Mina heaved out a breath as she played with the bottom hem of her skirt. She was sitting in the library with Mina and Sana. They went in there after they met up at the school gate and were waiting for class to start.

    “I’m seriously going to kill him,” said Momo cracking her knuckles. “He’s going to pay for touching Mina-chan.” She growled between her teeth as she clenched her fists.

    “No!” Sana gripped onto her arm. “Calm down. You’re freaking out the first years.”

    Momo turned her head, shooting a glare toward the first years sitting at the table next to them. They all jumped in fear and quickly picked up their things and ran away.

    “It’s not worth killing him anyway,” Sana muttered, only for Momo to glare at her as well.

    “Not worth it?” Momo repeated loudly. “He almost kissed Mina and you want him to live? Look at her! She’s broken!” She jabbed a finger toward Mina who had been sitting quietly the whole time playing with her skirt. “She’s been like that since we got here! Not to mention she keeps sighing.”

    Sana rolled her eyes and jabbed Momo in the side with her elbow. “Stop yelling. You’ll get us kicked out of here.” She turned her attention to Mina and waved a hand in front of her friend’s face to get her attention. “Earth to Mina.”

    Mina looked up and blinked twice. Her eyes went between her two friends as a slight frown formed on her brow. “Huh?”

    “Mina,” Sana whined. “Tell her it’s not worth killing Jackson—”

    “Excuse you,” said Momo cutting Sana off. “But it’s totally worth it.”

    Sana rolled her eyes and glanced to Mina across the table. “Anyway, we talked to Youngjae yesterday.”

    “Youngjae? And?” Mina rose an eyebrow. Why would they talk to Youngjae? she thought.

    “We found out that Mark oppa really does like you. As does Youngjae,” said Sana.

    “That’s why he went looking for you the day Jackson oppa dragged you out of the cafeteria,” Momo said, tapping her chin with her finger. “And it’s probably why he’s been bringing you to school and trying so hard to protect you from Jackson.”

    Mina fell silent listening to her friends as they told her everything Youngjae told them about Mark’s feelings and even Youngjae’s feelings. “Wait, wait. Slow down,” said Mina. “So, not only does Jackson oppa seem to like me, Mark oppa and Youngjae, too?”

    Sana nodded firmly.

    “I think Yugyeom likes you too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jaebum oppa does too,” Momo said.

    “Ah, don’t forget about Bambam,” Sana added. “Mina-chan, I’m jealous.” She pouted playfully. “You have all these guys chasing after you. I wish I was you.”

    “By all means, I would let you have my life if I could.” Mina sighed, looking up at the library ceiling. “It right now.”

    Youngjae, who was standing behind a bookcase, heard their whole conversation. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked out of the library, quickly making his way over to the classroom. He went up to Mark and pat his shoulder gently to get his attention.

“Can we talk outside?” Youngjae asked. Mark nodded and followed the other out into the hall.

“What’s up?”

“It’s about Mina.”

Mark frowned. “Okay. What about her? Did something happen?”

 

Jaebum was sitting in his usual seat in the back of the class when he heard Youngjae and Mark talking in the hall. At first, he didn’t care what they were saying until he heard Mina’s name mentioned. Mina? Does this have to do with what I heard Momo and Sana talking about this morning? he wondered and leaned slightly over to hear the conversation better.

    “I heard her talking to Momo and Sana this morning in the library,” he heard Youngjae say. “Mark hyung… Jackson hyung tried to kiss Mina yesterday.”

    Jaebum tensed hearing this and looked at Jackson who sat one seat in front of him. His headphones were in and his eyes were closed so he wouldn’t have been aware of the conversation out in the hall. Jaebum couldn’t help but glare at the back of Jackson’s head. He did what to Mina yesterday? Why this little son of a— his thoughts were quickly interrupted when the classroom’s back door was loudly opened. He jumped a little at the loud noise.

    “Jackson—ing—Wang! I’m going to kill you!” Mark’s voice rose as he gave the back of Jackson’s head a hard whack immediately waking the other up.

 

Mina trailed behind Momo and Sana as they headed toward class. She was mostly silent as her mind was still stuck on the fact that both Mark and Jackson had a crush on her. Not only them, however; Youngjae did too, and Yugyeom and Bambam potentially have crushes on her as well. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Bambam called out to her and run up, a panicked look on his face.

    “Mina noona! You have to come quick!” Bambam said, tugging on her arm urgently.

    “What? Why?”

    “It’s Mark hyung and Jackson hyung! They’re fighting!”

    Mina’s eyes widened as she met the gazes of both of her friends and they all ran down the hall with Bambam to their classrooms. There was already a crowd in the hall and Mina pushed her way through. She stopped next to Yugyeom and gasped seeing Mark and Jackson throwing punches at each other.

    Both of their cheeks were red as both fumed with anger; bruises were already starting to form along their cheekbones. Their uniform blazers set askew off of their shoulders and ripped at the sleeves. Both their ties already lay on the floor in two separate pieces, and the top buttons of their shirts were popped off. Both of their hair was a mess falling into their eyes out of their normal styling.

