It was the first day of high school, and for Matt Seo, it was shaping up to be just another chapter in his perfectly average, blissfully unexciting life. At five-foot-six and 14 years old, he was a self-proclaimed "normie" with a penchant for sour and sweet snacks. His abilities, or lack thereof, were perfectly balanced across the board, making him an expert in mediocrity. An introvert by nature, he had a small, reliable circle of friends who made his high school experience slightly less of a solitary trudge. He figured he'd coast through the next few years, a quiet observer in a world full of main characters, until that fateful day.
The New Chapter
The massive gates of National High swallowed him whole as he walked down the bustling hallways. His eyes scanned the room numbers, a low murmur escaping his lips, "Class B, G9..." After a few moments of navigation, he found it. The door to his new world. He took a deep breath, exhaled a long sigh of resignation, and stepped inside. The classroom was a hive of activity, a cacophony of chatter punctuated by the gleeful reunions of old friends. Despite the class shuffle, social cliques had already begun to re-form with startling speed.
As Matt searched for an empty desk, a familiar hand clapped him on the shoulder. "Yo!"
He turned to see Jake, his ever-exuberant friend, with Ben standing beside him, already engrossed in his phone.
"How's it been?" Jake's grin was infectious. "It's awesome we're in the same class! It'll definitely take some time to make new friends, so it's good to have familiar faces."
Ben, the perpetually laid-back member of their trio, simply nodded in agreement, his thumbs flying across the screen. He was a man of few words, but his presence was always a quiet comfort.
"Y-yo, I've been alright so far," Matt replied, his voice a little softer than he intended. "How about you guys?"
"Same here," Jake said.
Another nod from Ben.
"Still, we're so lucky!" Jake practically bounced on his toes.
"Lucky? What for?" Matt asked, genuinely puzzled. He knew he was fortunate to be in the same class as his friends, but what else could there be?
"Are you serious?" Jake's eyes widened. "Did you not check the student list for Class B?"
Matt had, and aside from Jake and Ben's names, nothing else had jumped out at him. At least, nothing he had consciously registered. Jake pulled him and Ben into a tight huddle in a corner of the room, his eyes glinting with a mischievous excitement. He leaned in and whispered his monumental discovery.
"We're in class with the Three Queens!" Jake announced with the hushed reverence of a secret agent. "Zyra, Shareese, and Yzabelle! And yeah, there's Andrew, Mark, and Theo—the cool kids—but I'm definitely more interested in the Queens!"
"The Three Queens?" Matt looked around, and a jolt of recognition ran through him. He hadn't needed Jake to point them out. They were already the epicenter of the classroom's gravitational pull, surrounded by a throng of admirers. It was their presence, he realized, that had made the room so vibrant when he first entered.
Zyra was a vision of refined elegance. Her long black hair framed a face of striking beauty, and her sharp, obsidian eyes held a gaze that girls found captivating yet guys found intimidating. She exuded a cool aloofness toward most boys, as if they were a nuisance. In contrast, Shareese was all warmth and light. Her beautiful brown hair and playful brown eyes were as approachable as her outgoing personality. She was easy to talk to and incredibly popular with both girls and boys.
But it was the third Queen, Isabelle, who held Matt's attention. She sat quietly between her two friends, her demeanor a fascinating blend of both Zyra's reserve and Shareese's subtle grace. She would only speak to her two closest friends, and while she ignored the stares and advances of the boys, she did so with a quiet dignity that was a world away from Zyra's coldness.
Matt felt a pang of humility. They were in a different stratosphere, a league of their own. These were the kind of people he could only hope to admire from afar.
Ironically, the Three Queens were also friends with the "cool kids" Jake had mentioned. Mark, a jolly and portly boy, was the group's comedic relief, his witty remarks and infectious laughter no doubt earning him a place in the inner circle. Andrew, with his roguish charm, was the class clown and a notorious troublemaker. Matt had seen him earlier, before Zyra had given him a well-deserved beatdown for trying to give her number to one of his friends. Thei, however, was in a category of his own. With his sculpted physique and chiseled features, he looked like a god, a figure of pure envy for the guys and the object of every girl's affection. The six of them were constantly besieged by their peers, a constant stream of questions and admiration flowing their way. Some students from other classes had even ventured over just to catch a glimpse of them.
