“Ok that will be all for today class.” Mr Lee the English teacher almost sang as he stacked up his papers in one hand. The class started rustling and chatting amongst themselves once he had signified that it was the end of the lesson. “Before you start talking,” He continued, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the chatter, “Don’t forget that tomorrow I’ll be assigning you to groups to work on your mid-term project. So all turn up, yes?”

“Yes.” The class repeated monotonously and then proceeded to carry on with their conversations as Mr Lee left the classroom.

Haneul inwardly groaned at the thought of group work as she leaned back in her chair. Group work was all good and fine, so long as it was only with people that she spoke to and got along with and that definitely wasn’t everyone in this class.

“What if none of us are together?” Mihye said sadly as Haneul turned around to see her closest friends all gathered around the desk behind her. “If we’re all split up.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine.” Jimin assured. “I mean it’s only one class, and it’s only for one project.”

“Always the one to be too positive about these things.” Gayoon said with a sigh.

“I know, I know but I’m trying to make everyone feel better.”  Jimin reasoned.

“Let’s forget about it until tomorrow.” Haneul suggested, who had been listening to the complaints of her friends silently up until then.

“Of course!” The three girls replied in perfect unison making Haneul crack a small smile.

Gayoon gasped, “Was that a smile Haneul? We are lucky this early on a Monday.”

“Ahh look at our adorable maknae being adorable.” Mihye sang as Haneul pouted, sticking out her bottom lip. Minhye came a little closer and pinched her cheeks. “How can you be so cute?” And then the others were cooing too.

“Guys stop.” She whined. But in her head she was enjoying time with her friends. She was glad they had accepted her as quickly as they had – it wasn’t even the end of the first term yet.

Haneul had only transferred to the school at the start of the year and the others had all been friends since elementary school. Despite this they had been extremely welcoming and accepted her into their group without hesitation. There were four of them altogether. Jimin, the eldest, who took it upon herself to become an in-school mother to the others. She took good care of her appearance and her grades, making her a perfect addition to the school council. She was caring, organised and little over-concerned at times but still liked by many students. Next there was Gayoon, she was the school’s female sports vice-captain and so was a well-known face within the student body. She spent most of her free time either at practice or competing and because of this she was quite competitive and driven but also loyal friend. Mihye was the one Haneul considered to herself to be closest too, not just because they were the closest in age but because Mihye was the first person she had met on her first day.  Mihye was the type of person that got on with everyone, with her good looks, magnetic personality and love of all things artistic. She was again hugely popular not only within her Arts Club but in our class too.  And then there was Haneul.

Looking at those three separately, they seemed an unlikely group. But looking closer you could notice their similarities too. How they all were extroverted, confident, talented and had the appearance to match.  Haneul however was an odd fit to say the least. It wasn’t that she was ugly, but was just quite standard looking, she didn’t have a standout hobby and wasn’t part of any club and that was to do with her late transfer and her innate shyness rather than not knowing what club to join, which the other three girls couldn’t understand. She had a sweet personality and cracked some great jokes once you found the time to get to know her, but very few of her classmates had seen that side of her. She was just ‘Haneul.’ There was nothing more to it.

“Are you listening Haneul?” Mihye asked, as she tapped the rubber side of her mechanical pencil on Haneul’s forehead.

“Oh, I err.” Haneul was pushed out of her