Kyuhyun

We stepped into the large contest hall that the city usually used for contests like these. I've been here several times, but this is the first time that I've seen it this full of people. All the carbon dioxide circulating in the densely packed, enclosed hall magnified the heat and I was soon sweating through my uniform. Or was that sweat from nervousness? I tried to shake my thoughts away once the three of us had found seats.

"Hey, Cho. Stop shaking your leg." Raeha whispered from beside me. I hadn't even realized I was shaking my leg and sighed loudly, making her look at me.

"Chill out. Relax."

"It's not easy to relax in a situation like this!" I felt the stress bubble up.

Unexpectedly, Raeha tried to pat my arm reassuredly. "Just try to relax. Nothing good is going to happen if you're a bundle of nerves."

"She's right, Kyuhyun." Seonsaengnim put in, and I breathed a long breath, and felt the throbbing in my head lessen a bit.

"On the other hand, it wouldn't hurt to review just a little bit. I bet you didn't even study last night." He added. I snickered.

She groaned. "Seonsaengniiiiim. I just don't feel like it."

Without looking at her, I muttered, "You never feel like it." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her glare at me, but ignored it. "it wouldn't hurt to review a little."

"Tch. Fine." She pulled out some papers from her bag and started rereading them.

"Would all the contestants please proceed to your assigned places now?" A voice boomed over the microphone.

"I guess that's us." Raeha sighed and got up, with me following. "Good luck guys! There are lots of people cheering you on!" seonsaengnim called after us, though it was obvious that he was the only one cheering right now. I instantly felt the pressure of the school and peers expecting us to win. I always end up setting high expectations for myself, only to let myself down.

"Hey, Cho." Raeha called, looking as relaxed as ever. I looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "We're going to do great." She smiled. Somehow, I managed to smile back.

I pushed my slipping glasses farther up the bridge of my nose as the judges read the rules out loud. I tuned out most of it, and the welcoming speech after it as well.

There's just something about a contest that sends your heart racing, and your brain tries to catch up because it's working at half its normal speed, and you feel the immense need to pee. I'm not kidding. It happens every time.

"You okay there, Cho? You look a bit pale."

"I'm fine," I replied tersely, ignoring the sweat pooling in my palms.

The announcer began, "Alright, let's begin round one."

………………………

Before I knew it, we were on the fifth and final round. By now, I felt mentally exhausted, and sersiously stressed. Meanwhile, Raeha looked like it was just another day of training, and was sitting perfectly still. Yet she still managed to answer questions very quickly, for which I was thankful; otherwise, I might have broken down from not knowing the answer. On the other hand, I felt a bit mad because she didn't let me answer a lot of questions.

We were currently leading by only four points, and our rivals had once or twice caught the upperhand in the previous rounds. Like us, they were also a guy and girl team. The guy seemed familiar. I had probably seen him in the contest circle before.

Handing in our answer for the last question, I crossed my fingers and hoped we got it right. If we got it wrong and the other team got it right, they would get five points and beat us. I looked over and saw Raeha doing the same with her hands under the table. This was it.

"Team number 4." That's us.

"Correct."

Immediately, both Raeha and I breathed a sigh of relief. I turned to her, trying to express how tired I was. "Heyyy. Come on. It's over now, at least." She patted my back with a smile.

They announced that the thrid place, second place, and finally, our names were called as the grand winners of the citywide finals. "Congratulations! You will be proceeding to the regional level in a week! Good job everyone!"

We stood up from our seats, accepting congratulations everywhere. I headed towards where seonsaengnim was standing, waiting for us.

"Henry!" I heard Raeha call out from behind me, and turned to see Hyeri waving to the team who placed second.

"Hey, Raeha! Congratulations!" He came close and hugged her. Damn, and she just left me, her own partner, standing here, while she goes to talk to some guy.

"Oh hey, Cho, come here," she spotted me walking away and grabbed my arm, pulling me in front of Henry and his partner. "Henry, Cho Kyuhyun." she motioned to the both of us. "You two know each other, right?"

Henry extended his arm, offering me a handshake with a smile. "Hey, yeah, I see you around these contests a lot.. when was the last time… that robot building contest a few months back, remember?"

"Y-yeah. Nice to see you." I shook his hand.

Henry pulled his partner forward. "This is my partner, Seo Joohyun. She just transferred to our school, but she's pretty smart." He introduced the long-haired girl. She was pretty, not the kind of face usually seen around academic contests. I mean, look at me. I'm a fat nerd with glasses.

She bowed shyly, and Raeha smiled warmly. "Nice to meet you, Joohyun."

"Seohyun." she spoke up in a small voice. "Just call me Seohyun."

"Well, it's grat to meet you, Seohyun. I'm Raeha, and this is Kyuhyun." I gave her a small wave, to which she responded with a small nod. God, I'm bad at socializing.

"Hey kids!" A small, kind looking woman came up from behind them. "Hey, you guys are the team that won, right? Congratulations!" She smiled at us, and I could only nod. I've heard it enough times, thank you.

"Taeyeon! Hey!" a voice said from behind me.

"Jungsu?" the woman asked incredulously. I turned around to see that the voice from behind me came from Park-ssam. What?

"I didn't know you were going to be here!" he said with a goofy grin.

"Well, I wasn't really planning to. I was a last minute subsitute for their teacher." She pointed out Henry and Seohyun who bowed quite awkwardly.

"These are my kids right here." he put a hand on my back and Raeha's. "Say, we're having a bit of a celebration later. You guys should come, too."

"We are?" Raeha asked.

"Yeah. Your whole class is going, and some of the school officials." He looked up again at Taeyeon. "You guys are more than welcome."

She smiled. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

"Well, we have to go now, but I'll tell you about it later!" seonsaengnim waved, and motioned for us to follow him through the large crowd trying to exit the contest hall at the same time.

"Bye, Henry! Bye, Seohyun! See you around!" Raeha waved.

Seonsaengnim drove us to school, where we were greeted by the principal. "Hey! Good job, guys! Keep up the good work." See? What we did wasn't good enough. We were actually expected to keep doing more to maintain it. The principal continued, "We were planning a celebration afterwards, and you kids can relax for a while with your friends. It's in a restaurant not far from here."

We walked back to the classroom, where we were told our class was waiting. Instantly, we were met with shouts of "Congratulations!!" and there were pats on the back all around.

"Hey, Kyu!" Sungmin patted my back a bit too hard. "We're having a party just for you two! Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, except for the fact that I hate parties."

"Hark! What is this?" Raeha appeared beside me. "Do I hear… A party pooper?"

I snorted. "Call me whatever you like, but I'm not going."

"Well, that's too bad." She said nonchalantly. "Because I heard the dean of Seoul University is invited."

I snapped my head back so fast I heard it click. "What?"

She smiled. "I'm not kidding. He's the principal's friend, and they say he's looking for scholarship applicants..." she said. "But I guess since you won't be there, I'll just have to represent you--"

"Oh, I'll be there, Jung. Just wait and see."

"Perfect." she patted my head like a little kid. Wait. What had I just gotten myself into?