, skeptical now, an eyebrow raised.

“Mhm!” Xiu Min bounced beside you and Lay. You imagined him singing inside his head. I could totally just take a bite out of him right now… Actually… I don’t feel too well…

You felt a shiver go down your spine and your stomach grumbled. You felt a little nauseous and the beginning of a cold sweat starting to form on your palms. Okay… Maybe I’m just being nervous about getting carried by a handsome stranger bridal style… You felt your stomach tighten and some more sweating. On second thought…

You clutched onto Lay’s sleeve. “We need to go to the nurse’s office.” You announced, feeling queasy. You doubted that Lay could just take you alone without telling the others. They all exchanged glances.

“Princess, we know that you don’t believe us now but if you could just com-” you could tell that there was a limit to their patience by the look on Kris’ face. But you couldn’t help it because your stomach has now contorted into a painful knot and none of them have noticed your sweating or your contorted facial features.

“NO! PUT ME DOWN!” You squiggled and squirmed and managed not to land on your or face. You darted to the nearest trashcan and threw up. Continuing through the process of unwillingly purging yourself, you didn’t even have time to feel horrified. Nor did you look up to the horrified faces of the Exo Knights. You were ready to collapse and you couldn’t even think straight.

Only one though lingered in your mind before you passed out. I seriously shouldn’t have eaten that sketchy looking cup of peach yogurt…