Don’t force me to talk, 
I’m not right for you

Laughter echoed in the gym as someone purposely threw a ball at Dara and it hit the side of her head, sending her stumble onto the ground. 

“Who did that?!” The teacher asked irritatedly, his eyes darting around like an eagle. When everyone ignored him and went back to play basketball among themselves, the teacher huffed furiously before he turned back to Dara. Dara rubbed her head slowly with Minzy trying to help her to get up.

“Are you okay, Park? Do you want to go to the infirmary?”

Sheepishly, Dara nodded and then shook her head vigorously. “It’s okay, Mr. Do. I’m fine.”

Everything went quiet when someone suddenly shrieked as he toppled, bringing one of the students with him to the ground because he was clutching to him.

“Hey, who threw that ball?! You want to die?!” he asked no one particularly, looking around the gym as he brought himself up. He noticed that the ball that was thrown at him was a rugby ball. Abruptly, he looked to Daesung who was standing with someone behind a group of students.

“Oi Kang! Why the hell did you throw that?!” He shouted angrily. Dara thought she heard Minzy chuckle.

“Not me,” Daesung answered with a cheeky hint.

“Not you? You are the only one here that plays rugby!” The boy walked to Daesung with the rugby ball in his hand, face red with anger as if he wanted to kill.

“Minzy. Will Daesung be okay?” Dara asked worriedly.

“Shuh. Don’t worry. A rugby player is strong as a hulk, you know?”

Dara could see that the students suddenly backed off from where Daesung was standing as if they saw something scary.

“Don’t lie! You better get ready so I can be-“

He suddenly stopped talking and the rugby ball in his hand dropped to the floor. His face went pale as he saw who was standing behind Daesung. The students watched him and then looked back to Dara and Minzy before they started to whisper with each other.

“Oh my god. Juhoo will die.”

“He’s so screwed.”

“I totally forgot that our P.E class is with his class too.”

“Did anybody notice that he was in the gym from the start? He doesn’t like P.E in the gym, right? Unless we’re going to the field.”

The murmur went down as Jiyong stepped out from behind Daesung. His face was emotionless as usual, hands in his pockets. Although his hair looked messy, he still was attractive.

“Mr. Do asked who throw that ball earlier, right?” Jiyong’s question made Dara’s ears perked up.

Juhoo didn’t answer, only clenching his fists tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Jiyong got no answer but he keep talking. “So, why you didn’t raise your hand?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were the one who threw that ball to her head.” Jiyong glanced to Dara. Their eyes met but Dara quickly broke the eye contact.

Juhoo scoffed although he was nervous. “Why did you say that? You have proof that I did it?”

Jiyong was irked to see the boy act so cockily. He turned to the students and they quickly stepped back.

“Oi, you idiots.” He called. “It was this retard that threw the ball to Sandara. Am I right?”

The students were quiet, didn’t know what to say. Annoyed, Jiyong asked them again, his voice rising. "Am I right?!"

They flinched at his volume. “Yes!” All of them answered in unison, earning a big laugh from Minzy and Daesung. Dara blinked at the sight. She was amused with the students and the twins but didn’t know if she could laugh.

Jiyong then turned to Mr. Do, who was still standing near Dara and Minzy, also watching the students with amusement. As he noticed Jiyong, he sighed.

“Kim Juhoo. Clean the gym after this, mop the floor.”

“But teacher, I-“

“No buts. Park’s head is not a basketball hoop and you know that.”

Juhoo glared at Dara but his vision was blocked because Jiyong suddenly moved to stand in front of him. They stared at each other for a while, but of course, Jiyong won. Juhoo looked down at his shoes before quickly dispersing from Jiyong’s sight.

