your happiness is our wish.

Kim Jonghyun was a sentimentalist. She could tell from years of hanging around with him. No matter how hard he tried to maintain his macho front, deep down, he was soft-hearted. The stern expression he wore as he held onto her hand tightly in an attempt to comfort her caused her stoic demeanor to crack.

“This will be our last time hanging out together. I’ll really miss you.” He began, clearing out his throat between sentences, a habit that he often did when he was trying to search his mind for the right words.

Their last time together.

If she didn’t do it now, she would regret it forever right?

That was what cheesy romance novels proselytized.

With a deep breath, she averted her eyes and quickly confessed her pent up feelings towards him.

After all, this would be their last time together, right?

her lips, she felt her nerves set in as she sat in the car looking out at her new school. Turning hesitantly to her sister, Krystal couldn’t help but send her a pleading look that said everything that was on her mind.

“You know yourself that I won’t drive 30 minutes just to drop you off to your old school. Besides, all the paperwork has been transferred, it’s literally too late for you to change your mind.”

The younger girl’s shoulders slumped down clearly unsatisfied with what her sister had to say.

“Besides, if you go back to your old school, you might run into him everyday.”

Those words struck a nerve and it was evident on Krystal’s face.

Ah, honestly. How cruel could the world be?

Krystal had believed that she was going to be moving to the States with her parents. Although she hated the idea of being separated from her friends and her sister (who was already independent and old enough to live on her own), she decided to take this opportunity to confess her feelings she had hidden towards one of her closest male friends - Jonghyun. She was a coward - she knew it. If she was rejected, then at least she wouldn’t need to see him again. If she was accepted then, well, okay she didn’t think that far. She was a bit on the pessimistic side. But that didn’t matter in the end.

Jonghyun had told her that he would need to think about it, although the grim expression he wore made Krystal certain that he was just trying to buy time to figure out the nicest way to reject her. Of course there was that slim possibility that he would say yes, but who was she kidding?

The look on his face after her confession was unforgettable. The emptiness in his eyes that bore into hers clearly asked why she had to say something and ruin their close friendship. In addition, Krystal already knew of his preference towards older women, but deep down she wished that he would make an exception for her. Was she already too deep within the friend zone to change his mind?

Later that night, at the farewell party thrown for her parents, her sister, Jessica, had brought up the suggestion for Krystal to live with her so that she would be able to graduate in Korea. The elder Jung however made it clear that Krystal would need to change schools anyway, since her apartment was almost more than 30 minutes away from her high school, but hey, at least she would be able to meet with her friends during the weekends.

Krystal pretty much had no voice in the matter when her parents were immediately taken in by the idea - one less plane ticket to pay for, right? To be honest, she really didn’t see the point if she was going to switch schools anyway. At least if she were in the States, she wouldn’t be forced to stay in the same country as Jonghyun who was idly taking his time to come up with a response to her confession.  

It was Jessica’s voice that broke through her thoughts.

“Enjoy your last year of high school. Make some new friends. Find someone else to take your mind off the arrogant, overly conceited, Kim Jonghyun.”

Forcing a small smile, she nodded appreciatively at her sister's attempt to cheer her up. Suddenly Krystal’s cellphone began ringing. Taking a quick glance at the screen, Krystal felt her stomach tightening and she held the phone up for her sister to see.

“Speak of the devil.” Jessica scoffed, a sardonic smile reaching across her lips as she read the name on the caller ID.

The younger Jung swung her bag over her shoulders, using one hand to open the car door, and the other to hold her phone to her ears. Shooting her sister one last weary expression, the brunette mouthed out the words ‘good bye’ before slamming the door shut.

“Jjong.” Krystal muttered monotonously in an almost bored and lifeless tone, despite using an overly-familiar nickname, as she answered the call.

“Soojung, hey. Err, are you in your new school yet?” The older boy asked from the other side.

Awkward was an understatement for this conversation.

Ignoring his earlier comment, Krystal breathed out a long sigh, “Why are you calling me?” This clearly took the boy for surprise since  she could hear his nervous gulping from the line.

“About your confession...” The male began.

Was he really going to do this over the phone?

“...Can we meet up tonight?”

Krystal could feel her grip tightening on her cellphone. She hated how confused her emotions were at this point. A part of her wanted to say no since she was too cowardly to hear his answer. Despite her serious face and her usual apathetic mannerisms, and although she hated to admit it, she wasn't as strong willed as people believed her to be. But the other part of her, her more rational side, needed closure.

Krystal mustered up all the courage she had within herself and murmured a quick ‘yes,’ earning a sigh of relief from the boy.

After exchanging a few more polite, but mostly generic, niceties, she hung up her phone and walked into the school building only to be greeted by a strange atmosphere.

