ღ Ara Jung's Point of View; Monday; ☼

“Yejin-ah!” Cupping my hands around my mouth to amplify my voice, I easily spotted my best friend amongst the morning crowd and called for her across the corridor of the school, running to her with open arms as if we both were re-enacting a reunion scene from a cheesy love movie. The loud footsteps easily caught the attention of lazy morning scattering of students as many heads snapped towards both of us, but it didn’t mattered. All I had in my mind was my best friend, Yejin. Yejin only, and only Yejin.

Today’s the day where my excruciating wait comes to an end and it marks the day where I’m going to start afresh as a senior in a new school with a clean slate. That means no more discrimination for accidentally snipping off the Class Head’s hair in my previous school. As for that incident.. it happened in my junior years, but boy, I’ve never expected such ridiculous news to be spreaded as fast as a bushfire. Whatmore, my best friend whom I hold dearly to my heart would be spending the last year in high school together with me in the same class. Despite spending time with her on the weekends, having tea together, going for picnics and whatnot together, I certainly appreciated and yearned for every little speck of time spent with her and this serves as a huge opportunity to spend even more time with her before we both graduate into universities.

“Ara!” Came the reply as our bodies made contact, arms wrapping around each other in a tight hug before I reluctantly pulled back to hold the student in my arms, and I was almost certain that the looks on our faces related to that of a kid’s joyful appearance on the day of christmas. “I missed you so, so much..” Ara murmured as her naturally pinkish lips trembled and tears welled up in her perfect almost-shaped eyes that I’ve came to adore along the years. “I was this happy when I received your call about you being posted here, this happy!” Pulling away, she stretched her arms out as much as possible in an attempt to express her joy as a tear rolled down her plump cheeks. “Aigoo..” A slight chuckle slipped past my lips before I pulled the crybaby of a best friend into your arms once and gently patted the square of her back comfortingly. “You look so beautiful in our school’s uniform, too..” With another expected burst of sobs from Yejin, I pulled away and ruffled her hair playfully, pecking her forehead as I did so. Ah, this baby.

“I’m here now, ne? There’s nothing to cry about, silly. Stop crying or you’ll look puffy before classes even starts.” Hastily straightening out the folds on my new uniform, I glanced down at the black wrist watch embedded with artificial jewels that Yejin had got me as a birthday gift a few years back, lips curling into a small ‘O’ as I snapped back up to look at Yejin once again. “I’ll see you in classes, okay?” With a small nod and a murmur that I failed to catch, Yejin dabbed at her lingering tears with a finger and returned a smile before clutching the strap of her messenger bag and turning on her heels to head to the classroom. As the Class Head, she had to report at a slightly earlier time than the original reporting time to ensure that the class was in tip top shape. being a Class Head, no?

Now, it’s about time that I start worrying about what kind of impression I was going to give to my future classmates, teenagers with varying personalities that I’m going to be stuck with for about a year. This was slightly worrying judging as to how I only had one shot at this first impression, hence the word ‘first’. Yejin didn’t really did a good job of giving me an overview of the class over the phone, but to my knowledge and memory, I did remember her warning me not to get too close to certain people in the class, certain males, to be exact. But hey, what harm can those ‘certain’ males do to me, anyway? I, Ara Jung, is not one to be looked down on. Not in the previous school or this one, not anywhere. It’s one of my morals that I hold high, and I'm certainly not going to allow anyone to trample on it.

The all-too-familiar lump of anxiety started to form in my throat as I drawled nearer to the corridors of classrooms, eyes hastily scanning for class 4-1 before I managed to spot it in the middle of the corridor, sandwiched in the middle of class 4-2 and 3-5. Walking past 3-5, I managed to peer into the  ajar door of the classroom, only to get taken aback by the punctual attendance of the whole class. They aren’t even the Class Head and they’re already reporting at such a timing? “Daebak.” I was amazed. That explains the lack of students loitering in the corridor.

Reaching the front doors of my designated classroom, the drone of murmuring was definitely evidence that the class had already gathered. So.. what was I supposed to do now? I remembered being clearly instructed to wait for the homeroom teacher outside of the classroom. But what if he was already in the class? I’m shy and definitely do not wish to poke your head into the class to realize that the teacher wasn’t there, and probably catch the attention of the students. I’d definitely be alienated straight away without the introduction of a teacher. Pressing my ears gingerly on the wooden door of the class, a gentle tap and the awkward clearing of someone’s throat made me spin around, completely flustered.

“Are you Ms. Jung?” The man in formal clothes that easily towered over me asked in a hard tone which didn’t match with the seemingly forced smile plastered on his face. My eyes flickered up and down, scrutinizing his outfit and his appearance. Black polished leather shoes, suit pants (or typical male teacher’s pants, as I like to refer to it as), a pastel blue top with cuffed sleeves adorned with a tie. Yep, he was definitely a teacher, and a well-groomed teacher along with that.

Coughing to salvage the situation, I looked up at him with a meek smile and slightly bowed. “Yeh, I’m Yejin Jung, the new student posted to this school and placed in your class.” I answered, albeit in a matter-of-factly tone as I moved aside to allow him access to the classroom.

“Ah, you’re a good speaker. Wait here until I call for you, understand?” Nodding, I bowed in respect as he pulled the door open and crossed the threshold into the classroom. Almost as if everyone had lost their voice, the drones of murmurings ceased to a dead silence the moment that man had entered, and it made me wonder what kind of teacher he was. A scary, strict one? That would personally be fine with me, to be frank. The teacher’s in my previous school share the same similarity of having a personality best fitting for a disciplinary master.