The laughter was continued by Seungri and Taeyang who were playfully pointed to Juhoo as he made his way to the store to grab the mop. Jiyong was amused but his face remained the same. The students flinched again when he suddenly turned to face their direction. As if knowing, they parted to give a way to Jiyong so that he could walk to his little puppy. Dara was still rubbing the side of her head, eyes blinking owlishly. It was still hurting and Jiyong knew it. He saw how Juhoo was aiming the ball at her and threw it strongly. She was in a daze when Jiyong pulled her arm.

“Mr. Do, I’ll bring her to the infirmary.” He said to the teacher, and then to Minzy. “She’ll be staying there. Inform your teacher for the next class.”

Minzy showed him thumbs up before she joined her twin along with Seungri and Taeyang.

“You’re in class 2-C?”

Jiyong nodded. “You don’t know?”

“No.” Dara shook her head, frowning. “It’s weird. Why I’ve never seen you before although it’s my second year here?” She mumbled to herself but loud enough for Jiyong to hear her.

He only scoffed, not answering her question. It’s odd for him too because he also never noticed her before. Maybe because he never gave any attention to other students or because Dara was too dense about him. His steps came to halt when Dara suddenly hissed, hand clutching to her hair.

“Come on, hurry. You need to treat it because that idiot threw it to your old wound.”

His words were true because Dara found blood on her palm. Juhoo must have thrown the ball pretty hard if it was bleeding again even after weeks. Dara was overwhelmed at the fact that Jiyong remember her old wound on her head.
Someone stumbled to her because she wasn’t looking to the front but Jiyong was quick enough to wrap his hand around her waist and steadied her before she kiss the floor.

“Watch where you’re going.” Jiyong hissed. After making sure that she was okay, he let her go. Dara hold onto Jiyong’s arm as she turned to face the person who crashed into her.

A tall boy, with his hair covering his forehead, stood there while rubbing his shoulder.

“Sorry,” he said, making Dara flabbergasted. He smiled sweetly and bowed to her.

He was the second person that ever apologize to Dara after bumping into her.

“So-sorry too.” Dara stuttered. She clutched Jiyong’s arm harder and pulled him from there, didn’t notice how the boy that still rubbing his shoulder was staring at her.

But Jiyong did. He saw the glint in the boy’s eyes. He studied his face carefully before letting Dara drag him with her.

...

“Something’s wrong,” Jiyong said to himself.

“What? Did you say something?” Dara asked as she heard Jiyong’s voice. Or was it her imagination?

Jiyong scoffed, shaking his head. That boy was lingering in his head. It was weird when there was someone staring at Dara like that, especially the boys. 

Because the only boy that was interested in Dara was Jiyong.

“Yes. What’s wrong?”

The nurse asked as they both got into the infirmary room. Jiyong quickly shoved Dara to the nurse while he plopped down onto the bed near her.

“There’s an idiot who hit her head with a ball.” 

The nurse pushed Dara to sit on the chair, ignoring Jiyong. It was his habit anyway to come to the infirmary room to sleep because he hated every teacher in that school. The nurse has given up forcing him to go to his class.

“You feel dizzy?”

“A bit.” Dara winced. She glanced to Jiyong, who was now has closed his eyes, lying on the bed.

“Let him be. Nobody can stop him from doing what he wants anyway.” The nurse said as she gently cleaned her head from the blood.

...

“Jiyong, won’t you go to class?”

He cracked an eye open, too annoyed that someone disturb his sleep. He sighed loudly and rolled, his back facing Dara who was sitting on the chair. The nurse told her to get some sleep because she already informed her teacher, but Dara refused, afraid if someone came to the infirmary room and bullied her when she’s asleep. Although Jiyong was there, she could not avoid the paranoia.

“Let me sleep,” he groaned.

“But-“

“You should sleep too. It’s not easy to get this kind of chance.”

“But Jiyong-“

“What?!” he yelled. Dara flinched, eyes blinking repeatedly before she darted her eyes to the ground, fidgeting with her fingers.  Watching her, Jiyong suddenly felt guilty. He raked his hair frustratedly.

“Why you’re not sleeping? The nurse told you to, right?” he lowered his voice.