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            "February 29,

            Can you believe this? I'm here it has been a week and I can't speak Korean properly! How is it going to be in the future? I start school tomorrow and I'm so done."

            Krystal threw the notebook along the desk and let out a desperate sigh. She stared at the garden through the window.

            Since the very first day she woke up in Korea she had been taking full-time Korean classes in a language institute, however she was having a hard time learning it—she just couldn't. Adapting to the food there wasn't easy too, but she eventually got used to eating Korean traditional food everyday. She even threw up once, during lunch, three days after arriving Korea, making her grandmother worried. So the old lady started to cook with less spice, making the food taste bland but still delicious. However, she wasn't the only one having trouble accommodating to this new life, the bodyguards were suffering a lot too. But they had to obey orders, so they wouldn't complain.          

            Krystal lost contact to all her friends back in America. She had to change numbers, otherwise the other gang would end up localizing her. It seemd ridiculous to her, but there was no other way around. So now she only had four numbers on her phone memory: the annoying Jack, the bodyguards' contact and her father, whom she missed a lot. They would talk from time to time, but it wasn't the same thing.

            "Excuse me, lady," Joe knocked on the door.

            "How many times do I have to tell you?" She turned from the window to face him. "Don't call me lady! My name is Krystal, not 'lady'!"

            "Yes, lad—I mean, Krystal." He stepped in. "Your uniform is here."

            "Is it pretty?" Krystal jumped from her seat and ran to Joe.

           "Well, it depends..." Krystal grabbed the packages from his hands and walked back to her bed, where she threw all the packages and started opening them. Joe left.

            "Whoa, not bad!"

            Krystal unwrapped the uniform. The pullover was light grey and had a symbol on the left side, around the chest. The skirt was checked, cream-colored and the shirt was white.

            "Hm, it's okay," she said, after trying it and seeing it in front of the mirror. "It's pretty simple."

            Krystal would be enrolling a private all-girls school, not far from her house. She gave up on giving her opinion about what she liked or not, it wouldn't make any difference in the end.

            Still in her uniform, she walked to the desk and grabbed the picture frame. She sighed, her gaze lost on the picture.

            Two ladies were standing by each other, both smiling. The youngest was holding a baby on her arms. Both were wearing colorful hanboks, Korean traditional dresses, while the baby was only covered in white sheets. The photo was taken in front of the house Krystal was living right now, and was taken on the same day as the picture on her father's office, she assumed. So Krystal had been here before. The photo was probably taken sixteen years ago, when she was still a baby. And judging by how her mother was still alive, a newborn baby on the picture.

            Krystal rubbed her thumb on her mother's figure. She didn't have any memories of her, so she didn't really miss her. She never got to meet her. Krystal was only five months when she was killed, brutally murdered. Krystal didn't know the full story behind it. Actually, if we were to ask her, she barely knows anything about her family. But she never had the need to know either. Same goes for her mother, since she couldn't remember her, she never felt the need to have her. Her father would play the role of her mother, as well. Even though they wouldn't spend much time together — her father was always busy! — the time they would was enough.

            Krystal regretted nothing on her life; she was the happiest person in the world, she thought.

            She placed down the picture frame and checked the time on her watch. She sighed.

            "Time to go to the institute..."

*

            "Here's your name tag, you have to place it above the school's symbol," a lady explained. Krystal stared at the three characters on her tag, trying to read them. "Come, I'll take you to your classroom."

            They left the room where they were, the school's office, and started walking to the classroom. The lady was explaining the school rules, meanwhile. Krystal could understand most of what she was saying, at least she was trying to, but she could barely speak. While the lady was explaining, Krystal would look around the school. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either, and it seemed pretty nice. The walls were light grey with a few details in white and the doors and floor were in a dark mahogany wood. It would give a cold vibe, but Krystal found it pretty, it seemed like an european building.

            "Room eleven, we're here." The lady knocked.

            Seconds after, the door opened. The lady said a few words to the female teacher and then left, bowing to Krystal before doing so. Krystal did the same. The teacher went back inside, leaving Krystal there, not knowing exactly what to do.

            "Class, our new student is here! Please come inside and introduce yourself."

            Krystal stood by the teacher's side and awkwardly bowed. She introduced herself in Korean, but then explained that she couldn't speak it very well.      

            "I'm used to people calling me Krystal," she added, "and I would like it if you called me that as well."

            The class clapped and the teacher appointed a seat in the middle row of the room. She sat and took a notebook and her pencil case from her bag.

            A lot of girls were looking at her — it wasn't everyday that they got a new girl in class. Krystal tried to look around, but actually felt a little shy to do so, especially when everyone's attention was on her. The teacher clapped twice and kept on giving the subject.

            There weren't many girls per year, Krystal counted fifteen on her class. She couldn't look at her back, since the teacher was always talking to her, so she could only see the girls in front of her. They were all pretty and they all had that 'rich kid' aura, though they didn't seem to be spoiled or arrogant, they all seemed to be nice, and as soon as the bell rang, they all went to Krystal's seat.

