Jongin’s plan was solid. I wasn't as nervous as I was before now that we had figured something out. Although Jongin did say that they were going to go all out against us since they knew that he knew all their battle plans, but I was going to ignore that little fact. He also pointed out that our little planning session probably gave Taeyeon enough time to make a shadow trap for us as soon as I dropped my force field, so we needed to act quick.

The plan was to destroy the ball of light. Sounded simple in theory, but I knew it was going to be difficult. We had only planned out the beginning, after that we were going to play it by ear. I let Jongin out of the force field, still keeping it around myself. We were taking a page out of Baekhyun and Taeyeon’s play book. Jongin was going to try and tire Baekhyun out, until we figured out a way to take out the ball. Jongin said that he was best  choice to do this. Because his teleporting didn't take much physical effort on his part, he didn't tire as easily as our opponents, who had already fought two battles before this, would.  

That left the job of figuring out how to take down the ball of light and Taeyeon to me. Oh joy.  I looked up at the ball, how was I going to do this. I at hand to hand combat, but then again, it looked like that wasn't exactly Taeyeon’s area of comfort either, considering her and Baekhyun’s battle plans. At least I had that going for me. But how the was I supposed to reach the ball of light while it was floating 20 feet above my head? I looked back down and saw Taeyeon’s shadows encircling the bottom of my force field, looking for a way in. 

I let out a yelp as one of Baekhyun’s beams of light hit my force field and looked over in time to see Jongin tackle him. I couldn't afford to draw this out anymore. I had to take out that light. Ugh. My mutation was so useless, it couldn't hurt really people, it could only make them think….I was so stupid. I didn't have to actually destroy the light, I just had to make Taeyeon think that I had. I finally had a plan

I let down my force field, and Taeyeon’s shadows immediately took over my body, rendering me motionless. 

She smirked, “Nice move, . Wow the standards of this school really have fallen if you got in.”

I saw Jongin throw me a worried glance while still dodging attacks from Baekhyun, who had appeared to have grown more confident now that his girlfriend had taken me out. If I could move, I would had shot him a nod of reassurance, but for now he would just have to trust me. 

Just like with Taehee, I entered Taeyeon’s mind. This time instead of utilizing anger, I latched on to Taeyeon’s confidence. She had plenty of that. I focused on the image I wanted her to see: the ball of light disappearing and her shadows failing. It was a strong possibility that Taeyeon, seeing her shadows disappear, would panic and put even more force into them, in an attempt to make them return. That would put a little more pressure on me, but it should only last a minute.

It only took a few seconds before I saw a look of confusion pass over Tayeon’s face and felt the pressure from her shadows, as I expected,  before they disappeared completely, Taeyeon giving up on maintaining her manipulation. Her expression of confusion turned to one of anger, and she spun around to face Baekhyun.

“What the , Baekhyun” she screamed.

It was Baekhyun’s turn to be confused. He shot her a look before he brought his attention back to Jongin, narrowly dodging a punch.  

“What are you talking about babe” he replied, not taking his attention of the flickering Jongin, “Why did you withdraw your shadows?”

Taeyeon let out a shriek. “Me? Why did you take down the ing ball you idiot?”

Baekhyun looked up at his ball and back towards Taeyeon, “What are you talking about?”

Jongin teleported over to me as the couple’s argument continued. He nodded to me, and I let the tingles slowly work their way up and down my body. I had been practicing when I was alone, so it didn’t take nearly as long for me to build up. I waited for Taeyeon and Baekhyun to finally got close enough to each other for me to take them both out in one shot. When they did I felt Jongin squeeze my shoulder, and I let my force field go. 

An audible gasp rang through the gym as my force field knocked the power couple to the floor, where they stayed. The silence was deafening. I hope unbearable silence after my victories didn't become a reoccurring pattern, two times was enough for me. The coach blew his whistle, effectively announcing us the new power couple. 

Once again, Hua was the first person to start cheering, followed by Xiumin, then Luhan, and then the rest of EXO. By the end, most of the class were either congratulating us or or whispering to each other. I saw Taehee shoot up an stomp out of the gym before Jongin pulled me into a hug.

