Truthfully, all my energy was zapped from taking all the tests.  Thank god it was lunch time. Just what I needed some food to recharge my drained batteries.

With a full tray of food,  I began to look around for a place to sit. It was busy again. Lots of people coming and going. I looked up and down the rows for any of the young guys from my dorm. I didn't see any of them.  I decided to sit at an empty table away from the bulk of people.  I sat right by the window. It was a bright sun-shiny day. I turned my mind off as  I dug in to my food. 

"Excuse us, but could we share your table?" 

They stirred me back to the here and now. I looked up to see Sulli with three other young girls standing at the end of the table. "Free country...I don't really know if that's true." I quickly added... "Go ahead. Sit and eat before it gets cold."  

I could tell that Sulli had managed to read my note and wanted to talk to me but she held her tongue. She was a very intelligent young woman. That's one of her very attractive qualities.

They sat down at the other end of the table, leaving me some space.  That was cool. They left it up to me if I wanted to engage or not. They ate quietly and talked softly amongst themselves.

"Well, Canada! Looks like you know how to pick them." The voice sounded familiar. I looked up to see who was talking.  It was one of the older guys from my dorm. He was probably the one who smacked me on the back yesterday.

 I just shrugged my shoulders and continued eating.  I was trying my best to ignore them. But I guess they didn't like that fact. They asked the girls to slide over so the four of them could sit with their maknae.  Oh, lucky me!

"So, how's your lunch?" the same guy asked as he put his arm around my neck like he was my new best friend.  

”Decent enough." I said as I went to remove his arm. He quickly tightened his grip, I stopped. 

"Relax, friend... Remember rule 2. Respect your superiors/ sunbaes and elders." He said in my ear. 

"I'm sorry. I thought I answered. The food is decent enough." I wanted to clock this guy but how impressive would that be to my father, if I get kicked out on my first real day here.

"As one of your older group members, it's our job to help educate you on appropriate  Korean etiquette." he squeezed my neck once more and then released me. "Finish your lunch." 

I had heard about the bullying between seniors and juniors, but I have never had it directed at me nor did I ever participate in it.   Taewan, Joon and I always goofed around but we never went for that kind of stuff.  Maybe Taewan's size made the seniors shy away from us, it wasn't a problem we faced at our school.

I quickly finished my lunch and excused myself to leave. The idiot shook his head and pointed back to my seat. "You're not going to leave? We're not done yet." 

I sighed and bit my tongue as I sat down again. "You're an interesting guy." The idiot said. "How does a kid from Canada end up here?"

Wouldn't you like to know? 

"It just happened. Probably the same way it happened for most of the kids here." I said. I looked over at Sulli, her eyes were filled with concern.  I shook my head once to tell her not to get involved.  She understood me and nodded once back. The girls quickly ate and left. I couldn't blame them. The atmosphere at our table had turned very awkward. 

I spotted Kevin as he was looking for a place to sit. We made eye contact. He smiled and started to make his way over with two of the younger guys. I quickly shook my head once, moving my eyes side to side slowly. He caught on, noticing who I was sharing the table with. He stopped smiling and nodded. I could see he was torn. He wanted to help me out, but at the same time he respected that I'd warned him not to. He sat on the other side of the cafeteria.

I checked my watch, 12:36 pm. I could put up with this for another ten minutes. Just think of him as a younger version of Kang Bok Gu. 

"Would you look at the time? ...Kim, be a good maknae and return our trays." the idiot stood up and smacked me on the back again. Luckily, it wasn't quite as hard as the night before. They made their way out, leaving me to deal with their mess.

Big deal! I quickly stacked everything so I could move it all in one go without dropping anything. After, I headed over to where Kevin was. 

 "What was that all about?" he asked.

”Neanderthals trying to flex their limited brain power." I stated. We both laughed at that. ”We'd better head out, too."