“Alright everyone, single file… follow me,” Ms. Kang ordered, beginning to exit the plane. Jonghyun and Mi-hee, shouldering their carry-on’s followed suit, as well as the rest of the swim team. Walking on the gangway brusquely, they made their way out of the airplane and to the baggage carousels.

“Everyone find their luggage and meet near the Custom’s desks once you’ve got them,” Mr. Shin explained. Our luggage should be coming out any minute now.

“Hello, those who have just exited the 747-Boeing of Korea Air please direct yourselves to carousel 5. Your baggage will be arriving shortly.”

“Carousel five guys,” Coach Kim bellowed. He walked ahead, with the swim team following behind.

The alarm rang, and the suitcases began to come up the conveyer belt, waiting for their owners to retrieve them.

“Oh! There’s mine!” Mi-hee said excitedly. Walking over quickly, she managed to haul hers off the belt. She immediately opened it to make sure her camera and her lens had safely survived the plane flight. Deeming them fine, she rejoined the group.

One by one, everyone else found their suitcases and as a group, they passed through customs and left to the taxi areas.

“It says here on our itinerary that there should be a bus… oh, there it is,” Ms. Kang said, pointing to a shuttle bus. “Alright, everyone pair up. The bus will take us to the hotel first. I’ll talk to you guys more after we’re inside, alright?”

Mi-hee shifted awkwardly, throwing a sideways glance to Jonghyun. But he had already started entering the bus with Key, CL hot on his heels.

Since everyone already had someone to sit with, Mi-hee entered the bus alone and took a spot beside the window near the front. The other students filed past her, the boys ignoring her completely and the girls giving her weird stares. Used to this treatment, Mi-hee watched the busy airport instead, her purse on her lap.

“We’ll sit here Mr. Shin,” Ms. Kang instructed. She pointed to the empty seat the front. She scootched in first, suddenly feeling resistance as she sat down.

“Ack… Ms… Ms. Kang… You’re sitting right on me!” Mi-hee gasped, the wind knocked out of her.

The swim team laughed boisterously, and even the bus driver tried to hide a smile.

“Ack! I’m sorry Mi-hee, I didn’t see you there,” Ms. Kang apologized, smoothing out her skirt. She sat next to Mi-hee. “How do you do that?”

“Do… do what?”

Ms. Kang grinned. “Disappear like that?”

“Um… I-I don’t know…” Mi-hee played with her bangs. “It… It just is.”

“You seem like a pretty nice girl Mi-hee. I’m looking forward to spending more time with you on this trip,” Ms. Kang said positively.

Mi-hee smiled genuinely. “Thank you Ms. Kang.”

The bus’s engines began to start and they were off, speeding through the highway.

“So you’re in the…”

“Photography/newspaper club,” Mi-hee completed. “I’m supposed to cover the event and take pictures, that sorta thing.”

“Great – I’m sure I’ll be able to get you right next to the swimmers, maybe even on the pool deck itself.”

“That would be great, thank you Ms. Kang.”

“Oh yeah.” Ms. Kang stood up and held the handle rails for support. “Everyone listen up!”

The conversations and jokes ceased immediately.

“When we get to the hotel, you’ll have 30 minutes to unpack and unwind. From there, we’ll go get some actual lunch. After that, we’re going to the swimming pavilion to scope out the competition.”

“Aww,” Minzy groaned from her seat. “Can’t we go shopping instead? You know Fashion week is being hosted right now? It’s perfect timing!”

“I am well aware of that,” Ms. Kang replied. “This is how things are going to work. Every day, from 6-11am, we’ll be at the swimming pool, practicing. The preliminary rounds are the day after tomorrow, so you guys need to work hard in order to qualify for the semi-finals. Only the top 8 swimmers from each event can move on.”

“Continuing on, after swim practice we’ll go get lunch, and in the afternoon, we’ll tour Milan. This is a school trip after all.”

“Please, no museums!” Taemin whined from beside Minho. “I’d rather go swim fifty laps in the pool instead of looking at ‘modern art.’”

“Hear hear!” Dong-sun hooted.

Ms. Kang gave them a hard stare. “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

Coach Kim nodded, grateful for an excuse for extra practice.

“Anyone else who would like to join Taemin and Dong-sun for a little extra pool time?” he exclaimed.

The bus was quiet. Mi-hee could practically hear the crickets chirping in the background.

“Then pay attention!” he snapped, his eyes shooting daggers at anyone who dared to look at him in the eye.

Mi-hee gulped. This coach is scary!

“Thank you Coach Kim. As I was saying, you guys are really lucky to be able to experience this. Not many students are allowed to go overseas like this.” She stared meaningfully at Minzy. “There will be shopping time too.”

“Yay!” Dara said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She instantly turned to Bom. “I was looking at Gucci’s catalogue online last night. There’s a purse that I’ve got my eyes on!”

