I am just a girl that likes to live every day like I always do. There was nothing ever big in my life and I didn't want to change anything. My life was simple.
"Annie!" I heard my name called. I suddenly looked up from my textbooks. I fixed my glasses. I was sitting at my desk in my room. I stood up and ran out of my room. I dragged my feet out to the kitchen. My mom was placing food on the table. I sat at the table, My brother and dad were sitting at as well. My mom then sat down next to me and we started eating. "How is studying going?" My mom looked over at me. "Good." I nodded with a mouth full of noodles. "Seems like all is going well right? I am glad nothing complicated has happened." My mom looked pleased. "Don't Jinx her." My dad playfully nudged my mom's shoulder. "It's okay, I don't plan on doing anything big this year." I smiled at myself. Just how things will always be. Nothing will change.
I fixed my long light brown hair in a bun and tucked in my hoodie. I arrived at another day at my school. Just a sixteen year older high school student, right? I walked in right before class had started. I ran to sit next to my little friend group. I knew all my class pretty well, but I didn't really talk that much. But, that was normal. I sat next to my friend, Grace. "Hey." She waved softly as she recognized I came in. I looked down as I got my books out of my bag. I looked around as I saw the boys laughing and playing around with each other. "Make sure to be quiet when the teacher comes in!" Grace yelled at them. "We will!" one of them looked back. I chuckled because I found the look on the boys face, funny. My whole class was pretty fun to be around. The Teacher suddenly walked in, all our attention went to him. "Hey! Welcome back to another week of school." As he said that I heard others sigh in the back. "now, we are going to go over the list to check if everyone is here." He said. We all listened. "Haley." He called out. "here."
"Changbin." "here." He stood up then sat back down. "Minho." "Here." One of the boys that Grace yelled at stood up. "Felix." "here, sir." The other one stood up. I enjoyed looking to see what Minho and Felix talked about with each other. I found them so funny and so interesting. Our teacher, Chan, was calling out the rest of the names. "Rylee, Hyunjin, Caryss..." They were all here. "Grace." Grace stood up. "of course I am here!" she flashed her smile. "OF course, Of course, you are." Chan rolled his eyes with a smile. They always teased each other. "Annie." My name was called. I stood up awkwardly. "Here." I nodded, then I didn't know if I was supposed to sit down again or not. "You can sit." Chan shrugged. Everyone chuckled. I quickly sat down. I always easily embarrassed myself. I felt a bit awkward but I moved forward as the class continued on. That was my favorite class to be in. It was small but it was simple. It was so entertaining because all the people in it got along, were funny, and fun to listen to. Even though I never spoke much with any of them, I still liked being around them. I somehow felt distanced from them, but I didn't mind because that's how things have always been for me. I shuffled around the halls looking for the group again. Usually, the girls only hung with the girls and the boys with the boys. I looked around for Grace and the others, they were in the halls talking to each other. I ran up to them behind Grace, but they didn't really seem to be bothered that I was there. "Yeah, This girl just ran into me during the game and the coach didn't even call it a foul." Grace went on. "It's annoying how couches do that," Haley replied. "This girl tried me so hard today in my next class, only because I accidentally snapped back at her being smart with my best friend. Trying to get all goody with him." Rylee went on. I always just listened to their conversations, but I never really understood them. I just followed them as we made our way through the halls. I heard some laughing and I noticed the boy group laughing with each other and playing on their phones. But, I noticed one of the boys wasn't there. "Who is missing?" I thought. I tried to think about it but it never occurred to me. I passed them with a smile. I seemed to be the only girl that actually smiled at the boys and actually found them funny.
After another day of school I have arrived home, my mom was prepping dinner already. "Welcome home." "Thanks." I took off my shoes. "how was it?" She asked. "Fun like usual. I love my class." I did love my class, I just wish I was a bigger part of it somehow. I bond with someone more, or even, just have something not so normal happen for once. "But I like things simple, and I don't want things to change, so, why do I feel this way?" I Made my way to my room. I could hear my brother yelling through the wall to my room. "Shush! I have to study!" I yelled through the wall. He was probably playing video games like he usually does. I opened my textbook then I saw the little doodles I had made. "Maybe I don't need to study right now.." I got up with a smile. One thing was on my mind: watching the new episodes. I needed to catch up. I turned on my TV and started to watch anime. I was a big anime fan. My whole room was decorated with it, and I had a lot of manga too. I had a lot of favorite animes. I never really talked about anime much because none of my girls in my classes like it, so I never really shared it with anyone. I cuddled with my pillows on my floor and stuffed popcorn in my face while watching my show. I sat there for a few hours until I started to get sleepy. I rubbed my eyes. "I don't want to go to school tomorrow," I whined out loud. I ended up falling asleep anyway.
