An Exchange...

He followed her at first, watching her walk for a few moments before taking the couple extra strides to close the gap and walk beside her instead. As they walked, his eyes were darting around behind the glasses, though the rest of his expression was calm and collected. Even his tone, when he spoke to her again would give nothing further away of his own nervousness, "Where are you from, Barry?"
 
Barry walked next to him quietly, her mind wandering a little as they walked. "Oh?" she said, jumping a little when she realized he asked her a question. "Oh I'm sorry. I'm from Colorado, in the United States," she replied.
 
He nodded his head at her response, silently trying to remember if he'd ever been there, let alone heard of it. "It's near New York?" hoping he didn't sound stupid by asking that. As they rounded the corner to climb the stairs, he took them slower for her sake. They were nearing where her next class was, and he still didn't have a clue where he was going next, if he even decided to go.

In his head, his manager reprimanded him for missing his first classes 'Those are the most important to your image, Yejun.' he would say. He shook his head at the silent thoughts that his image actually mattered here since no one was supposed to know who he was in the first place.
 
Barry bit her lip, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "N-no," she said gently. "It's... Actually... Way further west from New York," Ami told him. She turned and smiled at him. "Have you been to New York before?" she asked, walking up the stairs with him. And looking around the upstairs hallway.
 
He laughed it off with her, though he was glad he had the sunglasses on still so she couldn't see the embarrassment in his eyes. His eyes seemed to always show his emotion or tell the truth even when the rest of his face hid it quite well. At the last stair he paused, as if he were thinking about her question then nodded, "Yea...New York, Statue of Liberty, Yankees...best pizza in the world." Grinning as he thought he was doing a fine job at showing off his knowledge of said city.

When he saw her checking out the new hallway, he looked up, then pointed about two rooms down on the left of the hall, "There's your classroom, 231A" looking down to her after unsure of what to do next.
 
"Aha, very good," she said in English, laughing again. "Although, many from California would argue that best pizza comment," she told him. Barry smiled and turned to her classroom, sighing gently.

"Uh... What's your class?" she asked, turning back to him.
 
Yejun smirked when she spoke in English again, only really catching the idea of what she was saying more than really what had actually been said. Snapping back to the reality that he too had a class to find, Yejun fished a piece of paper from his pocket, and unfolding it, looked down.

He groaned a little at the next class he saw on his list; English. He'd insisted he didn't need it, but they told him at least one class had to be taken. It was usually done freshman year, so he was in for another class with no one his own age, again. Glancing up after seeing the location was back on the first floor he sighed, finally answering her, with the word being in the subject's language, "English..."
 
"Boy, I wish I had that class," Barry said, laughing. "If you want, I can help you with your homework or studying," she offered, "It's really the only thing I'd be good at here."
 
He grinned back at her and nodded, "Yea, that might be useful." He was rubbish at English, despite the few phrases he'd told her already, it was about the extent of his speaking ability in the language. Besides, she was pretty, fascinating and likely to be his only 'friend' all year...actually, he'd not made many friends period while on tours, maybe this was why his manager had insisted...naw, Mr. Dhang wasn't that smart.

Checking the time on his phone, he went back to frowning, "We have to get to class now..." quickly he pulled out a small business card, about to hand it to her when he realized it had his real name on it. Shoving it back away before she saw it hopefully, he gave a small nervous chuckle, "Uhh, I'll see you tomorrow then...I guess." And he was turned without waiting for a response, though Yejun didn't speed off but rather took his time making his way back to the stairs.
 
She smiled and nodded, disregarding his motions to take something from his pocket. She was lost in her own thoughts anyway. Help him with homework? Since when do you help anyone with homework? she asked herself. Then again, Dae was cute, so her mind was in an automatic nice mode. Plus, she was in a new country. Might as well break a few habits...

