The Girl With The Iron Will

Drama After Drama After Drama

"A personality like fire with your stubbornness, but I guess that might be why I liked you more."

EXO, Girl x Friend

***

Random mobs were one of the things that everyone had to endure during the first few days of school.

8AM. Classes start for almost everyone. But anyone who wanted to reach the classroom without being swallowed by a bunch of fangirls had better make their way there half an hour earlier.

It's not fun when you have to leave house earlier. Thanks EXO-M, for being enough motivation for me to be extra punctual for school. Thanks a bunch.

EXO-M were most probably taking their classes at either the School of Media and Communications, where I took most of my humanities modules, or the School of Sports and Sciences at the blocks opposite.

Somehow the screams were becoming a normal part of daily life. Like a school bell, there were screams almost after every period. If I had to head to the school cafeteria, I avoided going anywhere near the normal stairs; they were crammed with students trying to catch a glimpse of the idols as they made their way down.

So I took the alternative route: the cleaners' staircase. Even though it wasn't exactly for student usage, I still pushed through the heavy doors to run down the stairs two steps at a time, in the humid and stale air so I could beat the mob and get myself two sandwiches and something cold to drink. Then I would race to the rooftop of the School of Sports and Sciences building to eat by myself. Unlike the other students, I wasn't keen to stare at people, idols or no, while they ate. Lately I craved absolute silence since my world was getting a little too loud.

Two weeks passed like the wind, and still there were students who still couldn't accept that the idol group was part of the school now. The screams and human jams had somewhat reduced, and I could walk down the hallways without having to worry about squeezing through bodies, but sometimes I would see girls – and a couple of hardcore fanboys – exchanging gossip about EXO-M.

Just the other day I stumbled across a group of giggling girls in the toilets, gushing about them. I wonder who is the worst at Mathematics? One had asked, before another girl gasped.

They're at Class A104. Come on, let's go!

They would jump on the spot like little girls in a shopping mall, before shooting off down the corridor to who-knows-where.

By now, of course, I was curious as well. I had never actually seen them in person, and when I saw their faces gracing glossy magazine covers, I couldn't tell anyone apart, save for one.

Kim Minseok. Also known as Xiumin, who went to the same elementary school as me.

I wonder if he even recognizes me, after all this time.

I shook my head. Why would he? I was just his junior. No one.

***

"Earth to Jang Mi!" a hand tapped my forehead. I jumped, and saw Sara White from the desk in front of me, looking amused. "You were spacing out. Did you hear what I just said?" she asked, rocking her seat until it leaned against my desk.

I shook my head in response to her question.

"See?" my partner said beside me, "She doesn't really care."

"Shut up, Woo Hyun. Of course boys like you don't care about them. You're just jealous that you'll never reach that level of handsome," she jabbed.