All her life, Cho Eunmi had lived in Seoul.
However, she was starting her second year of high school in Daegu. The travel agency her father worked at was opening a branch in the city which meant a promotion and more money. He had also pulled a few strings and gotten his wife a new job. Their new house was definitely an upgrade from their apartment in Seoul.
It looked like Daegu would be treating their family well and that was great, but it wasn’t home.
As she stood outside her new house, in her new uniform, looking down an unfamiliar street, Eunmi was very aware that she wasn’t home.

Back in Seoul, she would always drop by her grandmother’s place on the way to school. Sometimes her grandma gave her money, sometimes it was a snack, but she never left her grandma’s place without a smile.
She missed that. She missed home.

A cool spring breeze made her shiver. Sighing, she reached up to rub the back of her neck. Her hair used to be long; it didn’t even cover her neck now. She had loved her new haircut for a week but now it felt strange. Unfamiliar.
It was only the beginning of March–still pretty cold. She gripped the straps of her backpack tightly, wishing her neighbour would show up soon.

“Morning!”

She looked up at the sound of the greeting, relieved. It looked like life could afford to grant at least one of her wishes.
“Good morning,” she responded, a small smile on her face.

Seunghee lived two doors down and was a year older than Eunmi. Luckily enough, she also went to the same high school.
She was so far the best thing about moving to Daegu. She had offered all her services to Eunmi as far as Daeryun High School was concerned. That included them walking to school together, which was nice. It meant Eunmi wouldn’t have to be the lonely new girl.

“Am I late?” Seunghee asked, blowing on her bangs.

Eunmi shrugged, “I’m not sure. Are we?”
Immediately after, she pursed her lips, hoping she didn’t sound rude. She had been told she seemed standoffish sometimes.

Seunghee, however, just let out a chuckle.
“That’s stupid of me. You don’t know the way,” she muttered, mostly to herself. She then gave Eunmi a soft smile, “Let’s go.”

The two girls made their way down the gently-sloping road in awkward silence. Eunmi wanted to strike up a conversation, the silence was making her mind wander, but she didn’t know what to say. All that there was to know about the school, Seunghee had already told her (with a lot of enthusiasm).

Almost like she had read the younger girl’s thoughts, Seunghee turned to her, “You must be missing your old friends.”

“I guess,” Eunmi responded. Then her lips quirked up in a small smile, “I never thought I’d say this but…I miss…just being in my old school.”

Seunghee nodded.
“I get it. I can’t believe it’s my last year at Daeryun already. I’m sure I’ll miss how things are right now once I get to college. We can keep in touch with our friends but we won’t be able to go back to places we love. That’s how you feel, right?”
Eunmi nodded once, and a silence settled between the two of them once again; this one more comfortable than the last.
“Oh, by the way,” Seunghee started again, “You’re welcome to eat lunch with us, by the way. With me and my friends, I mean. At least until you find cooler people to hang out with.”

“I’d like that. Thanks.”

Fifteen minutes later, the two girls were still talking, the conversation ranging from Seunghee’s friends, the meanest teachers Daeryun had to offer, and that one idol group they both agreed deserved more attention.
It was only when someone violently shoved the older girl from behind that the two stopped talking.
Annoyed, Seunghee turned to face the perpetrator. Eunmi too looked ready to give him a piece of her mind. However, irritation turned into confusion when Seunghee smiled at the boy who had just pushed her, then landed a solid punch on his arm.
Eunmi and the boy gasped simultaneously.

“That hurt!” the boy whined, rubbing his arm.
Eunmi noticed his long hair was tied into a ponytail at the base of his neck. Even he had hair longer than hers.

“A ‘good morning’ would have been nice.”

The boy chose to ignore his friend.
“I’m sorry that my friend is so rude,” he turned to Eunmi. “I’m Yoon Jeonghan,” he introduced himself with a smile.

“Cho Eunmi,” the girl said with a small bow. “It’s nice meeting you.”

