The next morning, you woke by the sun coming through the curtains. You barely slept last night cause of jet lag and managed to get more or less three hours in. You had to wake up early cause it took more or less half an hour to get to school during the morning traffic. Stretching your body, you hear a knock at the door.

          "Hyojin-ah, time to wake up" you hear Yong Guk's voice call.

          "Neh" you say sleepily getting out of bed and going to your bathroom to get ready. You were amazed at how stocked it was with all your favorite products, Yong Guk must've had this planned for quite a while now.

          You walk out twenty minutes later dressed in skinny jeans and grey wife beater under a blue button up while carrying your backpack to see Yong Guk on his laptop sitting at the small table he had in the kitchen.

          He looked up at you, "Ready to go?"

          "Neh" you said putting on a pair of your favorite flats you bought from the states. "Where are we going to eat?"

          "A place nearby your school." He said grabbing his keys, "Then I'm bringing you to school, talking to your teachers and all the stuff Ama and Apa would do" he grabbed a jacket.

          "Neh" you say walking out the door as he locked up.

          The place you guys ended up at was a little café, you ordered your American breakfast which consisted of eggs, sausage and hash browns and a cup of hot green tea while Yong Guk settled for some porridge and coffee.

          "You excited?" he asked as the two of you ate.

          You shrug, "It's starting some place new" you say chewing, "Am I supposed to?"

          He shrugged in return, "You don’t have to wear a school uniform like you did in the states. Mom and dad had you at private school right?"

          You  nod, "That's an upside, I think I was the girl with the longest skirt" you grin remembering a few of the girls who had altered their skirts to the very minimum.

          "I can imagine" Yong Guk said, "Cause if you ever hiked it up, I would have flown there and taken your back here and sent you to an all girls school" he said with a straight face.

          You rolled your eyes, of course Yong Guk would do that, he was a protective brother. He would normally be the one checking in on your grades though he was all the way here in Korea since your parents were really busy with the business and such.

          "I'm not joking, if you ever get a boyfriend, he has to go through me arasso? Let him know you have a tough big oppa to beat him up" He said flexing his muscles. "Of course you cant have a boyfriend till you're 30"

          You gave him a look of disbelief  "Oppa!" you say kicking him under the table only making him grin.

          "Let's get you to school now" he said throwing some money on the table before getting up.

          After going through admissions, you were pretty happy with your classes. Biology, British Literature, Spare, AP Calculus AB on one day, AP Microeconomics, Statistics, AP Chemistry and a spare. You were happy about the spares since you had to balance three AP classes and you had time to do your homework. You were slightly annoyed though that Yong Guk had enrolled you  in these classes without your consent.

          "Is three AP classes necessary?" you ask him looking at the list.

          He nodded, "AP will be good for you to get into top universities" he said and looked at his watch, "The teacher will be here soon to take you to your first class. I'll be back after school to pick you up"

          "Neh" you say nodding waving at him as he left the school.

          Moments later, a woman walked up to you, she had long brown hair with brown eyes, she was korean and was wearing a lab coat.

          "Annyeonghasseo, Kim-seonsang nimida" she said bowing at you.

          "Annyeong Kim-seonsang" you bow to her smiling.

          "I'm your biology teacher, the class is this way" she motioned for you to follow her.

          "I've assigned one of our students to be your partner for the week so you kind of get a familiar sense of the school. Are you okay with that?"  she asked.

          You nod, "Neh"

          "Good, so you'll introduce yourself to the class and you'll actually be sitting next to your partner. Right through this door." She opened entering.

          "Attention class, today we have a new student" she said and motioned for you to come in.

          You notice him right away, he was sitting at the back on the left with two other boys. He wasn’t looking your way meaning that he didn’t know you were in this class yet. He hadnt changed at all, his hair, his face was still the same, maybe it changed a bit as he grew older but the same features were still there.

          "Please introduce yourself" Kim-seongsang said to you.

          "Annyeonghasseo, Bang Hyojin nimida. I'm from Las Angeles, California. Please take care of me" you say bowing with a smile.

          Looking up, you notice that his eyes were on you, his mouth slightly ajar. You looked at him giving a tight smile before the teacher said,

          "Minwoo-shi please raise your hand"

          A boy in the middle row, close to where he was sitting raised his hand.

          "Hyojin-shi, Minwoo will be your partner for the week. Please go sit by him" she said motioning for you to go.

          "Kamsamida" you say before walking to sit next to him. He had short reddish hair which was a styled bowl cut. His biggest feature was his nose, and he had a really nice smile.

          "Annyeong, No Minwoo nimida" he said smiling at you as you sat down.

          "Hyojin-nimida" you say returning the smile.

          "So you're from America?" he asked as the teacher started class.

          "Neh" you say, "Los Angeles"

          "That's cool. I'm actually a Korea native" he says giving you an eye smile, "I hope we can be good friends"

          You give him a grin, "I do too"

          "What are your classes?" he asked and you handed him a sheet of paper.

          "Ah jinja? Three AP classes?" he asked you with wide eyes.

          You slightly nod, "My oppa enrolled me in these classes. But it earned me two spares. He wants me to go to a good university"

          "That’s cool, we have our spare, Bio, AP Chem and stats together" he said.

          "That good, at least I'll know someone in those classes." You say, "What about the others?"

          He shook his head, "Not many people take AP calculus because you need a teacher referral and same with AP microeconomics" he looked behind him, "See those three guys over there?"

          You turned to see that he was pointing at Aron, and two other guys.

