Ah. What a morning. Hitting snooze on my alarm every ten minutes to try and squeeze a few more precious moments of slumber out of my early routine. The evening before I had planned on being up early and dressing nicely for my first day of school, but of course the damn act of sleep itself overshadowed any semblance of that idea. Eventually on the ninth or tenth time my alarm whirred loudly in my ears, I forced myself up. The carpet was surprisingly soft against the balls of my bare feet as I stood. Relief shot through my back as I twisted my torso to each side, cracking it as I stretched. Looking into the vanity mirror across the room, I was almost appalled at the sight of myself. Hair a black, mop-like mess on my head, slightly looking like some sort of nest for a small animal like a mouse, or maybe a squirrel. The bags under my eyes just accentuated my weight. I was enough of a stick as it was, these marks of exhaustion simply highlighted the frailty of my appearance. "Well, I might as well try to fix this.." I mumbled to myself, moving straight towards the bathroom. My grandfather was already gone having left for work at as early as four in the morning. Now it was simply me and the ghosts of the house.

Digging through my drawer of random bathroom items and hygiene products, I eventually found my comb and a nearly empty container of pomade. I use the tiniest amount everyday just to keep my hair from going flat. What can I say, it gives it a nice amount of volume and it smells good. After I was finally able to tame my mane, I dabbed some cold water under my eyes to try and get rid of the ever present bags that had made themselves at home under my eyes. It kind of worked, but at this point it didn't matter because I needed to leave or else I'd be late. The idea of being the new kid is bad enough, but being the new kid in the middle of the year AND being late on the first day? Yeah, that wasn't going to happen.

Quickly scrambling out of the bathroom, I scurried back to my room to dress myself and pack my school bag all within a few minutes. I had picked out a nice white button shirt and black jeans to throw on, topping things off with some black dress shoes and a pair of rounded gold glasses. Not that I actually need glasses, because I don't in all actuality. They just give me more character I guess, and I think they look pretty cute.

I had shoved a bunch of random school supplies into my bag before scurrying down the stairs and tiptoeing out the door, leaving the creaky old house behind me.

When I arrived at this so called, "extraordinary learning institution", as my grandfather had called it, after about a 20 minute walk I couldn't have been more strongly appalled. It looked like any other crappy school. The cement stairs and even the foundation of the building were crumbling to pieces and covered in cracks. That was probably a warning sign for anyone who dared to enter the place. "Hey, even the foundation of our building is shitty and cracking all over, so the foundation of your education probably won't be any better." I'm pretty sure I let out a disgusted grunt at that point as I climbed those crappy and crumby front steps and entered through the dusty glassed doors, who's paint was peeling all over.

"So much for being extraordinary...more like extra ordinary.." I quietly groaned.  My locker number had been memorized since last night, so I wandered around a bit until I found the correct one. It was on the second floor, next to the science hallway.  A nice girl that had on a floral dress with pigtails in her hair had given me directions, welcoming me to the school with a small, bright smile. Another person, a guy with short, cropped blonde hair helped me with my locker when I couldn't quite get the lock open.

It was a bit of a refreshing shock to be treated so nicely. The events that occurred were all the exact opposite of every movie or book about high school that I had ever seen or read. Although the physical place was shitty as can be..it seemed that the same couldn't be said about the students here.

Scrambling through the plethora of items in my bag, I had finally found my my schedule and the books I needed for my classes. A few more kind persons assisted me and pointed me towards my first class, and surprisingly enough, I made it there on time. There was a perfectly empty and isolated seat in the back that had my name written all over it and that is exactly where I went the moment I saw it. Another few minutes passed and the classroom began to fill, students taking up most of the seats. The quiet buzz of silence slowly began to wither as the voices of chattering people blossomed, filling up the space. Even after the bell sounded, the front of the room remained empty, no teacher in sight. I entertained myself through the simple act of people watching while I waited. Everyone around me was seated within some sort of small group or clique, while I was the odd one out, unsocial and seated in the far back. I was also fully aware of the fact that I had a very cold appearance. There was a nearly permanent grimace on my face, giving my eyes an icy glare. So, I wasn't exactly the friendliest looking guy. Now besides the friendship aspect...there weren't exactly any special sort of specimen around me that caught my eye. They were all just too...average? Nothing seemed special or exciting about them.

The door to the classroom suddenly rattled, relieving me with the knowledge that the teacher was finally here. But alas, it was no teacher. An extremely tall boy sauntered in, removing his sunglasses and immediately flashing a smile. His gorgeous pearly whites seemed to nearly sparkle in the light just like his eyes as he made direct eye contact with me and winked. I could feel my features soften as a flush of red rushed to my cheeks. My pulse quickened by the moment, my chest slowly tightening. "Hey Mingyu!" a girl sitting a row in front of  me called out, followed by a fit of giggles from her friends.

Mingyu...what a glorious name for such a perfect human..

"Hey." he smirked without looking at her, stopping in front of the cluster of desks his friends were sitting in. They all exchanged a series of random handshakes before he let out a slight laugh and looked up again, his eyes meeting mine once more as his bright grin remained glued to his face. A slight smile grew on my face..and it grew bigger and bigger until I could feel the heat of the blush in my cheeks, causing me to look down.

"Mingyu...what are you smiling at-?" his friends questioned as they simultaneously turned around, following where his gaze had been. The smile immediately disappeared from his face and was replaced with a smirk. "Oh, nothing. I'm just messing with that new kid." The group all burst out laughing at the sight of me.

"Oh God Mingyu, He's totally into you...what a little fag." One of them laughed.

Pain suddenly seemed to flicker in the boy's eyes before they seemed to freeze over all together.

"Yeah...haha.." Mingyu reacted, agreeing with a half-assed laugh. "He's a fag alright..."

The butterflies I had felt floating around in my tummy had suddenly been smite, as if the handsome boy himself had smacked them all with a fly swatter. The color that remained in my cheeks was solely from embarrassment now. All the kind people that I had met throughout the day, well suddenly it felt as if I had never even met them at all. I hated that word, completely despised it. It was a hateful term full of malice and spite and I found only contempt for anyone who would ever use it. My first impression of this place had suddenly made a complete 360. All because of that handsomely, ugly asshole, Mingyu.

The huge weight in my stomach distracted me from the fact that the clump of jerks in the front had settled themselves down due to the appearance of our teacher. Apparently the older male, a substitute for the day, was taking attendance, but I was unaware of that fact or that he had even shown up. The sound of my name was the only thing that snapped me back into whatever was happening around me.

"Wonwoo Jeon?"

My head snapped up to the sound of my name being called for a third time.

"Uh- yeah. Here." I raised my hand a bit like I was calling a waiter over to my table at a fancy restaurant as I looked up. My eyes immediately met another gaze that was staring back at me. Eyes icy, and a large smirk on his face. It took everything I had to tear my eyes away and steer my focus back towards the ground, but even after I did, I could still feel Mingyu's stare piercing into me.

"Well Wonwoo...welcome to hell..." I mumbled to myself before sheltering my mind from everything around me for the rest of the period.