For second period, we had Park Jiyeon¹ as our Korean teacher. It wasn't a class anyone of us particularly paid attention to, even though it proved to be most of the class' weakest subject, mine included. Ms. Jiyeon handed out the latest book we had to study for the first part of the semester, and as usual, groans were heard all over the room. Which was a lapse of judgement on my classmates' part because Park Jiyeon was a very strict teacher; she wasn't 3C's homeroom adviser for nothing.

I read the title of our reading text for the next couple of classes, The Tale of Hong Gil Dong, the Korean version of Robin Hood. I sank back into my seat, as I've mentioned, Korean was not my best subject, well, there was Math, but that's a given. I turned to the first page and the onslaught of hangul sent me to a completely different plane of existence. I was much more proficient in English, even though I grew up in Seoul, I've always been sent to an exclusive International school which limited what Korean I knew. I could speak the language, even do a few translations, but I was not the best at literature, although I suppose the same could be said for the other native Korean speakers.

We started off with a class reading of the text, beginning from Sohee. Being on either end of the class was rarely a good thing. Teachers were usually lazy and the easiest way to get class participation was to just call each student in alphabetical order. It was a double-edged sword, you could either go first or last, which was not as comforting as, let's say for example, you were in the middle of the class.

I turned the page as soon as Sohee started with her reading, following the words on the text while she read them aloud. In my head, I knew there was supposed to be a good reason why reading text aloud in class was a good thing, but it escaped me now. Eventually I ended my turn, and I looked at my seatmate expectantly, waiting for him to stand up and recite his part of the text.

“Park Jaebeom-goon, is there a problem?” Ms. Jiyeon said in her terrifyingly commanding voice.

Jay stood up from his seat. “My Korean's not that good, I just moved to Korea last semester,” he said in English.

Now that I thought about it, Jay had been speaking to me in English all along, and with Taec as well. I knew he just transferred last semester, but I didn't really make an effort to know from where. This made things a lot more interesting for our newest classmate, that much I had to admit.

“Well then, I'll let you off this once Jaebeom-goon, next time I expect you to at least be able to read.”

That was it? Jay smiled at Ms. Jiyeon and took his seat. Was that really as much reprimand he was going to get? He turned to me with a smug smirk on his face. What was that for?

“...I expect you to help your seatmate with his Korean.”

What? I turned to Ms. Jiyeon, I didn't even realize she had called my name and just...gave me the responsibility of baby-sitting Jay Park for the whole semester of this class.

I nodded at her and forced a smile, “Neh, seonsaengnim (Yes, teacher)” I replied hesitantly. I returned my gaze to my seatmate who smiled a little too brightly at me. Somehow I had a feeling Jay was doing this on purpose for reasons I couldn't quite infer at the moment.

Lunch finally rolled in and again I found myself seated with the usual lunch table group, this time with an additional Jay Park. Junho was still busy with the book he had been reading since this morning, Minji was pulling out her lunch from her bag, and Taec just came in with his tray of food with Jay following right behind him.

“Aw man, those puddings are so hard to get by.”

Jay was complaining about the special IDOL pudding, there always seemed to be so little supply despite its insanely high demand. He continued frowning as he took his seat, only to have Taec push him aside to claim the spot next to me on the cafeteria bench.

“Permanent seating arrangement,” Taec mumbled as he picked up his chopsticks.

I pulled out my own lunchbox that Ian had unnecessarily prepared for me this morning. I could have as easily acquired my meal here as Taec had, but Ian said he was in the mood for it and I knew better than to argue with him. I popped off the top lid to see delicately cut and designed rice balls and rolls in different animal shapes and while I cringed at the utter cuteness of it all, I appreciated it enough to pull out my phone. I slid it open and quickly sent Ian my thanks, stashing my phone back into my pocket when Jay sent me curious glance.

“Boyfriend made you lunch?” he asked, raising a brow and the hand with his chopsticks hanging in midair.

I denied any and all allegations, “What are you talking about?”

I could hear Taec muffling his laughter beside me and I turned to him, contempt in my face. “What?”

“You? Boyfriend?” he said in between laughter.

“You and boyfriend in the same sentence is like hearing the words nightmare and fuel together. It's not really a comforting thought,” Minji added, the sarcasm just flowing down her lips in spades.

