I twirled the pencil between my fingers and stared blankly at the board. “Now because there are no common multiples you will have to use the quadratic formula…” Miss Jeon introduced the unfamiliar set of numbers and letters. “So what’s the answer… Jisu?” She said looking at a short haired girl at the back of the room. Jisu sat up in her seat.

“um…” she looked at her friend next to her, hoping she would know the answer. She shrugged.

“You would know if you weren’t talking,” Miss Jeon said, placing her hands on her hips. “Sohee?”

I stopped twirling my pencil and focused on the problem in front of me. “-1.59 and -4.41” I answered after a moment. The teacher lifted her eyebrows.

“You catch on quick, Miss Lee.”

Zelo turned to me and smiled. “Good job!” he whispered, "I'll beat you in P.E though!" he said with a cheeky grin.

I got changed into my gym clothes. Some old man must have designed them because they were way too short. I kept tugging uncomfortably at the ends of mine too keep them down. The boys were already lined up outside and once the girls were all out all eyes were on us. The gym teacher grinned, his white teeth contrasting to his black sunglasses, and it sent a shiver down my spine. Boys smiled creepishly at the other girls, well at least at their legs.

"I want fifteen laps from the girls and twenty five laps from the boys." demanded the gym teacher, Kim Heechul.The sun scorched down at us, threatening everyone back inside. Despite the weather Mr. Kim wore track pants and a blue jumper over a white cotton shirt. "Around the field. Go!" the teacher said blowing the whistle. Half the class didn't move.

"Mr. Kim isn't that too much?? twenty five? I mean, really, is that even possible??" whinged one of the boys.

"Kai, is it? Do you want me to double your laps??" Mr. Kim growled. Kai bit his lip and immediately started running.

Zelo's eyes darted around as other boys started to pass us. In middle school he was the tallest. Now he was just one of the tall ones, even with his long strides other boys could catch up. Zelo pressed his lips together and began speeding up. "Zelo!?" I whined as he began leaving me behind. He swirled around and jogged backwards for a moment.

"Sorry Sohee! I've got more laps." He turned back around and quickly caught up to the faster batch of boys. I groaned and kept up my jog.

"Anyone who stops has to do an extra five laps!" yelped the teacher.

Soon enough I was on my eleventh lap. By now everyone had become sluggish. The air became hard to breathe. My lungs had shrivelled dry and I couldn't feel any trace of saliva in my mouth. You could even smell the stench of boys' sweat in the air. I caught up with one of the girls, that short haired one from class. Jisu's feet scraped the ground and her whole being seemed to be withering away.

"How many?" I managed to choke. I couldn't bother explaining I was referring to how many laps. I needed every ounce of energy I had left. She lifted her eyes and tilted her head upwards, the sunlight hitting her sweat soaked face.

"Nine." Jisu murmured under her breath. She was barely audible and the beating summer sun took no mercy on any of the students.

Students began sitting down, telling the teacher they had already done their laps, which was probably a lie. I collapsed on the grass with the rest of them.

"Why are you doing lying down?! How many laps did you do?" Mr. Kim's scowling face towered above me.

"Fifteen." I groaned as I curled up on my side. The grass was damp, I felt replenished as it swept my heated skin. I closed my eyes and waited for the more honest students to finish. A shadow covered the light and my eyes fluttered open. A sweat dripping Zelo hung his head over me.

"I'm so tired!!!" he moaned, collapsing beside me.

"Did you really do twenty five laps?" I scoffed. Zelo nodded lifelessly in reply, his eyes drooping shut. "Pabo." I laughed.

"Okay!" Mr. Kim said clasping his hands together as soon as the whole class had finished. "Warm up's done. We're going to play rugby." Mr. Kim picked up an oddly shaped ball. It was oval with slightly pointed ends. "Rugby league." He examined the reactions of the students. No one seemed to know the rules. Mr. Kim hissed, creases forming on his face. "Rules are: you can only pass backwards, you run with the ball. Yes, you can kick it." The teacher  demonstrated kicking the ball, effortlessly getting the oval ball at least a hundred meters away. "You." He said pointing to chubby a boy, "Go get that." The student sighed, heaved himself up and ran in the direction the ball was kicked. "Anyway! The other team tries tackling the one with the ball, if you're tackled you have to freeze and throw the ball under your legs to a team mate. Simple?" The class groaned and complained about their sore muscles.

"Isn't tackling too dangerous? What about the girls?"

"How about we hug instead?" grinned one boy. "Hug rugby!" The girls stared at him in disgust. Mr. Kim seemed to have been considering it.

"Well...if you insist--" Mr. Kim started but then caught the looks of the girls, all glaring at him. "Hahaha I was just kidding! For today, instead of tackling I have got some velcro belts and tags. Put the belt on, put the tags on. Rip the tags off of a player instead of tackling them." Mr. Kim took a deep breath in before continuing. "I want two even teams of boys and girls. Go!" He blew his whistle and waved his hand in the air, signalling the class to get up.

Zelo immediately pulled me into his team. "Good luck," he smiled giving me a thumbs up.

"Okay. Boys, don't be too rough!!" barked Mr. Kim before he kicked the ball straight up in the air. Zelo tilted his head and watched the ball fall towards him, creating a cradle with his hands for the ball to fall in. A boy from the opposing team suddenly grasped onto Zelo's shoulder and pulled himself up into the air. It was like he was floating before he caught the ball and landed back down. Kai smirked and quickly ran to the other side of the field.

"Catch him!" screamed Mr. Kim from the sidelines. Zelo snapped back into action and ran after Kai, snatching the tag off of his belt. "Good job Zelo! Okay play-the-ball!"

