—BEEP BEEP BEEP—

 

A hand slowly reached out from under the covers to grab the phone that was on the night stand and hit SNOOZE.

 

“KRISTY!!! GET OUT OF BED!! YOU’RE ALREADY LATE!!!”

 

Still half asleep, Kristy slowly managed to get herself ready for the day and made it to school. The morning started off like most mornings, boring. Regretting not eating breakfast that morning Kristy could only think about lunch.

 

Kristy finally made it to her last class before lunch, Environmental Science. This wasn’t her favorite class but it wasn’t too hard so she enjoyed not having to spend too much time preparing for the class. Like usual she was one of the last to arrive and proceeded to sit in her seat in the back of the classroom and began to doodle in her notebook. 

Right as class started a boy Kristy had never seen before entered the classroom. He was small in stature and looked somewhat delicate. He wore an oversized sweater with ripped jeans, a baseball cap, and boots. His ears were pierced as was his cap, His cheeks were a little chubby (but at this age—that was expected) and he had jet black hair. She had never seen anyone like him before.

 

She couldn’t look away.

 

“Ah yes, you must be the new student!” the teacher exclaimed. “Class, we have a transfer student from South Korea…errr….What was your name again?” 

 

“Park Jimin” the boy said. His voice was soft and sweet.

 

“Right! Like I said, Jimin is transferring to our school from South Korea so everyone please welcome him! You know…I visited South Korea on my honeymoon. Oh that was years ago! I’m sure you don’t want me to tell you all about it but its such a good story so I’ll tell you anyways. It was a rainy day….”

 

Jimin looked around the classroom at his new classmates as the teacher continued to ramble on. He was definitely nervous transferring to a new school especially one so far away from home. He never had any problems making friends back home but this was a completely different. He could already tell he dressed differently — would that be a deterrent?  As he looked around the classroom he noticed whenever he made eye contact with a girl she would quickly look away. He smirked. “At least that hasn’t changed” he thought. Jimin had always been somewhat of a ladies man and wasn’t ashamed of it. He knew he was charismatic and knew he had a way to make every girl fall for him. He would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy his talent. But in his defense, its not his fault he is so lovable! As he was ending his scan of the class he made eye contact with a girl in the back of the classroom.

 

Kristy still couldn’t look away.

 

“…and that’s how I ended up sharing a taxi with a monkey! — Great story huh kids??” Realizing no one was listing to the story the teacher directed Jimin to take a seat. All of the desks were empty except for the desk next to Kristy. As Jimin made his way towards the back of the classroom, Kristy finally snapped out of her gaze upon realizing that he would be next to her. She quickly tried to look anywhere but his direction. She noticed every other girl couldn’t keep their eyes off him.  “Ok class, if you would turn to page 42!” Kristy nearly ripped her bag open to grab her book. For some reason Jimin made her extremely nervous. She fumbled through the pages until she finally got to page 42 and pretended to be extremely interested in it’s contents. 

 

“Hey, is it okay if we share? I don’t have any of my books yet…” Jimin leaned in and whispered. He had an accent but was more intelligible than not.  

 

“ss..ss…sure” Kristy stuttered nervously. 

 

Jimin scooted his desk towards hers. Kristy was shocked with how close he got to her. He was practically leaning against her. “…he smells amazing” she thought to herself. To prevent herself from embarrassment she quickly moved slightly away from him. The teacher began to teach the lesson but Kristy couldn’t focus. The boy next to her was all she could think about. Every now and then Jimin would ask her what a word meant and would bring her back to reality but she would slip right back out. The bell finally rang and Kristy quickly began to get her things together. 

 

“I’m Jimin. What’s your name?” 

Kristy looked up at him confused. Wondering if he was actually talking to her.

“Kristy” she said softly and quickly turn away from him.

“Ah that’s a pretty name! I’ve never heard it before” 

“Thank you..” she said softer than before and quickly turned back again.

 

“Would it be okay if I ate lunch with you?” Jimin asked shyly.

 

“Well..I..” Kristy began to decline. 

She wanted to say no. She didn’t know how she would handle this. She didn’t have much experience talking to boys, let alone one that looked like Jimin.

 

“Please! I don’t really know anyone. I promise I’m good company!” 

Jimin insisted looking straight into Kristy’s eyes. “Please…” he said again giving her the saddest puppy dog eyes knowing no one could resist him.

 

“Okay…” Kristy gave in. “How does he already have this power over me? I just met him!”

 

Kristy sat down at an empty table and waited for Jimin to join her with his food. She couldn’t believe that she was going to have lunch with by far the most beautiful human being she had ever seen. What would they talk about? Would she be able to keep the conversation alive? Would he get bored of her? “Why am I getting so anxious??” she thought to herself. “I’m not the new student here?? I have nothing to be nervous about! He’s just a boy, Kristy, get yourself together! He is JUST boy…..who happens to look like greek god and smells amazing and has the most beautiful voice and …”

 

“I have no idea what any of this is!” Jimin interrupted her train of thought slamming his tray on the table nearly giving Kristy a heart attack. “Aren’t there suppose to be different colors of food—not just brown?” He looked up and gave a smile to Kristy expecting a laugh in return. Kristy just stared. His smile was so genuine…as if she needed another reason to be infatuated by him.

“We can sit with your friends if you’d like.” Jimin spoke up to break the awkward silence. “You don’t have to sit by yourself just because of me.” 

“Oh..well you see..” Kristy began to explain, “This is senior lunch and well, I’m a junior…so, I don’t have too many friends here” she said embarrassed as her eyes never left the floor.

“Ah! I get you! That’s nothing to be embarrassed about!” Jimin exclaimed. “Well would it be okay if we had lunch together from now on? Since you don’t have too much friends during this period and well…I don’t have any friends!” he laughed. “We could be friends!” Kristy shot her head up and looked and him with confusion. “Why would he want to be friends with me?” she thought to herself. “I’m sure he won’t have any problems making friends here…This probably won’t last long.” 

“So….friends?” Jimin asked interrupting her train of thought again and sticking his hand out.

“Uh…sure…friends” Kristy agreed shaking his hand while Jimin gave her a big smile.

“Awesome! Can I have your number too?” Jimin asked. Again, Kristy gave the now classic confused look back at him. “Don’t worry! I’m not hitting on you or anything like that” he said in defense. “You saw how much trouble I was having in class. I’m definitely going to need your help!” he smiled. “Plus, I like talking to you—don’t tell me you forgot that we’re friends!”

Kristy was speechless. He was so friendly and so charismatic. Every time he looked at her he made her feel like that she was the center of the universe. Every time he smiled she could barely breathe. She had never felt this way about anyone! 

“Are you going to reject me? Nooo, not on the first date!!” Jimin said jokingly. Kristy let out a quick smile. “Ahah, I got you to smile! So can I have your number?” Jimin exclaimed.

“Okay…” Kristy gave in again.

As soon as Jimin saved Kristy’s number in his phone the bell rang.

“Oh! I better go! Don’t want to be late to my next class like I was last time” Jimin said getting his things together “I’ll see you later! okay??” he said as he walked away but not forgetting to give her a smile he already knew she loved. 

Again, Kristy was speechless.

 

The rest of Kristy’s day went by quickly. She spent most of it thinking of Jimin. She returned home and tried to do homework but like before had only one thing on her mind. She gave up and went to lie down. She was almost asleep when her phone buzzed.

“hmm..a new number?” she said.

 

The text read: 

“Hey its Jimin! I never gave you my number so now you have it :)”

Followed by a picture of him

Butterflies filled Kristy’s stomach instantly.