“Gucci? Why Gucci when you can get Prada?” Bom scoffed, checking her perfectly sculpted nails.

“Ahem! Ladies!” Ms. Kang coughed. “While I’m at it, I’m going to lay down some rules for the hotel. You’re pairing up, two people per room. SAME GENDERS, PLEASE!”

There was a chorus of moans from both the boys and girls. Mi-hee couldn’t tell who didn’t like the rule, but she secretly hoped that Jonghyun wasn’t part of that.

“There’s a curfew as well. Everyone is expected to be in bed by 10pm sharp! No sneaking out! If either Coach Kim or Mr. Shin catch you, you’ll be sent on the next plane back to Seoul! Am I clear?”

“Yes Ms. Kang!”

“Good. We’ll be at the hotel in about fifteen minutes. Keep the conversations to quiet voices please.”

Mi-hee bit her lip, wondering who she would bunk with. She definitely didn’t want to be in the same room with the girls who talked about money as if it grew on trees. Perhaps, for them, it did.

“You can share rooms with me,” Ms. Kang offered, friendly as ever.

“Thanks,” Mi-hee exhaled, grateful.

“Anyway, so tell me about yourself Mi-Hee? What are your hobbies? For myself…”

======================================================================================================

“Bom, Minzy, you’re in room 107. CL, Dara, room 108. Ms. Kang, Mi-hee, room 109,” Mr. Shin instructed, giving everyone key cards. “We’ll meet you in the lobby in thirty minutes.”

“Alright. Let’s go girls!” Ms. Kang exclaimed, leading the way to the elevators.

Turning around, Mr. Shin looked at his list. “Minho and Jonghyun, room 201. Key, Onew, room 202. Myself and…” Mr. Shin shuddered. “…Coach Kim will share a room.”

“Hey! What about me?!” Taemin asked, waving his hands frantically.

“Er… you can go share rooms with Dong-sun.”

“No! Dong-sun snores like an ogre!” Taemin complained but Mr. Shin shook his head. He leaned in and whispered into Taemin’s ear. “Unless you want to share a room with Coach Kim…”

Taemin’s eyes went wide. Coach Kim was 10000000x worse! “No thanks, I’ll share a room with Dong-sun any day!”

“Exactly. Meet in the lobby in thirty minutes.”

Meanwhile, the girls chatted excitedly about the beautiful city of Milan. Mi-hee could see that even though the popular girls had a weird way of showing it, they respected Ms. Kang a great deal.

“Ms. Kang! We need to hook you up with a super hot Italian guy!” Bom giggled, fixing her hair.

“Bom, don’t be ridiculous. This is a school trip, for heaven’s sake.”

Bom’s eyes sparkled. “Who said it couldn’t be a fun trip either?”

Ms. Kang smiled and gave her a subtle wink. “I know I can count on you Bom. Just don’t go overboard.”

The elevator erupted in laughter while Mi-hee watched quietly from the side.

“How about you Mi-hee? What kind of guy would you like?” Dara sneered, sarcastic.

“Yeah, speak up, you haven’t said much!” Ms. Kang said, oblivious to Dara’s sarcasm. She genuinely thought that Dara was trying to invite Mi-hee into the conversation too.

“Er… I…” Mi-hee didn’t know what to respond with. Having never dated before, she didn’t know what she’d like in a guy. “I don’t know…?”

“Course you wouldn’t know. All the guys in our school are totally out of your league anyway!” Minzy muttered under her breath, unheard by Ms. Kang.

“Air girl,” Dara hissed.

The elevator doors opened, signaling them to get out. Mi-hee, glad to be out of the claustrophobic elevator, got out first and was followed by Ms. Kang.

“Let’s go!” Ms. Kang exclaimed and the girls cheered. They turned left at the tile-covered hallway and easily found their rooms, all within the same premise.

“We'll meet here in twenty-five minutes, alright? Then we’ll go down to the lobby together.”

“Yes Ms. Kang!” Excitedly, the teenage girls opened the hotel room doors and raced in, the door slamming behind them.

“Let’s check out our own hotel room, what do you say Mi-hee?”

“Sure,” Mi-hee exhaled.

Unlocking the door with ease, the teacher/student duo walked in to see a comfortable hotel room with fresh flowers in all the vases. The walls were decorated with the ‘modern art’ that Taemin hated so much, and the two beds were symmetrically placed on separate ends of the hotel room. A large window opened up to give them a beautiful view of the plaza below, with various cafés and shops bustling with business.

“Which bed do you want?” Ms. Kang asked Mi-hee.

“Er… you’re the teacher, you should choose first…”

“Haha! You’re polite, I like that. Tell you what. You can call me unni now. There’s no need for Ms. Kang. It’s too formal.”

“Oh, okay Ms- Unni.” Mi-hee smiled.

“Great. I’ll take this bed then,” Ms. Kang said, placing her suitcase on the one closest to the door. “This way I can tell if the girls are sneaking out.”

