New Classmates
A Serendipitous Story
It was finally here. The first day of the new school year and Jieun's first day in Exo Performing Arts College.
Jieun was both anxious and excited as she walked through the hallway, searching for the room she was supposed to have her first class in.
In EPAC, all students were required to attend both performing arts trainings and academic lessons.
For today, Jieun's class schedule said that she would have performing arts lessons in the morning and academic lessons would be held after lunch.
Jieun grew frustrated. She had been searching for the room for ten minutes now, but to no avail. She decided to ask for help from one of the passing students.
Jieun stopped a tall, pretty, girl that didn't look like she was in a hurry to go anywhere. She tapped her on the shoulders lightly and the taller girl spun around.
"Excuse me, do you know where this room is?" Jieun asked, pointing to the place where it saidRoom 1 on the schedule given to her by the school secretary.
The taller girl stared at the schedule, then at Jieun's face, and then back at the schedule again. "Are you new?" she spoke finally.
Jieun nodded. "I'm still unfamiliar with the school layout," she explained.
"And you have Miss Im for your first class?"
Jieun's eyes shifted to the schedule in her hands. Right below Room 1, it said Miss Im. She nodded. "That's what it says on my schedule. Do you know where Room 1 is? I really don't want to be late on my first day."
"How did you get into Miss Im's class if you're a new student?" the girl continued to ask, ignoring the fact that Jieun was asking for directions, and not to be interrogated.
Jieun cocked her head slightly and stared up at the taller girl. "What do you mean? Is Miss Im's class special or something?"
The girl scoffed. "You have no idea." *I've been working so hard to get into that class foryears. How did a newbie like you get placed into the top class? Lucky .*
"So, do you know where Room 1 is?" asked Jieun, snapping the girl out of her thoughts.
"Yeah, you're in the wrong building. It's in the old building, not this one," the girl said.
Jieun smacked her forehead. "No wonder I can't find it. I've been walking around for more than ten minutes." A grateful smile grew on her doll-like face and she spoke again, "Thank you so much, I won't forget your kindness."
With that, Jieun exited the new building and went to search for her classroom in the building that was at the other end of campus.
Jieun walked up and down the building five times, yet, she still couldn't find it.
The school bell rang. Students around her piled into their respective classrooms. It was only then when Jieun realised a situation and made a face. *I'm late. I'm not going to make a very good impression on Miss Im.*
Deciding that it was hopeless for her to continue searching, Jieun walked all the way back to the reception beside the new building and asked for help from one of the college staff.
Turns out, Room 1 was only a stone's throw away from the reception. It was situated a bit to the right of the new building. Jieun realised that the girl from earlier on had given her incorrect directions. *Maybe she wasn't sure where Room 1 was. Oh well.*
Fifteen minutes after the bell rang, Jieun made her way to her first class. "Joesonghabnida," Jieun bowed as soon as she entered. She looked up and found that about fifteen pairs of eyes were on her.
"Are you the new student?" a lady's voice asked.
Jieun turned her head to the right to find herself facing a pretty middle-aged lady. *This must be Miss Im.* "Ne," Jieun replied politely, "Sorry I'm late."
"No worries," Miss Im said, "Welcome to Class 1. I'm Miss Im, your vocal teacher. Every student in this class will be in all your training arts classes."
Jieun turned to face her new classmates. All eyes were still on her. She bowed nervously and introduced herself. "Annyeonghaseyo, Lee Jieun-ibnida. Please treat me well."
The room was like a normal classroom, with chairs and desks. But it was much smaller than the size of an average classroom, probably because it only needed to hold no more than twenty students. It was a very small class, in both number and size.
Jieun read somewhere that a class in Exo Performing Arts College normally consisted of thirty or more students, so why was this class so small? She suddenly remembered what the tall girl from this morning said. *Is this class really...special?*
Jieun was manoeuvring her way to towards the back of the class where she had spotted an empty seat when someone called out her name. Jieun stopped in her tracks and looked at the owner of the voice.
Her eyes widened at recognition. "Kyungsoo," she mouthed.
Kyungsoo smiled. "Seat next to me," he whispered.
Jieun returned his smile and nodded. Her heart was beating at the speed of light as she plopped down onto the seat to left of Kyungsoo's. She was so excited. She didn't even know that her former high school mate went to EPAC. It was such a pleasant coincidence that Kyungsoo was in her class.
The lesson resumed and Jieun listened to Miss Im attentively. She absorbed every word Miss Im said about singing and how using proper breathing will help improve your singing.
Jieun was really looking forward to being a student in EPAC now, after getting a taster of what was taught during lessons here.
"Let me show you exactly what I'm talking about," Miss Im said. Her round eyes scanned the classroom and rested on one student. "Krystal, would you mind coming out here to demonstrate the proper breathing technique?"
With a curt nod, the Goddess-like girl stood up and walked to the front of the class.
At Miss Im's simple command, the girl named Krystal took a deep breath and began singing a familiar tune.
Krystal's voice was sweet, yet raspy. It had a distinguish sound to it that made it unique.
Jieun watched with admiration. It wasn't just Krystal's voice she admired, she wished she had the courage to stand in front of the class and sing like that too.
The end of Krystal's short performance was met with thunderous applause—as thunderous as it could get with fifteen or so students clapping, that is.
Krystal looked unstirred by the applause. The expression on her pretty face was blank as she made her way back to her seat.
It was about forty minutes into the lesson when the room door creaked open unexpectedly. Jieun was taking notes and didn't look up but she heard footsteps enter the room.
"Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Jongin-ssi. But in case you forgot over the holidays, school starts at 8," Miss Im said.
Jieun stopped writing and looked up. She craned her neck to see who it was. She was curious to know who had dared to turn up almost an hour late to class.
Right then, Jieun's jaw nearly dropped. It was him. The flawless dancer boy from yesterday.
The late-comer rolled his eyes and walked past Miss Im without saying another word. As he passed by, a couple of students greeted him. Jieun heard them call him "Kai". *That must be his name.*
Jieun's watched Kai as he made his way to the seat next to Krystal's. She saw him exchange a few words with the beauty after taking his seat.
At the end of the lesson, Jieun daringly approached Kai as he was gathering his belongings and getting ready to leave.
Kai stood up and met eyes with Jieun. Jieun felt her heartbeat quicken slightly.
"Annyeo-"
But before Jieun could even finish saying a simple hello, Kai walked past her, brushing her small shoulders as he did so.
Jieun looked past her shoulders and her gaze followed Kai as he walked out of the classroom, chatting with the beauty walking alongside him. Both of them were completely emotionless.
Kyungsoo's voice snapped Jieun out of her own thoughts. She realised that he had been calling her for a few times.
"P-pardon?"
"I said, let's make our way to our second class. You wouldn't want to be late to your second class too, would you?" Kyungsoo said.
Jieun shook her head and followed Kyungsoo as he lead the way to dance training.
Along the way, the two friends did as much catching up as they could in that short two-minute walk.
-EXOEXO-
A/N: Another chappie up ^^ Enjoy and leave a comment! Thanks to you amazing people who subscribed! Xxx
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