Park
It took me a minute to get reacquainted with my surroundings. One minute I was looking down at my phone searching for my next class, the next I was on the floor having just been launched a full foot backwards.
My assailant held out a bronze hand to me to help me up. He must be new then, only someone new or out of their mind would bother.
I ignored his hand and lifted myself up off the floor, dusting myself off as I did.
He kept his hand outstretched. "I'm so sorry about that," he apologised in a low voice. "I wasn't looking where I was going. I'm Kopter."
Whether he was new or not I couldn't quite tell. He looked just like the rest of them, effortlessly handsome and charming. Was it not enough to be part of the one percent, did the rich all have to be so attractive too?
Now that I was standing straight he was much taller than I had realised, he had tanned skin and a mess of soft dark brown hair which had that carefree look that took hours and copious products to achieve. He had sharp model-esque cheekbones which covered part of his soft deep brown eyes and he smelt like an expensive cologne I wouldn't be able to pronounce the name of.
He stooped down to pick up my book bag and held it out to me, smiling.
"Thanks," I mumbled as I yanked my bag away from him.He looked taken aback for a second but regained his composure.
"Do you know where Lafayette Reception Hall is?" he asked. "I'm supposed to report there before class starts."
I rolled my eyes as hard as I could to let him know just how much of a pain in my neck he was being.
"Are you blind or something?" I pointed to the classroom to my left "It's literally right over there." I assumed he was trying to make some kind of joke out of me. I never really understood their humour.
There was a pause where he looked down sheepishly at the floor. "Do you have AP English next?" He asked in a small voice, "I'm kinda new and I could really use a friend to show me around..."
He looked so pathetic that I almost felt bad for him. I sighed.
"Look, I'm gonna tell you this once and only once. We are not friends, we are never gonna be friends. That's just how this place works, you'll figure it out in no time. So do us both a favour and brave this big ol' scary school on your own for now."
I turned on my heel and started walking down the hall to English. I felt his eyes on the back of my head as I walked and I felt a stab of guilt in stomach. But it was better this way, it was better to be enemies off the bat on my own terms than have him realise we should be later on.
I walked into English with my head down and headed straight for my desk in the far left corner. Professor Humza wasn't in yet so I buried my face in my textbook and read the same passage over and over again.
The professor walked to the front of the class and cleared her throat and the entire classroom fell into silence, nobody would dare disrespect her.
"Class, this our new student, Kopter Sittawat. He's joining us from Bangkok. I hope you'll all give him a warm welcome to Trinity Academy."
I heard the girls next to me giggle excitedly as Kopter sheepishly smiled round the classroom.
"Oh he's cute!" One of them exclaimed to another round of irritating giggles.
"Sooo dreamy," the other replied, looking straight at Kopter with the kind of look that a dog gives food that's out of reach.
Professor Humza whispered something to Kopter and he nervously scanned the class. He spotted the empty seat next to mine and locked eyes with me. I gave him a look that could've curdled milk and he glanced away, settling on the seat next to Darius.
'Good choice,' I thought to myself as I watched him settle himself down and introduce himself to Darius. Darius was much more fitting for him. As the son of the Operelia conglomerate, he would have just as much money, if not more than Kopter. A much better contact for him to make. Besides, Darius was a pretty okay guy in his own way, he'd never made any trouble for me.
I glanced around the rest of the class to gauge their reactions. Most were nodding their heads in approval of this choice, or pouting in disappointment that he hadn't chosen to sit next to them. Nevertheless, he was going to be safe under Darius' wing.
While I scanned the room I accidentally locked eyes with Bianca. She gave me a look of disgust and I hastily lowered my eyes back down to the definition of iambic pentameter as my heart thumped anxiously in my chest.
She was the perfect reminder that I had done the right thing for Kopter.
He would be okay.
Kopter
What a dick, I thought as I watched him walk down the hall and into a classroom.
Inside the reception hall were two elderly ladies, eagerly waiting to pin me with a name tag and have me sign a massive stack of admissions papers.
