that boy | hwang hyunjin | ✔

Chapter 4

But every night comes to an end.

It's morning already, and Felix and I are on our way to school. My pace is slow, I'm dreading to go to school today. And all because of that new student.

Let me tell you exactly what happens when a new student joins our class. All the students change into noisy kids, doing their best to stand out and catch the attention of the new one. They seem to think that loud equals cool, which is totally not the case. Bad jokes are bound to fly back and forth through the classroom, trying to impress the new one with their outstanding sense of humor. I bet all the girls wear extra make-up today in case it's a boy and the boys probably put some extra effort in when they did their hair this morning in case it's a girl. They're all so predictable.

Now that's all stuff I can deal with. But then there's the amount of backstabbing. Believe it or not, entire groups of friends disband because they all want to hang out with the new one and some students actually go that far to abandon their old friends. Ridiculous, right?

And when they arrive at school, see the new student, and collectively decides that it's a loser, everyone acts like nothing happened and everything gets back to normal. New student? What are you talking about? I don't see a new student!

Everything always takes a weird turn when a new student joins our class. And that's why I don't like it.

"Relax, Chae," Felix laughs, noticing my obviously stressed behavior. "It's not like the arrival of a new student will affect us, anyway. It never does."

I nod a few times, agreeing with his statement. He's right. We don't interfere much with our classmates and they don't interfere with us. We acknowledge each other's presence, we really do. It's not like we're the nobodies of the class, the losers of the group. It's just that we prefer to mind our own business instead of theirs.

And then, way too soon for my liking, we're already at the school gates, joining the mass of students on their way to their first period classes. I automatically search the crowd for a new face, but try to find one between hundreds of students. That's obviously impossible.

Besides, the new student is most likely at the principal's office right now. Listening to the headmaster's blabbering before he or she will join their new class.

"I'm actually pretty curious," Felix admits as we push our way through the mass of students to get to our lockers. "I mean, maybe it's a cool person for once."

"Doubt that," I mutter, my eyes trained on the locker that finally appears in front of me.

Felix laughs a little, shaking his head mocking disapproval. His orange hair cadcades over his forehead, covering his twinkling eyes as he gives me an amused look.

"You, my friend," he starts, pointing a finger at me. "You should stop being so negative all the time. Take a happy pill."

With that, he actually takes out a small piece of candy of his pocket. Its wrapping is torn and wrinkled, some parts completely torn away and now exposing small bits of the pink candy underneath it. Dust and small particles of the material of Felix' coat stick to the small candy cube, causing it to lose all its attraction.

"No thanks," I reply, scrunching up my nose at the sight of the piece of candy. "I think I'll be happier without that filthy thing."

"If you say so," Felix shrugs before removing the pink wrapping and sticking the piece of candy into his mouth.

"Ew," I shudder before dashing off to stuff my coat inside my locker.

"Yah! It actually tastes pretty good," the boy calls out from behind me. But grossed out by the thought of that sticky piece of candy as I am, I ignore him and push my coat into my locker before slamming it shut.

A moment later Felix joins me again, chewing away with a content expression on his face and I roll my eyes. Pabo.

"Well, because of your crazy antics, we're almost late for class," I state with a quick glamnce at my phone and Felix' eyes widen.

He mutters something under his breath before he dashes off, desperately attempting to reduce the time damage as much as possible. Mr. Jeon hates students that arrive too late and Mr. Jeon is scary when he's angry.

I rush after him, momentarily forgetting about the new student that's awaiting us. The hallways are mostly empty, apart from a few students that hurry to their classes. It makes sense, the start of the first period classes is only mere minutes away and nobody wants to be late.

Luckily, our assigned classroom is on the ground level floor so we make it there rather quickly, not bothered by the many stairs.

As we enter the classroom, everyone is already there and our history teacher is waiting impatiently and gives us a look of disapproval. But he can't scold us; we made it in time. We both quickly sit down next to each other, somewhere in the back of the classroom. And then Mr. Jeon, who is dying to start, can finally begin his lecture.

"Good morning class," he greets us with his low and monotone voice, his hands behind his back and chin up. "As Mrs. Choi already told us, a new student will join you as of today."

The class remains silent, but many looks are exchanged between my classmates. Challenge. Curiosity. Rivalry. Excitement. Competition. And then there's me, who wants to slam her head onto the table and go home.

Felix notices and lightly pats my back. But the twinkle in his eyes gives him away; he finds it funny.

"I expect you to treat your new classmate with respect and welcome him into your class nicely," our teacher continues without a single trace of emotions in his voice. Then he raises his voice.

"You may enter."

The doorhandle turns downwards and I gulp, the nerves surging through my veins. With a faint creaking sound, the door swings open and then our new classmate steps inside, revealing itself to the class.

All my female classmates gasp as the boy stands next to Mr. Jeon in front of the chalkboard and greets his new class with an awkward smile.

And I swear I can't help to gawk a little, myself.

"Hello," he greets us with a little bow. "Nice to meet you. My name is Hwang Hyunjin.

I hope we can all get along."