The bell rang, signaling the start of homeroom. Everyone quickly took their seats as their advisor, a man who introduced himself as Mr. Karl White, stepped into the room.
"Good morning, class," he said with a warm smile. "Today is a wonderful day indeed. I see you're all still huddled in your groups from previous years, but I hope everyone gets to know each other, make new connections, and make new friends. Now that I've introduced myself, we shall start our first class together by introducing ourselves."
A collective groan rippled through the room, mostly from the introverts. Matt's heart sank. Introducing himself was the one thing he dreaded. His mind would go blank, and he'd forget his own name, let alone his hobbies. But to his immense relief, when it was his turn, everything went smoothly. Perhaps it was because most of the attention was already focused on the popular group. When the six of them went up, the room erupted in applause, a stark contrast to the polite silence that had met the others. Matt couldn't help but clap along, swept up in the collective admiration.
The rest of the morning flowed by in a predictable rhythm, with one exception: math. The math teacher, a no-nonsense type, started the lesson immediately after the brief introductions. Complaints were swallowed, and a sense of dread filled the air. This teacher was no pushover.
A Fateful Encounter
Finally, lunch arrived, and the classroom once again filled with the easy chatter of a new day. But for Matt, a new problem arose: he was stuck. His two friends had already gone their separate ways. Jake, with his magnetic personality, was off making new friends, and Ben, ever the gaming enthusiast, had likely found a quiet corner to play on his phone. Matt felt acutely aware of his solitude. He had finished his lunch quickly and still had a lot of time to kill. It felt awkward to just sit there, a beacon of loneliness. He decided to do something productive to distract himself. He got up, walked to the whiteboard, and began to work on the few math problems the teacher had left unsolved. He was sure no one would notice him.
As he uncapped the marker, a surge of energy washed over the front of the classroom. The popular group, the one he had just been thinking about, came forward, followed by their usual entourage of admirers. Matt couldn't just walk away now; that would look even more bizarre. He pretended to be engrossed in his task.
"You guys wanna hit the snack shop later?" Andrew's voice cut through the air.
"How about you hit a hospital first?" Mark quipped, earning a round of laughter.
"Dayum, I wouldn't let that slide if I were you, Andrew," Thei added, his voice a low rumble.
Shareese, the group's conscience, stepped in. "Andrew, you did something bad and you should apologize. You too, Zyra, you went overboard."
"He deserved it," Zyra scoffed, but a fleeting look of regret crossed her face. She turned to Andrew, a chilling smile on her lips. "I'm sorry for what I did... you piece of sh*t." saying the slur in a whispering manner
"W-what?" Andrew stammered, baffled.
"I said, I'm sorry for what I did.yoy need a first-aid kit?" Zyra's voice was as smooth as silk, but her words held a sharp edge.
Andrew just shook his head,thinking he had been hearing things, a mixture of fear and confusion on his face, unfortunately,he was not. Matt stifled a quiet giggle.
He turned back to the whiteboard, trying to focus on the math problem, but he was keenly aware of the celebrity squad standing right behind him. Just then, a gentle voice broke through his concentration.
"You know how to answer that?"
Matt turned, and his heart nearly stopped. It was Isabelle. The Isabelle. He pointed at himself, his finger trembling slightly. She nodded, a faint smile on her lips.
"Yes, you."
"I do know," he managed to say, a surge of irrational confidence overtaking his timidity. He couldn't let this opportunity slip away. In a moment of sheer boldness, he asked a question he never thought he'd have the courage to ask. "D-do you want me to show you how?"
"You sure?" she asked, her voice soft and soothing, like a gentle breeze. "If you don't mind, please do."