“Why thank you. It's nice to know you people hold such high regard for my love life,” I retorted, sending Taec and Minji a sneer and a glare respectively.

Jay was laughing on his side while Junho was still with his book, stopping his reading every now and then to take a bite of his lunch. The laughter died down a little bit and I couldn't help but ponder somewhat about that last exchange. Was the idea of my having a boyfriend really that absurd to them?

“ to be you,” I heard Minji say, “To be stuck with,” a pause, “Park Jaebeom-goon over there. You're not actually going to help him, are you?”

“Yah,” Jay shot back at her, “Don't Park Jaebeom-goon me.”

Minji curled her lip at Jay before refocusing her attention to her food. I could tell that this was going to be a very dysfunctional lunch group. Junho sat directly in front of me, completely engrossed with his book, not very different from the very first day we invaded his table. It was the second day of classes too, two years ago. He was a little shorter then and a lot skinnier, and only now do I realize just how much more masculine Junho looked in comparison to when we first met. He still wore a similar pair of glasses, but only now, he looked more modelesque than awkward. He lifted his eyes towards me and I averted my gaze immediately. After a moment I glanced at him again, but his eyes were still looking intently at me and I shifted uncomfortably under his steady gaze. He looked at me the same way this same day two years ago too. Cruel irony was it? He quirked an aristocratic brow at me and I dropped my gaze again, picking up a roll and stuffing it into my mouth.

“Seattle?”

I turned towards Taec, I hadn't noticed he had been talking to Jay all this time. Jay nodded at him as he chewed. “Yeah, we just moved here a few months ago. Dad got transferred here and he decided to take us all along.”

“And you know absolutely no Korean?” Taec asked, pushing his large dorky glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“I know some,” Jay replied, clearly annoyed.

“It's not actually that complicated,” Taec began. I recognized this tone of voice. This was the tone he used in the beginning of a lecture, and I could see Minji roll her eyes from my peripheral vision.

Jay just slumped in his chair, obviously not paying attention to Taec's lecture about the Korean language. Taec didn't seem to notice this though as he continued on. Jay, however, was determined not to listen to him and plugged in his earphones, bobbing his head to whatever song it was he was listening to.

Taec gave up for the meantime and turned to me, “Good luck being stuck with him.”

“I don't actually have a choice in this, do I?” I asked him, my voice full of resignation.

“Not unless you want to get in trouble with Ms. Jiyeon.”

I sighed. Park Jiyeon was not a teacher, or for that matter, a person you wanted to deal with. She was the living personification of the saying Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, or at least that was her reputation. And even though that made absolutely no sense in the context given, I didn't want to find myself at the receiving end of her fury. Fury that ought to be directed at Jay Park.

I turned back to our subject of interest, and disinterest just oozed off of him as usual- then again, I've known him a day. Which brings us forward to other issues. I pulled out the note Seulong passed me in class today. It still amazed me to amazing extents how Seulong was able to pass said note to me under our dear English teacher, Kass Lee's, watchful eye- then again...Ms. Kass did have some form of adult ADHD going on so maybe it really wasn't that difficult...or impressive.

I opened the note, not really bothering to hide it. Seulong and I wrote in a cipher we developed sometime second year to keep our covert dealings, well, top-secret and confidential. And just in case someone else comes across the key, Seulong and I developed codenames and a set of terminology that came along rather naturally as we went along.

BBB is bad news. Heard he got kicked out a lot over there, too. No school would accept him so his parents had to move back here. 3rd gen, immig. Pile-up of OVs, most notable: the Brick Wall Incident. YB in pre-dumps, PRs top execs for The Grand.

Translation: Jay Park was not someone Seulong wanted to associate with. Our Bad B-Boy, according to Seulong's findings did not have a good history, and multiple expulsions, suspensions, offenses and violations seemed to follow him around. His family had lived in Seattle for three generations before moving back here, he has a younger brother in 1C, and his parents are big executives of 'The Grand' chain of hotels. His worst violation so far in IDOL was last semester's Brick Wall Incident involving vandalizations of...well, the brick wall where the school insignia was found, which I assume led to his suspension and him being held back. Most were derogatory remarks about the school and the country in general, but everything seemed hush-hush now- he was in our class this year.

A few second year girls passed by our table and started giggling as they pointed at the Bad B-boy, it wasn't the first time, and it was only my second day in his presence.

