Junior year. This was the year I was to be an upper classmen. No more taking crap from the now gone seniors. It wasn’t like I got bullied or anything, just picked on sometimes for being the smart kid in the class. I didn’t show it off, but I also didn’t answer things incorrectly when teachers asked me questions. I guess you could say I wasn’t that popular. I only had several close friends and that was it.

        One of my good friends was Jessica Jung. She was known for being really pretty with a nice body and having an outgoing personality. Most people enjoyed having her around and she always knew how to make people laugh. We became friends back in 2^nd grade when I was new in town. She lived down the street and for a while she actually had a crush on me. At the time I was oblivious to her feelings but when I found out, we had become such good friends that at that point, neither of us wanted anything more than the others friendship.

        My other good friend was Jung Nicole. She had been my best friend since the 4^th grade when we both sat next to each other on the first day of school. I didn’t know what it was but we both just clicked from the first conversation we had. Over the years Nicole and I had been through a lot together. Both of us had family problems so we vented to each other at school during lunch or over the phone. Nicole had never known who her father was and I was having issues with mine and my mother’s new boyfriend. Nicole also didn’t live with her mother. This was because her mother chose to take care of her younger brother and sent her to live with her grandparents instead. Apparently she couldn’t afford to take care of both of them.

        Nicole started getting involved in relationships with different guy’s later on around 7^th grade and soon left me for her new boyfriends. Her first boyfriend was Yang Seung Ho, a handsome well rounded guy who got along with everyone, even the teachers. Seung Ho treated Nicole real nice. He bought her things, carried her books, and would even walk her home sometimes. Unfortunately, their relationship ended before the school year did. She seemed to have taken being dumped by Seung Ho really well. At least, that’s what I thought. I didn’t see her cry about the break-up; she was just dejected at times.

       The following years, 8^th grade and freshman year of high school, Nicole had successfully managed to not be single for a little over three weeks after each break-up she had. I guess she needed more than a best friend’s comfort and found that in these boys.  

        I no longer had the best friend I once knew. She’d lie to her grandparent’s saying she was going out with me while really going out with whomever she was dating at the moment. Sometimes I would get dragged along as a third wheel just so her grandparents saw her with me and didn’t suspect anything.  Since they were our rides to places, I had to come along and get picked up with her for wherever she went. I did this because she was my best friend.

       Once in high school, I began to get tired of this constant routine of helping her out and never actually just hanging out with her. I would watch her relationships go from good to bad in less than months. And when it all ended, I’d still be there for her to only repeat the cycle again.

      This pained me to see my best friend using me just to hang out with some temporary boy. She had become a different person. She got mad easily and was almost always late to class or not even paying attention because she was texting.

      Halfway through the year I had to end our friendship and let her know we weren’t best friends anymore. She didn’t take it too well; obviously. When someone you have been close to for so long wants to separate, you’re either going to be really sad or really angry. She chose the latter. I heard a lot of words come out of I never thought possible from someone of her size (she was pretty short). I just took every word she said and didn’t retaliate; I understood where she was coming from but I couldn’t continue this constant thing we had going on.

    After our separation, I found myself feeling lonelier. I thought leaving Nicole would make me feel free but that wasn’t the case. I felt trapped and suffocated by loneliness. There was no one to share my problems with anymore. I would go to school with a smile plastered on my face but would cry myself to sleep every night while Nicole still went on finding new boyfriends.

     Towards the end of the year I had made several stable friends but no one knew how I was truly feeling inside, no one except for Jessica and Lee Taemin. They both knew only half of what I was going through.

      Taemin was really talented at dancing. He moved effortlessly every time I watched him dance. I always wondered how he did it but was never taught. I guess he was just born with it. He went to my school for the first half of the day but then to this arts school for the second half. At that school, kids took classes like dance, creative writing, vocals, etc. Kids picked on him sometimes because of his size but he usually didn’t let that bother him. That’s what made Taemin cool, his inability to care what others thought or said. It made me jealous. When he left for his other school I would always wish I could go with him. He had so many stories about what it was like at that school and how cool all the people were who went there. Too bad my mom refused to send me there. She never explained why, she just turned me down every time I asked.

      Sophomore year; I was even more quiet and people began asking me what was wrong. I’d get questions like, “Kibum, why do you look so sad?” and “Kibum are you depressed?” Smiling to people and laughing their questions off with a, “What do you mean, I’m fine.” became very easy for me. This year I mainly kept to myself. I would go to school, then would come home and head straight for the books. I didn’t really have that many people to talk to since Taemin didn’t have a cell phone and Jessica was out hanging with friends. Studying and doing homework was a way to pass the time and not think much about any of my other problems.

      In my spare time during the other half of this year, I began to take an interest in dancing. Taemin seemed happy and free as he danced so I thought I’d give it a try. I was really bad when I first started out but I got better as I learned more dances. Taemin said I was almost as good as him and that it was impressive I had just started dancing. He was most likely just being nice. I couldn’t have been that good. I did learn dances pretty quick though. Now I actually had something to do instead of studying when I got home from school. Dancing was a way I could relieve myself and work off stress. When I danced, I felt free.

     Towards the end of sophomore year my mood began to pick up. I was actually trying to talk to people and do other things rather than just go home and study. I still felt depressed sometimes but that was only occasionally now.

      And then it came to junior year, the year where I met him. I still remember him like we had just passed by one another earlier today. Kim Jonghyun, a name I will most likely never forget. Back in middle school we both were in the same chorus class. Originally, he was supposed to be in one grade higher than me, but because he couldn't keep his grades up, he stayed back. Everyone loved him. He was well dressed, good looking, and he had a good personality. At the time I thought nothing of it, he was just another one of the cool guys that all the girls wanted and all the guys wanted to be friends with. Of course we talked to each other from time to time, but that was it. Nothing more than that. Nothing compared to what it was like in the following years.

      Kim Jonghyun practically had all the girls at his knees. No girl could resist him, with his sharp jawline, perfect smile, and his nice fashion sense. Even some guys fell for him. Him and I only had one class together and that was English class. He sat on the same side as I did and usually conversed with his good friend Tiffany Hwang. Tiffany and Jessica were really good friends so they hung out a lot. Since Jessica was also in the class, she wanted me to sit next to her while Tiffany sat on the other side of her. So this left Jonghyun two seats down from me. (The seats were right next to each other so it wasn’t that far)

      Our lunch period was in the middle of that class so everyone except for me and a girl named Kim Jung Ah stayed in the room. I didn’t like going to lunch after a couple of guys launched a sweet and sour glazed piece of meat at me and caused it to permanently stain my shirt. Jung Ah chose to stay behind because she liked the quietness and felt it easier to eat her food in peace without the constant yelling of kids in the cafeteria.

      After like the third day of school and me staying in the English class for lunch, Jessica decided she would stay with me so we could hang out. I guess she didn’t really care much for going to the cafeteria either. With her followed Tiffany and Jonghyun. It was nice having someone like Jessica as a friend. It made me feel somewhat popular because wherever she was, people wanted to be there. Over the next couple of days, more kids stayed in the class instead of going to lunch. It was like we had our own lunch club. I got to make new friends I hadn’t really talked to before. Everything seemed to be going good for me. That was until I got a text message from him.

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Hey guys, sorry for this long boring first chapter. I wanted to give a small background before the story can actually truly begin. Hopefully you guys enjoy and subscribe to my story for more chapters. That would be awesome. Im also a big fan of comments!!!   ∩( ・ω・)∩