Littered on the walls, well, maybe the correct word would be - pasted almost perfectly apart, were bright and colorful posters with stupid, cliched school-spirit-esque sayings. And instead of seeing the usual cliques and rowdy behaviour she was used too, all the students seemed a bit too composed and...friendly. This was high school right? It was a place filled with drama and angst for most people, but that didn’t seem to exist in this school at first glance. She chose to push this thought aside, not really caring much for the social structure of the school as she walked into the school’s administrative office.

“I’m Jung Soojung, a new student. I was told to come here for my student ID, and schedule.” The eighteen year old informed the middle aged secretary behind her desk who responded to her statement with a small smile before turning around and sifting through stacks of paper.

“A new student, hm?” Came an unknown masculine voice, and suddenly an arm was s over her shoulders. Narrowing her eyes in an unamused fashion, she quickly twisted her waist, and ducked out from the stranger’s touch.

“You’re lucky that we’re in the school’s office or you would’ve gotten yourself a prompt knee to the balls.”

“Well, that would be hard to do considering that I’m a girl.” The man, or well, tomboy, replied earning a look of utter surprise mixed with confusion from Krystal as she stared down the person in front of her. Baggy clothes, a short blonde haircut, defined masculine features - this person was a girl? Her confusion was quickly replaced with disinterest. She was never one to pay much attention to cross-dressers. They could dress however they pleased as long as they didn’t actually bother her.

“The name’s Amber. I’m actually part of the welcoming committee, you could say.” The tomboy said brightly, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jeans.

Krystal really couldn't care less about what Amber was here for. The younger Jung was a big girl, she could look for her classes by herself. Anti-social by nature, all she wanted was her ID and schedule so she could leave the office and get to her first period but the secretary seemed to be taking her own sweet time to look for it.

As if she could read her mind, the older looking girl quickly pulled out a small envelope that was messily crushed in her pockets and gave it to her. “Since I’m in charge of you, I was given this to pass on to you today.”

Opening it, the brunette realized that it contained her student card and overly-creased time table. The eighteen year old shot the tomboy an incredulous stare which pretty much said, ‘why do you have this and why is this such a mess’, before stuffing it into her own messenger bag.

Krystal was about to turn around and leave until she felt someone holding onto the straps of her bag. Without even needing to turn around, she already had a guess as to who it was. “I need to get to class.” She huffed, her words dripping with pure annoyance.

“Wait, didn’t you hear me? I’m in charge of you for the day. Besides, announcements are about to begin and teachers hate it when the students are walking about not paying attention, so just wait here for a bit.”

Ugh.

Before the girl had a chance to reply, a cheerful high pitched voice was echoed throughout the school.

“Hello hello everybody! Happy Committee President, Choi Jinri reporting to you today! How have you all been doing? Great, I hope!”

Happy Committee?

“As you all know, this is the first monday of the month meaning that the wishing well will be opened from 3:00 to 3:15 today. Please get in your wishes on time, as we will only grant 5 wishes this month.”

The girl arched her brow, slightly intrigued but mostly amused with what this Jinri was speaking about. Wishing Wells and Happy Committees? This high school seemed more like a kindergarten to her.

“That is all from the Happy Committee! Your happiness is our wish and we’ll do whatever we can to support you! So everybody, let’s stay cheerful!” With that said, the announcements ended and Amber turned her attention away from her nails to Krystal who wore a slightly confused expression.

“Anyway, I’ll lead you to your classes. And during lunch, you are obliged to hang out with me in Room 301.” The blonde nodded matter-of-factly, earning a defeated sigh from the girl. Might as well right? Not like she knew anyone else in the school.

When the lunch bell rang, Krystal had concluded that this school was really something else. She had never been bombarded by so many students asking if she needed help, or if she wanted to be friends. It was actually a bit refreshing to be in a school where the students weren’t plagued with stupid teenage angst issues, but it was also pretty unnerving as well.

Finally she reached Room 301 and she noticed that the front of the door was plastered with posters of a group of attractive boys and beautiful girls fooling around and having fun. What caught her eye was that Amber was present in many of the photos. However, she didn’t pay much attention to it when her eyes trailed to what was installed in the middle of the door.

There was a firmly shut golden slot in the door, and above it was a laminated sign that read, “Wishing Well”. It didn’t take a genius for her to figure out that this must’ve been what the announcement was referring too.

Before the young girl had more of a chance to examine the posters on the door, it had swung open and on the other side was Amber, and beside her was a tall pretty girl whom she recognized from the poster.

“Krystal.” Amber grinned, her lips curving into a mischievous grin as she held the door open for her. The tall girl by her side beamed brightly as she motioned for the latter to enter.

As she walked through the door, she noticed a bright pink memo on the door. It read,

“New students are automatically granted one wish.”