Chapter Text
“Zoey, are you okay? You’re more quiet than usual.”
She was sitting in the passenger seat of her dad’s car, waiting for the gates of her new school to open. She sighed, and turned towards the window to hide her face.
“Yeah, I’m okay, just a little nervous,” Zoey replied. She was, in fact, not just nervous. She was upset with her dad for making her move five times in two years. She was angry with him for breaking up her family and her life. She was annoyed that she only saw her mom every once in a while. She was scared that she’d walk into her new school, and it would happen again. She’d be shunned, bullied, and mocked relentlessly. It felt inevitable, at this point.
Zoey felt so many things at once, very few of them good. But it would be pointless to try and explain all of that to her dad, who’d be of absolutely no help, and probably get angry and make things worse. Like the time she told him that she was having trouble in school since she was moving so often, and he yelled at her for “disrespecting him and his decisions about what’s best for this family.” After that, she stopped bringing things like that up.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. I called the school in advance to let them know that you’ll need some help getting adjusted, so they’ll know to give you a little extra help,” said her dad. Zoey exhaled, trying to keep her emotions in check. Her dad had done this last time, and she had hated it. The student who “volunteered” to help her was most definitely pressured to do so by their teacher, and they made her late to every class, but somehow managed to not explain a single thing. She probably could have figured most of it out by herself, or talked to someone in the office. She most definitely didn’t want a repeat of that, and she didn’t want any unnecessary attention drawn to herself.
But Zoey just said, “Thanks, dad.” The gates opened, and the line of cars started to move forward. They pulled into the school and up to the drop-off line. Zoey made a move to open the car door, and her dad unlocked it. She got out and put her backpack on.
“Bye, good luck!” said her dad, already locking the doors again. Zoey had always wondered why he always relocked the doors as soon as possible. She replied, “Bye!” Once she closed the door, he pulled away, leaving her alone in front of the school. The sign read Silver Creek Academy. She just stood there for a minute, intimidated. Other students had started to come in hordes, so Zoey elected to get a move on and find the office.
After a minute or two of searching, Zoey found the front office and walked in. It smelled like peppermints, which was strange in October. There were six chairs arranged into a waiting area of sorts, four of which were filled by students. There was a bulletin board with anti-bullying posters, flyers about an upcoming basketball game, the cast list for the musical, and a poster about auditions for a k-pop dance club. That last one interested her quite a bit, but she elected to come back later once she had figured everything else out. There was a man working the front desk. He was short and stout with black hair, and was wearing a suit jacket over a t-shirt. She walked up to him at the front desk.
He noticed her almost immediately, and said “Can I help you, honey?” She wondered whether he was calling her honey in a creepy way, a dad way, or a gay way. She supposed she’d find out. Zoey responded, “Yeah, today is my first day here, so I-” He cut her off. “Oh my god, of course. You’re Zoey Choi, right? I have your schedule right here. Ms. Kim, the principal, told me to expect a new student.” He handed her the schedule, and started looking through his desk. “I just have a few more papers to give you, and then I can have someone walk you to class. I’m Mr. Park. You can come up here and ask me if you need anything, I’m here to help. You might be a little behind, but the teachers will cut you some slack since your old school was probably on a different schedule.” As he was saying all this, he handed her paper after paper. Dress code, student code of conduct, parking spot application, school policies and rules; and all without a break in his endless stream of words.
Zoey took all of the papers, keeping her schedule on top. She interrupted him just a little by saying “Thank you, and I don’t need anyone to walk me to class. I can probably figure it out.” Mr. Park said “That’s okay! Ms. Kim already arranged for someone to walk you to class. I know her, she’ll get you where you need to go. She should be out in the hallway waiting for you. Purple braid, tall. You can’t miss her, really. Good luck!”
Zoey nodded, thanked Mr. Park again, and walked out of the office. She had ruled out him being creepy, but dad-like and gay were definitely still on the table. Before going to find this purple-haired girl, she took a look at her schedule. First period, algebra 2. Shit. She had started this class at her previous school, and she had always found it difficult. She had trouble paying attention, since their teacher would just drone on and on without stopping or really involving the class. One of her classmates had said that they all could have left, and the class would have gone on as normal. Hopefully the math teacher here was better.
