You arrive at your house at 6:00 pm; arms aching miserably and sweat pouring (no joke) out from every possible corner. You tiredly fish out your keys and open the door. With a sigh, you bend down to lift the bags, once again, into the living room. Seeing that it was dark, you fumble for the light switch. Ya where is everyone, you wonder as you collapse onto the sofa.

* Nan niga jeil joa niga jeil yeppeo, jina ganeun gotgot maeryeogi da heul- *

The sudden ring of your cell phone sends you sprawling off the sofa, causing you to bump your head on the side of a table. You slam a hand onto your cell phone, and press the green answer button.  

"Ow...yello?" You say, rubbing your head.

"Hi honey it's me. You okay?" The voice on the other line says.

"Oh it's you mum. Yea I'm fine, some piece of furniture just got in the way of an otherwise graceful landing." You say.

"Hmm..." You could practically hear the sound of your mom's eyeballs rolling at the immaturity of her daughter. "Well anyway, I was just calling to let you know that your dad and I are at the Choi's housewarming party, and that we won't be back until about 12. There is some leftover fried rice and kalbi in the fridge, and I broiled some cabbage. It's on a plate in the kitchen counter, make sure you eat all of it. Does that sound good?"

"Ugh mom cabbage again? You know how much I hate it." You recall the stench of broiled cabbage and your nose scrunches up. The last time you ate it, it had smelt slightly better than skunk poo.

"Yes I know, but there weren't any vegetables left. And you haven't been eating your greens lately. So I had to."  Your mom replies, feigning innocence.

"Oh I'm so surree." You drag out the last word and purse your lips in the way of a flounder fish.

"YA, I'm serious, eat all of it or I'll sell all of your B2ST albums."

Ouch right in the weak spot. "UMM-AH! How dare you bring them out as blackmail!" You shout bewildered, clutching your heart area. Finally you say, "Fine... I'll eat all of the rat pois- I mean cabbage. Every single leaf. I'll even the plate if you want me to. Sheesh." Little did she know, you had your fingers crossed. Hehe

"Aigoo that's my good girl. Okay that's all I wanted to call you for. Make sure to lock the doors and don't open them for anyone. Arasso?"

"Yes mom, I got it. Everything's under control."

"Bye honey. Remember, every leaf or poof with the albums." With those final menacing words, she hangs up.

Aissh, how can she be so harsh?  Slowly, you walk up the stairs to change into your pajamas and wash your sweaty face. After changing into your lime green polka dotted pajama bottoms and comfortable cotton t-shirt, you proceed to rinsing your face with cold water. Several minutes later, you are downstairs in the kitchen preparing dinner.

As she had said, your mom had left the awful plate of cabbage smack dab in the middle of the kitchen covered with plastic wrap, to prevent the smell from polluting the whole household. You cautiously pull it over and peel off the plastic. As soon as you do, you begin to feel a tingling sensation in your nose and your eyes become watery. You pull up the collar of your shirt and wipe away at the tears that were falling.

Lifting the plate of hazardous material towards the microwave with your fingertips, you use the elbow of your right arm to open it. The microwave door swings open with a swish and you hurriedly push in the cabbage. You press some buttons and the machine starts up with a hum. While waiting, you bring out the containers of fried rice and kalbi, and spoon the contents of each into a bowl and plate. *Beep Beep* The microwave sounds, indicating that the cabbage is done.

One by one you put in and pull out food from the machine, until at last you have a fully prepared dinner. You put all of the plates and bowls onto a plastic tray and grab a pair of chopsticks and a spoon. You proceed to carefully make your way up the stairs, tray in hands. This is an awfully perilous task considering the fact that you are as clumsy as a newborn puppy.

Shuffling into your room in a painfully slow manner, you finally arrive at the intended destination. The tray is haphazardly balanced on one hand as you reach down to press the "on" button of your computer monitor.  After several minutes of waiting, you are finally on the internet and are doing research on Prestige Seoul High school.

Hmm. You tap the end of your chopsticks against your chin, your other hand hovering over the keyboard. I already know the location of the school, what it looks like, and how many students attend. Now I just need to get the layout of the school, the rooming regulations, and also what courses are offered. You type in the wanted information in the search toolbar and pull out a notebook to jot down all of it.

The rest of the evening is spent in a blur of clickety clacks and nom noms, as you finish the remaints of dinner and continue with the research. By around 9:30 pm, beside you are a stack of dirty dishes, a notebook full of your messy handwriting, a printout of the school's layout, and some forms that are to be signed by your and Eun Mi's parents for admission.

