Prologue

Jay

"Alright, alright class. Let's settle down and take our seats." The students shuffle around quietly, and Jay tilts his head towards the teacher, ready to listen. "Now that I have your attention, I want to welcome everyone back from your summer vacation and I hope you're ready for this upcoming semester." Mr. Park is a squat old man who is always out of breath, his words coming out between short puffs of air. "We also have a new student transferring into our class, so everyone please welcome him. Come on in now Daniel." Mr. Park beckons towards the door at the front of the classroom and student's start whispering. This transfer was unexpected and will surely be todays focus of gossip.

Timidly entering the class is a tall, broad shouldered boy with natural black hair and kind features. The class gasps in unison when they see him. Daniel is probably one of the most gorgeous men they've ever seen.

"Hello, my name is Daniel Park. It's nice to meet you" he bows. When Daniel looks up his eyes dart around, avoiding eye contact with the class. He lifts his hand and starts scratching the back of his head, probably a nervous gesture. He also looks a little sweaty.

"Daniel, you can take any empty seat." Daniel mumbles a response, too quiet to hear from where Jay is sitting. As Daniel walks towards the back of the class, Jay can't help but to stare as he gracefully walks. Briefly he considers that he should feel embarrassed about starting so bluntly, but so is everyone else.

Daniel chooses the empty seat beside Zack in the middle aisle, back row. Zack is a former pro-boxer and kept the look even after he retired. With jet blacked hair that he keeps gelled and sharp nose and eyes, he backs up his intimating presence with a slender but muscular body of a boxer. Zack is not known for his kindness either. This new kid looks like a ball of nerves and Zack is going to eat him up. Jay begins to move his hand and gesture for Daniel to take the empty seat beside him but he was too slow. Daniel doesn't notice. Jay puts his hand down but keeps watching Daniel from behind his bangs.

Daniel pulls the chair under the desk and greets his new neighbor. "Good morning!" with a dazzlingly smile. Jay's heart skips a beat.

"Yeah, hi." From this angle Jay can't see Zack's face but he raises his hand in a weak wave. Daniel's face drops after seeing Zack though. He must have the first-day jitters real bad.

After introducing Daniel, the teacher had stepped out of the classroom. Taking advantage of the free moment, the first girl with enough bravery stands up and saunters over to Daniel. It's Zoe, an unpopular girl. She has a mid-length black bob that ends above her shoulders and choppy bangs. Traditionally attractive but with a possessive personality.

"Daniel? Hi, I'm Zoe. Hey, you've got something on your face!"

"Huh? Where?" Daniel pats his face trying to find the issue.

"A handsome thing! Hehe..."

The boys in the class groan and the girls hiss at Zoe. Daniel's pale complexion flushes pink for a second and he looks downward, embarrassed. He scratches the back of his head again.

"Hey Zoe, stop flirting and sit. It's annoying" grumbles Zack.

Zoe puts her hands up and makes little claws with her fingers "Oh, Zack! So scary!"

"Stop doing that, bitch!" Zack looks towards his two friends, Hyun and Jun, and give them a smug look as they exclaim in agreement. Zack then peers over at Mira, another girl in the class who Zack obviously likes, for more validation but she is staring at Daniel like everyone else and doesn't see Zack's attempts at getting her attention. Visible fury radiates off him and Zack whips his head from Mira to Daniel and starts leaning in closer and closer entering Daniel's personal space. As Zack gets closer, Daniel leans away folding in on himself making his body appear smaller.

Jay is reminded of Animal Documentaries when animal's fight over dominance. Zack is the Alpha asserting his supremacy over the newest of the pack; an ape standing tall pounding his chest, scaring off anyone who dares come near his Mira. Daniel doesn't respond to Zack's taunts but continues looking downward, probably trying to block Zack out.

Daniel's made his first enemy and it's only 8:00 a.m. Jay sighs and turns his head to the left, looking outside the window again. Watching Daniel struggle through these social interactions is giving him secondhand embarrassment. And the situation is getting worse. Some of the other boys are misreading Daniel's body language, interpreting his ignoring of Zack as indifference.

"Daniel isn't even phased."

"Pissing off Zack is his last mistake. Remember how he almost killed someone at his last boxing match?"

"I thought he lost the championship?"

Zack now whips his head over the gossiping boys. They let out a whimper and quickly turn around.

The teacher is back in the room and calls for the class's attention again. Jay pushes thoughts of Daniel aside to be considered for later.

Finally, this long day has ended. Daniel continued to flounder through every conversation, which was endearing to girls and therefore disgusting to all the boys. But why is Daniel such a nervous wreck is Jay's main curiosity. Usually the beautiful and handsome people are overflowing confidence, but this is not Daniel. Jay weighs the different possibilities: Was he homeschooled and not accustomed to all this attention? Or maybe a childhood sickness has kept him away in a hospital all his formative years and he never fully developed social skills. Or he comes from the countryside where there are only 10 others in the class, all of whom is used to his looks. Was he bullied at his other school and now everyone else is a threat?

Jay shakes his head and makes a "tsk" noise sucking the air between his teeth. No way to figure out this new kid without talking to him, which the one thing impossible for Jay. He has always been quiet, to the point where his parents took him to doctors and speech pathologists as child to get him to say anything. In elementary school, Jay finally started to say a few words but after an incident in middle school he's lost all desire to speak. His brother and sister are the only people he'd ever want to talk to now but thankfully they can understand Jay's body language since they grew up with him being mostly mute. Even with his best friends he doesn't have to speak so he doesn't. He'll just have to use his normal method of collecting information; his expertise observation skills.

Jay's attention is redirected when he sees movement around Daniel. Zoe is sneaking up beside him, with a mischievous grin on her face. She gives Daniel's shoulder a hard push and using a nasally voice, trying to be cute, and shouts "Wake up!"

"FUCK!" Daniel's eyes open wide and he stands up pushing the desk away from him. Zoe drops to her knees, startled by his explosive response. The class, obviously, saw the whole interaction and starts laughing.

"Is the Skank getting told off?"

"Hilarious..."

As always, Zoe looks unphased by their harsh words. Quickly composing herself and apologizing for waking Daniel suddenly. Daniel assures Zoe that he is fine and starts packing his belongings up. The class follows suit following Daniel out like his shadow.

Jay muses to himself, this year should be interesting.