My alarm clock rang and I groaned, reached over, and turned it off. It was the first time I heard it in two weeks since today was the first day back from winter break. Today was also the first day of the new semester which meant I had a few new classes. I was most excited for dance class. Dance was how I dealt with stress and I made it to the most advanced dance class at the school. It was hard to get into the class and I was glad even though I only had a semester to enjoy it.

             I quickly got dressed into my school uniform, a collared white shirt and a navy blue blazer and skirt. Downstairs, my mom and my little brother, Minjun sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast. I smiled and walked towards the door.

            “Not eating breakfast?” my mom asked.

            “No, I have to go early today to get my new schedule. The lines at the office are super long,” I called as I reached the door.

            “She’s lying,” Minjun said,” She just doesn’t want to get fat.”

            “I heard that!” I yelled. I wondered if any other eight year olds acted like he did.

             My mom walked over to me and handed me a muffin. Of course, she wouldn’t let me leave without something to eat.

            “Thanks,” I said.

             I speed walked to school wondering if Naeun and Yoonhee, my best girlfriends, had any classes with me. Naeun and I had been friends since 6th grade and Yoonhee and I had been friends for a year. She and I were partnered up for a project last year when she was transfer student. After that, she joined us at lunch because I was her only friend. Another thing about Yoonhee, she’s loves talking about boys. She had a crush on one of the most popular guys at school, Kai. Almost every girl had a crush on either him or one of his friends. Yoonhee talked about Kai like he was perfect but all I saw in him was arrogance, especially since he won a dance competition last year. The smirk he always wore on his face pissed me off if I stared at it long enough.

             I finally reached the front of the school and I saw my friends waiting at the gates for me. The night before, we had promised to get out new schedules together. Yoonhee was on her phone when Naeun noticed me and waved. I waved back as she pulled on Yoonhee’s elbow.

            When I got to the gates Yoonhee said, “Eunmi, what took you so long?! I wanted to get behind Kai in the line so I could get a peek of his schedule!”

            “Seriously,” I started as we walked to the growing line and waited, “what’s so great about him? You don’t know anything about him. And that makes you sound like a stalker, by the way.”

             Naeun laughed and responded, “Well he’s really attractive...”

             I groaned and said, “Oh Naeun, not you too.”

            She laughed again and said, “I’m kidding! But seriously you have to admit he’s hot.”

             I scratched my head and pretended to really think it through. “How about… no.”

            Just then, Yoonhee tugged our arms and exclaimed, “Hey guys, it’s our turn!”

            Ms. Jung gave us our schedules and smiled. We thanked her and walked over to a table on the patio and sat down. As I sat, I saw Kai staring at me and I glared at him.

           “What are you looking at?” asked Yoonhee.

           “Nothing,” I replied, “nothing important.”

           We all squealed as we compared our schedules. All three of our schedules were mostly intertwined. We all had one class together. I had one class with Yoonhee and another two with Naeun. I had two classes without them. One was dance class but I didn’t mind. I knew that even though I didn’t have them in my class, I would have fun with my other friends. The other was math class which because math was hard for me and Naeun couldn’t help me like she did last year.

           The bell interrupted my thoughts and Naeun and I walked to our first class together which was history while Yoonhee headed in the other direction.

           “I’m so happy I got Mr. Wu as my art teacher!” Naeun exclaimed, “I heard he’s a lot better than Mrs. Jang. I’ve also heard that he’s really hot.”

            I laughed and said, “Seriously, what’s up with you and boys today? Please don’t turn into Yoonhee. I don’t need another friend who’s a boy addict.”

            Naeun laughed and pushed me. “Hey! Every girl has to have a guy talk sometime right?”

            I linked my arms through hers and rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”

           We walked into our first period together and sat down in two desks on the left side of the class. Naeun sat next to the wall. Our teacher was Professor Onew. Naeun and I had him last semester for history and we both liked him despite his lame jokes that no one laughed at, and his chicken obsession. One time a student came into class half an hour late but brought Professor Onew some fried chicken and got excused from detention.

           The whole class was talked with each other and showed each other their schedules while Naeun and I chatted before class started.