Ah, that was very productive of me. You think, smiling proudly at the things on your desk. Checking the time and realizing that you have school tomorrow, you shut down the computer and head downstairs with the dishes. You spend the next hour doing homework, and another half an hour taking a shower and brushing your teeth. By the time you are in bed, the last bit of energy you had is already drained out. The moment your head hit your pillow and the covers are pulled up, you slip into a well needed slumber.

...

The next morning you are woken up by your mom, who is already dressed in her work attire and is holding a pile of plastic folders containing important documents.    

"~~~, wake up it's already 7, you have school. Come on ." You hear and feel a series of gentle patting on your back.

"Uggh mom stop with the patting, it's making me more slee-" Your words are cut off by an enormous yawn, which you have failed to stifle.

"Come on then, you don't want to be late." Your mother says urgently. She looks up at the clock hanging above your desk and stands up. "Do you want me to drive you to school today?"

"Nah I'm fine. Stop worrying so much about me, the school's like 15 minutes away." You mumble into your blankets.

"I'm your mom it's my job to worry. Besides, the ground 's getting slippery these days with all the leaves and frost, and we all certainly know what that means."

The blankets are pulled over your head as an attempt to cancel out the rest of your mom's talking.

"Looks like I have drop by the pharmacy and get some extra boxes of band-aids, some gauze and couple more bottles of medicated oil. The doctor's number will also have to be put on speed dial. Just in case your casual walk to school turns not so casual. But if you insist that you don't need a ride, I'll be going. Bye honey have a great day at school. Be safe." With that, she slips out the door and closes it with a soft click.  

You frown under the many layers of your bed sheets. Sometimes that woman really knew how to push your buttons.

You flip your blankets off you with one swift movement and huff in frustration. No use in trying to sneak in another 10 minutes of sleep. You think as you move your right foot around blindly, searching the floor for your slippers. Which of course had the stuffed replication of Doojoon's head on each slipper. In your closet are another 5 pairs of the same style, except with a different member on each, arranged accordingly to your bias list.

After locating the said slippers, you proceed with your morning routine of brushing your teeth and washing your face. When that is done, your school uniform is hastily thrown on and books are shoved messily into your yellow bag. The emerald numbers of your digital clock currently reads 7:50, school starts at 8:00. Realizing, with a queasy feeling in the pits of your stomach, that you were late, you quickly grab your mittens and a hat. Swinging one strap of your bag over one shoulder, you gather the forms that you had printed out yesterday and sprint down the stairs. You reach the kitchen and smack the half of the forms onto the fridge, securing them in place with several magnets.

Your dad barely has time to exchange any morning pleasantries with you before you are flying out the door at lightning speed with one half of a cream cheese bagel in your mouth. You slip on your hat and mitts and attempt to finish the bagel while frantically racing down the streets of your neighborhood.

You arrive in your first period math class, pink faced and messy haired. Some of your classmates turn around to shoot you questioning looks before resuming their previous activities. You lean dejectedly against the door frame and weakly bring  your wrist up to eye level. Squinting at the small shiny face of your watch, you heave a large sigh of relief when realizing that you were a minute early.  Oh the things I do to preserve my perfect attendance record. You think as you tiredly peel yourself off the door frame and limp towards your desk in the third row.

The first two periods go by in an agonizingly slow manner, in which most of your attention is directed towards the large circular clock that hangs above each classroom's blackboard. Although the location of the clocks made it particularly easy for you to pretend to be paying attention to your short and stocky teacher, you often had to avert your gaze away from them, to prevent any suspicions.

You sigh impatiently as you repeatedly tap your foot against the edge of your desk. Gosh can time go any slower. You whine silently under your breath. Twirling a pen between your fingers, you continue to drill holes into the clock, which reads 10:28. Only two more minutes. Come on ~~~, you can wait another two more minutes. You drop your head onto the hard wooden surface of our desk and sigh once again. Oh who am I kidding, I need to talk to Eun Mi right now. Not in two minutes, now. You glance wearily at the clock and continue your foot-tapping pen-twirling routine.

As you go to rest your head on your crossed arms, you hear the beautiful toll of the school bell that signaled your freedom. Bolting upright and grabbing the straps of your bag, you make for the door. Yess free at last. You think happily as you head for Eun Mi's locker on the second floor.  You spot Eun Mi's head, in the large crowds of students, bobbing up and down as she walks to her locker. You almost run into the door of her locker as she opens it.

"Why aren't you a ball full of energy on this lovely Monday morning?" Eun Mi asks mono-tonely and raises a hand to to stifle a large yawn.