I felt my face heat up before I pushed him away, “Get off Jongin, you need a shower. You stink of sweat.”

He let out a hearty laugh and ruffled my hair, much to my displeasure. We headed back up to our seats in the bleachers, and waited out the the rest of gym. It was pretty uneventful. No one I knew was called up to battle, although that wasn't saying much since I only knew maybe 15 or 16 people in a class a little over 100 students. After class let out, the boys wanted to go and do something. Baekhyun declined, whether it was to go rest after three consecutive battles, or to go finish his fight with his beloved girlfriend, I didn't know, but no one tried to convince him to join. I turned them down too. I was tired as well, plus I still had a little more catch up work to complete. 

I said goodnight to the boys and made my way back to the dorms. I was about half way there before I heard someone call my name, and I turned to see Jongin running after me. He finally caught up and we walked in silence.

“Hey, Jongin,” he looked down at me, “How come Taeyeon didn't just keep her shadows going after I made her believe Baekhyun’s ball had disappeared? I mean, there were still the lights from the gym, not to mention the ing sun? She didn't have to give up like that. We should have lost.”

Jongin smirked at me, “Gosh, Jiyeon, don’t be too grateful at our win,” I let out an exasperated sound, to which he just chuckled and faced forward again, “Taeyeon is a control freak. The minute something doesn't go her way, she freaks out and get’s sloppy. It actually turned out better than I planned. Since the ball of light wasn't actually destroyed, it played the two against each other. Plus, the two have been arguing a lot more lately, so they just needed a little push in the right direction today, before everything fell apart.”

I looked at the boy walking next to me in awe. He figured all that out in the walk down from the bleachers. He knew exactly how to get at them, and was 20 steps ahead of them the whole time. Jongin was much more than a pretty face and a powerful mutation, he was a brilliant strategist. I looked away with a smile. He never ceased to surprise me. 

We had arrived back at the dorms, and, as usual, Jongin insisted on walking me to my door. I usually hate it when men try to insert themselves in my life, by opening the door, or walking me home at night, but it was nice spending this time alone with Jongin. Not that I would ever tell him that.

“You don't have to walk me home every night, Jongin. Im perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” I said as we stood in front of my door.

He smirked, “Oh believe me, I know. But how else am I going to get alone time with you. You made it clear you didn't want me just popping into your room.”

I rolled my eyes at his childishness, but smiled, anyways. Jongin leaned on the doorframe and looked at me, his playful expression turning serious.

“Besides, I wanted to thank you for having the faith in me today to come up with a battle plan. Lay, Luhan, and Xiumin are the smart ones. Kris, D.O, and Suho are the responsible ones, everyone knows it. Sehun is the mysterious, brooding character, and Tao and Chen are the brilliant strategists. I’m just the pretty one.”

I mean, he was pretty yes, the masses weren't wrong, but of course that would be extremely frustrating. He really had no idea how amazing he was. 

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, “You are so much more than that Jongin. But nothing I say will make you see that. You have to accept that fact yourself. And I hope that I am here when you do.”

We stood in silence a bit longer, before I let go of his hand and unlocked my door. 

“What about Chanyeol and Baekhyun? What are they?” 

He seemed to ponder this statement before smirking, “The idiots.”

We both had a good laugh at that, before Jongin tussled my hair, and bade me goodnight. I smiled at him as he walked away. I really hoped he would realize it soon, how amazing he was.

AN

Hey ya'll. 

First I want to apologize that it has taken me so long to upload this chapter. Things got so crazy so fast, that I didn't have time to think about , let alone type the next chapter. And I left yall on the worst cliff hanger too. 

I am not going to be as busy as I was before, but I will still be very busy, so I can no longer keep the promis of uploading every Monday. Hopefully, I will get a couple chapters banged out over Thanksgiving, but it is also going to be my birthday, so there is no guarentee.

All I can ask is that you be patient with me, and I will have chapters up as often as I can. I know the excuse of being super busy is the go to, but it is my senior year of university, and I am not only working, but doing research with a professor on top of being a full time student. 

Anyways, thank you for your support and patience. As always I love to hear from yall, so leave comments and subscribe if you like it!

xoxo

Grace