“She just moved from Seoul,” Seunghee informed, “she’s in second year.”

“Did I ask you?”

Seunghee only sighed.
“Let’s just go.”

After another comment from Jeonghan about Seunghee’s attitude, they started walking again.
For the first time, Eunmi took in her surroundings. There were a lot of students wearing the same uniform as her. When she looked far ahead, she could see many of them entering the large gates of Daeryun High School.
Unexpectedly, her stomach felt like it was in knots when there was nothing to be nervous about.
…was there?
Suddenly, she found herself thinking about the mint-green envelope lying on her desk back in her new room.
A nudge to her side startled her out of her thoughts.

“Nervous?” Seunghee asked as they finally walked through the gates of Daeryun High School.

“Kinda,” Eunmi responded with a tight-lipped smile.

“You’ll be fine,” Jeonghan said, “we’ll find someone who’s in the same class as you.”

The younger girl nodded in response. Everyone she had come across so far was nice. But then again, she had met only two people. They were both seniors and she didn’t think hardly ever see them.
She couldn’t help but let out a sigh as she looked around. The school was large, much bigger than her old school back in Seoul. She had visited the school once before, but it felt more unfamiliar now that it was full of students who all seemed to know each other.

“To the Assembly Hall!” Seunghee suddenly announced as she looped her arms through Eunmi’s, leading the way while her male friend followed lazily.

Once again, Eunmi was awestruck by the mere size of the school. It had five buildings, probably more, and she had heard it also had an indoor swimming pool. Sure they had a hall or two back in her old school but they were used for special occasions, all other occasions required the boys to carry plastic chairs to the gym.
Daeryun’s Assembly Hall was bigger than the biggest one at her old school– the plastic chairs were already arranged in neat rows. A lot of the seats at the back were taken, forcing the three of them to reluctantly make their way to the front.

The hall was filled with a hum from so many excited teens talking at the same time. The noise only served to overwhelm Eunmi. Back home, she’d be joining in on the conversation, but here she only watched as Seunghee waved excitedly at people. Occasionally, she’d look around the hall, trying to convince herself that this wasn’t bad.

Eventually, the noise petered out, a few teachers shushing a kid or two here and there. The hall went extremely silent when the Principal, a very tall middle-aged man, walked onto the stage. All of a sudden, the students rose to greet the teachers, leaving some first years and Eunmi, slightly confused. They too stood up quickly before the Principal motioned for all of them to sit. He then started his address from behind a large podium with the school’s emblem on it.
It was very obvious to everyone, including the Principal, that no one was interested in a speech –Jeonghan yawned without even bothering to conceal it. So thankfully, the welcome address was short: welcoming the freshmen, introduction of new faculty and repeating of rules that students found hard to follow.
The end of the speech was met with applause and a few hoots from the back which were immediately shushed by some teacher or another.

All order, however, seemed to vanish as soon as the Principal left the stage. Everyone started filing out of the doors and not for the first time that morning, Eunmi felt lost. If it weren’t for Seunghee grabbing her hand and leading her out, she might have stood there and waited for everyone to be gone. She followed silently, with a small frown on her face as the older girl pushed her way out,  subtly elbowing a few people here and there.

Once outside, they all took in large breaths of fresh air. The three walked up to an unoccupied bench; as much hurry as everyone had seemed to be in, no one seemed to be heading to class.

“Every time,” Seunghee muttered, glaring at the receding backs of a few kids who seemed to be in a rush.

“We never learn,” Jeonghan said with a lazy smile.

“Anyways,” Seunghee brought her attention back to her neighbour, “which class are you in?”

“2-B,” Eunmi responded. She opened to say something more but was interrupted by someone calling–no, screaming Jeonghan’s name.

The source of the noise seemed to be two boys who were approaching at an alarming speed.
Jeonghan let out a sigh, but then smiled as he exchanged a look with Seunghee. Eunmi watched in confusion and slight concern as the two boys now tackled Jeonghan into a hug, singing gibberish. They paused momentarily before one of them let out a cry of Seunghee’s name and yanked her into the group hug as well.