"Hahaha real funny. But seriously I have to talk to you. Hurry up." You lean, with your arms crossed, on the nearby lockers. Eun Mi squints suspiciously at you but proceeds to get the required materials for her next classes. She pulls out a few spiral notebooks and replaces the empty spaces with bulky textbooks. Zipping up her bag and closing her locker, she motions for you to walk.

"So what is this exciting news that you are so anxious to tell me about?" She turns her head curiously at you. "Oh it's nothing much. I just want to give you some forms and fill you in on the details of our mission." You say, pushing the door to the cafeteria. You and Eun Mi head to the usual spot, which was a table off in a corner of the crowded room. Plastic orange chairs squeak noisily against the hard linoleum floors, as you two pull them out and prepare to have lunch.

Eun Mi pulls out her lunch as you search for the forms in your unorganized bag. "Here. These are the forms that you have to get your parents to sign." You shove her some crinkled sheets. "Annnd this is the school  layout. Go home and study it." You hand over the last piece of paper.

"Woah, this school is huge. How much are the dorm fees?" Eun Mi's eyes widen as she counts out all the floors.

"One month at the school is... if you add up the water, heat, and electricity bills for the dorms along with textbooks..." Your index finger draws out invisible numbers as you try to mentally calculate all the costs. Your finger stops mid air in front of you, as you conclude, "That should be about 550 000 won." You internally wince. "I guess it's still kinda alot but world justice calls for major sacrifices." You smile sheepishly at her. Eun Mi sighs as she rests a cheek against a closed fist with her shoulders slumped.

"Do you really think our parents will agree to this?"

"We won't know until we ask." You say, reaching over to take a slice of salami from her sandwich. Eun Mi looks down sadly and spots the offending hand.

"Ya, stop touching my food!" She yells.

"It's not my fault, the delicious salami is telling me to eat it." You pop the slice into your mouth before Eun Mi can take it back and grin deviously. She mumbles something under her breath. Something about hygiene and you not having any.  

You guys spend the rest of the lunch period discussing the remaining details and head to your shared science class at the shrill ring of the school bell.  At the end of school the two of you part ways with the promise of a phone call. 

When you reach your house, you open the front door and peer cautiously inside. The muffled voices of your parents can be heard coming from the kitchen along with the crinkling of papers, in which you know are the school forms that you had stuck on the fridge earlier. You chew nervously on your bottom lip and quietly recite the explanation that you had prepared on your way home to yourself.

With a sigh, you straighten up and walk with hesitant steps into the room. Your parents look up at you in unison and you give them an awkward smile. "Hi mom and dad. Ah, I see you've seen the forms." Silence. You sheepishly scratch the back of your head.

  "I know you guys are thinking that there's no reason for me to attend such an expensive high school when the one I'm going to currently is fine, but just hear me out for a moment." Your parents don't say anything but you take that as an indication to continue.

"The reason why I want to go to Prestige Seoul High School..." A long pause follows as you desperately try to remember the rest of your explanatory monologue. Good thing I jotted down point form notes. You think with momentary relief as you peer down at your left hand. Crap I can't read anything. The messy blue scrawl inked onto your palm is smudged by the sweat forming because of your nervousness. Oh what the hell. I'll just wing it. A deep breath in. Annnd exhale out.

"The reason why I want to go there is because I want to learn to be a better, more sophisticated person." Your fingers and toes curl inwards at the cheesy speech. "I feel that recently, I haven't been able to fulfill my duties as a daughter and that I am becoming such a bothersome child to you guys. That's why I decided that I'm going to do something about it an-"

You are abruptly cut of by your mom's excited yelling. " ~~~, of course you can go! I can't believe how mature you are getting. It seems like just the other day you were obsessing over make up wearing guys and now look at you."

"Mom, it was the other day." Honestly, your mom is good at so many things but has the worst memory.

"Oh, well yesterday was yesterday. I'm so proud of you for choosing to change the course of your life for the better." Internal cringe. You give your mom a forced smile as she hugs you. 

"If that is what you really want, we're all up for it. It's good that you realize that you are going to be an adult soon. In the future you'll be faced with a lot hardships, but know that we will be supportive no matter what and who you choose to be."  Your dad says, and leans over to give you a reassuring hug. Okay, that really tugged at your heartstrings. You know your dad was good at presentations because of his job but damn, that was a good one. 

Suddenly you feel like you are the worst daughter in the world, looking at your parents with their proud smiles. The "Go for it!" that your mom mouths at you and the 'Fightling!" gesture accompanying it doesn't help.

Deceiving your parents and misusing their trust for something as meaningless as this... is it really all worth it? Suddenly you aren't so sure.