Zoey scanned the hallway, anxiety taking hold of her for just a second. What if she’s horrible? What if she doesn’t care? What if everyone is mean? What if I’m really behind and fail all my classes? She shook her head to clear away her thoughts. They wouldn’t do her any good today, and no one likes a crybaby they have to handle with kid gloves. After looking a second longer, Zoey quickly found the girl. She had long purple hair pulled back into a Dutch braid. She was wearing the school uniform of a plaid skirt and button down shirt. Unlike Zoey, her shirt was long sleeved, and she was wearing the school sweater over it. She had knee socks and mary jane shoes, and was standing against the wall, scanning the crowd of students in a similar way to Zoey. And she was beautiful. Zoey could get lost in her brown eyes, and the way her eyes squinted as she searched made her look smart and so so cute. The girl didn’t seem to see her yet, so Zoey walked up to her, trying to clear her head and not make a fool of herself in front of this girl.
“Hi. Um, Mr Park told me someone with purple hair was supposed to walk me to class. That couldn’t be you, right?” Zoey joked, hoping to ease the knot that was coiled in her chest and the tension in the air all around her. The girl laughed just a little, a soft and melodic sound.
“Yes, that’s me,” she said. “I’m Rumi. My… um, Ms. Kim told me to walk you to class and help explain things to you today. I don’t… I mean, I assume you’ve been to a high school before, and they’re all pretty similar, so I don’t know how much explanation you really need. And it looks like Mr. Park already gave you pretty much everything I could tell you in writing.”
Rumi seemed to be a little bit shy, or at least awkward. She kept tripping over her words and overexplaining herself just a bit. Something about how she hesitated before saying ‘Ms. Kim’ intrigued Zoey, but she brushed it off. She didn’t mind the weird awkwardness, though. Rumi seemed to know what she was doing, and despite her previous hesitancy, she was glad to not have to figure everything out by herself. Up close, Rumi was even prettier. Her gorgeous brown eyes were a little golden on the inside, and Zoey couldn’t help but stare. After a few seconds of admiring the beautiful girl in front of her, Zoey realized that Rumi was still talking to her. Luckily, she started paying attention just in enough time to catch her saying “What’s your first period?”
“Um, it’s algebra 2 with Mr. Allen.” she replied, trying to focus on the conversation without noticing any other aspects of Rumi that would steal her focus. Zoey sincerely hoped she hadn’t missed anything important while she was busy being a useless bisexual. Rumi winced a little bit. “He’s a harsh grader. Make sure you do your homework. His room is in the other building, I’ll show you.”
Zoey followed her through the hallway and out the door. There was a brief lull in conversation. Zoey didn’t really know what to ask this girl other than ‘hey, wanna be my girlfriend?’ She thought that might be a bit inappropriate since they literally just met a minute ago, and Zoey kicked herself mentally for thinking so inappropriately about her.
Rumi, in an attempt to break the tension, said “You like the Sunlight Sisters?” Zoey was a little taken aback. “How did you know that?” Rumi grinned a lopsided grin. “Your bracelet,” she said, pointing to Zoey’s wrist. “It says ‘glowlight.’” Zoey smiled back at her, getting excited now. She’d been a fan since before debut, and Rumi understanding the reference on her bracelet meant she was a fan too. She found herself walking with a bit more spring in her step, and clapping her hands a bit.
“Yes yes yes! I love the Sunlight Sisters. Glowlight is my favorite song, and I’ve been obsessed with the choreography ever since it dropped. It’s so fun, and I love the part with the kind of ripple thing, it’s just so satisfying to watch.” Zoey realized she might have gotten a little bit too excited, and she dropped her hands back to her sides, feeling a little embarrassed. She probably should have tested the waters a little bit more before getting so fired up like that. Some people, like her dad, don’t really like getting random bursts of excited words.
Rumi didn’t seem to mind too much though. In fact, she was looking down at Zoey with a little smile. She had been about to apologize, but upon seeing Rumi’s fond little smile, her train of thought missed the turn. “What?” Zoey said, trying to keep away the blush she could already feel on her face. Rumi turned away, but Zoey could see that she had a blush to match. Rumi said, “Nothing, you just got all starry-eyed and…”
They were already at Mr. Allen’s room. The door was open, and he was letting students into the classroom. Rumi, still blushing, abruptly changed the topic by saying “Oh look, he’s already letting people in. You better get to class, good luck!” After saying that, Rumi walked away as quickly as humanly possible (maybe a little faster), and Zoey went into her class, her mind stuck on Rumi's lopsided smile. Maybe this new school wouldn’t be so bad after all?