Sleep overtook you as fast as lightning that night which is to say a lot as your windows were left shut.
Blame the exhaustion from your evening 'escapade' or the terror which was the aftermath of your gran's 'horror' story. You had dreadfully acknowledgededged that sleeping with your windows open wasn't much of a good idea and so that was that.
You drifted into the world of reveries dreaming about cupcakes and a certain half-naked boy.
Speaking of, San, whose last name you hadn't bothered asking, had managed to make an impression on you. He was a sweet boy, one who liked to talk in mysteries but sweet nonetheless.
He showed you the right way back to your home, how he knew your address was a mystery, just like everything else about him.
You had even wondered why your aunt was so wary while you and Hana were talking boys. If the boys here were anything like San, they were serious eye candy and yes, you were drooling in your sleep.
Whilst talking with the said hotshot from the street, you had gotten to know that he was in fact just a year older than you, which made him a senior.
You had managed to make two friends just by being in the right place at the right time, that was definitely a good start.
You woke up abruptly, startled by a sudden noise. It was barely 2 am. Your alarm would ring in 4 hours.
You huffed and laid down, switching off the bedside lamp.
There it was again, the horrid screeching sound. You inhaled sharply, slowly turning your head towards the curtains which were drawn over the windowpane, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever it was through the space in between the blinds.
You remained on the bed, your body refusing to move out of instincts. You tensed up again when the sound was repeated. It was as if someone was scratching their nails across the glass (which seemed unlikely but did it, really?).
It could be an animal.You shuddered at the possibility.
You mindlessly climbed out of your bed, taking unsure steps and with one swift move, undid the blinds.
If you were face to face with a leopard with just a thin glass as a barrier right then, you wouldn't know. It was just too dark. All you could see was the vague silhouettes of trees and two parallel golden dots, staring right at you.
Wait, what?!
You squinted, trying to make out what in hell the unmoving dots were when they twinkled. Once, twice, thrice. And then they were gone in a flash.
You scratched your head in confusion, shrugging it off and made yourself comfortable in the bedding.
The noise wasn't there again, sleep wasn't either.
How could it be? Especially after you realized that the dots weren't just dots, but two eyes, golden in color, staring right at you from the midst of the woods. And they weren't twinkling. Technically, they were blinking.
You usually weren't the type to get scared easily, but after what happened last night, you weren't so sure anymore. You wanted to believe that it was all a trick of your mind and that this skittishness was a result of new-home jitters but no matter how hard you tried, there was this absurd feeling within you, call it intuition or whatever the fuck, that was screaming at you to yeet the fuck out of this place. Your grandma's stories were beginning to take a serious toll on your mental health. You were going crazy.
Waking up, you felt like a reanimated corpse. It was so cold that early in the morning that your toes were practically ice when they hit the floor. By the time you readied yourself school-worthy and reached the living room, you, being the ever nervous wreck, had already reconsidered half your life-decisions.
Your Gran was dragging her feet towards you like a sloth. Looking very much like a banshee with, her hair bound in curlers that bounced with every step she took, she snickered, "What happened to you?" It took you a few seconds to realize that the question was aimed at you, "Nothing... why?" She rolled her eyes, "Why, you look like you've seen a ghost! Did you see your aunt's face first thing in the morning or what?" You were about to make a sarcastic remark when your aunt stomped down the hardwood floor and snatched the can of Dr. Pepper from Gran's hand (where did she manage to get that from?).
"Hey!"
"You will have another stroke if you continue drinking this junk!" Your aunt scolded her mother.
"You had a stroke?!" you gasped, alarmed, looking at your gran who rolled her eyes at your aunt. "Bitch, when will you leave?"
"Language!" Your aunt screeched, eliciting a giggle from your lips, all your previous nervousness forgotten.
Nervousness was clogging up every vessel in your brain and the simple act of breathing seemed to get increasingly difficult. Your head was pounding and you were almost sure that Thor was beating his hammer at it, given the intensity. Was it too late to take a medical leave now?
"This is your stop, Calculus Class." Haneul sighed, "I still can't believe we have no class together, you bookworm! Was it necessary to take all advanced classes?" She continued dramatically. Why had she befriended you, again? You were awkward beyond measure but then again, weird attracted weird so that might be it.