As he turned to leave, Barry quickly stepped forward and put a hand gently on his shoulder. "Oh wait... Um..." -she quickly ripped a paper from her notebook and took a pencil from her bag, writing something down in quick, sloppy, yet readable handwriting. "Here... It's my number so you can... Text me or call me if you need help with homework," she told him.
 
Yejun paused immediately as her hand touched him. Turning around with a knowing smirk, he gratefully took the scribbled on scrap of paper. Reaching up, he pulled the sunglasses down halfway. With a grinning wink he thanked her, hurrying off down the hall again after with a short glance back towards her as he was about to round the corner at the stairs.

****
A few minutes later, during the middle of his next class, Yejun sent a text to her saying: Hey, it's Dae. Good luck finding the rest of your classes!
 
Barry blushed a little as he winked, but quickly turned away and hurried off to her classroom. She sat in a seat in the back, being one of the only seats left surprisingly. She listened to the teacher's lesson, her interest peaking when she heard the names of a few books they'd be reading. She had no idea what they were about, but they sounded cool.

The vibration of her phone startled her a little, and she ducked her head slightly to read the text. Barry frowned a little and sighedm typing a quick reply: Good luck in English!

She knew he couldn't see the smirk on her face, but she hoped he would at least imagine her face as she said that.
 
He had kept his phone out, as if waiting for her distraction in the form of a response. When it came, he smiled a little, quickly hiding his phone under the desk while he typed on it without looking: What other classes do you have?
 
She put her head down when his response came. She thought for a moment, then replied: Math, another history class, psycology. You?
 
He had to wait for the professor, who had taken to roaming the classroom as she instructed, to pass back to the front of the room again. When he was clear he pulled out his schedule and sent off another text response: creative writing and math...is your math class next? Mine is a simple freshman course.

He took only four classes this semester, none with the exception of his English class, were going to prove much of a challenge for him. It happened to be the only concession his manager had allowed him when everything was getting set up, in the hopes that he'd attend, stay and finish out the credits.
 
Barry had started doodling on the desk by the time she recieved the response. She smiled a little as she read it and replied: Yeah, mine is a Freshman class too. Maybe we'll end up in the same class again.
 
His only response was: :)

Twenty long minutes passed and finally the torturous English class was over. He grinned thinking about how she had offered to help him study, only then panicking about where that could possibly happen...she certainly couldn't come to his place, it'd be too obvious. Guess it was the library or her place; which got him to wondering what her living situation was here while she was abroad. Did she have roommates? Was she with a host family? Maybe she lived alone....he hoped for that one secretly though he'd never admit it.

After making his way to the math class, he sat down towards the back of the room again, though he kept checking on the door every time a new body passed through. It suddenly occurred to him she might have gotten lost again. Flipping his phone out: Not lost are you?
 
Barry smiled, but didn't respond. She listened as the teacher described something specific about Korean literature, which seemed a lot more confusing now than before. She jotted down notes, making sure she got everything written down. She'd have to go over it a few times to make sure she understood everything.

She left the room when class was over and checked her map. She had circled the room she was just in and now had the map flipped right, rather than upside down like before. Looking at her map, she made her way to her class. Getting there just as she recieved his message. Barry looked up to see him in the back of the room. She smiled and walked over to him, managing to get the seat next to him. "No, I'm not lost," she told him.
 
Yejun couldn't help but smile as Barry finally came through the doorway. As she made her way to sit next to him, he kicked the chair beside his desk out hoping she'd take it, and she did. The professor wasn't even in the room yet, typical math teacher, always late to their own classes. Leaning over he asked, "So how was literature? Any good books?"

His glasses had been allowed to remain on during his last class, and he thought nothing of taking them off for Math either. If he was lucky, he thought, he'd only have to deal with the history professor making a stink about the concealing attire.
 
"It was fine. The teacher spoke about a few good books we'd read this year, but..." she turned red, embarassed. "I can't pronounce any of the titles." Barry tilted her head to the side a little, grinning at him. "How was English?" she asked.