“O-okay.” Mi-hee in turn put her suitcase on her bed and began to unload her clothing into the set of drawers next to her bed. Orderly as usual, she put separate sections for each type of clothing – socks and underwear here, jeans over there.

Within twenty minutes, she unloaded everything exactly how she wanted it. She then remembered her camera and went to set it on a table, but then decided against it and hung it around her neck. Maybe she could take some pictures of the interesting street layouts or something cool like that.

“Should we get going Mi-hee?” Ms. Kang asked, walking out of the bathroom.

“Alright.”

The two left the hotel room and met with the swim team girls. From there they made their way down to the elevator, Mi-hee still standing awkwardly by the side. Times like this made her really think that there was something terribly wrong with her.

“WHHHAAT TOOOK YOUUUU SOOO LOOONGGG!!!” Coach Kim roared, causing everyone in the lobby to stare at him, unsure whether or not to be scared by his yell or amused how his baggy jeans fell down past his knees when he screamed.

Jonghyun and the rest of the swim team burst out laughing, used to their coaches weird antics. Mi-hee let a small smile slip through her lips, and watched as Coach Kim swore as he tried to pull up his pants.

“WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING ABOUT!” he bellowed to the swim team, who’s laughter didn’t cease. Outside of the pool, they took his opinion with a grain of salt.

Mr. Shin, hiding his mouth with his hand, finally spoke up. “Let’s go get some lunch, I’m starving and we’re creating quite the… scene.”

“Yes please!” Ms. Kang grinned and began to usher her students out onto the sidewalk. She spotted a cute open café and pointed it out to Mr. Shin. “How about that one?”

“As long as I get food in my mouth, I’m happy.”

=======================================================================================================

Mi-hee stared up at the ceiling that night, feeling a little homesick. That afternoon, she had been separated from the group three times and scraped her knee badly from tripping on the sidewalk. Worse still, she wasn’t able to get one decent picture of the swim team as a group. The girls would always tell her to redo it if they looked bad. Mi-hee just wished that she could tell them that no matter what camera angle she took the picture angle from; their make-up caked faces would always look ugly in her humble opinion.

“You should try to get some sleep Mi-hee,” Ms. Kang muttered from her bed. “We all have to leave early in the morning. I would let you roam by yourself but the school would kill us if something happened.”

“Yes unni…” Mi-hee yawned and turned so she was now lying on her side. I should try to sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

================================================================================================

“Yo, Jonghyun! What do you think of the new girl?” Onew asked, munching on the chicken he managed to sneak inside the hotel.

“That air girl, you can’t even tell she’s there sometimes!” Taemin joked, sprawled on the floor and texting at the same time.

“You know she’s not a new girl… at least I think,” Minho offered helpfully, taking a sip of his water.

The guys found an immediate loophole to Mr. Shin’s plan – their rooms were adjoining rooms parallel to each other – there was no need to sneak anywhere.

“She’s been here as long as us I think,” Jonghyun pointed out.

“Why you even spend your time talking to her… I don’t understand you sometimes Jonghyun…” Dong-sun remarked, playing a game on his iPod Touch.

Jonghyun shrugged. “It’s my personality to be friendly to everyone.”

Key’s eyes grinned mischievously. “Does Jonghyun have a little itty-bitty crush on the air girl?” He elbowed Jonghyun playfully on the ribs. “Do ya?”

“No, what are you talking about? She’s just a friend.”

The boys cackled, their laughter bouncing off the walls. “Friendships always turn into something more in the movies!”

“That’s why they’re called movies Taemin,” Jonghyun grinned. He walked to his bedside clock and set the alarm for 5:45am. “Let’s get some sleep guys. We have to wake up early for swim practice.”

“Liven it up a little bit Jjong! Don’t be such a bore,” Taemin groaned, standing up. Despite his tone he too began to walk out of the hotel room.

“Get outta here guys,” Minho jibed playfully, closing the door that separated the two rooms.

Jonghyun turned off the lights and the two lay in silence for a few moments.

“You better not say anything cheesy before I go to sleep, like in the movies,” Minho mumbled, the tendrils of sleep threatening to entrap him.

“Minho, I just want you to know…” Jonghyun humored his friend in the darkness.

“Shut up.” Minho shifted in his bed, pulling the covers over himself. “You talk too much.”

“I love you too~”

“Shut up.”

“Fine. Shutting-”

“WHAT PART OF SHUT UP DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!”

====================================================================================================

Hey guys!

Their first night in Milan! Woo!

For those who have actually been to Milan/Italy before, if you have any ideas about local cuisine or anything of that sort that I should add into my story, don't hesitate to tell me. Criticism/Comments are appreciated, just don't hate. Since this is only my second story, I'm well aware that I still have lots to learn! C&C!

-dayturnstonight

Ps. Check out---> And So We Go if you have time!