"I'm... sorry, I guess?" You scrunched your nose cutely.
"Oh my God!" Haneul shrieked, startling you, "You can't just do that out of nowhere! My heart," she fake-sobbed before placing her hand over chest, "Off you go now!" she pushed you into the class without warning, making you almost face plant if not for your remarkable balance. The classroom was half-filled and miraculously enough, no one had noticed you-
"Hey! New girl?"
Spoke too soon, didn't you?
You ignored the strangely familiar voice and pretentiously busied yourself in looking through the map of the school (of all things).
"_____!?"
Now that caught your attention. Your head jerked up instinctively on hearing your name and your vision tunneled on the one boy you had last night dreamt of. You fisted the strap of your backpack and made your way to the raven-haired enigma.
"San?"
"The one and only!" He grinned (fucking hell he had dimples!), patting the empty chair next to him for you to sit on, "I thought you were ignoring me for a second there."
Well, you kind of were, but he doesn't have to know that, right? Right.
"Why would I do that?" You chuckled awkwardly only for him to give you a knowing look.
Towards the end of the fourth slot, you were busy wondering to yourself how in hell Choi San (you caught his surname during the roll call aka when you lost all sense of confidence and dignity whilst introducing yourself to the class) managed to have every class with you. The boy was fucking everywhere. Okay - that sounded wrong.
By the time you reached the cafeteria during recess, it was too late for you to realize that Haneul was nowhere in sight. You, standing just near the entrance, were contemplating the possibility of escape. Will the library accept you during recess? Did they even have a library here? The next thing you knew, you were being tugged by your elbow towards the heart of the cafe. At first, you assumed it was Haneul but the moment you turned your head you were greeted by (surprise!) Choi San.
"Choi San?" His name left your lips involuntarily. The said boy turned his head once to glance at your haphazard state before resuming his previous stance, all the while dragging you to god knew where.
"It's just San."
"Okay, just San," you rolled your eyes, "Mind letting go of my arm?" It was too late to bite your tongue now. You knew you sounded awfully rude, but... you hated being touched, much less by someone you barely knew anything about apart from their name. You opened your mouth only for him to cut you off by the dulcet sound of his chuckle.
"You don't have to apologize, I understand." He said, letting go of you and gesturing for you to follow him.
Oh my god, could he read minds? How did he know- he wasn't even looking at you!
"I cannot read minds, dumbass."
Holy fuck - he definitely could, liar!
'Choi San, you're the fucking hottest creature on this planet.' you thought to yourself only to be met by a stone-faced San. Okay, maybe he couldn't read minds after all.
He stopped abruptly, causing you to crash on his back.
"______, meet the pack!" he said, extending both his hands forward to gesture towards a table occupied by a group of boys. When exactly had you died? Because what you were seeing right now could only be a site available in heaven and these boys could only be angels. Or maybe you were in hell, and these in front of you were incubi, yes that must be it.
Had you not been busy drooling, you would have noticed the said boys glaring daggers at the one you called friend, but all a girl could do was fantasize, right?
"Boys, this is _____, kindly welcome her by introducing yourselves since wolf got her tongue, lmao." San said before laughing at his own very lame joke. What was the deal with wolves?! And did this boy just say lmao, like l-m-a-o, out loud?
"Gosh San, did you just say that?" the chestnut-haired boy rolled his eyes and said, "Hey, I'm Yeosang."
One by one each boy mumbled their name until there was only a certain blonde left towards the end of the table who hadn't even bother glancing at you. You couldn't really see his face but figured that he must be ridiculously good-looking judging from the company he kept. Not only were you left dumbfounded, but there was also this feeling of hurt(?) that clawed up your throat and you could practically feel the air thickening. It was ridiculous, really.
"Uh... he's Wooyoung," San said out of the blue and you suddenly felt like an animal in the zoo with all the stares aimed at you, "He has social anxiety." Social anxiety? This is not social anxiety! What you have is social anxiety, the correct term for this would be 'being an insolent brat'. "Please sit down."
So...Wooyoung.