           “I’m so glad we have history in the morning. If it was in the afternoon I would totally pass out,” I said.

           “Oh my god, same here,” Naeun replied, “but even if we did pass out, we would still ace the class because we’re smart like that.”

            I laughed, remembering the time we met up to study but ended up having a Harry Potter movie marathon instead. The next day we took the test and passed with an A.

           All of a sudden the volume of the class dropped a little and people looked at the door. The person who walked through the door was none other than the infamous Kai with his friends Baekhyun and Kyungsoo. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Baekhyun without Chanyeol. When they are put together, they could be professional comedians. As for Kyungsoo, he was so adorable even I had to admit it. In freshman year, he had the senior girls squealing about how cute he was and how much they wanted to pinch his cheeks. He had the biggest eyes and that made me wonder how many things he got doing puppy eyes. Kai locked eyes with me and I quickly looked away. When Naeun saw Kai she whispered, “Oooh, Yoonhee’s going to get so jealous when we tell her we have a class with Kai.”

           She stared at him and I stared at her. Her eyes followed him to… the seat behind me. My eyes grew with hers and she looked back at me and nodded. I cringed and lowered into my seat. Behind me, I heard Kai chuckle.

            I was tense throughout the whole class. Kyungsoo ended up sitting behind Naeun and Baekhyun behind him. Why did Kai have to sit behind me? I didn’t want to get involved with popular people, especially if they hate you. When the bell rang, I grabbed Naeun’s wrist and rushed out.

            “What was that for?!” she cried while rubbing her wrist, “You’re lucky you didn’t pull my hand off.”                                                

            “Sorry,” I mumbled. Then I spoke in a whisper, “Do you know what it’s like with the school’s most popular guy sitting behind you? I feel like there were lasers coming out of his eyes and going straight through my head!”

             She laughed and responded, “Are you really that scared of him? An hour ago you were talking about him like he was a road kill squirrel no one cared about.”

            “Shhh,” I said while looking around me. He didn’t need to hear this conversation if he was around, “And no I’m not scared of him. Why would you think that? Look, I have the rest of the school year to complain to you. Let’s get to 2nd period.”

             Naeun laughed again and we both waved to each other heading in opposite directions. When I got to chemistry class, Yoonhee was already sitting at a lab table with her purse on the chair next to her. She sat up and waved to me as I walked towards her.

           “You’re never going to guess who Naeun and I have in our first period,” I said as I sat down.

“Who?” Yoonhee asked, “Wait no, let me guess…”

She thought as I took my notebook and pencil case out of my backpack. Suddenly she gasped and whispered, “No way…”

“What?” I asked.

“It’s Kai isn’t it?” she squeaked.

“Yup!” I said as I grinned. Then I laughed and said, “I knew you would be super jealous.”

“Awww!” she whined, “I knew I wasn’t going to get any classes with him! I always have the worst luck.”

           I smiled and rolled my eyes, “Oh come on, drama queen. It’s only second period! You have the whole day to find out if you have any classes with him.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” she said,” but I still feel like I won’t get any classes with him.”

           That was typical Yoonhee for you. She was never fully confident in herself although she had every reason to be. Her family was rich, she’s smart, and she’s pretty. The only flaw she had was that she was a bit lazy. She preferred shopping and going out over doing homework.

           For the whole time in chemistry, our teacher, Professor Kyuhyun told us things about him and handed us a people bingo where we had to find people in the class who did a certain activity over winter break that was written in a box. At the end, whoever got bingo won candy from Professor Kyuhyun but I remember someone telling me not to trust anything he lets us eat. I thought they were kidding around but I was indecisive after seeing his expression while passing out candy.

“Can I ask you something?” Yoonhee asked as we walked to our third period together. We both had class with Naeun next period.

“Sure,” I replied.

           She looked at me making big and innocent eyes. From that look I knew she was going to ask me a question I wouldn’t like. “Do you like anyone?” she asked.

            I suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway. “Yeah,” I said very enthusiastically, “I’m totally in love with this guy.”

           Yoonhee pulled me along and said, “Seriously Eunmi, you’re a teenage girl and you don’t have any interest in boys? That’s pretty hard to believe.”

          “It’s not that I don’t have interest in