I studied our new student more closely, he shaved the sides of his head and spiked up the rest of what hair that was left on the top of his head. He had a rather conspicuous hair style, and while that had him sticking out like a sore thumb, I doubted that was the only reason people were drawn to him. There was just something absolutely beguiling about him, as if people were gravitated towards him on an evolutionary level. I wasn't about to deny the fact that I felt it too. There really was something about Jay Park, and somehow, even with him ignoring Taec the way he did, these two were going to somehow end up as best friends- or worst enemies, which really is the same thing in retrospect.

“And Taec's brain has left the building...again,” I heard Minji say.

I looked over at Taec and as Minji had said, he was staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at Im Yoona who just walked in with her posse, Kwon Yuri and Lee Sunny. The rest of the the 3A girls were right behind them filing into the cafeteria with the ever so present air of regality each Class A student was expected to bring. The girls filed in, their uniforms all worn properly and without even a hint of a crease at any area, even the pleats of their skirts were pressed to perfection. They walked past us, their Mary Janes walking in rhythm, of course some of them preferred the more modern take on the classic shoe. Jessica, Tiffany, and Victoria passed by us, the heels of their shoes clacking loudly as they made their way to the central table.

Yoona, Yuri, and Sunny followed behind them. Sunny was the other heiress, her full name was Lee Sungkyu, and the debate on which Lee was the real heir was finally settled when she came to school in a stretch limousine practically screaming her title. She was more bubbly and cheerful than Yoona and Yuri combined, the two girls being much more reserved than possibly any other girl in this school.

The boys of 3A weren't any less stiff than the girls, but they were more known to let loose somewhat, though loose in this sense falls greatly in the Class A definition. That is, the 3A boys letting loose can be likened to the boys (and some girls) from Class B and C behaving.

Park Leeteuk was this year's Student Council President and Kim Taeyeon was his vice-president. They both came in together, greeting the underclassmen with their permanent smiles. I suppose you could say they were nice. Creepy, but nice. Which was a pretty good way to describe the whole class of 3A. There were a few exceptions of course but for the most part, 3A's were stiff, and how Taec seemed to be obsessed with them, well, let's just say it's a little disturbing.

Taec sighed audibly next to me, setting his elbow on the table and propping his cheek on the heel of his hand, “She's so perfect,” he commented dreamily.

And on cue as always, Minji rolled her eyes. “Nobody's perfect Taec, trust me, she has one major character flaw that's a major turn-off once you get to know her. Seriously Taec, you haven't even said more than two words to her.”

Taec sighed again. “I said 'You look nice' today. She smiled back.”

This time I found myself rolling my eyes. Taec was a hopeless lovesick puppy when it came to Yoona. He pretty much announced his utter love for her back in first year when she was first introduced during the orientation. He'd been trying to talk to her ever since, but Taec, as friendly as he was, just did not have the guts at all to talk to Ms. Perfect.

“Ice Princess is checking Jaebeom-goon out.”

I turned to Minji to give her an incredulous look, she simply shrugged in reply and I quickly faced the central table to see Jessica's furtive glances at Jay.

“Since when were you so observant Minji?” I asked, turning back to face her.

“I've always been observant, it's just you not being observant enough to observe it,” she quipped.

I let that slide with a light chuckle. Jay seemed oblivious to the Ice Princess's stares though. This was a first, Jessica hardly paid attention to anybody. Well...anybody but herself. Then again my knowledge on Jessica Jung was limited, but that never stopped me, or Minji, from making assumptions about her.

“So who's in your class this afternoon? You never told me,” Minji asked.

“The usual, we have Junsu, Jiyoung, and Siwon, and two second years, but it's only me, Seunghyun and Byunghee again for second period.”

“The usual? How do you survive those two anyway? You've been with them since first year. People should be fearing you by now.”

I laughed. “Well, they're not that bad. I mean, they're scary at first I guess. I don't know. I never really...actually...”

“Cared?”

The whole table seemed to stop for a moment as we all turned to Junho. He rarely spoke, so it was always an occasion whenever he did. Even Taec stopped his ogling for a moment to gape at Junho, who merely returned to his reading, leaving the rest of us to stare at him in awe.

Sometimes I think he does that on purpose too.

1 Gummy