Once the final 'Non Disclosure' contract had been been signed, the ladies introduced me to my English teacher, Mrs. Humza who was waiting to escort me to my first class.
She led me down the hall and straight into a brightly lit classroom filled with around fifteen other students. She introduced me to the class and instructed me to find a spare seat.
I spotted the rude kid from before right in the corner. He had a spare seat next to him and I contemplated taking it just to irritate him but the look he gave me was so ferocious I opted for a spare seat on the other side of the class, as far from him as possible.
I laid out my books and the boy next to me extended a well manicured hand to me.
Like many of the students here, he was undeniably good looking. He had perfect, blemish-free dark skin and tightly curled black hair. Whilst he had a slight air of superiority around him, his friendly demeanour and openness was inviting and comforting in constant to the boy from before.
"I'm Darius." His voice was deep and melodic in its tone.
"Kopter." I shook his hand and gave him what I hope was a confident smile. Even though I didn't even know his name, the kid from before had really shaken my confidence.
Darius chatted to me throughout English and escorted me to all my classes after that. Turns out we had almost identical timetables, excluding language where I took Mandarin and he took Spanish.
"The company has major ties in export to Mexico and Argentina," he explained. "So Spanish is non-negotiable in the family."
At lunch, Darius introduced me to his friends. He got halfway through introducing Dior, his cousin and daughter of a fashion mogul and Krishna, a small bouncy bespectacled girl who's family worked in pharmaceuticals, when a tall, audacious girl interrupted.
She was tall, pale and intimidating. She had sharp angled cheekbones, piercing blue eyes and wispy, long blonde hair that fell neatly in straight lines down her back. Everything about her gave off the air of an aloof Persian house cat.
"Bianca Dellemare," she interjected as she presented me with a thin, bejewelled hand. Was I supposed to kiss it?
"Kopter Sittawat," I replied, opting to just shake her hand instead. She didn't let go.
"Did you need anything, Bianca?" Krishna asked cheerfully as she wiped her glasses on her jacket.
"Oh no, nothing really. Just thought I'd introduce myself..." her words trailed off as she looked around, making sure everyone could see her holding my hand.
Once she was satisfied that everyone important had seen, she let go and flashed me a blindingly white smile.
"You've already caused quite the commotion Sittawat." The corners of her mouth twitched, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.
"I have?" I asked, silently praying that I hadn't already gotten into trouble here.
"Oh of course! Everyone's been talking about the handsome new kid who's the heir to the Manow company." She drawled. I felt my gut lurch uncomfortably.
"Your family owns the Manow company?" Darius exclaimed, fork suspended mid-air.
"It's not so much we own it as my family IS the Manow company," I mumbled as I stared down at my lap. Talking about business and wealth always made me uncomfortable. Darius, Dior and Krishna looked round at each other, visibly impressed.
Bianca cleared her throat. "Well, it was nice to be formally introduced to you. I'll see you later, Kopter."
"Uhh, okay..." I stuttered as she sauntered away with a hair flick. Something about this meeting let me know that it wouldn't be the last.
"Oh you better watch out, she's after you," Darius chuckled with a hint of fear in his voice.
"After me?" I questioned.
"Bianca's always got her eyes on the kind ones," Dior sighed, twirling the straw of her organic smoothie lazily.
"They're much easier to control," Krishna added, grabbing the smoothie from Dior's hands and taking a sip.
"Hey! I'm not 'easy to control'!" I said defensively.
"You do look kind though," Darius lazily waved a hand to the group, "You didn't even question making friends with us."
Keen to change the topic I looked around the cafeteria and spotted the kid from before. He sat by himself and concentrated hard on a textbook in front of him, a cheese sandwich loosely gripped in his other hand. As I stared, a balled up piece of paper was launched at his head and hit him squarely on the forehead. He didn't flinch.
"Who's that guy?" I asked, pointing at him.
Everyone turned around to look, then turned back looking bored.
"That's just Park," Darius responded, leaning over to grab another bread roll.
"He's a total outcast here," Dior explained, "He's the scholarship kid for our year, doesn't really fit in."
