Raeha

I stretched my arms and yawned. Day #4 of training was now almost finished, and the contest was fast approaching. And every day, Kyuhyun found a way to piss me off.

The other day, we had Science, which was just a bunch of facts I memorized combined with some formulas, easy as pie. But today was… ugh… World History. I hate history. I mean, seriously, no disrespect, but who wants to know a bunch of dates and names that were long gone?

Well, the answer to that question was Cho Kyuhyun.

"On what date was the city of Nagasaki hit with an atomic bomb?" Park-ssam quizzed him.

"August 9, 1945." he answered without batting an eyelash.

"What was the name of the bomb?"

"Fat Man. It was the second atomic bomb that the Americans sent. The first was the Little Boy, launched on August 6, hitting the city of Hiroshima."

"Nobody asked for all the rest, Cho." I interjected. I probably shouldn't have, though, seeing the angry glare he shot my way.

"Who are you to say that, you haven't even answered any questions today, and I've been answering them for you. Of course, you were never good at history anyway." he snorted.

"Well, I didn't ask you to do that. And I admit, my history scores aren't perfect, but I don't care about them at all. What gives you the right to criticize my knowledge in history?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, this is a contest, and I take it seriously."

"Who said I don't take this seriously?" Our voices were getting louder and louder, and we were getting dangerously closer and closer to strangling each other.

"Enough!" We heard seonsaengnim explode in front of us. We instantly shut up in shock. He was not usually one to yell like that, but when he did, it struck fear in every little student heart around.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in exasperation. "I hope you two remember that this is a team competition, and that means we need teamwork. So you two," he looked at us, "please cooperate. Can't you go one day without going at each other's necks?"

I opened my mouth to say something but quickly closed it once I saw the look on Kyuhyun's face that said, if I die at the hands of seonsaengnim, you will be responsible!

Honestly, it wasn't entirely my fault! Sometimes he just blamed it all on me for no reason! And I have pride, of course I'd defend it when he so arrogantly antagonizes me all the time. Ugh.

Park-ssam looked at us with pleading eyes. "Guys. Please. I know you both want to win this, so keep in mind that we-the school- need the both of you to work together and bring honor to the school." Like I hadn't heard that a hundred times. "Use that competitive spirit against the other schools, yes?" he forced a smile that neither of us returned.

He heaved a sigh. "Alright, let's call it a day, then. You guys obviously need some time away from each other, and I think I need some time away from you." He pushed his chair away from the desk and waved us away. "You're dismissed."

Silently, I picked up my things with my back to Kyuhyun. I could feel the tension in the air, and it was starting to suffocate me. I hurriedly stalked over to the door and grabbed the doorknob, just as another hand reached out for it as well. Recognizing Kyuhyun's brown tweed sleeve, I didn't look up to meet his face and twisted the knob harshly, forcing him to take a step backwards.

Rushing out into the hall, I didn't bother closing the door behind me. I was angry, and I didn't want to talk to him. But was I mad at him? Partially. I mean, he was being unreasonably mean to me. Again.

But then, I was also kind of mad at myself for giving him even more reason to hate me. And what seonsaengnim said made me realize that we really did need to work together on this. I didn't know everything, but neither did he. I saw Park-ssam's logic: the human calculator partners with the walking encylcopedia. Tsk. Genius.

Just as I had reached the prt of the hall where I would turn the corner, I heard the office door close behind me. Inhaling deeply, I turned around to face Kyuhyun, hoping this would work.

"Cho."

"Jung." he scowled again. "I don't have time for another one of your petty arguments, so just leave me alone." He walked by me, brushing past. I grabbed onto his arm and he stopped, turning to me, obviously annoyed.

"We need to talk, Cho." I said as seriously as I could.

"What is it? Can't it wait? I don't have the energy to argue with you, so if you'll excuse--"

"I'm not going to argue with you." I let go of his arm, and he let it drop to his side. But he didn't walk away. He sighed in annoyance. "Alright, what is it then?" he said with a hint of curiousity.

"I want to call a truce." I looked dead into his eyes.

He raised his brow. "A truce?"

"Yeah. I've been thinking about what seonsaengnim said. And he's right. Plus us fighting all the time is probably giving the poor guy a migraine."

"If you think this contest will instantly make us friends-"

"I'm not asking us to be friends. I'm just saying, we need to not constantly try to kill each other all the time. For the entire duration of the training period for these contests. But once we lose, and the competition's over for us, you can argue and scream at me as much as you like."

I held out my hand. "Well? Temporary truce. Do we have a deal?"

He paused and bit his lip while looking at my hand, but finally gave in. "Deal."

"Good. So now we have a temporary truce."

"Wait-" he stopped me before I walked away. "I want to set some terms and conditions."

I scoffed. "Terms and conditions? What is this, a binding contract?"

He just ignored me and counted on his finger, "One. Do not talk back to me."

"Shouldn't you do the same to me-"

"Ah ah ah, what did I just say?"

I rolled my eyes. "Two," he continued, "Don't roll your eyes at me." Ugh. This guy is full of it!

"Three. Don't mess with my grades."

"How do I even do that?"

"You're a bad influence."

ME, WHA-- YOU-- UUUUGGHHH.

"Agree?" he asked.

I glared at him but said, "Fine. Whatever."

"Good." he said with a smug smile on his face. "I'll be going, Jung."

……………………………………………………………………………………

"SERIOUSLY, HYERI! I don't know what's wrong with him!" I told Hyeri. I was on the phone with her right after dinner, and was now laying on my stomach on my bed. The thought of Kyuhyun got me so mad, but I couldn't just yell at him because of the truce.

"Relax, Rae. I'm sure he's got his reasons."

"No, he was being completely unreasonable!!!!" I emphasized. "I mean, he called me a bad influence!! How could I be a bad influence???"

"Well, you have almost nonexistent study habits, you're really lazy, you go out to a lot of parties, you're a pushover--"

"Stop, stop, I get it, I'm not exactly a model student! You're supposed to be in my side! Why are you defending him?"

I heard her laugh on the other side of the line. "Because he's kind of right."

"What? What do you mean by that?"

"I mean  hat maybe it couldn't hurt if you worked a liiiitttlle bit harder, instead of relying on your smarts all the time."

"But that would mean leaving others behind--"

"Shut up! We're all already behind you! You'll still be first! What's the difference?" she chuckled.

I sighed in frustration, rolling over to lie on my back and staring at the ceiling. She was right. But that didn't mean I wasn't still angry. Suddenly, the thought of his smug litle smile floated up into my brain, making the anger rise in me again.

I grabbed the pillow and screamed into it as it muffled the sound. I stayed like that for a long time before lifting away to breathe.

I paused a while. I lifted the phone up to my ear.

"Hyeri?"

"Yeah?"

"I hate him."

"Well, you know what they say."

"What?"

"There's a thin line between love and hate."