    Mina’s eyes widened as she watched Jackson pin Mark against the wall and give him a hard jab in the jaw. Mark stumbled, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. He poked his tongue against his cheek in annoyance and wiped the blood away from his mouth with his thumb.

    He glanced at the blood and glared at Jackson. “Is that the best you got?”

    “Please. I’m just getting warmed up,” said Jackson. He lunged forward hoping to tackle Mark to the ground but he was immediately stopped by someone grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and flying him down onto the ground. He grunted at the impact of his back with the floor and propped himself up on his elbow to look up.

    “Get up,” the gym teacher snarled at Jackson. “Follow me to the principal’s office. Both of you.” He shot a glare to Mark and started down the hall.

    Mark followed after the teacher as Jackson got up from the floor using the wall for support. Mina watched the both of them with worried eyes as they limped down the hallway; Mark holding his arm, and Jackson holding onto his side. Slowly, the other students made their ways back to their classrooms.

    “I wonder what that was about,” Bambam muttered. Yugyeom shrugged and the two went back to their classroom.

    Momo stopped by the classroom door after Sana walked in and looked to Mina. She bit her bottom lip and went over to her, placing a hand on Mina’s shoulder gently. “Mina? Are you okay?”    

    Mina nodded slightly, but her lack of response said otherwise. Momo watched with worry as Mina walked into her classroom. “Poor Mina,” Momo whispered under her breath.

 

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

 

Mina sat in class the next day worried about Mark and Jackson. Mark hadn’t shown up that morning in the front of the apartment building where they usually meet up, so she had to walk to school herself. There was no sign of Jackson in school either.

    She pouted and looked over at the classroom door hoping Mark would walk in, but he didn’t. Instead, Jinyoung came in and stood in front of the class where Mark usually goes for announcements.

    Jinyoung cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention and tapped gently on the podium in front of him with his thumb. “Alright, guys… uh… I’m sure you all know of the fight yesterday. Because of that, I’m going to be the temporary class president until he gets back next week.”

    The students murmured to each other hearing the news when Jinyoung rose his hand to get their attention again.

    “Sadly, this also means he’s excluded from the class trip this weekend. We won’t be seeing him, or Jackson for that matter, until next week.”

    Mina frowned and bit her bottom lip. I feel like this is all my fault… ugh, why did they have to fight over me? Mina groaned and rested her head on her desk.

 

During P.E class, Mina got herself excused and went to the library to study. In there, she saw Bambam and immediately went over.

    “Hey,” she said, sitting across from him.

    “Hey.” He smiled. “What’re you doing here?”

    “I wasn’t feeling well, so I got excused from P.E. And you?”

    “They’re taking a test on stuff they learned before I got here. The teacher kicked me out to study for it before I take it,” Bambam said, gesturing to the open Math textbook in front of him. Mina only nodded and pulled her books from her bags.

    The both of them studied for the next fifteen minutes together before Bambam noticed a far-off, worried look on Mina’s face. “Hey, are you okay?” he asked.

    Mina looked up at him and shook her head no. “I’m worried for Mark oppa and Jackson oppa.They wouldn’t have fought each other if I wasn’t here; if they both didn’t have a crush on me…”

    Bambam’s face slowly crinkled with worry hearing this. “And…do...do you have a crush on one of them—or both—as well?”

    Mina stayed quiet as if she were thinking of an answer. “No, I—I don’t really know…”

    “Alright, but,” said Bambam, tapping his pen gently on his textbook, “I don’t really think you should be blaming yourself about their fight, though. They fought because of their own stupidity. It’s not your fault.” He shrugged and turned his attention back to his studying.

    Bambam stayed quiet but he felt his heart tighten in disappointment and worry. Maybe she does like one of them, he thought.

 

Mina sat for the remainder of the class period staring at her books. It wasn’t until Yugyeom walked up to the table and started speaking that she shook out of it.

    “Mina noona? What are you doing here?” he asked.

    “Oh, um,” said Mina,” I wasn’t feeling good earlier so I left P.E and came here to study.” She quickly gathered up her books and shoved them back into her bag. “I’ll see you two around.”

    Mina hastily made her way out of the library leaving Yugyeom and Bambam in an awkward silence.

    “Did something happen?” Yugyeom asked.

    Bambam shrugged. “She’s mostly worried about Mark hyung and Jackson hyung. They got suspended after their fight over her yesterday.”

    “Was that what the fight was about?”

    Bambam nodded. “I guess so. Apparently, they both like her.”

    Yugyeom pouted and glanced over to the door Mina walked out of. “So, neither of us have a chance anymore?”

    “Not likely.” Bambam sighed. “But that’s not going to stop me. Is it going to stop you?”

    Yugyeom glanced to his friend and back at the door. Is it going to stop me? he thought.