I’m not sure if it was because I was embarrassed about the note I had given him, or because I couldn’t be bother being teased, but I once again elected to take a taxi to school. This was fine, except it meant that I had arrived at school about an hour early. For all my supposed intelligence, I really hadn’t thought this through.

There was nothing else for it, I would go to the classroom and wait for my classmates to arrive. When I reached the class, there was someone already in it - a girl. I think her name was Park Soohyun - but I could be totally wrong. She was a quiet girl, from what I had gathered. Here she was straightening out all the desks in the class before anyone else arrived. I had assumed there was a cleaner that did this. Maybe I was wrong about that as well. After all, this was a different world to mine.

Sighing, I set down my backpack and called out to her, “Want a hand?”

Park Soohyun jumped at my question, she clearly hadn’t been expecting company. Seeing me, she bowed her head low, "Annyeonghaseyo!" she politely greeted me.

“Please speak comfortably. I’m Lee Mira,” I told her as I walked to the nearest desk.

“I-I’m Park SooHyun.”

I knew it! "Want a hand?" I asked her again.

“I-I usually do it myself…” she mumbled.

“Always?”

“Always.”

This seemed a little absurd to me, “Why?”

SooHyun looked confused. “I-I just always do it,” she mumbled again before going back to straightening the desks.

“Do other people know you do this?” I asked her as I began fixing the desks nearest to me.

She shook her head, “I’m not sure. But I do it every day, and you’re the first person to see me doing it.”

“Really?” I asked incredulously. “Mind you, I suppose it is pretty early still…” I added, trying to joke a little with the unfamiliar girl.

Following that was what I can only describe as an awkward silence. Apparently, she didn’t find me as amusing as I found myself. Figures.  

Eventually, when we had all but finished straightening the desks, the silence between us was broken. "Thank you," she finally said, tugging uncomfortably at her sleeve.

I shrugged, "No problem. If I’m ever here this early for school again I’ll help you… Can’t promise it’ll be every day though." I almost cringed at this further attempt to lighten the mood, but this time she seemed to be more amused. We both giggled a little at this. She seemed like a nice girl.

She then asked me, "Why are you here so early?"

Suddenly remembering my awkward letter to Sehun last night, I scratched my head. "My clock broke?" I tried - even to me it sounded like a weak, and clearly false, lie.

She nodded though; either too polite to say anything or too naïve to know any different. Either way, I decided I definitely liked her.

In all honesty, I’ve only ever had one person who I considered to be a friend before, and he was male. In my old school, only about twenty percent of the students were female. In my class there was only myself and one other girl (who, for the record, I couldn’t stand). This gender divide was largely due to the fact that the school was really for the elite of the elite; heirs and heiresses, to be frank. And it was supposedly tradition that the first son of a family should inherit the family’s company, so therefore there was an overwhelming number of males in the school.

Thinking of my old school, I couldn’t help but wonder what was happening there. Although my status was high, it wasn’t as if I was popular for being myself anyway, it was all thanks to my father. I wondered what it would be like if I hadn’t been born to such an influential father.

“Lee Mira?”

A voice snapped me back to the classroom. I realised I had totally zoned out. Park Soohyun was staring at me expectantly. She seemed to be waiting for an answer to a question I hadn’t heard. a quick breath in, I quickly asked, “Can you say that again?”

For a moment she looked at me like I might be insane before breaking into a small smile. Maybe she was realising just how weird I was. “I asked if you need anything from your locker.”

I subtly raised an eyebrow at her, one thought in my head: I have a locker? Why had nobody told me I had a locker? All this time I had been heaving my stuff around like a mule, carrying it back-and-forth to school each day and now they tell me I have a freaking locker! I thought I was going to need back surgery soon because of my mule-ish struggle. Instead of ranting this to the innocent girl in front of me, I simply shook my head and motioned to my backpack, “Nah, I got it already.”

When Park Soohyun had left the classroom, I slammed my head against my desk, a whimper escaping my lips. Why hadn’t I realised I now had a locker? I had seen some dramas since leaving my home (using my freedom wisely, I know) and The Locker was usually a key part of all these working class student’s lives. It was like the place to meet and stuff. I screwed up my face, still resting a cheek against the cool surface of my desk.

“Miss Lee, what are you doing?”

Sitting bolt upright, I looked to the front of the classroom where I saw the squat figure of my teacher. She was standing with her hands on her hips, one eyebrow raised at me.

I stood up straight away and bowed, “I’m sorry, Ms.”

The aging women peered at me for a moment before sitting down in front of her desk. “Why are you here so early?” She asked me as she set out paperwork. 

Shrugging a little, I explained my clock lie again. I don’t know why I didn’t say anything else, but unlike Park Soohyun, my teacher didn’t seem to believe it.

“Is that so?” she asked me incredulously. I don’t know whether she thought I had committed a murder on the way here and was hoping to use my early presence in school as an alibi, but that was certainly the look she ended up giving me.

Awkwardly looking away, I hoped that Park Soohyun would return soon so I didn’t have to sit alone with this accusing teacher. I stared longingly at the door.

“Miss Lee Mira!” she suddenly called out, causing my head to snap away from the direction of the door.

‘Yes, Ms!” I sat to attention.

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