Burn Marks

1. Silence in the eyes.

Ha-Yoon POV:

Me and Kang Ha were stood in a big hall in our new school with all the students for the first semester opening ceremony. Kang Ha wasn't nervous at all but I was so nervous to start at a new school, me and him transferred together we know each other well enough.
We are all seated as the headmaster starts speaking.
"A new semester has begun at the most prestigious school in Korea... Jooshin High, where we take pride in our time-honoured traditions." Everyone's applauds after she finishes.
"In the spirit of those traditions, we're putting Jooshins motto, 'noblesse oblige' into practice. To celebrate this new semester, let's welcome our new scholarship recipients, who were hand selected...out of quite a few applicants." She turns and looks at us giving us a signal to come up and introduce ourselves.
We walk up and I feel everyone's eyes on us.. ugh I hate this so much.
Kang Ha signals for me to go first..

"G-good morning ...my name is Ha-Yoon..I was one to get the highest grade...I look forward to this year ahead" I take a step back and bow, then Kang-Ha goes forward and starts to speak.

"Check check..Good morning students, seniors, and underclassmen... my name is Kang-Ha-"
The doors open suddenly and the mike stops working..everyone turns to see a tall figure walk in..it goes silent and all you can hear is his foot steps...I look at this man that walked in..he looks important..I'm just glad I wasn't speaking when he walked in or I would've froze..I'm not very good at speaking in-front of people.
He looks at me and I gasp quietly under my breath before looking away. He sits down and Kang-Ha clears his throat before continuing.
"Check check- ah it's working..so uh where was I ? Ah, the exam! Right. I got one of the highest Grades along with Ha-Yoon..how I got here doesn't matter what matters is that today I'm transferring to Korea's best private school Jooshin High. To honor that reputation I intend to focus on my studies and keep getting good grades so I can live up to your schools legacy. I look forward to the year ahead." He steps back and bows.
Wow his speech was so much better than mine..even after being interrupted.
We both go and sit down next to each other,I look around to see if anyone is still looking at us luckily they aren't.

"Now students, I'll ask you to begin making your way to your classes, please." Kang-Ha immediately stands up, I begin to stand too but Kang-Ha gets pulled down immediately by a boy behind him.
"Whoa..sit down." He says
"What??..what??" Kang-Ha says
"Just sit down both of you." He says again.
I sit down and look around..catching eye contact with the guy who walked in late. He looks unbothered but also very intimidating. He suddenly gets up and starts walking out and eventually other people do the same.
Kang-Ha turns around and faces a student
"Hello. We were just up there, we are the new students, we both have English first but we don't know we're we are going, can you help? "
He looks at Kang-Ha and says " you're too happy.....you need time to get to know your place."
"Hmm? Get to know my what ? Your leaving? Uh all right" Kang-Ha says
"He isn't going to help us..doesn't seem like many people will to be honest..come on we can try and find it ourselves without help" I pull his arm slightly.

We start walking when a girl stops infront of us, there's 2 girls behind her and a boy sat down.
"You two lost? They'll show you where to go" she points at the 2 girls behind her. She looks at me up and down then turns to Kang-Ha
"Gimme your number." Showing her phone.
I look at her shocked, so does Kang-Ha
"What? For..." he says to her
She pulls her phone away and says" well,I didn't expect that..I figured you might want someone to help you out, like if you have any questions" she's basically ignoring me completely.
"Ah alright..thankyou" Kang-Ha says taking her phone.
I look at him confused..."Ha...let's go" I say quietly.
I hear someone laugh, I turn and see it's the boy sitting down..he gets up and walks over to us before standing infront of us with his friends..I'm guessing they are friends, he's looking at me and looks me up and down with a small smirk.
"What's your handle? We will follow you back" the girls say.
"I'm not on anything." Kang-Ha says
"No social media" she says shocked.
"Mhm...there you go. We should get going. See you guys." He says and holds my arm, we start to walk but the guy blocks my path...he just stands there looking at me..i feel nervous and almost can't keep eye contact with him..then he slowly moves out my way and I continue to walk with Kang-Ha.

I stop in the corridor.
"Kang-Ha..I'm not sure how I feel about this place..everyone's really weird like no one will help us, some give us odd looks, others pay us no attention even if we speak to them..overall it just feels off and there's a few students who look and act like they are more important , I mean what was that thing in assembly..that guy stood up and only after that people started to leave the assembly...why? And why is everyone so tense." I say to him worried.
"Ha-Yoon...you need to relax..it's because you're nervous..once you relax it will be fine I promise and we will start making friends and everything will be fine." He tells me putting his hands on my shoulders leaning down slightly.
"I-..I guess..I just feels so I don't know ..something's off I know it...anyway I'm going to go to the bathroom I'll find you in class?" I tell him
"Yeah ofcourse." Giving me a small hug as he walks off.

I walk into the bathroom..that's another thing about this place nothing is out of place or broken and everything is spotless..I mean what can I expect from a private school. I stare at myself in the mirror for a while just contemplating being here ...I know there's something off and it's not just my nerves..something about this place is off. I walk out of the bathroom only to bump into someone's shoulders with my head.
"Ahh shit" I say holding my head. I look up and see..the boy who walked into assembly late..I still don't know his name.
"Oi!" One of the boys behind him says making me jump. "Watch where your walking newbie" he says to me..
"Me?" I say
"Yes you..you walked into Ri-an did you not.."
so that's his name.. I decide to play safe
I look at Ri-an "yes..I'm sorry..I'll look where I'm going next time" I bow slightly looking at the ground.
"Look at me." He says in a deep voice.
I lift my head up slowly, he looks at me taking in my features on my face before slightly turn his head as he looks me up and down.
Can people stop doing that to me, I just look at him.
Then he just walks away his followers walking with him.
I breath out a breath I was holding and then start to walk to class..I come across a classroom that's Standard A so I walk in and see Kang-Ha sat at the back..he waves me over so I walk to the back and sit down next to him.
"See what I mean..the amount of looks I got just walking to my seat like I've done something wrong.." I say to him
"Ha-Yoon.... Please calm down okay" he says looking at me.
"No I won't. I bumped into Ri-an the one who came into the assembly late and was made to apologise to him" I say annoyed.
"When? Now?" He says looking more confused.
"Yeah just now" I reply.
"Well..I'm sure it's just because we are new..it's okay" he says..I somewhat agree with what that other guy said..Kang-Ha is too happy atleast about this.

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