Tapping my feet in sheer anxiety and impatience to get the introduction over with, it seemed like an hour to me until I was finally requested for. My pulse accelerated almost immediately and my heart was pounding against my ribcage, mimicking the booming thuds of a war drum. Making a last minute effort to straighten out my uniform once again, I eased myself into the room and hurried to the teacher’s desk, my eyes immediately scanning the surroundings. My eyes immediately fell on the face of Yejin, and I shot her a smile which made a few students who caught it turn to face Yejin’s direction, almost as if in question if their Class Head is related to the newcomer.

“This is Ara Jung, a former student of Bundang High School, and has been transferred here to join the Hansung High’s family. Please treat her as family and welcome her.” The teacher started, moving from his desk to write the characters of my name on the whiteboard behind. I was slightly taken aback by the amount of students in the class as there seemed to be approximately forty students, as compared to the measly strength of only twenty four in my previous school. Competition of grades would certainly be crazy, seeing as to how this is the top class of the level.

“As for your seating position..” Turning on his heels to face the class once again, the teacher scanned the classroom for any available seats, and I could clearly see the scrunched up faces of a few girls scattered around the room. As much as I could take in, there were only one desk available, and everyone had their eyes rooted on that particular table. What an odd reaction to an empty desk.. “It’s only a desk for crying out loud..” I murmured discreetly under my breath before a melodramatic gasp from one of the female students in the front desk startled me.

“Mr. Lee, not the ‘Hot Demand’ seat! Be it the floor, or my seat, just not that seat.” The flabbergasted girl shrilled at the teacher as I turned in time to catch a split second of displeasure cut across his face, before settling into his composed look. “Ms. Jung, that seat, please.” He pointed to the seat that everyone had been eyeing a while back, and that in all honesty, made me feel uncomfortable as I shuffled to the seat, the weight of my bag gradually increasing along with the stares from female students that I could technically feel stabbing into your back. If those glares could kill, I’d definitely be dead by now. All eyes were on me as I walked along the row of tables. This is embarrassing..

Reaching my seat, I took a swift glance around before pulling my chair out with the gentleness of a well-taught student and taking my seat as I plopped your bag on the table. “Hot demand seat?” I wondered out loud. “This is the hot demand seat?” I questioned mentally again this time, failing to see the reason as to why the class, especially the female students, were so hyped up about this particular seat. Thankfully, everyone’s burning gaze on me had shifted back to the front of the classroom, and this opening gave you the chance to pull out my cellphone from my messenger bag as I hastily brought it under the table. I wasn’t given enough time to unlock the screen before an abrupt ‘psssst’ from the desk horizontally next to me caught your attention as I looked up at the source of the sound, only to catch the gaze of a higher-than-average student in terms of looks. “Yah, Yejin.” He whispered, throwing me off-guard at the informalities. Seriously? I’m new here and you’re already calling me by my name without an introductions..? “Your seat is in hot demand, and if you’ve not figured out why, take a good look around you.” The words resulted in me raising an eyebrow questioningly, but I decided to comply and look around. Nothing. Was it because the seat was closest to the window? Maybe the students wanted this spot so that they could daydream and stare at out at the window..? The male student heaved a deep sigh and clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Girl, if you haven’t realized, you’re surrounded by the top four legends of the class.” I blinked in disbelief at the mention of the word ‘legend’. Legend? Almost as if he’s read my mind, he continued on, completely taking my attention off the teacher’s speech in front. “The legends, us four male students who rule the class. I’m the Kingka, L.” He proudly introduced himself in a manner that I labeled arrogant. “The rest, they’ll introduce yourself to you. It’s not my job to introduce them.”

“Hold up, L-sshi. I don’t get it, yet.” Chewing on my lower lip as I mentally struggled to piece the puzzle together, brows furrowed in concentration. “Aish, really. This girl is just..” With a disappointed sigh, L melodramatically smacked his forehead with a hand. Drama king, tch. The student in front of L’s desk turned around, his lips tugged down into a frown of displeasure as he raised a finger to his lips, harshly shushing the Kingka. “Kim Myungsoo, the teacher’s talking.” The student shot, his voice surprisingly gentle, soft and unfitting to be accompanied with his words. It made me wonder, what was his role in this class to be able to talk to the Kingka in that manner? Even addressing L by presumably his full name..

This obviously resulted in a displeased L as his brows scrunched together in displeasure, but sighed as he meekly nodded. “Fine, fine. Leo. Stop being bossy.” L spat, before leaning over his table to whisper something into the ears of his classmates. I noticed that in between their whispers, Leo shot a glance at me and immediately turned back to face the front as L leaned towards my desk again. “You might be too much of a pabo to understand what I’m trying to put across here, but just be careful. That seat brings troubles to any girls who sit there, and you’ll find out why.” Yeah, thanks L-shii, that was definitely informative.

My eyes fell on Yejin from across the room, a playfully smile tugging at the side of her lips as she winked at me, making a handphone gesture at me. Oh? Giving my attention to the phone instead, a message notification from Yejin flashed on my phone, and I unlocked my phone, giggling under my breath as my eyes scanned over the message.

To: Pabo-ara
From: Pabo-yejin

Yah, pabo-ah, making friends with the guys already? *mehrong*
You’re really unlucky to be sitting on the ‘Hot Demand’ seat, y’know?
But it’s okay, I’ll protect you. *grins* Oh and that’s L, the Kingka of the
class, but I’m pretty sure he’s already introduced himself as that.. don’t
mind him. Don’t get too close too. He has a fanclub, and his ‘fangirls’  are
really something. But nonetheless, pay attention in class! *huff* This is an
order from your Class Head. Hehe. <3 I won't be able to accompany you for class break
due to my Class Head duties and whatnot. So for that one hour, just stay in class and I'll
find you once I'm free.