Freshman
Freshman
A Wonder Girls: Sohee One-Shot
Dedicated toepikey
When August ends, New York is sweltering and the shards of sunlight that pierce through the cracks in the skyline seem to be targeting Sohee specifically. Sohee's baseball cap almost seems to throb against her scalp from the radiation. It had been tempting that morning to stay inside, but Sohee is more than willing to brave the heat.
It's the first day of orientation, you see.
Sohee hadn't been quite sure how to dress or what to bring, but she had imagined that a student ought to carry a backpack. So the night before, she had placed a spiral notebook and a pencil case tenderly into a backpack. Her outfit for the day had been carefully placed over the back of her desk chair and she had set her alarm.
Despite all this preparation, Sohee still feels flickers of nervousness crackling up the sides of her stomach as she walks toward the school. She hopes she won't get lost on campus and she hopes that all the students there are nice.
Sohee approaches the main entrance to the big plaza and looks up at the great big banner saying "WELCOME FRESHMEN!" She hesitates for a moment, still standing in New York City, outside the campus. She looks in and sees the yard teeming with people. There are tents set up and signs, and then there are just so many people - upperclassmen with matching T-shirts shouting directions and announcements, students consulting packets of paper in their hands every few seconds, and family members surrounded by boxes either looking even more excited than the students themselves or looking terribly bored to be there (Definitely younger siblings).
Sohee's family is back home, though, back in Korea. She hasn't seen them in so long... Sohee shakes her head a little bit. She reminds herself that this is to be her home now.
Sohee adjusts the straps of her backpack so that they sit more squarely on her bony shoulders and she takes a breath. Internally telling herself to exhale, she does and takes that first step inside the gate.
It's not that she exactly expected some magical fanfare or anything, but Sohee finds herself surprised to note that she doesn't feel any different. Sohee thinks about it for a little bit and decides that she actually is glad that it didn't feel momentous. She envisions a time when she can walk in and out of this gate and it will be something routine and almost dull.
Sohee doesn't have much of a chance to stay there and ponder things more because she is soon swept up into a large crowd of people who are all clearly related. Sohee raises her arms up in surrender as the kinfolk surge past her. Sohee honestly feels like her feet are being lifted off the ground and she is carried down the sidewalk. The current drops her off onto the grass, and she turns her head, following the family down with her eyes for a bit. There are lots of cameras in their hands and arms around boxes and Sohee can even hear them at a steady roar, but mostly, Sohee notices that the girl in the middle looks more bewildered and scared than excited. Sohee somehow catches the girl's eye and they exchange weak smiles. Maybe she could be my friend runs through both girls' minds.
Sohee decides to take herself outside of the chaos for a little bit and heads to the library. She starts to go up the incredibly wide flight of stairs until she finds a space with a little bit of shade from the column to the side. Before she sits, Sohee faces the library and takes in the enormity of it. The rotunda is just so...so noble and Sohee feels more enlightened just standing in front of it.
But then Sohee turns her back to the library and sits down on the steps. There are groups of people scattered here and there on the stairs, but there's distance in between all the other people and Sohee. Except then she hears two voices coming from behind her, and they must not be that far because she can hear their words quite clearly.
Sohee starts paying attention and so she catches the end of the female voice saying, "...and the frosh are so little! Can you believe we must've been that tiny when we started here three years ago?"
The male voice responds, "I can't believe we're seniors. I feel like we've been here forever, but at the same time, I feel like we just got here!"
"I know, right? Wow, the frosh look so excited. Hey, remember when..."
Sohee stops eavesdropping as the two start reminiscing over specific memories. In her head, Sohee tries the label ‘frosh' on herself. It feels strange but thrilling and she wants that name to belong to her. Sohee then tries to imagine how it must feel like to be the pair behind her - seniors and friends, with three years of memories ingrained in these buildings and this ground and from just living here for so long. Sohee wants that, too.
Sohee gets up and decides to head into the ocean of orientation. She wanders from tent to tent, keeping up a constant stream of "Sorry," "Pardon me," and "Excuse me!" as people accidentally tread on other people's feet and elbows bang into cardboard boxes and other elbows. Sohee hovers on the periphery, not exactly getting in line (or what was supposed to be a line but really was more just a large mass) but still close enough to almost be a part of the queue. She hears the upperclassmen asking for last name and then handing over keys and she hears bits of directions to the freshman dorms.
Then the horde of people somehow forces her up to the front and a friendly upperclassman smiles directly at her and says, "Welcome! Last name?"
Sohee freezes for a moment and then she manages to sputter out something like, "I - uh, no." and then she pushes her way back against the tide.
She runs and she runs until she's out of the gate and out of the campus. Her last name's not on the list. She's not a freshman. She's not even a high-school graduate.
Sohee's no frosh and she doesn't know if she'll ever get the chance to be one.