chapter one; silence - inside my mouth

»  Walking along the shortcut to her new school, under the shade and falling petals of Cherry Blossom trees – was Cho Arrum. She was nervous, seeing some people with the same uniform as her. A group of friends from her new school were in front of her. She felt lonely and afraid, would people make fun of her? Because of what? You’ll find out later. She mentally cursed her aunt for transferring her to a new school, she preferred being home-schooled instead. “Become a social butterfly~” Aunt Hyerim said. Ugh, just..no.

Arrum had arrived in front of the entrance. Big, bold letters (in hangul) stood above her. - “프러ㅣ딧 학교 – Pledis School” (Peu-Le-Dis Hak-Kyeo)

Blinking rapidly while swallowing her saliva, she walked in. She let out a sigh of relief because no one had suspected that there was a new student, they were busy chattering about. She looked at her schedule before walking into her homeroom, taking cautious steps. Everyone had stopped to look at the new girl who had her head down as she walked to her seat on the right side of the second to the last row, next to the window.

Bu Seunggwan noticed her and went to casually sit down on her table, “Hey, I’m Seunggwan. Or you can call me DJ Bu, yo.” Arrum looked up at him, blinking. She took out a notepad from her shoulder bag while he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She wrote something then handed the notepad to him. “Nice to meet you, Seunggwan-ssi. I’m Cho Arrum ^__^”

He looked at her confused but before he could question her, the teacher came in and everyone shuffled to get on their seats.

“Alright , take your seats. I’m your new homeroom teacher – Jongsuk Sonsaengnim. And today is our first day, did everyone enjoy their vacation? Alright. One by one, each student shall introduce themselves and how they spent their vacation,” The teacher announced, looking around, “Let’s start with the left side.” Everyone from that side groaned, some whining. Guessing they weren’t really confident, huh? “C’mon! Chop Chop, Kim Byeolchan!” And there he went.

It didn’t turn out to be exciting as some of you thought it’d be, just the usual – going to other countries, visiting their grandparents, etc. Until it was Seunggwan’s turn, now this was going to get interesting. Most of the girls squealed when he stood up front, “Hey, what’s up? I’m Bu Seunggwan but you can call me yours,” He winked, causing the girls to melt – even Arrum. Who couldn’t resist that? “But of course, I’m more known as –,” He put his hand over his ear dramatically as they said in unison, “DJ Bu!” Seunggwan chuckled then continued, “Meh – Nothing much happened during vacation but I think that this school year would be more fun, hoho. Especially with Miss Beautiful over there,” The girls screamed, blushing because they thought it was them. But stopped, when he pointed to Cho Arrum. She sat there, flustered but kept quite. The girls glared at her for a second before turning back to Seunggwan, “Alright, that’s all for now!” Bowing before he went back to his seat.

“Okay..” The teacher chuckled at his class’ enthusiasm, looking down at his paper with the list of the Sopohomore’s names, “Cho Arrum, you’re up next.” Arrum looked at the teacher. The attention was on her now. Uh-oh, she didn’t like attention at all. Nervously, she slowly walked up to the front and looked at her classmates who were intensely staring at her. She felt goose bumps and hair standing on her arms due to nervousness. Seunggwan sat back casually and winked at her, causing her to blush. His seat was just 2 chair in front of her.

Arrum carefully took the board marker from the teacher’s desk and started writing on the board. Everyone was confused – What is she doing? Is she mute or something? They thought, quietly laughing to themselves. As she finished, she took a step back for everyone to see.

“Annyeonghaseyo, I’m Cho Arrum. I have been homeschooled instead of going to private schools or public schools, so this will be the first time I’ll be attending a real school. Please take care of me!”

The teacher looked at her with a confused face as well, “Sorry to ask, dear. But why won’t you talk? Don’t be shy.”

Arrum wrote on the board again –

“I’m mute.”