First Day of Many To Come

 You know those dreams where you're running but no matter how fast you try to run, you can't? It's as if you're trying to run through glue or something, and the faster you try the more slower you become?  That was me all night. I'm not sure what I was trying to get to but the anxiety each time only worsened. 
 Instead of going back to sleep again, I decided to stay up. The ugly feelings from my dreams lingered, getting up quietly, I grabbed my earbuds out of my backpack. I had about an hour to kill before our alarms went off, Pinterest it was then. As for soms tunes, I listened to a certain actor whom played Loki read a love letter. Followed up by some Podcasts. 

 Relaxing, I was absolutely startled when a pillow landed on me. Yanking out my earbuds, Krystal yawned.

"Morning, morning."

 "Oh my god, Krys! You scared me!" 

 Na-Eun was already up and about, a total morning person, "You've been awake and didn't hear the alarm?" 

Shaking my head, I got out of bed, "No, I guess I was just really into looking at some pins, and fixing my boards." 

 "Oh no, do we need to hold another intervention?" Krystal joked, I tossed the pillow back at her.

 One by one, we were dressed and ready for our first day. Fixing the cuffs on Na-Eun, Krystal tied my shoelaces. 
 "Okay, are we ready?" 

 I nodded to Na-Eun, "Let's go eat." 

 With books in hand, we took our time getting to the dining hall for breakfast. Again, we left the wonderful buffet with full stomachs, and with nothing but praise. In my bag, I had stashed some granola bars,and fruits. The three of us were walking when Na-Eun stopped suddenly.
 "Guys, this is it. My class is actually back tat way," she looked back where we had just walked from.

 "Oh right, I totally forgot," Krystal sighed as we regrouped before splitting up.

 " This is it, " I frowned.
Na-Eun held our hands, "I wish we at least had home room together."

 We all did. Looking at each other's schedules last night, we were disappointed to find that we only had one class together. I knew that Na-Eun and Krystal would have no trouble making friends, and fitting in, but me on the other hand... I was lucky to even have friends. 

 "Hey, I'll have us a table saved for lunch since my class is closer. We'll meet at the fountain?" Krystal bumped the side of her hips against Na-Eun and I.

 "I'll see you both there," I grinned. Before we went our separate ways, we hugged each other. I could do this, I can do this, I have done this. It's just like every other school I've gone to. Piece of cake. 
 On my way to class, I was looking at my schedule again because I had forgotten which floor the room was on.

 "I really don't think it matters," I heard someone say. I stopped in my tracks ... That voice. I know that voice, where have I heard it? It was too late to see who the voice belonged to since they had turned the corner. 

Where have I heard that voice before?  

It was incredibly familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. I was distracted, racking my mind trying to figure out the mystery that I didn't notice someone else was also distracted, and we were about to crash into each other. Suddenly my schedule and folders dropped from my hands, as I and the other person stumbled backwards.

 "Ah what the hell," a deep voice said in utter annoyance. He looked at me so mean, like I was a bug he wanted to squish. Too intimidated to stand there in front of him, I shifted my focus to my things on the floor. Quickly I knelt down to gather them up, mumbling my apologies until he cut me off.

 "Hey, John, good to see you man," the mean stranger greeted another guy. The guy greeted him back, and glanced down at me before giving his attention back to the jerk. John was probably wondering what the hell I was doing.

 " Mark, how have you been? " John greeted him bavk warmly.

So, the deep voiced prick has a name. Mark. During their short visit, I stayed where I had been on the floor, giving polite smiles to those with puzzled expressions who passed by. I mean it's not like this is where I wanted to be but Mark's big foot was on my paper, I'm not sure if he was ignoring my efforts to free it. If I felt tugging or I felt something under my foot, I don't know about you but I'm sure a normal person would have looked down to see what was going on. Every time I tried to tell him, he talked over me. And poor John, he wasn't sure exactly what to do. 
 Finally, they wrapped it up. 

 "All right, see you then!" John said to Mark, as he turned to leave, John shrugged his shoulders apologetically to me.

 "Finally, can you-" Again I was cut off as Mark swung his satchel over his shoulder, hitting my head doing so. And he walked off without a care in the world. My blood boiled as I tried to smoothe out the crumpled paper, and rub off the print his shoe had left. I really didn't know if he had done it on purpose or if he really was without sensibilities. I was just about on my way when another deep voice stopped me.

 "Excuse me! Excuse me, I think you dropped this."

 I gritted my teeth as I turned to meet a smiling face with light brown hair, he held out a lip balm to me. Patting my pockets to find them empty, I took the small object from his hand with surprise.

 "Wow, thank you, I didn't even notice it fell out." I loosened my stance, and mentally shook myself. Just because I met one bad person , that does not mean everyone is the same. I put on a genuine smile as I looked over the lip balm to see that it was in fact mine.

 "Yep, this is mine. Thank you again, I'm Danielle by the way."

