Mikyung's fingers folded around the straps of her book bag as she looked around the giant campus, her heart beating faster as she took in how huge it was. She glanced down at her phone, checking the room number on her schedule again. Why was this so confusing? Which building was her class even located in?
Thank goodness she'd left her dorm ten minutes early so that she could look for her class. But even so, she was about to run late.
She had to ask someone, and she nervously looked around, trying to figure out who to ask. Everyone looked scary to her, and she was very hesitant to approach anyone, so she just ended up staring at her shoes.
"Excuse me?"
Mikyung looked up in surprise at the girl who'd spoken to her. The girl was really gorgeous, stunning even. Though she was wearing simple clothes, and even though her hair was kind of a mess, she totally looked like a model. She'd been walking in the gates with two boys, both of them looking equally model-like, one with dyed red hair, and the other with black hair. They were all so attractive that it was honestly kind of intimidating.
"Yeah?" she said, wringing her hands together nervously.
"Um, this fell out of your bag, I think," the girl said, leaning down to pick up Mikyung's headphones, which had fallen out of the pocket of her bookbag and onto the floor.
"Oh, thank you," she said quietly. The girl smiled and started to move away. "Wait!" Mikyung said quickly, gathering her courage. The girl turned back around, looking at her in surprise. "I'm new here," Mikyung said awkwardly. "Can you tell me where this class is?" she asked, showing the girl her schedule.
"Ew, stats," the girl said, wrinkling her nose. "I have that class now, actually, so why don't we walk there together?" The girl turned to the two boys next to her. "I'll see you later, okay?"
They nodded, waving goodbye and going on their way. The girl turned back to Mikyung, grinning and linking their arms together.
"I'm Seolhee," she said, finally introducing herself. "They don't have a very good process for transfer students, do they?" she asked sympathetically. "I hear that they only give you like, one tour, and then expect you to be able to find your way around the school. Is that true? That's pretty dumb. Oh, what's your name?" Seolhee asked, laughing. "I should have asked that first, shouldn't I?"
"I'm Mikyung," she responded, giving the girl a small smile. "And yeah, the process isn't great. But it's alright." Even if the process wasn't great, she was just grateful to be able to go to TBZ University. She'd been dreaming of going there since she was little, but hadn't been able to at first. Finally, after many failed applications, she got in, and with a big scholarship.
Even with the scholarship though, she still had to pay an awful lot of money. Much more than she could possibly afford.
She glanced at Seolhee, who was wearing expensive-looking jewelry and seemed to have a designer bag on her shoulder. All the kids they passed had brand-name clothes, and she already felt awkward and out of place.
"Shortcake!"
Seolhee spun around, and since her arm was linked with Mikyung's, the other girl was forced to turn around as well. A boy was running over to them, a different boy from the two she'd seen earlier, though he was just as handsome. The teasing grin on his face just made him seem even more attractive.
"What have I told you about calling me that?" Seolhee grumbled, pulling away from Mikyung and putting her hands on her waist, glaring at the boy.
He just winked at her. "You like the nickname. I know you do."
Seolhee rolled her eyes, then gestured to Mikyung. "Meet my new friend, Mikyung. Mikyung, this is my boyfriend, Sunwoo."
"Nice to meet you," she said quietly.
"You guys are going to be late to class," Sunwoo said, looking adoringly at Seolhee. It was cute, though they were already making Mikyung feel like a third wheel.
"So are you," Seolhee pointed out, taking his hand and linking her arm with Mikyung's again, leading them through the hallways once more.
"I honestly wasn't planning on going."
Seolhee sighed. "Go to class," she ordered, stopping in front of one of the doors. "This is our stop," she announced, letting go of Sunwoo's hand and waving goodbye.
"Let's go," she told Mikyung. "Let's go into the hell that is math class."