The next day came and it started like always. With everyone in the class. As the class was about to start the girls were talking. I sat there bored at my desk. Suddenly someone walked up to me. I looked up to see Changbin shrugging. "Don't talk much do ya?" He chuckled. I chuckled back. "I don't really talk much. I just do mostly listening." I laughed. He scratched his head. "Well, I guess that's a good thing. But, don't be afraid of talking, Ya?" This was the first time one of the guys willing came up and started talking to me. I laughed to myself. "I guess you're right. I am just a very awkward person." As I said that Chan had walked in. Everyone scattered to their seats. The lesson went on. "Now, let's talk. There is going to be a group project and we are going to go on a school trip!" Chan smiled wide. "This is the first time we are going on a trip, right?" Felix said. "Yeah. I am wondering if everyone is able to go." Chan looked at his papers. "It will be three weeks from now. So alert your parents and let me know Monday." Everyone nodded. I started to get excited. "this has never happened. We've never been on a trip before." I thought. I started to smile with excitement. I looked around at the class. Everyone was talking to someone besides one in the back, who was sitting by himself. Hyunjin didn't talk much but I just assumed he was the shy type and didn't think much of it. I focused on the lesson. The lesson was always well taught, but I never remembered his exact words so I took notes in my notebook. Grace nudged my shoulder. "Are you free tomorrow?" She whispered to me. Grace and I occasionally hung out together but she seemed to always be busy with other friends. "Yeah." I nodded quickly. "Would you want to get some coffee and chat?" "Sure!" I immediately replied excitedly. She chuckled nervously at my reply. After classes, lunch finally came. I piled food on my plate and looked around. I had a feeling that I really wanted to sit and talk to the boys since they seemed interesting to hang around, but I thought the girls would find me weird for sitting with them, so I went to sit with the girls like I usually did. "Why am I not brave enough to try anything new? I don't get why I am so afraid of being judged by others?"I rolled my eyes at myself as I listened to the girls talk like they usually do. I just quietly ate my food. It's always going to be this way if I didn't do anything. I didn't mind how things are, even though I never do anything different. I got up to put my trash in the trashcan, and I saw the boys hanging around talking about movies. But, I noticed one boy wasn't there but I couldn't pinpoint who was missing. They noticed I was looking at them. "Why are you always looking over at us?" Minho laughed. "Oh, it's nothing. I just find you guys interesting that's all." I scratched my head awkwardly and quickly dragged my feet away. "Why do I always embarrass myself? It's ridiculous." I laughed to myself. I quickly looked for the girls and followed them to the next class. "Annie always looks like she wants to have a conversation with us but never does," Felix said as he was talking to Changbin. "Maybe we should talk to her first and open her up like we are doing with Hyunjin." Minho looked back at Hyunjin. Hyunjin shyly looked down and avoided saying anything. "See!" Minho chuckled. "Yeah, let's invite Annie next time I guess. But, She's a girl sooo..." Felix shrugged back. "Yeah, I think she's pretty cool." Changbin shrugged as he looked forward. They didn't recognize that I was listening to them as the girls were talking to each other. "Maybe I should go and talk to them.. would they find me annoying because I am a girl? pshh." I rolled my eyes to myself. Felix started to kick his feet up against the chair, still waiting for the next class. "Can You stop that?!" Grace glared at him. "No." Felix snickered and tried to kick Grace's chair. Grace tried to slap him back. Felix just kept chuckling. "Stop messing with me and actually focus on studying before class!" "I don't have time to study. It's pointless for me anyway." Felix shrugged back. "Fine, Don't blame me if you fail your homework and your exams." Grace crossed her arms.
