February 2013

Today was the last day of school before graduation and to celebrate the12th graders were having a class fair. As childish as it felt, Krystal was super excited about it. She went from classroom to classroom excitedly by herself wanting to know what each one decided to do to contribute to the festivities. Each classroom was doing something special and was decorated with a special theme or activity. One class turned their room into a mini-golf course, and another turned theirs into a photo booth. One classroom was decorated like a museum with pictures, that students had submitted of their favorite times while in high school, with a sign on the door that read "A Walk Through Memory Lane". That one was Krystal's favorite. Especially since she personally submitted a few photos herself. She always kept a portable camera with her and it became a habit to commemorate moments by taking a photo. Her favorite picture of course was the one she took with the friends she made on her first day at this school.

Krystal was born and raised most of her life in LA, California all up until about three years ago when her parents suddenly moved with her to South Korea leaving her at the time twenty-one-year-old sister, Jessica, behind since she was close to finishing her bachelor's degree at UCLA. Being fifteen and going on sixteen at the time there was no option of staying behind as well since Jessica was still a college student and couldn't also support her teenage sister. They considered briefly letting her stay with her best friend at the time, Amber's, family until high school graduation, but that was quickly shut down. She had no choice but to say goodbye to her life as she knew it and go with her parents. Once she got to South Korea she was extremely nervous, but luckily most of her new classmates were nice to her even though she was extremely shy, clumsy, and had a bit of a language barrier in the beginning.

In the group photo, she was seated in the very middle of her class as they all huddled around the new girl. She looked fondly at all the faces that she got to know very well over the past three years. Though her gaze lingered a little longer on one face, in particular, that of her best friend Kyungsoo. She loved her other friends but her bond with Kyungsoo was different from the start. Once they started talking to each other they were inseparable. Everyone used to tease them about how well they go together. They accompanied each other everywhere. Always studied together after school and were honorary members of each other families as they were always over at each other's houses. They rarely argued. It was always easiest to share her thoughts and dreams with him than it was with anyone else and vice versa. There wasn't any pressure and she felt free to be herself with him. Though they had different interests, Kyungsoo with music and singing, and Krystal with drama and theater, they still got along as their tolerances for each other were high. Maybe it was all the time they'd spent together or maybe it was that they complimented each other so well that she started to fall for Kyungsoo over time. She wasn't sure when it happened but one day over sharing their notes she started noticing Kyungsoo in a different light.

She also started doing things tha