Yisun was running down the street, she was late. Rain was falling hard and – even though she had a cheap, foldable umbrella shielding her head –  her socks and the bottom of her skirt were already starting to get wet, and would be completely soaked by the time she'd reach school. Today was not a good day, and apparently, it would get worse before it’d any better…

She finally got to school about 10 minutes after the bell had rung and just narrowly avoided getting in trouble, on the account that it was a first time offence. You see, Yisun was usually a model student, always on time, perfect grades, the favorite of most her teachers… basically, not cool at all.

"I suppose it's alright for this time Ms. Han… take your seat" said the teacher rolling his eyes.

Yisun nodded and took her usual seat as whispers rose in the class. She really had never been late before and everyone was wondering why. But still, she wasn't the only one that day. Yisun glanced at the seat diagonally opposed to hers: empty. She frowned, remembering the events of that morning.

*flashback*

It was about 7:15 in the morning when Yisun left her house. Her mom could not drive her to school this morning so she had to walk. The trek to school, on a normal day, was about 20-30 minutes, but today, she would have to add an extra 10 minutes because of the massive downpour.

She was halfway through Shin-Yen Park when she noticed a group of thugs lurking in a corner. She didn't recognize their school uniform and hurried the pace when she saw them coming closer.

"Hey baby, where you hurrying off to?" one of 'em chuckled loudly, blocking her way.

"I'm not your baby, leave me alone" she shook off his grip on her arm and turned to walk the other way.

"Come on now, why are you being so cold? We just wanna be friends" pouted another one that she hadn’t noticed creeping up on her left.

"I have plenty of friends already. And I have to get to school now…" argued Yisun, knowing full well she wasn't gonna be allowed to leave.

"Aww, but school's boring! Come with us, we'll show you a good time!" grinned the first one, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Man, quit flirting with her, she's not worth it. Just grab her bag and let's be done with it." called another voice from further behind her. The voice was a  low drawl, and belonged to a boy sitting with his back against a tree, hair dyed a creepy shade of red, like dark blood, cigarette in hand, looking away from them, completely bored and disinterested. She recognized the uniform this time –  it was from her own school.

"Hey man, don't be a party-pooper! I know she's no looker, but I'm not picky!" the first guy finished his sentence grinning at Yisun.

The boy who was sitting under the tree sighed and got up. Slowly, he walked up to them and smacked his friend behind the head. "Oww!" complained the other, but the boy ignored him and grabbed Yisun's bag.

She started to protest, but the dark look he shot back was enough to make her shut up.

"junk… crap… boring…" he said while tossing the contents of her bag on the wet ground. "Ha, here we go" a small grin appeared on his face as he found her wallet and took out all the money from it.

"Wait! You can't do that, that's the money for the field trip!" she exclaimed.

"Well, I guess you won't be going then" he smirked at her. "Come on guys, breakfast's on me" he added, walking away from her.

"But, wait!" she argued, going after him.

Within seconds he spun around with the coldest look in his eyes. "Just be content this is all we're leaving with…" he looked her up and down, slowly, before turning away. "Come on guys, let's go" he added, throwing her wallet behind him as they walked away.

*end of flashback*

‘'That jerk…' thought Yisun, looking sadly at her ruined notebooks in the cafeteria.

"Jeez! What happened to those?!" exclaimed a voice behind her. She didn't need to turn around to know her best friend Jang-mi was standing there.

"Ooooooh…." groaned Yisun, and as she did, her eyes wandered the cafeteria hall and settled on a lone figure in the left-hand corner of the room.

"Him again?!" retorted Jang-mi, following her gaze.

"Let’s not talk about it" replied Yisun, putting her books back in her bag.

"He the reason you ain't going on the trip too?" asked Jang-mi, suspiciously.

Yisun sighed and looked away, avoiding the conversation.

"Fine, you don't wanna talk about it. Maybe he will. With the principal" said Jang-mi, starting to walk away.

"No!" exclaimed Yisun, "Don't! He didn't do anything! I just don't wanna talk about it ok?" she added, grabbing her friend by arm and leading her back to the table.

Jang-mi looked at her suspiciously but decided to give up. Her friend was often a target for thugs and bullies, but for some reason, she never admitted any of the bad things that happened to her.

"Fine" Jang-mi shrugged, unpacking her lunch, "so how did you do on your chemistry exam?" she asked, knowing full well that Yisun had aced it, but trying to make conversation.

The girls chit-chatted until the end of the lunch period and then headed on to their respective classrooms. They were in different classes this year, for the first time since middle school, a fact that depressed Yisun quite a lot.

"Oh well," said Jang-mi, cutting their discussion short as they had reached Yisun's classroom door, "see ya later!" she added with a wave, continuing her own way.

Yisun was just about to enter the room when she felt a small tap on her shoulder.

"What?!" she added, turning around, thinking it was Jang-mi again.

But it wasn't.

"Oh, Ms. Jenkins! Sorry! What is it?" asked the teenage girl, blushing slightly as she recognized her English teacher.

The young foreign woman smiled at her kindly.

"I was just wondering if you could stop by the English room after class, there's something I would like to discuss with you" said the teacher, in very good Korean with a slight American accent.

"Oh, of course" smiled Yisun, with a little bow of her head; Ms. Jenkins was one of her favorite teachers.

"Alright then" added the woman with a friendly smile, before leaving.

'Wonder what that's about...?' thought Yisun as she entered class and took her usual seat.

Class droned on and on and it seemed to Yisun that the bell would never ring and that they would all be stuck there listening to Mr. Hong's boring historical lectures forever. But she was eventually released from that torture. When the bell rang, Yisun headed on to the lockers to find Jang-mi, and explained to her that they couldn’t leave together today since she had to speak with the English teacher.

"That’s cool" winked Jang-mi, "I have to stop by my cousin's place anyways. What does she want to see you about?"

"I have no idea. Think I should worry?"

"No way. She probably just wants to give you a Nobel Prize for your latest essay or something!" joked Jang-mi, "bye!" she added, heading for the exit.

"Not funny!" her best friend shouted after her. "Bye!"

Yisun looked at her watch, it was 4:15. Ms. Jenkins hadn't set a time for their meeting, but Yisun still didn't like to make a teacher wait so she quickly headed to the English room, which was like a small teacher’s room reserved for the English teachers, except only Ms. Jenkins ever seemed to use it.

There was already someone in there when she arrived, and it wasn’t a teacher. The look of him made her want to run back out, but just as she was about to turn heels, she felt a hand on her shoulder and heard the voice of her teacher.

"Oh, Yisun, there you are, come in." smiled Ms. Jenkins, ushering her inside the room. "Please take a seat."

Yisun turned around and stared at the boy who was already sitting there: sloppy uniform, dyed hair, a stud in his ear… he looked like a poster child for the school misfit in any drama. His skin was so pale, and he might've even been cute if he'd tried only a little, but to her, he looked a total mess. He was sitting on the chair as one sits on their sofa at home while they watch TV, and he was ignoring them completely.

'Him again…' Yisun frowned as she took the empty seat next to him.

"Min Yoon Gi, I'd like you to meet Han Yi Sun…" said Ms. Jenkins, "your new tutor"