Spring 2004

Today, 12 years old Choi Lina was going to experience her first day in a new school; she was more than nervous and this, for several reasons. Nevertheless, she was hoping that, being the new one in town and in this small school she was about to go to, people were going to be nice to her while being able to make friends.

From the uniform to the backpack, the only thing that was left was her grandmother as she was patiently waiting for the lady by the door of their house.

“Grandma! Hurry or I’m going to be late!”

“Alright! Alright~ I’m here!”

With a satisfied sigh out of Lina’s lips, she grabbed onto her cane and reached out for her grandmother’s hand before walking out of the house, walking down the wooden bridge that would bring them on land just on the other side of the river.

Though she was in a hurry, she had to restrain herself from going too fast because of her leg, leaving her to limp by her grandmother’s side as she was tightly holding onto her hand with the other one gripping onto the cane she had. The realization of her state made her suddenly stop the moment they stepped foot on the grass; Mrs. Choi looked at her granddaughter with a worried expression while Lina was looking at the road in front of her, letting that nervous feeling get the better of her.

“I-I don’t want to go anymore… Can I just stay home today?”

“Oh sweetie… Don’t be afraid, everything will be fine.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” She had bent down and cupped the young girl’s cheek as she softly smiled at her, reassuring her that she had nothing to worry about. Getting back to stand up straight, they went back to their walk until they had reached a bus stop where Lina had to wait for the school bus to pick her up.

They stood like this in silence until they heard the faint motor of the bus coming towards them. Lina gulped down as she gripped harder onto her grandmother’s hand, afraid to climb up and leave. She felt a peck on the top of her head making her look up to see a small smile across the old lady’s lips. “I’ll be waiting for you here when you’re done, okay?”

She hesitantly nodded her head before turning back to have the school bus stopping in front of her as the door opened to let her climb in. She stood still for a moment until she felt a tug from the hold she had from Mrs. Choi; she was approaching her to the entrance and helped her climb up as she slightly lifted her up, high enough to have her feet on the first step before limping her way up. Luckily enough for her, the bus was empty, which meant that they had a long way to go before arriving to school.

She quickly turned her back to her grandmother with the tears in the corners of her eyes.

The old lady sent her a kiss before waving goodbye as the door closed back and drove off. Lina took the closest seat right behind the driver, placing herself next to the window as she watched the change of scenery, quietly holding in her tears.

With the minutes passing by, more students were climbing up the bus and as they did, they glanced at Lina before shrugging their shoulders and getting further to the back of the vehicle, forming in the process their usual small clicks. She had hidden her cane right behind her along with her backpack that was placed next to her so nobody would see it even if, eventually, they will.

By now the bus had stopped in front of the building and quickly the kids rushed out until she was the only one left with the driver ready to leave. Through the rearview mirror, he saw Lina looking to the other window on the other side as she moved in her seat to get a glimpse of the parents and kids that were arriving, a few minutes before the first bell rang.

She tightly clutched onto her cane, as she looked down on her lap, hesitant on getting down the school bus.

“The first days are always the hardest. Don’t worry kid, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

She lifted her head back up as she saw the driver smiling at her through the mirror; he nodded his head in reassurance and with a short breath out of , she got up from her seat, put her backpack on and slowly climbed out of the bus.

As she was about to reach her last step, the driver called her out making her turn around to look at him.

“If someone hurts you, don’t be afraid to use the cane, kid.” He winked at her playfully, before letting out a chuckle, which left her to have a smile appearing on her face.

“Thank you.”

He nodded his head once again and waited until she was completely out of the bus before closing the door and left.

She looked around and noticed that some kids were looking at her before whispering between them. She heard some chuckles here and there and she knew that it was because of her. Some parents talked amongst each other, linking the rumors they have heard during the summer to Lina, knowing that she was Mr. Choi’s granddaughter.

She bit her bottom lip, trying to ignore the stares that were on her as she started to walk to the main entrance where a woman was standing by the door while welcoming the kids that were arriving. Once she was standing in front of the open door, the woman looked at her, in slight shock while Lina was looking through the entrance trying to get a glimpse of the inside before turning her head to look at the woman.

The shock faded away to be replaced by a smile letting Lina do the same, except that there wasn’t any emotion put into it.

“You must be new here, am I right?”

The young one nodded her head while blankly staring at the woman. “Hmm, okay… What’s your name?”

“Lina. Choi Lina.”

“Well then, Lina welcome to _____. You can go in, class starts in a few minutes. I’m Mrs. Nam, by the way. There’s a chance that I might be your teacher~”

She lightly tapped onto Lina’s tip of the nose, leaving the girl slightly startled before bowing in front of the teacher and walked inside, leaving the lady to look at her for a few seconds before turning back to greet the other students.