Seconds later, one of the happy boys reached towards Eunmi, but froze midway. His eyes widened as he took in her face, realising he didn’t know her. The group hug came to an abrupt halt.
“I don’t know you! I’m sorry!” he cried, bowing almost ninety degrees.

“It’s okay,” Eunmi said, as she took a step back. Her lips twitched into a smile. “I’m Cho Eunmi,” she introduced herself, “I’m starting my second year here. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Lee Seokmin,” the boy said with a smile that was almost blinding, “I’m just in first year. I’m your junior.”

“Kwon Soonyoung!” the other happy boy jumped in, scaring Eunmi only a little, “I’m also in second year. Which class are you in?”

Although he was the tiniest bit loud, Eunmi had to admit Soonyoung’s smile was cute. The way his eyes slanted up and his cheeks puffed out made her smile too.
“2-B,” she informed, hoping the happy boy was her classmate.

“Me too!” Soonyoung exclaimed, doing a small celebratory dance where he stood. “This is great. I’ll introduce you to everyone. Don’t worry about being alone. I’ll be your friend.”

“Yay!” Eunmi let out a cheer, but was surprised when came out more enthusiastic than she felt.

Everyone who had met so far seemed nice, but it had been only about twenty minutes since she had entered the school compounds.
Nevertheless, she was glad all her classmates wouldn’t all be complete strangers. Soonyoung of the adorable eye-smile was really friendly. In fact he immediately took it upon himself to lead her to their classroom, leaving the rest of the group behind.
Seunghee yelled something after them but Eunmi couldn’t hear, she waved and hurried after her classmate.

A majority of the students still seemed to be loitering outside; the halls were almost empty and the classrooms emptier.
There were hardly ten students in classroom 2-B as Eunmi entered, Soonyoung chivalrously holding the door open for her. A few curious pairs of eyes looked up at the new arrivals.

“Guys!” Soonyoung called, making everyone look, “Say hi to Eunmi. She’s new.”

For a second, Eunmi felt dread creeping in, but still put her best smile on.
“Hello,” she bowed, “I’m Cho Eunmi.”

A burly guy yelled a welcome from the back of the classroom.
“Seoul?” he asked.

Eunmi nodded in response, trying to ignore the winking boy in front of the burly one.
“Seoul girls are my type,” the winker said, “I’m Minsoo.”
Minsoo was immediately smacked by the boy behind him.

Before she could react, Soonyoung pushed her forward gently.
“The window seats are free,” he said eagerly.
Taking his cue, the girl walked towards the desks along the two large windows towards the right of the classroom. She made for the last seat; if she sat there, no one could sit behind her.
But–
“Dibs on the last seat!”

If it had been her old school, she would have run, pushed, or argued to sit at her chosen seat but this wasn’t her old school. Also, she didn’t want to argue with her only friend in the class. So she stepped aside as Soonyoung rushed past her and sat on her chosen spot, but tossed his backpack at the seat next to him. Ignoring the strange bubbling in her stomach, she made for the seat in front of Soonyoung.
Settling herself on the chair, she ran a hand through her hair, once again realising how short it was. Her gaze fell on the grassy quad below. There were little paths that criss-crossed the entire space with tiny little metal benches along them. Daeryun had a really pretty campus.

“Hey,” a girl’s voice brought her back to the classroom again.
Eunmi turned to face the girl who was seated in the row next to hers.
“Welcome to Daeryun,” she said with a prim smile, “I’m Kim Iseul, and you are?”

“Cho Eunmi,” she held out a hand for Iseul to shake, “it’s nice meeting you.”

Iseul shook Eunmi’s hand briefly before placing them back on her lap. Her hair pulled back in a neat ponytail, her uniform was perfectly ironed, and a bracelet sat delicately on her wrist. Everything about the girl was so proper that Eunmi felt self-conscious.

