Who's That Guy? | Yuta [Book 1] ✓

9 | 'so, uh, you play the beautiful game ... bros ... brothers ... brethren?'

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        EUN RA BELIEVED STAYING HALF AWAKE on the first day of school wasn't ideal, but the next morning and she practically had to remain standing on two feet.

        Schools had this sick tradition where a new comer got initiated by the student body pulling an equally sick prank.

        A rite of passage.

        Fountainview never got involved with that shit. Principal Lee would waste no time in skinning anyone who dared to disrupt the natural order of things by inciting panic and finding any sort of amusement from doing so. It was quite astounding to see one of the country's best schools making well on old traditions mostly common amongst boarding schools. Boarding schools that didn't have air-conditioning in each dorm room, bunking up to eight students in a cubicle sized area, poorly ventilated, no less. In schools like that, one had to have a free state of mind to eat whatever they served at the cafeterias. Extended summer camp.

        Eun Ra resumed late and unfortunate thing, it made her the receiving end of an impractical prank. Then again, if she did resume a week earlier, there wouldn't be much of a difference. But there was at least a little bit of fulfilment just from knowing one got to share the humiliation with ten others.

        The shrieking of an alarm at 1 a.m., eyes flying open, body shooting out of bed, legs speeding past the door. Every man for himself, she had thought, quelling her guilt for being selfish. A fire alarm was a fire alarm. Perhaps it would've been a better idea if she didn't panic, run down the stairs, out the dorm, towards nowhere.

        The memory was still irksome.

        Turned out to be a false alarm in the end. Something she realized when she looked over her shoulder whilst she sprinted to see a few boys laughing.

        And this morning, it was taking its toll on her.

        Eun Ra was wary. Dozing off in classes on her first day created a bad impression. One that wasn't favourable for multiple reasons. Unfortunately, stuff like these and it was only the victim that understood what was at stake. The boys wouldn't understand. They couldn't.

        They all thought it had been funny. Laughing their butts off as Eun Ra, head hung low, walked back to her room.

        If she had thought it would be easy to shrug it off, pretend it didn't matter, knowing she could just sleep on it, she had been proved wrong.

        The sound of her roommates laughter was much more painful than that of the commoners in the hallway. What's more, Yuta laughed. Although the boy didn't join others. He laughed off his own in the corner, on his bed. He made it clear that they still weren't on speaking terms.

        At one point, it felt like the laugher would never die out. But it did. When there was a collective reminder of the few hours left before the start of class, everyone was getting tucked under their duvets.

        The sun shone this morning through the windows and to Eun Ra, it felt like it has just been minutes since she closed her eyes.

        Funny enough, she got to thinking of her Japanese roommate. The one who made it clear that though he laughed at her, it would never be with her.

        Desperately, the seventeen-year-old yearned to know, to find out what his deal was. But her current state decided against pushing things further. A confrontation when she was barely out unconsciousness wouldn't make her be taken seriously. Plus, Eun Ra wanted to be fully alert when Yuta explained it all. If he ever did.