Just One Day (BTS)

As I walk towards Taehyung, his eyes light up. But his smile slowly turns to an awkward grimace. What have I done now?

“You, uh, have history in here now?” I ask hesitantly.

“Uh-huh,” he utters, quickly going into the classroom. I shake my head before following him.

I enter the room to see that most of the seats are filled with chatting students. The walls are covered in maps and posters and I can still see the autumn leaves outside the window. I scan the room to see where it would be best to pick my seat. The teacher promptly walks into the room and slaps his satchel on the desk.

“Sit down, please,” he says, as a couple more students hurry in and take their seats. He looks at me.

“I’m new,” I say.

“Oh, right, Kwon Eun Ha?” he asks.

“Yes, teacher,” I reply.I get the feeling I’ll be saying this a lot this week…

“Please, sit anywhere,” he says.How helpful, teacher, how helpful.

I look around again. Taehyung is sitting behind a desk in the middle of the room by himself. He glances up at me standing there awkwardly.

“2471!” he says loudly, throwing up his hand. He looks around at the other students who now stare at him. “Uh, sit here?” he utters.

I nod and quickly go to the empty seat on his right.

“Let’s begin by turning to page 47 of your textbooks…”

I can feel Taehyung looking at me as I get out my textbook and pencil case. I glance at him from behind my wide framed glasses.

“I’m so sorry,” he blurts.

“It’s okay, really,” I say, smiling. I glance down at page 47 of my textbook.

“Thirteen ninety two… Joseon Dyn-” I hear Taehyung muttering to himself.

I scribble down a few notes in my notepad.

“Dyn- dynast… dynastee?” he mumbles, squinting at the word.

I glance at him, then back to my notes. Impulsively I tap him lightly on the shoulder. Looking startled, he meets my eyes.

“It’s ‘Dynasty’,” I say.

“Oh,” he says in surprise, “Thank you.” He gives a grin.

“I hope I didn’t offend you,” I say in a hushed tone, trying not to draw the attention of the teacher or the other students.

“Offend me?” he asks. “No, it was helpful.”

I smile.

“I hope Jungkook didn’t make you feel uncomfortable earlier,” he says.

“Hmm?”

“When he, uh, called you pretty,” says Taehyung, his cheeks slowly turning pink.

I just shrug.

“No one ever says it, anyway,” I mutter, turning back to my notes, “Except, like, my parents. My brother says I’m ugly.”

“What… really?” he whispers in shock. I see him shaking his head out of the corner of my eye and hide a smile.

Some minutes later, I feel a tap on my shoulder.

“Eun Ha?” Taehyung asks.

“Yeah, Taehyung?” I reply.

“What’s this word?” he questions, jabbing a finger at a point on page 48, which I have already read by this point. I look at where he’s pointing.

“Promulgate,” I read. He gives me a blank look. “Oh, it just means to promote or to widely spread something,” I explain, “So King Sejong the Great basically just spread the new Hangul writing system to all of Korea.”

“Thanks, Eun Ha, you’re really clever,” Taehyung says gratefully.

“Stop talking, you two,” says the teacher.

Taehyung and I look down at our textbooks in embarrassment.

“I would expect a top student to know better than to talk in class,” the teacher continues, and I
can feel my face turning bright red.

Glancing around with my head still bowed, the whole class is looking at me, except Taehyung. Well, it’s nice for one person to not make me feel uncomfortable. But how can I actually say that about this ginger guy, who literally fell on top of me this morning in the middle of a school corridor? Pressing my hands to my cheeks, I’m glad when the bell finally chimes.

I stuff everything into my satchel and sling it over my shoulder. The other students are quick to leave as I walk hastily towards the door. My foot catches on the leg of an untucked chair and I truly think I’m about to fall over for the second time on my first day. But a hand grabs my arm and steadies me.

“Careful,” Taehyung says quietly, glancing once at me before letting go and leaving the room.

“Please don’t talk in class anymore, Eun Ha,” says the teacher.

“Yes, teacher,” I reply with a bow.

“You’re one of our top students, based on your grades at your last school,” he says, straightening his tie, “So you should know better than to distract other students.”

I can see Taehyung lingering in the doorway as Jungkook is talking to him, seemingly have appeared out of nowhere.

“Yes, teacher,” I say, tearing my gaze away from the two boys.

“I would also like to recommend you join our Academic Society,” says my history teacher.

“Uh…”

“Think about it,” he continues, “Speak to one of the prefects if you’re interested.”

You mean, like Jin?

“Thank you, teacher,” I say, before leaving the classroom.

“Hey, Eun Ha!” a voice calls. I turn to see Jungkook waving energetically.I raise my hand in response.

“Eun Ha, isn’t it?” another voice asks. I look up to see Jin, with an expectant look on his face.

“Yeah, and your name is Jin?” I reply.

“That’s right,” he says, smiling, “How are you finding your first day?”
“It’s okay, thank you,” I answer. “I haven’t got lost yet,” I add, thinking back to Jimin’s earlier advice.

“That’s good,” he responds.

“Jin,” I say questioningly.

“Yeah?”

“Do you know anything about the Academic society?” I ask hesitantly.

“Sure I do,” he says with a grin, “I’m a member. Why; were you thinking of joining?”

“My history teacher recommended it,” I confess.

“Well, how are your grades?I don’t mean to pry, but-”

“I was a top student at my last school,” I say in a hushed tone, not really wanting to broadcast it to the entire student body.

“Oh, really?” he says, “Then sure! We meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Room 36, one of the maths rooms.Come along tomorrow lunchtime.”

“Okay, thanks, Jin,” I reply.

“Don’t worry, we don’t eat people,” he says with a laugh, obviously sensing my nervousness. “We talk about fun things… like maths.”

I let out a laugh.

“We also tutor some students,” he adds, “I don’t know whether you’d be interested, but it’ll look good on your resume.”

“Maybe,” I say.

“Well, I won’t keep you, break will finish soon,” he says with a smile. “I’ll just give you this,” he continues, finding a scrap of paper in his pocket and writing a few details on it. “Here.”

“Thanks, Jin.”

“See you!” He gives a wave before turning and heading down the corridor.

The piece of paper reads Room 36 (maths), Tuesday/Thursday, 12:30.

“Hey, Eun Ha, what’s that?” Jungkook asks as he shoves his way past some students to get to me.

“You were talking to that prefect?” Taehyung adds.

“Did he give you his number?” Jungkook asks incredulously.

“No!” I retort. “Don’t be ridiculous.” Like a guy has ever given me his number.

“Good,” Taehyung says before he can stop himself.Jungkook laughs a bit too loudly.

“So what class do you have next?” the brown haired boy questions.

“Maths, then Korean,” I reply, having already semi-memorised my timetable.

“So do we!” he says.

“Oh, really?” I reply, fiddling with my earring.

“Maths first, Korean after,” Jungkook confirms.

“Yeah, ‘cause I need to learn how to speak my own language,” says Taehyung.

“Tae-tae here isn’t so good at Korean,” Jungkook says, laying a hand on his friend’s
shoulder. Taehyung throws him a look.

“It can be a difficult subject if you don’t like reading,” I reply with a shrug.

“See,” says Taehyung.

Jungkook laughs again.

“Anyway, let’s go to maths,” Taehyung grumbles, pushing past him and heading down the corridor.

“Let’s go, then,” I agree, smiling as the two boys walk either side of me down the corridor.

Maybe this class will be fun.

Notes

Hallo guys, hope you enjoyed this episode!
The next one will be up sometime next week - if you are eager to read please leave a comment so I can update sooner.
Fighting!