Seoul High: Chapter 2

“You were picked among hundreds of students. As the school is new, you are the first ever students to go here. If you graduate from this school and become famous, your names will go down in school history. They will be written on the stars in the entrance.

“This is not just a school, but also a test; a competition—and you must pass. You have nine whole months to plan for our end-of-the-years showcase, and to prove yourself. Your grades must stay high for you to maintain your place here. If you do not have a 4.0 GPA, or fail to do the assignments, you will be expelled, no excuses or exceptions.

“I hope you enjoy your stay here.” He smiled grimly and left the stage.

Teacher Lee rolled her heavily-lined eyes and stepped up to the podium. Way for Principal Ha to start off the school year by trying to get everyone to jump at each other’s throats. Oh, well. Maybe it would be good for her to sound intimidating as well. She grabbed the microphone and cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention.

“I am Teacher Lee, the vocal lessons instructor. Since it is mandatory to take that class, I will see all of you in it. For those of you who have picked Instrumental, I will be teaching that as well. I am also the upper grades’ counselor and the head of the girls’ dormitory. Do not hesitate to come to me when and if you need anything, but know that I will not deal with any foolishness.

“Classes will be challenging; you will only get to see your family once a week, and there will be no sneaking off school campus. You may pick up your schedules after the assembly. Breakfast is always ready by six and classes begin exactly at seven, so be on time, and not a minute later. Dinner is optional. Also, those of you have come from outside, you are to report to me at 3:00 sharp today. Thank you. You are dismissed.”

***

“And the witch has spoken,” a girl next to NichKhun grumbled. He looked up, startled.

“Min Ji,” the girl said, cocking her head to the side and sticking out her hand.

“NichKhun. These are my roommates: Junho and WooYoung.” The boys bowed quickly and excused themselves to go find their schedules.

Nich knew he had to improve his people skills; why shouldn’t he start with Min Ji?

“Aren’t you gonna get your schedule?”
“Hmm? No. My roomie offered to bring it to me.”

“Oh. Um, where are you from?”

“Here,” she replied, flicking a short strand of hair behind her hair. “My family lives forty-five minutes away.”

Lucky, thought Khun.

“Real question’s where you’re from. You definitely look like a foreigner, and word has it that you’re a transfer student from Russia.”

“Ah, no…I’m a Thailand boy.”

“Huh,” Minzy said, squinting at something behind NickHun. “That friend of yours sure has puffy cheeks.”

NichKhun didn’t have to turn around to see who she was talking about. It wasn’t like he had many friends here, although people seemed to already be spreading crazy rumors about him.

Junho came up behind him, waving two folders in his hand.

“We got your schedule! Open it to see if we have any classes together.”

Min Ji, Nich, WooYoung and Junho all crowded around the folders.

“Well, we all have gym together,” Woo pointed out. “And…we all have History of Dance...”

“You and I have vocal lessons and dance practice together on Mondays,” Junho said to him.

“And Instrumental…” NichKhun said.

“Your schedules are exactly the same,” Min Ji commented.

NichKhun tried to hide his disappointment. He really liked his roommates, but it looked like he wasn’t going to see much of them during the day. And what if their bond grew stronger in classes that he wasn’t in? They were both Korean…

A loud wailing noise interrupted his thoughts. He looked around to see that it was coming from the mouth of an exotic-looking girl. Was it even possible for humans to make sounds like that?

“Yo Minz!” she shouted, sauntering towards them. “I got your sched!” She thrust over a green folder.

WooYoung cocked his head at the girl, who turned around.

“I’m Sandara,” she said, smiling brilliantly. “And you must be that American boy.”

“Thai,” he, Minzy, Woo, and Junho replied at the same time.

“Ya,” a voice came from behind Dara, accompanied by the face of that sullen-looking girl who kept bugging WooYoung. “Why didn’t you wait for me?”

“Sorry Su Ji,” Dara said, not looking too sorry.  

“Pft. Whatever. Let’s compare schedules.”

“Who has History of Dance?” Dara shouted.
“Who doesn’t?” Su Ji snorted. “Almost everyone picked that as the mandatory dance class choice.”

NichKhun was relieved. At least he’d see familiar faces.

After exchanging schedules, the girls left, saying they had to unpack.

“Those poor girls,” WooYoung said as he watched them leave. “They have to leave with that crazy Su Ji.”

“She freaks me out,” Junho added, nodding his head.

“Eh, I’ve seen worse,” Khun replied. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

***

Next day

Junho rolled over in sleep, grinning.

As he hit the last note, Junho heard the crowd go crazy. He gave a slight bow and opened his mouth.

“I would like to thank my mother for CHI CHI CHI CHI OOOH OOH NA NA NA!”