"Why's he always on his own?" I asked, as another balled up paper landed in the centre of his page. After my not so pleasant encounter with him, I felt like I already knew the answer.
"Why do you think people pay so much to go here?" Darius responded, waving his arm yet again to the cafeteria. "People send their kids here to make contacts, not to have a good time. If you have no business to boast or money to invest, you're not worth the effort to get to know".
I looked down at my half eaten plate of food. Was it really that clear cut and elitist?
Krishna must have seen me looking down-hearted cause she rested a hand on my shoulder and gently elaborated. "It's not that ruthless, we're all still friends. It's just the initial reason for our friendships that's a bit clinical."
I looked up at them all nodding to one another.
"Take Dior and I for instance," she added. "We became friends because her family's fashion line was going to expand into face creams, which my family's lab could supply many of the organic compounds for. But that doesn't mean she isn't one of the best friends I've ever had."
"We hang out together cause we genuinely like each other," Dior explained, "Most of the kids here have had some kind of trade or contract between their families but haven't remained friends after it was over."
"Park just doesn't have anything to offer, so nobody bothers with him," Darius concluded, "Also he's kinda cold and stand off-ish anyway."
"You can say that again" I muttered under my breath.
"But you know why he's like that though," retorted Krishna, rolling her eyes at Darius.
"Why's tha-" A loud ringing interrupted my sentence as the school bell rang and everyone started gathering their things up.
Krishna picked up my empty plate and stacked it on top of hers.
"Come on Kopter, I'll walk you to Mandarin."
---
If the end of school bell had not rung any sooner, I would've already thrown myself out of the second storey math class window.
Darius turned to me as I was packing up the last of my books.
"Hey, do you wanna come over to my place after school? Dior and Krishna are coming too, we can work on the Chem assignment together."
"What Chem assignment?" I asked, nervously flipping through my homework diary.
"Oh, it won't be in there. I got all of last year's assignment dates from my older brother when he graduated. They'll give us two weeks to complete it but it'll be more like a three to four week kinda project, he ended up pulling three all nighters to complete it."
"Oh, right. Thanks but I actually gotta go to work after school. Maybe some other time though."
"They already got you working at the company?" Darius exclaimed, visibly impressed.
"Yeah, something like that..." I felt like letting people know I was working at a coffee shop wouldn't go down too well in this kind of crowd.
He shrugged absentmindedly. "Well, see ya later then!" He called out as he exited the classroom.
I stayed in the empty classroom a few extra minutes to make sure the halls were clear of any students and then began making my way to the exit.
From school, the store was only a few minutes away so it wasn't too difficult to get there without being noticed.
The coffee shop itself was different from all the other boutiques along the street. Like many of the restaurants we owned, it had the same, warm family feel to it. When Mom expanded the business internationally, it was the one detail she wouldn't compromise on.
"If it doesn't feel like family, it's not a family business," she would chant to every contractor, architect and interior designer unfortunate enough to come her way.
Because of this, the store looked very out of place. It radiated warmth with its rough, oak panel doors, its randomly placed wild exotic plants and its display windows full of colourful Thai desserts. Next to the cold, clinical, black and white minimalist stores either side, it shone like a beacon of friendliness.
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and stepped inside.
Inside it was warm and brightly lit. There were a few people milling around, sipping on Chai Lattes and frantically typing away on their laptops, hurriedly finishing their screenplays no doubt.
Behind the counter there only seemed to be one other person working the shift. His back was turned towards me and he clearly hadn't noticed me walk in. I lifted the panel at the side of the counter and walked in.
I cleared my throat to grab his attention and began to introduce myself. As I did so, he turned around to face me and my words instantly trailed off.
The boy standing before me was small and slight. He had short, choppy black bangs that covered his forehead and thin mono-lid eyes, so dark that you could barely tell where his pupil ended and his iris started. Despite being fairly thin, his face was round and plump with soft curving features. If he didn't permanently wear an expression of mild irritation, he might even be cute looking. Although his expression now wasn't one of annoyance, it was one of pure shock.
It was Park.