Trudging along the wide hallways of Sunhwa Arts, still lugging my violin with me, I felt more depressed than I had since I’d moved here. I was still so livid, I couldn’t even appreciate how much more beautiful Sunhwa was on the inside than the outside. This was supposed to be my dream that I was living out. My first day here was supposed to be perfect, but that -wipe Daehyun completely ruined it for me.

Entering into my first class, which was a traditional music studies class, I ignored all of the looks that the other students were giving me and listlessly plopped down into an empty desk by the window.

 Aish, what was I thinking? How could I have just slapped Daehyun across the face like that? Curse my bad tempter.

I buried my head in my arms instantly regretting my actions. After what seemed like a while, I heard shuffling next to me mixed with the screeching of a chair on the tile floor. Someone lightly tapped on my shoulder. Praying that it wasn’t Daehyun, I hesitantly peeked up from my hiding spot in my arms. A boy with smallish eyes and a sharp face shyly smiled down at me. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember exactly where I had seen him before.

He pointed to the empty desk beside me, indicating that he wanted to sit there. I attempted to smile and a, “Go ahead.”  He looked relieved and grinned as he shuffled into his seat. “Thank you,” He quietly added. I eyed him and then rested my hand on my head, turning my attention out the window to the captivating scenery below.

“Your name’s _____, right?”

  My attention turned back to the boy and his face was full of interest. I sighed and reluctantly nodded. Great, it hasn’t even been my first day here and random people can already recognize me.

“Wow, I thought it was you!” he beamed. “I saw what you did to Daehyun before, that was some slap,” he chuckled to himself, but when he saw that I looked less than amused, his cheeks turned a light pink and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “It was really amazing though! Daehyun’s a real jerk sometimes. I’ve never seen anyone stand up to him like that before.”

I raised my eyebrows and leaned towards the boy. “Do you really mean that?” A smile crept back on the boys face and he nodded, looking at me warmly.

 “Who were those guys, anyways?” I suddenly asked. “Are they some sort of celebrities or something? And what’s a B.A.T?”

A huge grin erupted on the boys face and he leaned in closer to me. “B.A.P” he politely corrected.

“Oh,” I mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

“And they’re not real celebrities, but they’re certainly treated like celebrities here. They’re rookies in a k-pop group called B.A.P.”

It took me a moment to fully process what the boy had said. “So,” I began, trying to grasp the whole situation. “What does Daehyun exactly do in this group?”

“Oh, Daehyun’s the lead singer and the visual. He’s also one of the most popular members among B.A.P,” the boy spout off as if he had been expecting that question.

“What?” I gasped. “So I just slapped the most popular member of a k-pop group in the face?”

The boy could probably hear the sense of panic in my voice, so he put a hand on my shoulder and flashed a genuine smile. “Yep, but don’t worry too much about it. Almost everybody here thinks he deserved it. Well, except for all of the girls.”

I eased up and let out a laugh at the boy’s last statement, and the boy surprisingly began laughing along with me. Once we had stopped to catch our breath, I stretched my hand out in front of him. “We never formally introduced ourselves. I’m _____.”

He took my hand in his and the same shy smile from before shown on his face. “I’m Moon Jongup, but you can just call me Jongup.” He quickly let go of my hand and spun to face the front of the classroom as the teacher walked in.

Grinning to myself, I couldn’t express to Jongup how grateful I suddenly was towards him. He was somebody I had only just met moments ago, but the things he had said to me really lifted my spirits. It felt as though a friend I had known all throughout my life just comforted me. My eyes shifted back towards the window, and it really did seem like the sun was shining a bit brighter now.

***

The bell sounded loudly throughout the halls, causing some of the students who were sleeping on their desks to be startled awake. The teacher quickly wrapped up her lesson about the Gayageum, a traditional Korean instrument. The students quickly began tossing there books and notebooks into their back-packs, preparing to head off to their next classes.

As I began heading out the door, Jongup jogged and caught up to me.

“What class do you have next?” he hurriedly asked, looking to the side as a small amount of blush crept onto his face.

I giggled and held out my class list so that he could see it. Jongup took the list from my hand and whipped his own out of his pocket, carefully analyzing the two side by side. His expression darkened and he regretfully handed my schedule back to me. “No luck, I have Acting Class next hour, you have Concert Band.” He pouted for a moment, but then his lips broke out into a soft smile. “We have lunch after next hour, so I’ll find you then and we can sit together.”

I agreed and Jongup happily bid me goodbye before he rushed of to his next class.

***

As I slumped down in my chair, resting my cheek against my violin case, I let out a long sigh. Sitting in Concert Band, I wished to be anywhere else but here. I assumed that we would be playing or practicing our instruments, or at least talking about something music related. How wrong I was. The scrawny, balding, red-faced Mr. Lee only talked about his many adventures fighting in the military and stories of how he ended up saving over twenty-three cats over the span of his service. After he finished describing in great detail how he rescued his eighth cat, a fat tabby cat which he named Leo, I thought my head would burst from boredom right then and there.