 " Oh no, it was no problem! I'm Tae-Hyung, are you headed to that room? " Tae-Hyung pointed behind me to the classroom, I nodded. 

 "Yeah! You?"

 He gave a big nod,  "Looks like we're classmates." 

 "It appears so," I grinned. We fell into step with each other as we chatted comfortably. Once in the classroom , we sat in desks next to each other. Tae-Hyung and I looked over each other's schedules to see that we had several classes together, and I felt relieved when he said that we should partner up in the classes. That was how I made my first friend of the day.

 The rest of the morning went on without any more events, I'd even say it was going pretty great. After turning in my paperwork when the bell rang, I practically skipped out of class to meet my besties. I had made my way across the courtyard to meet Na-Eun and Krystal, my hand pressed over my noisy stomach, I was starving. Krystal waved to me once she saw me, just when I was about to jog over- Drama broke out.

 "M-Mark, I'm s-s-" A guy whom I recognized from my second class stuttered before the jerk I had encountered this morning. 
Mark stood quietly, dangerously, staring straight ahead as he ignored the poor guy. 

 "Sorry?" Mark finally said in a low tone. 

 The guy nodded. As I got closer to the scene, I saw that Mark had a little bit of spilled yogurt drink on the left side of his trousers. I bit down on my bottom lip in worry. This was not good. With a snap of his fingers, Mark motioned to the scared first year to clean it up.
The student dug into his pockets for a napkin or something but Mark shook his head. Mark stared into the eyes of the student until the guy got down on his knees. No one spoke, even the breeze came to a hault. 

 "Oh my god, he's going to make him it up," someone beside me whispered in a shaky tone, and another shushed him. 

He's not... I mean... I looked around at the crowd, I mean I don't think anyone would make someone do something so low like that... Right? 

 "Well? Clean it." Mark snapped, and the student flinched. My hands clenched into fists, how could someone be so cruel? Why was no one doing anything to stop this bully? I stepped forward to do something, but a hand was on my arm for a moment to stop me. In annoyance, I whipped my head to the right to see who got in my way, and everyone gasped.

 "It's Jong-In" whispers broke out through the students standing around. I didn't see who this Jong-In was, as I only saw the back of him. And these other guys whom I'm assuming were his friends, followed in behind him. Then I met eyes with someone briefly, my hands relaxed, it was Yixing. 

 "Come on, get up," I turned my attention back to the drama. Jong-In gave the student on the ground a pat on the back, "Get up." 

 I held my breath as I watched Mark, who let out a breathy chuckle, then he pushed past Jong-In, their shoulders making hard contact. I couldn't believe it. Just like that, it was over. 

 "Let's get out of here," Krystal whispered in my ear as she pulled me away. Once inside the dining room, everyone was speaking excitedly about what just happened. 
 Krystal was rubbing her hands together, "I guess that's -"

And I was pulled back to be shoved against the wall, "What did Jong-In say to you, huh?"

 It was the three girls I had met with my parents. I was going to answer but Irene narrowed her eyes at me,
 "Why did he touch you?" The trio looked me up and down in disgust, Krystal and Na-Eun pushed past them to free me from Yura's hold.

 "Okay, everyone calm down," Na-Eun said sternly.

 Ara stepped forward, "We're not people to mess with. You think what Mark did was too far?" 

 "You haven't seen anything yet," Yura smiled.

 "Keep your hands off of them," Irene added. The three of them turned and strutted off.

 Krystal, Na-Eun and I were quiet before Krystal bent forward laughing.

 "Oh my god, you just almost got your kicked!"

 Na-Eun rolled her eyes smiling, and I playfully pushed Krystal.

 "This is so not funny, " I closed my eyes, rubbing my temples. 
 "I so don't need this," I sighed out.

 Na-Eun grabbed our wrists to drag us along with her, "What you do need is food. All of us do. And lunch is almost over!"

"See you back in the room," I called out to Krystal and Na-Eun as I left the dining hall. I sat on a bench near the entrance to wait for Tae-Hyung, we said we would meet here and head off to class together. While I waited, I decided to take a picture to send to my mother. 

 "Brave are we?" 

 Sitting beside me was Yixing, I gave him a friendly smile, and put my phone back into my pocket.

 "Ha, ha, I know I'm not as nice looking as all the other," I motioned around us at the good looking students around us. When Krystal, Na-Eun and I first tried on our uniforms, it seemed to have multiplied how beautiful they already were. In fact, all the girls were more leggy, making them look taller, and so sharp. Maybe my uniform wasn't tailored correctly? 

Yixing laughed softly, his dimple was charming, "No. I mean earlier. Were you really ready to throw hands?" 

 " Oh, that." I hadn't thought about it...in the moment, I wasn't even thinking either. I just did it, something had to be done.
 "I... I don't know... I just wanted it to stop." 