P.E was next. We all took turns doing the reps we needed too. I glanced over at the boys as Grace was doing her reps. "You should join the basketball team with us." Felix looked at Changbin. "I am not sure. Baseball is more of my thing I guess." Changbin shrugged. Everyone here was interested in sports but I was near. Our Gym teacher walked up to us. He playfully wrapped his arm around Hyunjin's shoulder. "You should join a sports team, Hyunjin." Hyunjin just looked nervous and chuckled. "I don't really play sports." He said softly. "Wow! He has spoken!" Minho gasped. As Grace finished the Gym teacher said: "Changbin your turn." He started to do it. The girls were farther from me but they didn't seem to mind that I wasn't there. I shrugged and turned to the boys to see if I can be brave enough to talk to them. Felix and Minho were looking at their phones. "I am not really good at sports, but I guess I have sorta good stamina?" I awkwardly made my way into a conversation. They were all looking at me oddly but then had a slight chuckle. "Yeah, I guess I have always had good stamina, but I do enjoy doing sports. But, I am only on basketball as of right now anyway." Felix combed his hair back with his fingers. "Yeah, I was never into sports until recently. I used to be a lazy kid." Minho laughed. I laughed with them. I noticed that Hyunjn wasn't saying anything but he was smiling. I noticed Changbin running back to us, out of breath. "Annie, Your turn." It was my turn finally. I didn't want to embarrass myself for the first time. So, I readied myself at the start of the court. I started to run back and forth quickly. I did that about thirty times. Then started doing mountain climbers, lifting a few weights, then sitting twists. "I guess those home workouts and dance paid off." I laughed to myself as I walked back up to them. "You dance?" Felix seemed shocked. "Yeah." I laughed. "only at home, though. I haven't actually had dance classes."
"You should sign up then." Changbin smiled. I took a sip of my water bottle. "I might. I don't know." I looked around as one of the other girls started to do her reps. "You should do it if you're really confident about it." Changbin stuck his hands in his pockets. "Wow, look at you being inspirational now." Felix nudged his shoulder. "Yeah, I mean, if you really want to do something you should do it! Right, Hyunjin?" Changbin looked over at Hyunjin who was next to him. "Oh, yeah." Hyunjin looked down shyly. Didn't say much. They just laughed a bit and teased him. I smiled at them. I always found them funny even when others didn't. What was so different about them? The rest of the girls gathered around us. The teacher brought us together so we could finish our P.E class. Our class was small, but we all went to different classes at the same time. Different students, different times. that's how the school worked. There weren't many students in this school, to begin with. I have been coming here so long, I was used to it though.
The next day had passed and I was on my way to meet Grace at the cafe. I was walking down the street with my bag in my hand. Not really paying attention to what was in front of me, I ran into someone. I suddenly looked up to see Hyunjin from class, with his brothers, and his mom. "Sorry, I didn't see you." I chuckled nervously. He just stood there awkwardly as his mom pulled him away. I watched him as he walked away. "He looks different today...?" I thought as I made my way to the cafe. I walked in to see Grace was there, waiting in line. "Hey!" she waved. It was nice for us to hang out like this. I ran up to her, with a smile. "I think I am just going to get a doughnut." She looked up at the menu. "Me too." I looked at all the doughnuts on the shelf in the back. "I have a sweet tooth." I chuckled to myself. "Me too, I swear it's all I eat." Grace laughed. "Same," I replied. We got our chocolate donuts and sat down at a table. I also had a coffee which I loved too. She moved her hair behind her ear and took a bite of her doughnut. "So, Is there anyone you like?" she asked. When I thought about it, I didn't like anyone, since my past with guys was really difficult, there was no one, in particular, I was looking for to change my life. I was scared to take that chance. "No." I scratched my head. "Oh!" Grace seemed surprised. "I thought you had liked Changbin or something.." She laughed. "No! I don't even know him too well at all." I chuckled nervously. "I would like to be his friend though." "Oh, I gotcha. None of the guys in our class are ideal anyway Like I want to find a guy but I am too lazy, to be honest." Grace took another bite. I took a big bite too. "Yeah, I have been too busy with school and studying and such... I am thinking of getting a job soon too." I added. "Yeah me too. I want a job, but most of what I do is help my mom around my house and babysit. Which earns me some money but it isn't stable." She chuckled. "yeah." is all I said as I drank my coffee. It was silent for a bit but we just started laughing at the silence. "It's actually quite nice that I can get out with you.. sometimes it's nice to get away from all that talk of drama at school.. I love the girls but It seems I can't really say my real problems, ya'know? But you actually listen." She laughed a bit but then nodded with a smile. "oh.." I was shocked by what she said. "Thank you. You can always talk to me if you need it." I added. I saw a different side of her. "Maybe she is different from the others..."