"I-I don't mind at all," Matt replied, his voice a little steadier now. "So, the first step is..."
A buzzing sensation filled his ears. Was this real? Just moments ago, he was a silent spectator, convinced he would never cross paths with the popular kids. Yet here he was, giving a private math lesson to one of the Three Queens. He had to be serious, focused. This was his chance to make a first impression.
He was surprised to hear her voice up close for the first time. It was like music, a stark contrast to the fleeting murmurs he had heard from afar. Matt was notoriously bad at socializing; it was a miracle he was friends with Jake and Ben. But with a specific topic like math, he could speak without his usual stutter.
"S-since we need to find the values of X and Y, we need to make one of the variables zero," he explained, his gaze fixed on the whiteboard. "In the equation 6x - 3y + 12 = 0, we can transform the general form into the standard form. The equation becomes 6x - 3y = -12. The 12 is moved to the right, so its sign becomes negative. It's important to pay attention to the signs because a simple mistake can ruin the entire calculation."
He snuck a quick glance at her, half-expecting her to be bored or simply to be toying with him. But to his surprise, she was listening intently, her eyes following the lines he drew on the board. When their eyes met, Matt immediately looked away, his heart a frantic drum against his ribs.
"Is there something on my face?" she asked, a hint of concern in her voice.
"A-ah, no," he stammered, his cheeks flushing. "I just... thought I'd look if you were... listening."
That was a natural response, right?! he thought, cringing internally.
"Of course, I'm listening," she said with a gentle laugh. "So basically, 12 is transposed to the right, and if we want to find the value of x, y must be zero, and if we want to find y, x must be zero?"
"You got the gist of it," Matt said, a smile creeping onto his face.
She nodded, signaling for him to continue, and he did.
"Now, let's say we want to find the value of x first, so y becomes zero, which would be written as 6x - 3(0) = -12. Anything multiplied by zero is zero, so now it's just 6x = -12. We must remove the 6 from the left side to find x, so we will divide both sides by their common multiple, which is..."
"6," Isabelle finished, a spark of understanding in her eyes.
"C-correct," Matt replied. "Now the equation becomes 6x \div 6 = -12 \div 6. The 6s on the left cancel out, leaving just x. And -12 divided by 6 is -2, so x equals -2. It's the same for y, but this time, x is zero."
They continued their conversation, their voices a quiet murmur in the bustling classroom. For the first time, Matt wasn't consumed by social anxiety. He was just explaining something he knew well to someone who wanted to learn.
"So it's 6(0) - 3y = -12," Matt continued. "That leaves -3y = -12. Their common multiple is negative 3, so we divide both sides by negative 3. The equation becomes -3y \div -3 = -12 \div -3. A negative divided by a negative is a positive, so y equals positive 4."
"But if you substitute 4 for y and -2 for x, the equation still doesn't equal 0?" she asked, looking at the board with a slight frown.
"T-that's what Mr. White was saying earlier," Matt explained patiently. "X and Y don't have unique values. What we did was find the X and Y intercepts because the equation is a linear one."
"Oh... I see," she said, her expression clearing.
Their small world was suddenly interrupted by Andrew's boisterous voice. "Hey, are you coming with us to the snack shop or what?"
"Ah, I will, I will!" Isabelle called back. She turned to Matt, her eyes shining with a genuine kindness. She gave him a small wave and uttered the two words that made his day, his week, maybe even his entire year. "Thank you."
Matt stood there, a wide, goofy grin spreading across his face. His heart hammered against his ribs. He pinched himself, a quick, sharp sting to confirm he wasn't dreaming. He wasn't. It was Isabelle. He had assumed she would be aloof and cold, but she had been nothing but gentle and attentive. Unlike the piercing, indifferent gaze she had for the other boys, she had looked at him with an earnest curiosity. For a brief, intoxicating moment, he felt special. But he was a realist; he knew better than to be delusional. As he stood there, replaying the scene in his mind, a hand landed on his shoulder and gripped it firmly. Deja vu?