 Yixing nodded, "Yeah, well at least we have..." He looked at me pointedly , waiting for me to say something. I must of looked confused because his smile grew bigger. 

 "What is your name?" 

 Oh, duh. "Danielle." 

 He stood up and stretched his back before looking at me, "Ah. Well at least we have Danielle on patrol here. See you around, deputy." 

I snorted, "Deputy... Sure. Have a good day." 

 I saw Tae-Hyung, picking up my bag to join him, Yixing spoke again.

 "By the way, I think you're nice looking as all the other," he motioned around us. With a lopsided grin, he walked away. I could only stand there as a mix of emotions swelled within me, mainly confusion. Where did this come from?

 "What are we smiling for?" Tae-Hyung's question brought me back. I didn't even realize I was smiling. 

 "Oh nothing. Are we set?" 

Tae-Hyung and I were almost to class when I needed to go to the bathroom.
 "I'll be quick!" I said to Tae-Hyung as he took my stuff to take in with him to class.

 "I got it, take your time, " He replied in a friendly tone. God, I was so thankful for befriending him. Entering the bathroom, I came to an immediate stop. I could actually see all the tiny people in me, controlling my movements like conductors, all of them were yelling "Halt!" And I came to a screeching stand still. 

 "That one, let me try that one."

 "It would look so pretty on you."

 That first voice, that voice again. I practically tip-toed to the wall to peek around it, when my suspicions were confirmed.

 "Hyeri, that's like a lot" A girl giggled, and the other joined in. 

 I couldn't stop myself. I peeked around the corner to see two girls standing in front of the full length mirror, touching up their makeup. I settled my gaze over one of them, and then the tiny people sounded the alarm. All of them were rushing around, "Abort! Abort! Abort!" In the worst timing ever, I tripped as I tried to scramble out of there quietly. This caused me to become even more panicked, and again with the worst timing ever, I ran right into Mark.

 "Oh sh- Jesus," I wanted to disappear. Awkwardly, I picked myself up off the floor, and felt myself shrink as he stood up. With no witnesses in sight to see my end, or even save me, I braced myself for his attack. 

 "No, Mark," he said, dusting off his hands.

Great, he's probably going to make me up where he fell or something. 
Taking a step to my right, I was ready to make a run for it. Danger was in front of me but something even worse was behind me masked under long lashes, and strawberry tinted lips.

 "Right, sorry, I have to-"

 Mark popped his neck, "You know I'm getting tired of people saying that. How about not doing something to be sorry for?"

I fought myself to not roll my eyes at his sarcastic tone.

 "Do you also want to know what?" I smiled at him, " I would have said: I'm sorry. And that we got off on the wrong foot, please accept my apology... but no. You are the wrong foot. And I'm not sorry. "

Behind Mark someone snickered, but Mark... If looks could kill, I'd be dead by now. 

 "You," Mark started to say. But I had plenty more to say, I wasn't finished. 
 I took in a breath to reply but then the bathroom door behind me opened. Was it possible to just disappear now? 
 My chest dropped as the air slipped out and drifted far away, high heel clicks came around slowly. I was frozen but my eyes moved with no restraint, coming to a stop beside Mark was Hyeri and another girl I had not met before. Hyeri didn't bat an eye when she took a look at me then to Mark.

 "Let's not be late."

 The three of them walked into the class Tae-Hyung was waiting for me in. Perfect. 

Extra goodies!

 From behind a wall, three girls were eavesdropping on a couple sitting on a bench.
 "Did he-!" One of the girls exclaimed.
Ara covered Yura's mouth as Irene smacked them both, Irene whispered "shhh! I can't hear!"
 Irene whined, "He's walking away!" 
 Stomping her foot, Yura ran her fingers through her hair, "Did she really not take us seriously?"
 "But did he mean she was pretty? What was this," Ara mimicked Yixing's hand movements, "What did this mean?" 
 " I'm really going crazy, " Irene sighed in frustration. 
 "First, Jong-In held her hand-" 
 "No!" Ara was shaking her head, " He did not hold her hand. He wouldn't! " 
Unbeknownst to Irene and Ara, Yura had spotted an item under the bench that Yixing and Danielle had just been sitting on. Yura wandered over to the area, reaching under, she pulled out a book. 
But it wasn't just any book. It certainly wasn't a textbook, with it's leather cover, and small size. Yura headed back over to the bickering pair.
 "Girls..." Yura trailed off as she flipped through the book.
 Irene and Ara became quiet, Yura smiled, "Look what I foumd." 
Ara sighed, "And?" 
 Irene joined Yura's side, her eyes became wide as she took the book from Yura's hand.
 "Oh my god, Ara..." 
 Ara rolled her eyes, dragging her feet as she walked over to Irene whom was consumed with the book, "Fine. What is so special about this..." 
 Ara became speechless as her eyes skimmed the page, the pretty handwriting.
 Irene flipped the pages to the very beginning, where a name was written. 
 "It's a diary."