The Day came of our trip. "We are going to a trampoline park!" Chan raised his hand as he stood in front of the bus. We were waiting for others to get there. I stood, Up against the wall of the school. Chan was setting up things on the bus. I noticed someone had walked up to me. I looked up and saw Changbin with a nervous smile. "It feels like we are always waiting on the others." He said. "I couldn't wait for this trip honestly, I feel like we need to do more stuff like this. To bond, Ya'know?" Changbin shrugged. I smiled lightly. "Yeah, I like getting to know everyone better. Even if I have been with this class forever, I feel like I should socialize more..I am a lazy person." I chuckled to myself. I saw Felix and Minho run out of the school building with their backpacks. Chan saw them. "It's only a few hour trip not a weekend." Chan joked. "Yeah, But I am still bringing a change of close just in case bro." Minho shrugged. Felix and Minho put their bags on the small bus. I saw Grace and Haley walk in. "Let's all load up," Chan said as we all got in line to get on the bus. Grace, Haley, and Caryss sat in the back. I sat by the window in the second from the back seat. Changbin sat next to me. Felix and Minho sat next to each other. "We are still waiting on Rylee and Hyunjin," Chan said. I waiting there in silence for a few minutes. Changbin looked up from his phone. "What is your favorite genre of music?" "Oh, I usually like music in different languages or pop something like that.." I awkwardly fixed myself. I saw that a car had pulled up and Hyunjin came running to the bus. He got on then sat next to Changbin and I. "Hey bro!" Changbin playfully hit his shoulder. Hyunjin smiled embarrassedly. "He sure gets embarrassed easily." Minho looked back. "He's just shy, that's all." Changbin chuckled a bit. Hyunjin looked down then got out his phone. "He is shy..I would like to know.. he is interesting.." I thought as I took a glance at him. He looked up at me, then I looked away. "Why is Rylee always late?" Chan whined. "Because she's always busy putting makeup on or somethin'" Minho whined too. "Probably." Felix agreed. Rylee finally came. "Took you long enough." Minho teased. "Yeah right, I am sorry I have a life." She snapped, then pouted. She sat next to Minho even though she didn't enjoy it. We all started to go to the trampoline park. I listened to music the whole ride. Changbin was next to me, listening to music too. I looked up at his face lightly. He noticed I was looking at him, so I quickly looked away out the window.
