My A.R.M.Y. Story

The Beginning

It all started out in 2018. It was the middle of 3rd grade. I was struggling with having friends. I first hung out with one of my friends from 2nd grade. But she started hanging out with someone else and I felt really left out because they were really good at cartwheels, handstands, and doing flips on bars. While the only thing I could do was stand on top of the bars and do a bridge. So I suddenly stopped showing up to them. I went through a phase where I really liked creating stories. So that is what I did in the grassy area of the playground. Whispering and talking to myself. I basically had no one standing by me.

Then I found an old friend from 1st grade. She seemed really nice so I hung out with her and her friend. We would play random things like Tag. I got a little bored of doing the same thing over and over so I stopped playing with them once they both became less close with each other.

My brain went through a hard time during that. I was doing well educationally. I started crying myself to sleep whenever I needed comfort from someone besides my parents. I realized no one was there for me. 

One of the things I hated about going to school every day is because people called me the weird girl or too goofy. I started thinking, Hey, am I too happy all the time?  People also called me annoying all the time. Everyone tried to stay away from me. I felt hopeless.

Then one day, my babysitter introduced me to one of her friends. She had a daughter the same age as me. Her name was Krystal. We didn't talk much since we weren't in the same class. 

Then 4th grade came. We were in the same class and at recess, I saw her so I asked her if I could spend recess with her. She said yes. She told me about something I had never heard of before. Called K-Pop. IT was so new to me. Pop music? In Korean? She told me about Blackpink. She showed me their photocards. They seemed like such cool people. I decided that I should try out their music. I was so fascinated. They were so different from Western Artists. They had all 4 of the things I liked. Vocals, Dancing, Rapping, and Visuals. I came back to Krystal the next day and told her that I loved them. I continued to learn more about them. 

Her other friends started coming too. Their names were Jess and Yis. And sometimes her other friend, Eri, would also come. We would always have so much fun. There wasn't a single recess when I didn't enjoy myself. They made me feel like I could be free to be myself. Then another girl in my class started showing up. Her name was Kiyah. She was so nice and so funny. During this time, Jess and Yis stopped hanging out with us as much. 

Not too long after that, Krystal mentioned something to me. Something different that I had almost never heard about or known nothing about.