The second day of school, and the official first day was when we were introduced to all the new kids. This was also what I was most excited for. I loved making new friends, especially with the new kids who didn't have any yet. 

As I walked into the peppy, upbeat school I tried to steer away from any sign of those cheesy cliques. You know, the ones with handshakes that squealed when they saw a tanned boy with abs? I wasn't really the type of girl to make friends with them. Plus, I wasn't even that girly. I think I'm more of a tomboy than anything. I'd always got along better with boys than girls. So as I walked my way past them, I spotted a group of asian students who were new. I was always fascinated by the Asian culture- ever since I was a little girl, I watched Pokemon and collected the cards. So I put on my friendliest expression, and went to talk to them.

"Hello! I'm Alina... What are your names?" I asked, smiling.

"Oh, I'm Kyo, nice to meet you!" One boy with black, pin straight hair and kind eyes said.

"I'm Gina," A shy girl playing with her sweater whispered.

"I'm Cheondung," A tall slender boy said with a charming smile.

Who needed those cheesy cliques? For about an hour, Kyo, Gina, Cheondung, and I talked. We got along pretty well and I could tell that we we're going to get to be good friends this year. While we we're in the middle of a deep discussion about which was the ultimate k-pop girl group, my friend Danielle tapped me on the shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Um, well you know that kid you're like in love with? Taemin?" She asked, her eyes darting around.

"Yeah...?" I replied, indicating for her to go on. I didn't like how nervous she looked.

"I think he's here..." She said, pointing at a boy.

I couldn't tell if it was Taemin or not, since I could only see the back of his head. The boy was too busy reading a book in Korean. It could've been anybody, really. Though his shiny blonde hair reminded me of Taemin's.

"Yeah, okay. You made me look. You win. I know I'm gullible," I said, shaking her off and turning back to my conversation.

"No, I really think-"

"Sure, okay,"

"ALINA- I REALLY think it's him! I'm not kidding!" She yelled at me, harshly yanking me back to look her in the eyes.

Shocked, I looked at her. Danielle was a shy kind of girl, not the type to yell at someone in public. I had a feeling she wasn't lying to me. But I didn't like this. Suddenly, I became very self-conscious. If Danielle in fact was telling the truth, I wanted to impress him. 

"You're serious..?" I checked, suddenly becoming very grim.

"Yes. Go talk to him," She pushed.

I couldn't though. I was stuck. I mean, did he speak english? Did he want to talk to anybody? Ugh, I couldn't do this. But I had too. Who else gets the chance to speak to Taemin Lee at their own school? Not many people, I'm sure. 

Just as I was about to go over and talk to him, the senior boy who was in love with me since I came to the school came to greet me. Why now?! Over the summer, he sent me multiple love notes, texts, voice mails, but I ignored him and told him I did not want to be his girlfriend. But he kept on insisting, saying he would take care of me, that he loved me more than anyone else. But I only had eyes for one boy, and he wasn't going to stop me from talking to that very boy.

"Hi, I just wanted to say hi... And that I'm sorry for bothering you so much but-"

"-you know it's really not a good time," I said, cutting him off and making my way to Taemin.

"But," He said, but he gave up once I looked him straight in the eye. I was not going to let anyone ruin this moment, especially not him.

As I walked over to Taemin's table, my palms started to sweat immensely. What should I say? It was always so easy for me to interact with people, to make friends, but now I felt like the bullied maknae I once was. 

As I sat down, I timidly said while wiping my palms on my ripped jeans, "Hi, I'm Alina..."

He put his book down and looked at me with those big eyes I've loved for 5 years and said, "Hi, Alina. I'm Taemin, nice to meet you,"