foreign - lee chan

01.

Lee Chan sits in the corner of the room, taking his notes silently as the teacher at the front instructs his English lesson. The classroom is silent as the teacher speaks, for if anyone were to talk, the teacher would tell the students to do squats, which in Lee Chan's case, is just a way to rip his pants in front of his entire class.

His mouth is dry and he just wants to get to lunch as soon as possible. He didn't eat his breakfast that morning and he just wanted to get the day over with so he could hang out with some of his friends. 

As Lee Chan daydreams about his after school plans, the classroom door opens. Half of the class looks at the open door as a girl walks, but Lee Chan still focuses on his paper and his thoughts on what he wants to do later.

Her skin was dark and smooth, it reminded some of the students of caramel. Her brown hair was very curly, and bunched up around her shoulders. It was like an Afro, but with looser curls. Her brown eyes shined a little and her lips were covered in a tinted pink lip gloss that tasted of lemonade.

"Ah, the new student," the teacher smiled, looking at her, "I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up."

Lee Chan finally looked up, seeing the girl at the front of the room. His pencil fell from his fingers as he looked at her in astonishment. He's never seen her before, she must been a new student.

"Class!" The teacher called out in Korean, "we have a new student from America. Her name is Augustin Julienne, and she moved here two days ago. Please make her feel welcome and treat her with respect. She speaks fluent English, so if you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask her for help."

Julienne stands still as everyone in the room looks at her. Her heart was racing as she looked around at all the new faces. 

I can barely order what I want in Korean, she thought. Moving to Korea was definitely something that scared Julienne, and she knew that people would judge her for being much darker than the rest of them.

"Julienne, please sit between Choi Myung and Lee Chan, they're in the back row," the teacher instructed. She nodded, and walked slowly through the rows of students. 

"She's so dark," a boy whispered to his friend, as they both snickered at her.

"Leave me alone," she whispered back in Korean, surprising them. 

She knew what they were saying, she studied all kinds of racist terms before she left America. She knew she'd hear them all the time, and she wanted to be able to prepare herself. She may have a small Korean vocab, but she didn't want to give people the idea they could push her around.

She sits down next to Myung, pulling out a notebook and a pencil before pushing her bag under her desk. Myung gives her a warm smile, and bows a little. Julienne does the same.

"Hello, my name is Choi Myung," the girl smiled. Her eyes smiled as she greeted Julienne, which Julienne thought was so cute.

"My name is Augustin Julienne," she introduced, "I'm from Los Angeles."

Myung tilted her head a little, confused. Julienne flipped to the back of her notebook, where she had drawn the United States map out of boredom. She points to the city of Los Angeles, and then points at herself, which helped Myung with her confusion.

"I like American movies," Myung smiled.

"I like Korean dramas," Julienne giggled, Myung giggling with her.

Lee Chan, who was sitting on the left of Julienne, watched as the new girl spoke with Choi Myung. How could someone's hair be so curly? How can someone's skin be so smooth and brown? She was honestly such a mystery to Chan, but he knew he wouldn't be able to ask her about herself because out of everyone here, he sucked the most at English.