As if the class couldn’t have ended any sooner, the oh-so familiar bell sounded, causing almost every student, including myself, to jump out of their seats and make a mad dash for the door.

Maneuvering through the busy hallways which were now stuffed full of high school students, I mentally cringed. Being surrounded and having multiple people pressed up against me made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I was able to catch glimpses of many different conversations, the overwhelming amount of voices numbing my senses and making it so that I was unable to think a straight thought. An array of delicious smells suddenly drifted through the hallway, and I was quickly reminded of it being lunchtime.

Locating the lunch room in almost no time due to the intoxicating smells drawing me in, I remembered my plan to eat with Jongup. Pushing through the big, oak doors of the lunch room, my mouth dropped open at the pure amount of students that there were crammed into the lunch room. Scanning over the room, my eyes rested on a waving Jongup standing towards the back of the lunch room.

 He smiled when he saw that I had noticed him, and he waved me over, to an empty chair across from him.  I began heading towards him, but stopped dead in my tracks when I saw that he was sitting with the other five attractive guys from this morning. My thoughts clicked together and now realized why Jongup had seemed so familiar when I had met him. He was one of the guys that had come in with Daehyun!

 I mentally cursed. How could I have not noticed this earlier? Signaling to Jongup that I suddenly had to go, I quickly sprinted out of the lunch room before any of Jongup’s friends, including Daehyun, had even noticed me.

Sitting on the toilet in one of the cramped stalls of the girl’s bathroom, my stomach moaned loudly at me. I sighed loudly to myself and began massaging my completely empty stomach. I really am an idiot. Blowing my bangs out of my face and squeezing my eyes shut, I leaned my head against one of the walls of the stall. I’m supposed to be living my dream right now, but instead I slapped one the most popular guys in my school in the face, I listened to my music teacher talk about rescuing cats for an hour and a half, and now am forced into hiding out in a random stall in the girl’s bathroom. Is this really what my life is amounting to? My heart dropped and I ended up staying in that stall until lunch had ended.

Saved by the bell once again, I gratefully excited the stall and successfully wove my way through the massive amount of students filtering into the hallways until I arrived at my next hour, which was a Phy Ed class. I suddenly felt very self-conscious as I walked into the gym. The glares that I was receiving from the other girls and even some guys were now completely apparent to me. I stood in my spot nervously, and I wished for somebody like Jongup to suddenly come bursting in through the gym doors and save me. Instead, a very pretty, older, women walked in. Her sleek, black hair which was pulled back into a tight pony-tail bounced as she trotted in and an amused smile appeared on her red, painted lips, but I could tell that it wasn’t real.

“Okay, class, I’m your teacher, Mrs. Yang.”

Some of the guys in the crowd hooted and whistled.

 Completely ignoring them, Mrs. Yang continued in the same high-pitched, nasally voice. “Today, even though it’s only your first day in my class, we’ll be starting soccer. Now I realize that many of you didn’t bring your gym clothes, but I’m sure that you-“

Mrs. Yang was interrupted as the gym doors flung open and Daehyun, along with two other guys, came flaunting in. One of the guys standing next to Daehyun noticed me, so he began whispering and pointing, causing Daehyun eyes to shoot over at me.

I pinched my eyes shut and cursed under my breath. Why can't I seem to avoid these guys? Cowering back, I wanted to just disappear right there.

“Why are you late boys?” Mrs. Yang placed her small hands on her hips and began questioning in overly teacher voice.

“We got lost, sorry,” Daehyun lied, still focused on me, and not sounding the least bit sorry at all.

Mrs. Yang appeared as though she believed him though.. She squatted down to pick up a clipboard from the floor. “Well, ok, but for now, I need to take attendance, so,” her eyes scanned down the list of names, until finally stopping at one. “Stand over by Miss _____.”

Chuckles emanated from the some of the students, and a couple of the girls gawked in disbelief. I avoided Daehyun’s eyes, and pursed my lips together, shoving my hands in my pockets. Mrs. Yang was totally oblivious to what she had just done as she continued ordering students to their respective places. I heard what I took to be Daehyun’s footsteps walk over and he positioned himself right next to me without saying a word. I quickly noted the huge red patch on the side of his face, and wondered if my slap had really been that powerful. Despite that, Daehyun had a smug expression on his face, and it made me wonder what was going on in his messed up little mind. My question was answered though when his hand shot up into the air.

“Mrs. Yang, I have a question. Are you sure it’s safe for me to be standing next to this maniac of a girl. She might go crazy and slap me again.”