            "Welcome!" They all smiled and seemed happy with Krystal's presence there, it wasn't like her old school, where everyone would be cocky in their own way.

            Krystal spoke with everyone in a really poor, laughable, Korean, but she explained how she had come from America a week ago and was still learning it.

            "We all understand english, we can teach you Korean if you want!" A girl with straight light-brown hair right in front of her, said.

            "I'm already taking classes, but I guess I'll accept your help!" Krystal laughed. Another girl elbowed this first girl.    

            "Amber can teach her!" She said in a low voice. "Isn't that right, Amber?" She called. Everyone nodded. No answer came from that girl named Amber, so everyone started looking around for her. "Where's Amber?" She shrugged and gave up trying to look for her around the room.

            "Who's Amber?"

            "She speaks English fluently, I bet she can help you. She's so cool, she's pretty much a genius." The straight-haired girl explained.

            "Everyone likes her, but she doesn't like anyone..." The other added. "She rarely hangs out with us, only on field trips."

            "Aaay, Ji Eun! You're making her look like a bad girl!" The straight-haired girl cut the other girl, Ji Eun. "She's really nice, I'm sure she'll help you!," she added. "She same from the States too."

            "Yah, Choi Jin Ri!," a girl in the door called. The straight-haired girl looked up. "The teacher called."

            "I'm coming!" She got up. "I'll be right back!" And ran to the door.

            Ji Eun smiled and they kept on talking. Of course Krystal couldn't tell them the real reason about why she came to South Korea, so she told them a story, made up by Jack that forced her to memorize every single detail of it.

            Krystal felt good there, everyone was nice and all were accepting her and talking with her as if they had known each other for years. Back in America she would have one or two friends that would walk with her inside school, but here she could be walking alone that everyone would greet and talk to her.

            Soon, classes ended and everyone ran out of the classroom, leaving Krystal behind with a few girls that she didn't get to talk to yet. She got up from her seat and grabbed her bag from the floor. She put everything inside her bag and was ready to leave when she saw a girl still on her seat, with her head lying on her arms. Krystal got closer to her.

            "Hey—," Krystal poked her. No answer. "Heeeey," she shook her lightly, the girl probably fell asleep during classes.     

            This girl had blond, short hair and it was all messy. She seemed to be in a deep sleep, so Krystal decided to shake her only once again.

            "Ooooooy~" She said in a cute voice, poking the girl continuosly on her cheek.

            Krystal sighed, puffing up her cheeks with a cute pout, seeing how the girl wouldn't wake up. She didn't want the girl to be alone in the school, what if the school closed with her inside? Krystal looked at her and shrugged. She was about to leave her side when she felt someone grabbing her skirt. Shocked and surprised, she turned around and saw the blonde girl staring at her, with her head leaning on her left arm, still grabbing Krystal's skirt with the other free hand.   

            "Let go!" She did as Krystal said and stretched her arms, yawning.

            Krystal stared at her. She was beautiful and Krystal was amazed by that. She had a boyish aura, and Krystal thought that if she weren't with a skirt on, Krystal would easily doubt she was a girl. Her short hair was all messy, and she messed it even more. The girl lazily got up, she was only a bit taller than Krystal. When she was putting her backpack on, Krystal saw her name tag: Amber Liu. It was written in latin characters, which wasn't usual. Amber raised an eyebrow, seeing how Krystal was still staring at her.

            "What?" Amber asked in Korean. Her voice was deep, not very feminine, but very addictive.

            "Are you Amber?" Krystal spoke in English, surprising Amber a bit.

            "The tag says it." She shrugged and started walking to the door, while Krystal only stood there, on the same place. "Aren't you coming?" Amber glanced back.

            Krystal followed her right away. They walked together on the silent hall.

            "Thanks for waking me up," they went down the stairs slowly. "I've been really tired lately." Amber scratched her head. "Welcome, by the way." She looked at Krystal.

            "Oh? Oh, thanks." Krystal nodded, a bit nervous with Amber's presence. "I heard a lot about you." She wasn't sure whether she should have said that or not.

            "About me?" Amber laughed loudly. "Did they say many bad things?"

            "No!" Krystal quickly answered. "Actually, they said you were really nice and that you could help me with Korean."

            "Yeah, I know, our teacher already appointed me to it."

            "You don't have to do it, if you don't want to," Krystal added, as soon as she saw an expression of bother on Amber's face. Amber smiled, holding the door for Krystal.

            "It's okay, I can help."

            An awkward silence grew between them. As they reached the gate, Amber broke it.

            "Are you going by bus?"

            "No," Krystal looked around and saw her car a few metres ahead from where they were. "My ride is here." She pointed to the car.

            "Oh," Amber shrugged, seeing the expensive, foreign car. "See you tomorrow, then." She smiled.

            "Hm... yeah." Krystal mumbled, raising her hand to wave her goodbye. She her heels and walked to the car, slowly smiling.

A/N: It's Ambeeer~! And thus, the real story begins! Hope you like it! I made a big chapter this time, huh? :) Don't forget to check the amazing cover on the Foreword! See you around and thank you~! :)