Since it was a small building, finding the principal’s office wasn’t so hard. She softly knocked on the open door, catching the secretary’s attention as she lifted her head up to greet the new student.

“Come on in; I’ll let the principal know you’re here.”

From there, the minutes passed by until she was finally standing in front of the class, the teacher on one side and the principal on the other as he greeted the students and introduced Lina to the rest of the class. She noticed the faint snickers coming from one side to the other and it made her shrunk back a little bit, feeling scared.

She knew that it wasn’t going to be easy but a part of her was hoping that her classmates would at least be friendly and understanding about her state.

She quickly scanned the area and spotted a free place just by the corner in front of the class, with the desk slightly against the wall while facing the teacher’s desk. She made her way while ignoring the comments about her the best she could but it didn’t erase the sting she was feeling inside of her heart, making her clutch harder to her cane as it turned her knuckles white.

She didn’t have to look to know that everybody was staring at her as she took off her canvas backpack and slowly sat down on the chair, careful not to hurt herself; the silence was enough to know that all eyes were on her and it made her uncomfortable. The moment she sat down, the teacher took back the attention of the students to the front of the class with the principal finally letting her start her lesson.

She didn’t dare to look up, afraid to notice the glances that could be thrown her way.

She hated the sudden attention she was receiving and prayed for the day to be over.

She put her focus to the teacher as she took out her textbooks and followed the lesson that was being presented until the first hour was over, which meant that lesson number two was about to start, which left enough time for a little break in between. During those times, she would ignore the incessant noises that were surrounding her with her mind concentrating on what was in front of her, never lifting her head up to look behind her.

That’s how afraid she was.

She could already hear the rumors that were made up about her and the accident that drove her to use a cane for what could possibly be the rest of her life. It angered her because nobody knew and yet, different stories were being made up every time the students had free time.

With lunchtime right around the corner, she waited for the class to be completely empty before she could finally glance behind her with a breath of relief coming out. She picked out from her bag her lunch and unveiled it on her desk, sighing happily in front of her meal.

The silence that was settled in the classroom didn’t really bother her even though a part of her was hoping to have some company by her side; she ignored that feeling and simply ate while glancing from time to time to the window next to her, curious to see what the other students were doing.

She quickly finished her meal and placed the garbage inside the paper bag she had before she got up and walked her way to the trash by the door of the class with her cane on her other hand, helping her for the support.

After throwing the trash away and as she was about to turn to make her way back to her desk, some of her classmates came back with their laughter suddenly shut down the moment they laid eyes on her. She stood still while looking down at the floor, hoping that they would get out of the way to let her pass.

But she knew that they didn’t.

“Ajumma~, why are you so shy? Hmm?”

The girl’s voice made Lina cringe as she shut her eyes tight, hoping that she would leave and stop bothering her. A last snicker from the girl, she finally walked away with Lina walking back to her desk and sitting back down.

The whispers were echoing through the four walls and right now, she wished to have back the silence from moments earlier; they were making fun of her and it was aching her heart because they didn’t understand.

She didn’t think it would be this easy to be brought down just because she had a bad leg. It’s not like it was her fault, it just happened and she had no control over the situation that turned her like this.

Slowly, the class was being filled up since lunchtime was already almost over. The noises were messy, which left Lina to block them out as she put her focus down on her textbook, intrigued to know what the school year had planned for her and before she knew it, the final bell had finally rang, making the kids rush out of their seats to leave the class and run back outside.

As for her, she waited until the classroom was empty but unfortunately the same girl from earlier stuck around with her friends as if she was waiting for something.

Not wanting to stay any longer, Lina packed her bags and held onto her cane as she got up from her seat, ready to go.

Making her way towards the door, she heard her name being called making her suddenly halt. Gulping down, she slowly turned her head to see the little group standing over a desk eyeing her; the girl from earlier walked away from her friends to stand in front of Lina while she held onto the straps of her backpack and tilting her head slightly to the side.

The gaze fell down onto the cane before looking back up at the new kid, huffing out. Lina tried to move to the side to get out of the classroom but the girl blocked her way; she tried a second time but once again, the girl was faster.

The sight made the others in the back let out low chuckles. From the corner of her eyes Lina looked at them before looking back down at the floor, not daring to lift her head up.

“Yah~ Ajumma~ why are you like this?” The girl pretend to whine at Lina’s behavior; seeing that it wasn’t doing anything to her, the girl was starting to get annoyed and scoffed before mumbling inaudibly. “Freak.”