Kai threw the ball beneath his legs to Sehun. He was about fifteen meters away from the goal when Zelo began catching up to him. Out of panic Sehun threw the ball forwards to Jisu, who wasn't even in his team.

"Stop!" yelled the teacher, blowing his whistle. "You can't throw forwards, only backwards!" he scolded, "and she's on the blue team. Check her tags. Check your tags. You're in red!" Jisu looked around confused.

"What do I do with the ball?" She asked the teacher. Mr. Kim looked around, his eyes locking on me.

"Give it to Sohee. Play on!"

I widened my eyes. I don't want the ball! Jisu passed me the ball and I just stood there for a second.

"Run!" Jisu told me. I ran forwards.

"Stupid girl the other way!!!" Mr. Kim squealed, jumping up and down in frustration. I  my heel and ran what I was told the right way.

"Sohee!" Zelo called from behind me. I passed him the ball. It was a flimsy throw throw but he probably knew it would be. Zelo quickly lunged down and managed to catch the ball. "Sungyeol!" Zelo called out to a tall boy about ten meters away from the goal. Sungyeol perked his head up and put his hands in front of him. Zelo successfully kicked the ball a good distance. Sungyeol caught it and dived, scoring us a point.

"WELL DONE!!" Mr. Kim cheered.

Zelo waited in the corridor as I finished changing. He was waiting by the girls changing rooms at first but was mistaken as a ert and moved between the boy's and girl's rooms. He smiled brightly as soon as he spotted me.

"Finally! I was getting hungry!" He cheered as we found our spot beneath the tree. "Don't you think that teacher was a bit too extreme?" Zelo said as he searched his bag for his recess. I nodded, my mouth already stuffed with food. The light breeze, shade and change of clothes felt refreshing. Zelo took a bite of his banana. "High school's pretty fun," he said, still munching on the banana. "It's harder than middle school but challenges are pretty fun!" he turned to me and grinned. "What do you think about it?"

I looked up from my sandwhich and began thinking about it. "Hmm... it's pretty good I guess." I took another bite. "Mmf wash nestch?"

"What?" Zelo laughed. I chewed for a bit and tilted my head upwards.

"What'sh nexsht?" I said covering my mouth with a hand.

"What's next? History's next," Zelo chuckled.

"Hello I am Hwang Sunhwa," the history teacher said. She was tall and slim, and had astonishingly white skin.

"WOW SO PRETTY!!" hooted Sungyeol, shooting up from his seat.

"...Formerly known as Han Sunhwa," added the teacher. "So you will all address me as Mrs. Hwang." The announcement was followed by a wave of sighs from the male students.

"Now that I look closer you're not actually that pretty," grunted Sungyeol, sinking back into his seat.

Twenty minutes into the class people had grown restless. Some students decided to take a nap, their cheeks pressed against their tables with a book to hide their head. Despite being in high school some students decided to make paper planes out of their handouts and whiz them above everybody's heads. One hit the teacher's bum and the boy had to stay in the squatting position for ten minutes. I glimpsed up at Zelo beside me as I copied down notes. He had his face in his palm and his eyes squinted in concentration. His other hand never stopped as it glided across his page. Zelo looked up at the board, his eyes hesitantly falling on me and in an instant the intensity in them dropped as he smiled warmly. He looked back down at his exercise book and scribbled something down.

Are you keeping up?

I nodded. "Sohee and Zelo, are you two listening?" called Mrs. Hwang. I jerked up in surprise.

"Yes ma'am." Zelo said with a smile. The harsh look on the teachers face melted away and was replaced with a smiled.

"Okay, that's good." She replied with a sweet smile.

“No new members?” Himchan said with a frown.

“Sorry,” Zelo laughed as we entered the practice room.

“What is it you specialize in again?” Yongguk asked Zelo.

“Rap!” Zelo announced lifting his head triumphantly. The other members gathered and folded their arms.

“Well?” Yongguk said lifting a brow. I smiled up at Zelo before joining the audience. He rapped a quick simple verse but was followed by an enthusiastic applause. “Not bad,” Yongguk grinned.

“It has a different feel compared to Yongguk hyung’s,” Youngjae said, after some thought he added, “It’s less scary.” Yongguk glared playfully at him.

“I want to learn to dance though!” Zelo exclaimed. The other members turned to Jongup. He crossed his arms, his muscles becoming more defined.

“You’ll have to practice lots,” Jongup explained. Zelo nodded eagerly. Jongup looked up, a smile creeping up his face, “fine.”

“What about you, Sohee?” Himchan said smiling at me.

I laughed and waved a hand, “Ah no. I’m just watching!” Himchan made a face and turned to the rest of the group as if he had something to discuss. They shrugged.

“Okay.” Himchan said scratching the back of his head.

"Well that was fun." Zelo stretched his long arms towards the sky. "If they practice like that for three lunch times in a week... Wouldn't they get tired?" Zelo looked innocently at me, his brows furrowed and eyes brighter than usual.

"They're probably used to it," I smiled as we strolled back to class. Zelo sighed and smiled upwards, towards the sky.

"Ch'yeah!" He chirped. "His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy..." Zelo began rapping, I was listening at first but his voice began to fade away, becoming only an echo in the back of my head. Looking up at him he seemed happy. It was clear, even while I'm dazed, he knew where he wanted to go and no one could stop him. No one will be able to catch up to him, not even me.

finally..... thanks to Hero (shared account) the chapter's finished o u o she good criticizing person... anyway it's holidays so hopefully I'll be able to get another chapter out soon!! Comment comment! anything you want to happen? how was it?