𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇

one.

BEING the new student absolutely sucks, decides kang jieun as she sits in the front office. her leg bounces as she bites the inside of her cheek, waiting for the lady at the front desk to give her her assigned home classroom so she can just get on with her day.

she's taking too long.

"my blazer's going to cook me before i even get to class," she grumbles, pushing the collar of her school shirt aside the slightest bit. maybe if i loosen it up a bit more, i'll be less hot...

"kang jieun."

the girl jumps from her seat and heads towards the front desk, smiling at the older lady that hands her a slip of paper. "your homeroom teacher is miss cha. her classroom is at the end of the hallway on the third floor. have a good day."

jieun nods and offers the lady a meek smile. "thank you," she says, bowing her head. "have a good day." she stands back up and walks to the doors, pushing them open. her brother, kang taehyun, pushes himself off the walls and dusts his school pants off.

"so..." he says, gesturing towards the paper. "are we good now?"

the girl nods, shoulders sagging. "yes..." she grumbles. "she said you're in the first class on the left on the first floor."

taehyun snorts. "i'm assuming your class is on the third floor?"

jieun nods again. they stop at the staircase right at the front of the first floor hallway, and stare up. taehyun pats jieun's back. "good luck, sis," he says, immediately walking into his class. jieun gapes at taehyun's back, and she balls her fist up angrily as she climbs the stairs.

"stupid kang taehyun, just you wait," she says, mumbling to herself. just as she reaches the third floor, jieun takes a step forwards to round the corner when she bumps into someone. she stumbles backwards and her eyes widen in horror, staring at the black haired boy in front of her look at her in shock.

she's about to fall down the stairs.

jieun clamps her eyes shut tightly, and feels a hand wrap around her wrist, yanking her away from her impending doom. she opens her eyes and stares at the boy through squinted eyes, jabbing a finger into his chest. "i almost died because of you!"

the boy scoffs, rolling his eyes afterwards. "you know," he says, an eyebrow raised as he crosses his arms over his chest. "most people thank the person that saved them from their death."

the girl's mouth drops open. "why would i thank you when i literally almost fell down the stairs because of you?"

closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand, the boy raises the other in front of him, holding it out with his palm facing the girl. "stop talking," he says. "i get it. you're not going to thank me for saving your life. cool. now can you get out of the way?" he gestures towards the staircase. "i'm kind of trying to skip right now."

baffled, jieun opens her mouth to say something else when a teacher spots them.

"you two!"

the boy in front of her groans.

"what are you doing outside of class?"

jieun immediately holds out the slip of paper in front of her. "i'm on my way to class, teacher. you see, this is my first day here."

"and i was sent by miss cha to go fetch her, the new student," says the black haired boy.

the teacher looks at them. "right..." they say, slowly taking the slip of paper from jieun's hands and taking a quick look through its contents before handing it back. "well, i'll escort the two of you back to miss cha's class."

jieun nods. she glances out of the corner of her eye and is taken aback to find the boy glaring at her.

what is his deal?

"oh good, the new student is here! ...with choi yeonjun?"

the dumbfounded look on miss cha's face tells the teacher everything they need to know.

one: kang jieun truly is a new student that got lost on her way to find miss cha's classroom.

two: choi yeonjun was, in fact, not sent by miss cha to find kang jieun.

and three: choi yeonjun was most likely in the middle of trying to skip. again.

"excuse me miss cha," says the teacher. "but i need to take choi yeonjun with me for a moment. it won't take long."

"why?"

the teacher grimaces, glancing at yeonjun before looking back at her.

miss cha blinks, seemingly in deep thought. "...i see," she says, nodding.

and that's how choi yeonjun was taken away on kang jieun's first day of school, and that is also how she figures out that choi yeonjun is... certainly, a trouble maker that most definitely hates her guts now.

what a fantastic way to start off her year at a new school!