I Like You || kyy || completed ||

Chapter 11

I sat, straight up in the back of Mama Tuan's car, peaking every now and then out of the darkly tinted windows. The sky that had been so clear and blue when I slipped inside the car earlier, now it appeared dark and clouded.

"How are you feeling?" Mama Tuan turned around the passenger seat, restricted slightly by the strap of the seat belt. She tilted her face towards mine, her brown eyes peering into mine. "Are you excited?"

I took a deep breath in through my nose, before letting it out slowly through my lips. I tugged at the edges of the thigh high brown skirt, my fingers in a constant state of tremble. Today was my first day of school in South Korea and I had never wanted to puke so badly in my life. My stomach had been twisting since I opened my eyes and realized the date. "To be honest," my voice left my lips as a choked off sound. I cleared my throat and started again. "To be honest, I'm not excited at all."

Mama Tuan's eyes narrowed and she bit her lower lip slightly. "Why not?" I shrugged my shoulders, the brown vest I was wearing following my movements.

"It's just going to be so different. They're going to be so much further ahead than I am. They're only going to be talking in Korean-"

"Ah," Mama Tuan's lips lifted in a smile, "but everyone will try to speak in English just to impress you sweetie." Though the words were meant to sooth me and make me feel better, it didn't help at all.

~~

The car pulled away from the curb just as the first bell rang. The bell signified the start of the 10 minutes to get to first period, and I was still on the outside of the school. The anxious feeling started in my chest again as I started a quick walk to the glass doors that led the way inside.

Students passed me without much of an acknowledgement, talking softly between themselves. Which was a relief. I had hopes of them sparing me, leaving me to be on my own since I was a new to the school, and new as the final grade level for high school at that. I felt my face heat up in embarrassment at the thought, and anger towards my parents that I hadn't felt for months caused my chest to tighten as I slipped inside the school.

The school smelled of cleaning product, making my nose tickle and the urge to sneeze to build up in my nose. I fought it down though, as I stopped just inside of the entrance of the school. Mama Tuan had said something about finding a counselors office, getting my schedule or having someone tell me where to go for the day. However, I could read Hangul, I just didn't know what it meant. The anxiety increased and it grew harder to breath as I followed after the group of students that walked down a long hallway.

"Yah." I jumped as a hand wrapped around my upper arm, stopping me in my mission to find an office of sorts. I turned where I stood to stare with wide eyes at the person who had stopped me.

It was a girl; she stood level with me but with a little more fierceness in her dark brown eyes. She wore a light line of black eyeliner on her top eyelid, her dark brown hair was cute at to her jaw, and her bangs were cut straight across. Her lips were pulled into a smile, her white teeth barely visible. "You are new here?" She questioned.

"Uh," I chuckled nervously, biting my lip and nodding my head slightly. "Yeah."

"Follow me." She kept a strong grip on my upper arm, guiding me through the students. We walked past several classrooms where students had already piled in, sitting themselves down in the plastic seats according to who would be sitting next to them. The teachers had yet to flock to their classrooms and shout for order, so the hallway was filled with noise.

"Where are we going?" I questioned, raising my voice slightly over the voices that seemed to permanently fill the air with noise. The girl leading me didn't respond, didn't even acknowledge that I had spoken to her. She seemed to be set on our destination, and nothing was going to stop her from getting to where we needed to be. Not even an explanation on where that place was.

We didn't arrive at the office until the late bell had rung, and the hall had finally settled into silence. She rasped her pale knuckles against the light brown, wooden door. We waited for a few seconds before a voice called for us to come in. She eased the door open, stepping inside.

It was decorated much like the receptionists area at my mom's job, plain and without inclination that the person behind the desk had a personal life. It was an old woman, her face wrinkled around her lips and under her eyes with deep laugh lines. Her hair was a sliver color, cut short to show off her plump face.

The girl that had drug me here bowed at the waist, before straightening up and brushing her bangs from in front of her eyes. She looked at me from the corner of her eye; bit her lip before uttering a soft 'hello', seeing as she had spoken to me with strength filling every word not too long ago in the hallway.

The receptionist looked up from her desk slowly, and turned her head so she could look at us. Her lips quirked up in a smile, laugh lines appearing around the edges, before she swiveled around in her computer chair so she could face us fully. "Hello," She spoke in Korean to the girl beside me, her vice gentle. It reminded me of how Mark's mom spoke to me when I had been sick. She turned to look at me, her head tilting slightly. "You must be the exchange student." I was slightly bewildered at how well she spoke.

"Uh," I glanced at the girl beside me, before glancing back at the old woman, "yes." I bowed at my waist as well, before straightening up. She smiled wide, before standing and moving around the desk so she stood in front of us. She was shorter than I was by a few inches and she smelled of flowers.

"I'm Mrs. Jung." She held out her hand for me to shake, and I did so hesitantly, afraid that my shaking would be obvious. Her skin was soft, with no indication that she had lived a long life.

"I'm Anora," I muttered, feeling my face fill with a slight blush. "I was hoping I could get a schedule or something." I dropped Mrs. Jung's hand and crossed my hands behind my back. Mrs. Jung's eyes lifted toward the ceiling, her lips quirking at the edges.

"Just follow Hongseol," she motioned to the girl that had stayed dutifully by my side, "I'll have something tomorrow." Hongseol and I bowed at our waists, thanked Mrs. Jung before leaving the office.

"I have Maths first," Hongseol spoke first, glancing at me from the corner of her eye, "I'll try to find seats for both of us in the class." I nodded, even though she wasn't looking at me anymore and followed after her. Our footsteps sounded off the walls and empty hall as we walked towards her class.

It turned out to be the very last room at the complete opposite side of the school, but that didn't stop Hongseol from strolling into the room as if she wasn't thirty minutes late. My face immediately heated up in a blush when too many pairs of eyes to count, turned to us when we entered. The teacher turned to look at us, before narrowing his eyes and speaking to Hongseol quickly in Korean.

I couldn't wrap my head around how fast they were speaking, despite the many times I had listened in on Yugyeom and one of the other boys speaking Korean. I looked over the classroom, found two empty seats, one in front of the other, and moved to sit in one of them while Hongseol explained the situation to the teacher.

I sat down slowly, trying not to draw unnecessary attention. It didn't work though. I felt multiple gazes burn into my skin, and I wanted so badly to pull my phone from my back pocket and call Mama Tuan to come pick me up. I glanced over at a girl beside me, who had her phone out and ear buds shoved into her ears. She wasn't paying attention to me, her eyes trained onto the screen. I glanced down at the screen and my stomach dropped.

The boys that were currently dancing on the screen, so in sync, looked strikingly similar to the 7 boys I had grown close with. And I would have turned away and not paid anymore attention if a close up of my Yuggy on a stuffed zebra hadn't filtered onto the screen.

I felt my stomach roll, and I looked towards the front of the class.