How to Steal a Heart

Min Katie Lee

"Sorry! Oh, excuse me! Sorry," Ari bumped her way through the overcrowded hallway. She looked down at the schedule her Dad had given her in the car.

"Classroom 2B, Maths..." She murmured quietly to herself, her large eyes fixed on the page. Suddenly, Ari felt something hard bang against her forehead. She fell to the stone ground, dropping her bag and her books. A million pairs of eyes stopped to watch as she almost knocked someone from the busy crowd over. Ari rushed to pick up her stuff, hoping that not that many people would remember or even see the incident. She noticed a hand reached out from the audience. She took the stranger's hand, and pulled herself off the ground with the help of the girl. The crowd turned away from the scene and continued walking around the corridor, although Ari saw a girl with pin-straight hair giggling to her friends. 

"Thanks," Ari said to the girl who had held out her hand to Ari, and was now helping her pick up her books. 

"No problem! But why have I never seen you before?" The girl asked, a puzzled look on her face.

"Oh, It's my first day, I just transferred here," Ari replied while shoving a history book back into her black school bag.

"Oh, that's cool!" The girl exclaimed. "Could you show me your schedule so I can take you to your first class?"

"Sure," Ari handed the slip of paper to her, her eyes scanning the slightly wrinkled page. She brought out her own schedule, squinting at the two pieces of paper. 

"Hang on..." She whispered under her breath, eyes darting back and forth. "We're in the same classes!" The girl announced. "Well, apart from one or two, but still mostly the same,"

"Great! Then you won't have to risk being late when you help me find my classroom!"

The pair walked through the wooden doorway of classroom 2B. On their walk to the maths classroom, Ari found out that the girl's name was Min. Min was a pretty girl with bright red hair which was currently in a half-up half-down hairstyle with a big, white bow. "My mother started dyeing it when I was eight. She just thought it would suit me better," Min said. "I like it," Min had piercing blue eyes (They were a similar shape to Ari's) and large, round, black glasses that sat on her small nose.

As Ari and Min walked into the classroom, an intimidating sight stood in front of Ari. The desks were in four perfect lines of seven single tables. The walls were bare apart from a clock and a few maths-related posters. Ari and Min sat in the row just before the back row. There was a thin film of dust on the desks. A slightly larger man marched into the quiet room. He stood behind the teacher's desk and picked up a stubby piece of chalk and wrote his name on the blackboard; Mr Park. Mr Park turned around to face the class. "My name is Mr Park, I will be teaching you some mathematics today," He announced, small specks of chalk dust caught in his oak-brown beard. 

After Mr Park had finished taking attendance, he spun round to find a student's hand suspended in the air. "Yes, you at the back with the big nose," he said.

"I-" The boy at the back (his name was Hyuk, Ari found that out from when Mr Park was taking attendance) lowered his hand, then paused as his friends laughed at Mr Park's comment. "Where is Miss Rhee?" Hyuk asked.

"She's just off with a wee cold." Mr Park answered with haste.

Ari and Min walked out of the Maths classroom together. "Well that was... dull." Ari said bluntly. 

"Yeah." Min agreed. The pair continued to walk down the jam-packed hallway.

"I think we should go to the library during lunch." Ari suggested. They discussed their plan for the rest of the day before walking into the tech classroom.