          "The one on the left, Kwak Aron, he's in AP Calc and the guy on the far right, Jung Ilhoon, I'm pretty sure he and the guy in the middle, Kim Jong-hyun or as people call him, JR are in the micro economics class and I know for a fact that JR is in AP chem. Also Aron is our grade representative, he's been here since he was like twelve"  Minwoo said and turned to look at you, "Those three have the top three percentile in our grade.

          "Ah jinja" you say looking at the two boys with Aron, the middle one catching your eye and you didn’t know why. He had a strong jaw line, and his hair was tousled and he had an emotionless face on. You would never have expected him to be in the top three but then again , you were judging by looks and Yong Guk always told you never to do that.

          "Mhm" Minwoo said nodding, "It's hard to believe but its true" he grinned.

          The bell rang signaling the end of first period and you and Minwoo packed up your things.

          "We have a break right now, I can show you where your locker is" he said leading you out the door.

          "That'd be great thanks" you said as the two of you walked down the hall towards your locker. Little did you know though, you had missed the glance Aron gave you as you walked out the door.

          After finding your locker, you put your biology book in and followed Minwoo to your British Literature class. The two of you talked about your journey to Korea, and how you had just arrived yesterday and had to start a new day and also how he was captain of the schools dance team here and if you were interested in joining he could easily get you in.

          You were about half way to the class when you heard your name get called.

          "Hyojin-ah!"

          Turning around, you notice Aron and his friends walking towards you and you raised your eyebrows.

          "Ah Aron-shi" you bow to him, "Annyeong" you had the urge to hug him but decided against it cause people were staring.

          "I didn’t know you were back in Korea" he said smiling at you and nodded at Minwoo, "Annyeong."

          "Annyeong Aron-shi" Minwoo said, "You know Hyojin?"

          "Neh" both of you replied at the same time.

          "Aron was my school mate back in America" you say and turned to look at his friends. Ilhoon had his hands stuffed in his pockets and JR just started intently at you sending shivers down your spine.

          "Oh, ah, Hyojin-shi" Aron said, "These are my friends, Jung Ilhoon and Kim Jonghyun or as we like to call him Junior Royal or JR. Guys, this a childhood friend of mine, Bang Hyojin."

          "Annyeong" You say smiling at both of them, "Hyojin-nimida"

          Ilhoon only grinned at you as he walked around you looking, "Ah, yeppoda. Annyeong, as Aron said, I'm Jung Ilhoon"

          JR only nodded at you then looked out the window. The only thought that came to mind was his tough exterior which made you slightly scared of him but yet something about him pulled you in.

          "Have you been around the school yet?" Aron asked.

          "Ani" you say, "Minwoo will show me around during our spare today" you say looking up at him. "He is my partner after all"

          "Oh, I can show you a bit if you'd like. Kind of get a hold of the ropes" he offered, "I know Minwoo is pretty busy with the dance team and everything."

          "Ah, ani" Minwoo said shaking his head, "It's totally fine, it's good to make new friends" he said and looked at his watch, "But if we want to get you to British literature class, we better go."

          "Oh! I have British Literature" Ilhoon said grabbing your backpack which you tried to take back to no avail. "I'll take her to class. You can sit next to me too" he grinned, "You have a physics test today right?" he asked Minwoo.

          "Ah, neh, kamsamida Ilhoon-shi" he said and turned to Aron, you have physics too right?"

          "Neh, lets go" he said, "Ilhoon will take care of her" he looked back at you, "I'll see you later okay?"

          You tilt your head at him, "Neh?" unsure.

          "We'll meet you guys at the canteen after class for lunch" Ilhoon said, "No need for you to come all the way to meet us"

          "Neh, I guess I'll see you at lunch then" Minwoo said bowing at the two of you before walking off with Aron and JR.

          As you walked with Ilhoon, you couldn’t help but notice that during that whole exchange, JR had been extremely quiet.

          As the two of you walked, you couldn’t help but notice stares from various people, girls and boys alike. It kind of weirded you out a bit, just a bit.

          "Ilhoon-shi" you say while walking.

          "Neh?" he asked.

          "Why are people…staring?" you ask looking around.

          He shrugged, "You don’t know who we are?"

          "Who we are?" you asked with a questioning look.

          He shook his head, "You don’t know much around here to do"

          "Well…I just got here like oh I don’t know, two hours ago babo" you deadpanned.

          "Ah right" Ilhoon said, "Well, I'm pretty sure Minwoo told you, Aron, JR and I have the top grades in our year and that Aron's grade Rep"

          "Neh"

          "But also, we don’t socialize much with our student body. Well except Aron anyways but normally the three of us keep to ourselves. I don’t think we would've approached you today if it weren't for Aron running out of the class to catch up with you and Minwoo. You two are childhood friends right?"

          "Ah, neh" you reply nodding, "We've known each other since we were…6? 7? I actually cant remember" you say chuckling to yourself.

          "And you two never kept in contact?" he asked looking down at you.

          "Ani" you shook your head, "When he moved, we never took the time to keep in touch, I'm pretty sure our parents kept in touch though. But because of the time difference and how old we were, I don’t think keeping in touch was a big deal back then. I kinda regret it though" you chuckle, "He was one of the only good friends I had that lasted a while"

          "I see" he said nodding, "Well, I guess since you and Aron are friends, that makes us friends too" he grinned motioning to the class, "Shall we?"

          "Neh" you laugh nodding knowing that this friendship with Ilhoon was going to be an interesting one.