“If you need someone to show you around or someone to eat with you can always come to us,” Iseul offered. She leaned to her side so the girl two rows over could wave at Eunmi.

“Thanks,” Eunmi once again ran her hand through her hair, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“She already has me though,” Soonyoung piped from behind Eunmi.

“Of course she does,” Iseul sent another one of her smiles at Soonyoung, and then turned away.

Eunmi raised an eyebrow at her desk. Iseul seemed…nice.
She looked around the classroom. It looked like almost everyone had arrived; in fact, the only empty seat was the one with Soonyoung’s bag on it. Everyone seemed to be caught up in their own conversations, no one noticing the new girl sitting by the window.
She missed Yujin so much. Doyoung, Seungyeon and Junhong too.
She didn’t know what her one friend was doing and she didn’t bother to turn around find out.

However, she did turn to gaze upon the new arrival–a lanky male with sharp monolid eyes, whose black hair was a slight mess. He seemed to be catching his breath by the door, his messenger bag slung carelessly over his chest and his tie loose. His eyes caught Eunmi’s for a second but they flitted past her, uninterested.
Eunmi’s resumed the useless examination of her desk, embarrassed for unknown reasons. She didn’t watch the boy approach, but started when with she heard the sound of a chair scraping the floor.
For some reason, Soonyoung was standing.
“You owe me,” she heard him say.
The other boy said something in response, but there was a sinking feeling in her chest that kept her from making out what.

Slowly she turned around to find Soonyoung seated on the previously empty seat next to the one behind hers. She didn’t dare look but that meant…the one who sat behind her was the boy with the uninterested eyes.
She forcefully returned a smile Soonyoung shot her way, but just as he opened his mouth to say something, everyone stood up to greet the teacher who had just entered.
Eunmi followed suit, taking a look at the woman who stood clutching a register to her chest.

“I’m Patricia Ryu,” the woman said, any hints of a smile absent, “I’ll be your class teacher till Mrs. Shin comes back.”
A few low cheers erupted. A sub as a class teacher! Now that was lucky.

Cho Eunmi, however, could only think of the pastel green envelope on her desk back at her new house.

*

Eunmi barged into her new room, tossing her backpack on her bed as she made for her desk. She rummaged around the small space, her heart dropping a little at not finding the green envelope. Maybe it had been misplaced, never to be found again. Maybe that was a good thing.
She had found it on her desk on the first night in Daegu. She had no idea it how it got there. It was addressed to her and it seemed to be from someone who was saying goodbye. It was strange. She couldn’t tell if it was speaking of the past or the future. The handwriting looked similar to hers, but it was neat in a way that wasn’t Eunmi at all. She was almost positive it was a prank. Junhong had probably slipped it into one of the boxes when he had helped her pack.

She breathed out a sigh when the green envelope slipped out from one of her books. Whether she was relieved or disappointed, she did not know. She opened up the envelope and unfolded the letter and started reading it for the tenth time since she’d found it.

Eunmi,

Moving to Daegu must have been hard for you. But you settled right in, didn’t you?
Maybe you are lucky that way…you met all the right people. Your friends are good.
I’m not sure if I even met the right people and even if I did, I didn’t bother to keep them around.
Sometimes I wonder if things would have been different if…I had made the right decisions.
I don’t know if I’ll miss anyone here. I don’t think so. Maybe one person.
This is a stupid thing to say but...I know who will miss you.
He was always sitting there behind you looking like he wanted to tell you something. I know if you had known you probably would have turned.
You still have time.
You two will live happily if you have each other.

XX Best Wishes

Author's Note:
To anyone who has decided to read this, thank you!
I hope you enjoy it.
I really really wanted to so a high school au with SVT. Mansae era will always be superior to me.
Which reminds me...
Long-haired Jeonghan. Gone but not forgotten. Never forgotten.

Anyhoo, comments are appreciated! Any kind of feedback is appreciated tbh.

xx Hoonie