Soon enough, Lina was bumped and pushed by her shoulders from the rest of the students that were leaving; one push to strong, she stumbled forward and fell down on her knees. She held in the pain that shot through her entire body from the contact and tried to get up but realized that her cane wasn’t near her, making her panic.

She looked up and saw that the kids had left and that’s when she saw it in the trash. She tried to get up as she used a desk for support and limped her way to pick it out while wiping away the silent tears that have escaped from her tired eyes.

She could still feel the pain from her broken knee making her let out a slight whimper. She sat on the closest chair she could find, waiting for the ache to go away and once it did, she hastily got back up and tried to rush her way out of school, not wanting to miss the school bus.

Unfortunately, it was already leaving the moment she stepped out, making her watch the back as it drove away, leaving her to stand still with a sigh of defeat coming out of her. Once it completely disappeared, she started to take notice of the people that were still present, letting what happened this morning to repeat itself. Pondering on what to do now that she didn’t have a way to go back home, she finally decided to go back inside towards the principal office, politely asking if she could make a call.

As she made her way there, the silence of the hallway was slowly dissipating by the echo of footstep and muffled snickers. Lina didn’t dare to look behind her so she simply continued while trying to fasten her steps despite her injury that was still stinging from her fall earlier.

She was about to make a turn to the corner when she felt herself get pushed back by her backpack making her let out a slight cry of surprise. She tightly clutched with her two hands onto her cane as she held it against her chest, looking straight at the girl with fear in her eyes.

“You know, an Ajumma should look her part, don’t you think?” She had tilted her head to the side while sporting the type of voice that made Lina cringe at the pretense innocence she tried to get with her tone. Sarcasm appearing also, the girl shook her head as if she was disappointed in something, which left Lina confused. “Let’s help you with that, hmm?”

Not erasing the confusion on her face, Lina blinked her eyes in front of the girl only to find herself coughing loudly as endless white chalk powder from the erasers used in the classrooms was falling over her head, turning her hair white in the process. She kept coughing while waving one of her hand in front of her face to push the powder out of her way.

“Yah! What do you think you guys are doing?!”

“Oh! Cheolyong! It’s not what you think, we were just having fun!”

The boy in question looked skeptical at the girl’s response, not believing what she was saying. He walked closer and gently pushed them away with Lina still stuck with her back against the wall while she had her eyes closed, afraid to open them and face the other students.

“Was doing this really necessary?”

“Oh, come on~ we were just having fun, we weren’t harming her-”

“Then why doesn’t she look like she likes what you’re doing to her? Hmm? Just leave.”

“But-”

“Yah~ Hwa Young, I asked you to leave.”

She huffed out her discontent before glancing back at Lina and disappeared with her two other friends, leaving the boy with the victim. “You can open your eyes now, she’s gone.”

She shrunk even further against the wall, not believing what he was saying.

“You’re the new kid, right? Lina?”

The way he pronounced her name left a faint tingle through her ears and made her flutter as her eyes opened to see a young boy around her age with a worried look across his dark eyes while sporting a slight pout across his lips. She stared at him, feeling flustered about the sudden closeness until he slowly backed away while stretching out his arms for a handshake.

“My name is Cheolyong. I’m in class 3C.”

She looked down at his hand and glanced back up at him, still not moving. Sensing that she wasn’t going to talk, he pulled his hand away, leaving them in an awkward silence before he spoke up again. “You were heading to the principal’s office, weren’t you? Do you want me to help you?”

She quickly shook her head, still having that light pink shade on her cheeks by the way he was looking at her.

“Oh, okay then… Hmm, well, it was nice meeting you~”

She watched him as he walked away from where he came from and turned his back to her as he smiled and waved his hand before disappearing, leaving her to finally let out the breath she was holding in.

‘Cheolyong… Thank you…’

With this episode of the day over, she went to the main task at hand and finally walked to the principal’s office, hoping that the secretary was there for help. She knocked on the door and quietly entered where she spotted the lady at her desk; she turned her head and quietly gasped out in shock at Lina’s appearance while the girl softly spoke back.

“May I use your phone, please?”

“Huh? Oh! Of course, sweetie, of course!”

Handing her the device, Lina composed the phone number to her house and waited until someone had finally picked up; all the while the secretary was staring at the girl trying to figure out what happened to her to have chalk all over her.

“Grandma? Can you come and pick me up? I… I m-missed the school bus…”

A/N: As you can see, this was the same chapter as the previous version; it's going to be like this for the next 3 others before jumping back to the present :)

Lots of love, xo