translucent [markson]

[One] Mark

High school was never more than school for Mark Tuan. He had some friends and he had some hobbies, but his focus was on his education. At first glance, his classmates thought he'd be the popular type; they thought he'd be the kind of person to have a huge group of friends, all while maintaining some eerie aura that made him seem mysterious. Mark just wasn't that person.

It was without a doubt that Mark was an exceptional student. He was easily able to maintain his grades while being well above his grade level. People would always go to him for help, and Mark would always be more than happy to assist. But despite how well he was doing, he felt he needed to do something more.

That's when he stumbled upon JYP academy, a private boarding school in Korea. It was one of the best schools he could possibly go to; only the most talented and intelligent got accepted. Mark immediately applied for the school, even though he didn't believe he would get so much as a second glance. He knew there were so many other amazing people around the world and, besides, the school was in Korea. That was a long way from America, and that meant a lot of money -- not including paying to attend the school itself. But low and behold, the school saw his qualifications and was immediately interested. They reached out to Mark and offered a full scholarship to attend JYP academy if he could pass their entrance exam, and Mark breezed through the test before he was able to fine tune the details and fly out.

It took him a good amount of time to save up money for a ticket, so the moment he did, he started packing. His sophomore year was only starting to end when his plans were set in stone, but he was too thrilled to wait another moment. Sure, he was sad he was going to be so far from his dear family; however, all the possibilities swarming in his head outweighed any doubts. He could feel nothing but happiness and excitement.

That is, until he stepped foot into his dormitory.

That's when everything suddenly sunk in. He realised that he was spending a full school year away from his family, not to mention in a country with a language he only learned a few months prior. How was he going to survive?

"Hey, are you just going to stand in the doorway?" a voice behind him said.

Mark snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look at the boy standing in front of him. He was just the slightest bit taller than Mark and had the most colourful hair Mark had ever seen. The boy looked young, yet Mark could see that there was a hidden sense of maturity just by taking a look at his facial features.

"Um... I- er..." Mark stuttered. Suddenly, he found it very hard to speak. Maybe it was because he still wasn't very used to speaking Korean, but he couldn't form a logical sentence or a sentence in a single language.

"You're the new student that aced the entrance exam, right?" the boy asked in English. Mark nodded, thankful that the boy could speak a language he was more comfortable with. "Rumors about you have been spreading since last year."

"Uh... really?" Mark spoke, his voice slowly becoming more confident.

"Yeah. It's not an easy test. I'm pretty sure you're one of the first people to do that well in, like, twenty years or something." His eyes scanned over Mark, trying to get a reading on what kind of person he was. "This is your room? Room 328?"

"Yeah, I was just... about to unpack." Mark shuffled into the room, dragging his bags out of the way and into the room.

"Oh, this is great! We're roommates. I'm Kunpimook Bhuwakul, freshman." He stuck his hand out in front of Mark, waiting for Mark to shake his hand. The younger boy saw Mark's hesitance to take his hand, so he put his hand back to his side before mumbling, "Or not."

"I'm Mark Tuan, a junior." Without saying any more, Mark awkwardly moved towards the dresser and started unzipping his bags.

"You can call me BamBam, by the way. I know my name is hard to pronounce," Kunpimook stated, trying to make small talk.

"Okay, BamBam." Mark didn't want to come off as rude, but he didn't really want to talk to BamBam. Unlike usual, Mark felt scared and insecure since the reality of his new school was finally sinking in.

"You're from America, right?" BamBam asked. Mark glanced back and him to see that he was starting to unpack his own things.

"Yeah. I'm from LA," Mark briefly answered.

"That's cool. I've always wanted to go to the US." BamBam looked up at the ceiling in a thoughtful manner, and Mark couldn't tell if he was trying to act funny or not.

"Where are you from? Your English is pretty good."

"I'm from Thailand," BamBam answered, followed with a mess of syllables Mark could only guess was Thai.

"I totally understood that," Mark joked, speaking Chinese. BamBam laughed, obviously happy that Mark was giving an interested response.

"Whoa, you speak Chinese too? I know a little from my friend." BamBam seemed impressed with Mark, and Mark noticed. It made him relax a little, knowing that his first impression at JYP academy wasn't going terribly.

"Yeah. It was my first language." This time, Mark answered in Korean, since breaking the ice with BamBam let him think straight again. BamBam didn't even notice the transition from English to Korean.

"My friend that taught me some Chinese knows, like, a million languages. I swear, he's learning a new language a week or something," BamBam rambled. "He's actually a few doors down from us, if you want to meet him. He knows English and Chinese, and I'm sure that might help you feel more comfortable being new and all."

"I'm good for now..." Mark breathed out. He wanted to focus on unpacking before he did anything else.

"Okay, maybe later then."

BamBam returned to his unpacking in silence, and so did Mark. There was some sort of silent agreement in the middle of their conversation that Mark got top bunk and BamBam got the bottom one, so they eventually made their way to putting their own sheets on their beds. They continued to work on organizing their items and decorations without speaking, until they heard a knock on the door.

"Bam! We have a code purple!"