Chapter 1

  "Be careful."

  "I'm going to school not a war field," Stephanie said, giving Calvin a look.

  "Just be careful," he repeated.

  "Yes, yes, have a safe drive home, kay?" She said, waving him off. She watched as the black sedan drove off.

  Taking a deep breath, the light brown haired girl brushed her hair from her eyes before making her way in. Holding tight on to her bag strap, she eyed around the crowd, looking for the familiar face. She didn't have to wait long, before a sudden weight was on her. Luckily, she managed to balance herself, instead of falling on her face.

  "Hey Steph."

  Annoyed, Stephanie gave the girl a light shove. A light laugh filled her ears, as she fixed her uniform.

  "Please remember that you and I are girls," Stephanie told her, grumbling. "And your weight is not that easy to carry around."

  The curly haired girl grinned, "You're talking funny again. It's too early for that."

  Stephanie rolled her eyes, "Come on, lets just get to class."

  "Did you finish math?" Emily asked, hopefully.

  The two made their way to class. They were greeted by the sound of other students talking. Though, it was less noisy than usual since half the guys were gone. The school was a mixed school, containing not only Koreans, but also Americans, Philipines, occasionally Japanese and a bit of Malaysian and Singaporeans. Each foreign students are spread throughout the whole school so the number of students in each classes will be somewhat equal. Stephanie was lucky enough to be put in a class with the very talkative american, Emily. She should be thankful she's not the only American in the class but that girl can be extremely annoying at times, especially when she's excited. Fortunately, she didn't have to face the girl alone.

  "Emily, you should start finishing your work at home, you know," a dark haired girl said, disapprovingly.

  But the younger didn't listen as she quickly rushed through her work, as fast as she could. In a way, it was a good thing Emily was smart at certain lessons. Rachel shook her head before turning to Stephanie, and began asking if she can play with her hair for a while. It looked really soft that day. Stephanie didn't bother to hide the smug grin, as she turned to let her friend play with her hair. Rachel has a certain hobby of playing and braiding other people's hair. But she was also picky, and only chose the 'best' ones, as they say.

  Fifteen minutes later, the bell rang and not long after Miss Lee entered the class to began teaching History. Emily shoved her Math homework underneath and worked between listening and writing without being caught. As soon as the teacher began talking, Stephanie began to loose interest. She didn't understand why they have to learn about the past. Haven't the teacher heard of the saying, that the past is the past, now it's time to move on.

  She glanced at the empty seat beside her and frowned realising he was late again.

---

  "Thanks hyung!"

  "Bye Channie! Have a good day at school!" Sandeul yelled, waving brightly at his dongsaeng.

  The young boy quickly ran his way to class, taking a deep breath just as he reached the door. He stopped and fixed himself, knowing how the teacher would feel about his tardiness and he didn't want to get into more trouble by looking messy. He turned the door knob slowly and opened the door, poking his head in first.

  "You're late," the elder woman said, without turning his way.

  "Mianhae," he said, bowing to the teacher apologetically. He made his way to his seat, avoiding the eyes of his classmates. He glanced at his watch, and realized he was a half hour late.

~~~

Poster above by --hylx from  ` l a m e - j u m p