We arrived at the trampoline park we all got out of the bus. The sky looked cloudy like it was about to rain. We all followed Chan inside and stood in line to sign up. I listened to the boys talking as I stood behind the girls. They kept making jokes and I started to giggle. "Are you listening to us?" Minho called out. I looked back awkwardly. "Yeah." I started to chuckle as I signed up. We all then headed to the trampolines and started to Jump. I hung with myself almost the whole time. The feeling of rush and my heart pounding always made me happy. I saw Felix jumping REALLY high. "Must be because he's so skinny..." I muttered to myself as I stood to take a break for breath. I was breathing heavily. I looked around the place to see so many people. I recognized a few of the classmates were scattered. "We were supposed to spend time with each other..right?" I sighed in disappointment. I started jumping again and listened to Grace and Felix bicker. Rylee was also jumping with us. I noticed from affar that Changin and Hyunjin were jumping and talking together. I decided to make my way over there. Changbin sighed out of breath. "Hey!" I waved to them. "Hey." Hyunjin made a quick smile. "This is a workout." Changbin leaned down on his knees. We all stopped jumping to take a breath. I smiled at them. "It's fun though." I said confidently and started jumping. They started to wobble around by me jumping. "Bro." Changbin tried to keep his balance. Hyunjin jumped to a different trampoline and left Changbin and me. For some reason, I wanted to keep looking and following Hyunjin. "Why am I so weird?" I said aloud. Changbin heard me. "what do you mean?" He said confused. I snapped out of it. "It's nothing." We all jumped for a long time but everyone seemed to be gathered on the solid ground. I found myself jumping alone. "I guess I should head to the others." I muttered to myself. I walked up to everyone and heard them talking. "Everyone is tired so I guess we will head to eat now." Chan said. Hyunjin was next to me, silent. "Is that okay?" Everyone nodded. "Hyunjin?" Chan raised his eyebrow at him. "Yeah.." Hyunjin said quietly and looked down in embarrassment. We all walked out of the building, to find it pouring outside. "This is great!" I looked up at the night sky. "Right." Changbin placed his hands on his waist. Chan went to get the bus so we could all run real quick to get in without getting wet. We all sat where we were before and headed to the restaurant. We all ran in and got a large table. All the seats were almost taken. I got a seat on the end, next to Changbin and right across from Hyunjin. "Okay let's all order the food." Chan said as the waitress came up to us. We all got milkshakes and some food. I only ordered fries because I wasn't that hungry. "You only got fries?" Chan looked surprised. "I am not that hungry sooo.." I scratched my head, looked down, awkwardly. I took a sip of my small milkshake. I saw Hyunjin looking at a video on his phone. It looked oddly familiar to me. I noticed it was one of my favorite anime videos. "You like anime!?!" I yelled. He was shocked by what I said. His eyes widened. "Yeah." He nodded quickly. "That's great. My favorite character is Todoroni." I smiled at him. He looked excited. "Mine is Denu." He had a small smile on his face. I started rambling without noticing. "I wanted to get into anime, but I haven't really had time." Changbin scratched his head. "Its great, Anime is great." I ate a bite of my fries. I was excited and surprised because I haven't met anyone like me, someone who liked what I liked. Someone who didn't find me weird. I couldn't stop smiling. Hyunjin looked up at me and showed me a trailer on his phone for the next season of the show. "Uhg that looks so good!" I clapped my hands. The others at the table were talking about other stuff but now I was so interested in this. He then started to show me funny pictures and I couldn't stop laughing. His face was lit with a smile. "Not many people I know like anime, so I am surprised you like it." Hyunjin said. The more we started to talk the more I knew about him. I felt as if Changbin felt left out for all the talking we were doing. Hyunjin kept laughing at himself and It was so hard to explain all the joy I was feeling. After we all finished our food we started to line up at the door. It was still pouring rain outside. "Geez, it's really coming down out there." I tried to look out the windows by standing on my tippy-toes. Hyunjin stood next to me. "Yeah, I am glad I brought an umbrella." He added. I looked back at him. "I didn't." I pouted. He chuckled at me. They started to go out one by one to go to the bus. I remembered something. "I forgot my bag!" I ran back into the restaurant to try to find my bag. I looked around at the table and saw it on a chair under the table. I hurried and grabbed it and shuffled my way back to see Hyunjin was standing at the door, inside with me, waiting for me. "You didn't have to come in!" I ran up to him. "It's alright. I wanted to make sure you didn't get left alone, it's never good to be alone." This was the most I ever heard him talk. I smiled. "Thank you." we both made our way out but saw that the bus had disappeared. "Where did they go?" I said in fear. We were all looking around. "Did they forget about us?!" I started to get freaked out. Hyunjin looked down. "I always get forgotten, but this is weird." Hyunjin shrugged. "Let's go out together to look for them, okay?" He looked at me, and I looked at him. "Sure." I said kind of scared. He got out his umbrella and we ran across the parking lot, in the pouring rain. We were close to each other, I felt this odd feeling in my stomach. I took a small glance at him, he stood there, looking around. But, I couldn't stop looking at him. "They're over there!" He pointed. He suddenly grabbed my hand and we ran to the bus. I had never noticed this side of Hyunjin before. Why is he talking to me when we haven't even talked before? Why do I feel so happy? Why is my life suddenly changing? Hyunjin lead me on the bus with a small smile on his face. I couldn't help but laugh.