Junho woke up with a start, bumping his head against the ceiling. He looked around surprisedly.

“Turn that damn phone off!” He yelled at NichKhun, who was snoring below. He threw a pillow at him, which didn’t do anything.

“Ya, Khun!” He climbed down from the top bunk and grabbed Nich’s cell phone, putting the volume on high. He threw it on Khun’s bed, which made him jump as high as he possibly could in the lower bunk.

“I’m up, I’m up!” he mumbled.

Junho dragged his body towards WooYoung’s bed in the corner.

“Woo, up and at ‘em, bro! First day of hell. C’mon, let’s go.”

WooYoung mumbled something inaudible and turned around, pressing his pillow against his head.

“Yo, if you’re not up in ten minutes, I’ll sit on you!”

“Ash.” Woo suddenly jumped out of bed and whirled around, his eyes suddenly huge. He wandered around like he was looking for something, and then fell to the floor and started sleeping again. Without Junho had time to say anything, he woke up, rubbed his eyes, and stared at Junho with a doe-like expression, his bottom lip sticking out.

“Good morning.”

“Is it a morning habit of yours to dance your way out of bed, only to fall asleep in a random place for a few moments, and then wake up again looking like Bambi?”

“Uh…the dancing part…yeah..I always jump out of bed, for some reason. And I end up anywhere: the couch, the floor, the closet… Sorry I forgot to tell you.”

Right at that moment, a loud crash was heard from the other side. Junho and WooYoung ran to the next room which was joined by the bathroom, only to find a muscular boy sprawled on the floor, laughing.

“ATTACK!” Another boy with elf ears jumped out of the top bunk and landed on the boy’s legs. “Next time I won’t go so easy on you!” he yelled, laughing.

A gloomy looking boy with dark feautures stepped out of the closet and stared at the two of them; then shook his head and left the room, nodding at the two neighbors that had just entered.

“What is going on in there?” Teacher Jang, who had introduced himself as the head of the boys’ dorm the day before, stormed in. “You two: Principal’s office, now.”

WooYoung followed the boys outside, where a handful of boys where watching the guilty-looking culprits pass by.

Some girls were also peering from the windows, most of them watching the big-eared boy. WooYoung caught Sandara’s attention and waved. She smiled back; then made a point of staring at Woo’s legs.

Shorts? she mouthed.

Woo looked down to see that he was still in his pijamas. He turned around and ran back to the room, his ears turning a nice shade of red.

An hour later, they were in gym class, which, to NichKhun, was a horrible way to start the day. Right in the middle of running laps, the doors bursted open and the two boys from the morning entered, laughing and slapping each other on the back.

WooYoung noticed a bunch of girls whispering in a corner, obviously trying to get the guys’ attention.

He saw Su Ji walk up to them, exchange a few words, and left, looking satisfied.

Woo wondered what was going on, but didn’t do anything.

Elf Ears, as WooYoung noticed he’d been started calling him, walked toward that nice girl that had helped Woo and asked her something. The girl turned red and shook her head. WooYoung caught the words “Sorry” and “do that sometimes”.

He turned around and headed back to where Junho was chatting with Seungri, who they’d met minutes ago.

It wasn’t any of his business anyways.

***

Yoona nodded and apologized once again, her face burning. She watched Taec walk away, shaking his head. She turned around and stared at Jessica pointedly.

“What?” she asked nonchalantly, examining her pink nails. “It’s not like we care what that Su Ji girl says. Nobody would believe her.”

“Taec did,” Yoona tried to keep from yelling.

“Ah, he’ll get over it. He’s got the hots for you. I can tell.”

“How can he not? You guys have known each other for three years!”

“Yeah, well, that was when we were children. Before he left for America. He’s not the same anymore. Besides, you can’t just say that a boy ‘likes’ someone just because they were childhood friends.” Yoona replied, trying her best not to blush.

Truth was, she’d had, well, a crush (she realized how childish that sounded, coming from a senior’s mouth, but she had no clue how else to put it) on TaecYeon since fifth grade, when he’d given her money to buy candy.

It was corny and unrealistic, but Yoona hoped Taec would fall for her one day. She had to have some hope to hang on to, what with her mom and all…She had to escape from real life sometimes and live in her little fairytale, where everything was okay and Taec loved her. She didn’t expect anyone to understand her; mainly because they hadn’t lived through all the things she had, but she sure as hell wished they would respect her and her privacy.

 It was as if all of her thoughts were broadcasted, either by Jessica or Yuri. That’s why, after all the girls had applied for their classes together, so they wouldn’t be seperated, Yoona had ‘accidentally forgotten’ her purse, and had went back and changed her schedule to things she actually wanted to do. She was a senior, and she wanted to enjoy her last year of school how she wanted to.

The girls didn’t know about this yet, but they’d find out soon enough. They hadn’t bothered opening their folders, and just looked at Yoona’s schedule, which lead them to gym.

Yoona had taken a peek at SooYoung’s schedule right before they’d left, and she’d noticed that they had a free period right now. She really wanted to say something, because this was unusually mean of her to misguide them, but she felt as if they somehow deserved it for letting Su Ji tell Taec that Yoona was the one who had told Teacher Jang about the boys this morning. Why had she done such a thing, anyways? Yoona barely knew her.

She shook her head and turned to SooYoung, who was too busy staring at that WooYoung boy, who was lucky enough to have the room next to Taec’s. It was obvious she hadn’t heard about the discussion between the girls.

Jessica also seeemed to notice.

“You can do so much better, Soo,” she said, stepping to the side to block her view.

SooYoung’s head snapped up. “But can I?”

“Have some confidence, for god’s sake. You’re one of the Dolls. One of us. You can get anyone. Why that kid?”

“He’s okay, but Jessica’s right,” Yuri chimed in. “He’s a nobody. Nobodies don’t go out with somebodies.”

SooYoung didn’t say anything, which was her way of telling them that she wasn’t giving up or going against them.

Yoona stared at her sneakers. Where did the girls come up with such phrases? ‘Nobody’? What did being a nobody even mean? Yoona felt like they dramatized everything too much, probably because their lives were uninteresting and needed spicing up. Yoona knew Jessica wasn’t pure evil, but she sure acted like it sometimes. Being older, she tried to keep an eye on Jessica, so she wouldn’t exceed the limit, but it was hard trying to act like the older sister to someone like Jess. She was just so… Yoona didn’t know how to describe her.

So…blonde?

***

Sunny groaned and put her hot hands up to her face. This was impossible. How was she supposed to draw and make the designs for a dress in two hours? She didn’t even know what kind of dress to draw! Why had she even taken Fashion Design?

Oh, right. Because it interested her. Lately, she’d been feeling like a puppet, pulled around either by Yuri or Jessica, and ocassionally, SooYoung. She was annoyed by them, but Yoona was the one she was angry with. She was nice, she was the leader, and she never did any of the things they did, so why didn’t she ever try to stop them? Sunny knew it wasn’t because she had no control, unlike her, so what was keeping her back? Was Jess dangling one of her deep, dark secrets or something?

Yoona was one of those girls that turned heads and walked with an air of confidence, so you’d expect her to be a natural bitch, but she wasn’t. She was exceedingly sweet and never said anything bad about anyone. But wasn’t watching someone do bad worse than actually doing the bad thing? You could stop them but you didn’t. It was like being the president but not doing what you wanted to. Sunny didn’t understand, at all.

“You having trouble?”

Sunny gave her partner Sandara a tight smile and nodded.

“Why don’t you go with formal? The design can be simple, and if you make it a long dress, it can be one color, so it’ll be simply elegant. You won’t have to worry about complex designs.”

Sunny’s chocolate-colored eyes lit up.

“Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Add a belt,” Min Ji suggested, coming from behind them with her partner, a guy named Soo-Hyeun. “It’ll be classy.” She handed her own design to Sandara, who nodded in approval. “I’m going to use shiny black leather for the material,” she added.

Sunny’s eyes widened. “Isn’t it too…soon to start using such slippery material? I mean, shouldn’t you practice on simpler fabric first?”

“I’m not afraid of a challenge,” she said, making some more sketches on her paper.
Sunny had only known Min Ji for a little while, but she loved her confidence. She already liked her better than Yuri, and wished that she and her sister were close like Sandara and Min Ji were.

Sunny’s eyes began to tear up as she thought about how she had used to be so close to Yuri. For about…seven years. And then Yuri had changed; decided that her older friends were better to hang out with.

They’d completely stopped talking, and the day Sunny turned 13, Yuri had come up to her and told her that, because of her patheticness that made Yuri look bad, so, to Yuri’s dismay, the Dolls had invited Sunny to hang out with them.

Sunny, thinking that it would bring them back together again, left all her friends behind and went to be with the Dolls. (What kind of name was that, anyways?)

Long story short: It didn’t.

Whatever, she thought. At least I got out of having all of my classes with them by saying that I needed the credits.

Sunny was growing farther and farther away from the Dolls, but she didn’t really have friends. Even if she had been at her old school, her old friends wouldn’t have accepted her. She did ditch them, after all.

She wondered if Sandara and Min Ji would be interested….

But Min Ji was so…bold. And Sandara was so boyish. Would they like Sunny’s shy personality?

As she was about to open her mouth to ask what they were going to do during the free time, the door creaked open and someone entered.