Prologue           

Once again I found myself among people superior then me, and I can not join others or complain because no one else wants me to join their team. The only person that could keep me from ignoring the stares of others is Luhan. I would not dare look at him, but knowing he was a couple steps away from me was enough to make me smile. 

Slowly one by one my teammates got called and yet again I was last. 

A shadow casted over me, I looked up to find Luhan staring at me, he held out a small red shirt for me to take. He help me get up on my two feet and patted me on the back.

“Make sure to pass the ball to me, just so it’s easier for you.” Luhan said before running to the middle field ready to start with the kickoff.

Every single time we had gym I was always last on everything. I gotten used to it, at first I would be disappointed because no matter my effort the result would always be the same. I was happy to know that Luhan and Nicole were the only two people that didn’t use my weight as an excuse to not be my friends. Jessica was my friend but I could tell that she was still walking awkwardly in the hallways as if trying to not get caught talking with me.

I stood by the goalie, most of us girls did with the exception of Nicole. She and I knew that in the future she would play on a league team and be at a level high enough to earn a spot on the FiFa World Cup. I too wanted to play with her, we promised to accomplish our dreams together. Now staring at her back, she looked gracious while running. She was so fast, but I could always predict when she was about to kick the ball or make a pass because she's like an explosion. She always gave a signal by turning her hips, but its not like I or the guys could stop her, that is why she was the best in our school. 

“Mina, can you refill my water bottle?” Seha asked.

I nodded before taking the water bottle from her hands. 

I ran toward the school's back entrance, then once inside the school I went into a full sprint by the time I got to the water fountain my mouth was dry.

Minho always said that I was fast, that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he turned the TV and saw me receiving flowers while holding my gold medal. I laughed, that wasn’t my dream, I too wanted to be receiving a medal but with him by my side. Ever since I was little I wanted to be on the same level as my brother, he had contracts from different leagues but he would always turn them down. He only wanted to play for Korea, even though we were not well know. We haven’t won the World Cup in years.

I only noticed the bottle was full when I felt the cold water dripping down my hand.

Seha thanked me, and I retrieved to standing at my old spot. I lost my interest and started looking at other groups. The coach, he only liked me because of my brother, was seating on the bleachers talking to Sam. Sam was the new filipino kid, I couldn’t understand him and whenever he spoke it sounded like he was arguing. Thus why I only knew his name.

I jolted, feeling something at my feet. 

My brain shut down and I was arguing on what to do. I looked around me, Luhan was far from me, on the opposite side of the field and Nicole was still running. 

I saw the worry on my teammates, that look I'm always given. I hated it, people always underestimated me and this was my chance to prove myself. I wasn’t as good as Nicole but at least I knew how to kick the ball really far. As I lifted my feet  to hit the ball someone else took it from me and I ended up losing balance and falling. 

I expected Nicole to be running to help me but she wasn’t, instead I was met by her death glare. Nicole managed to get the ball from Gerry, she passed to Luhan who had no defense and scored just in time to hear the bell ring. 

I got help from Seha, I could tell she was struggling and I just wanted to shout at her to get away from me. But she was trying to help me instead of putting me down. 

“Thanks” I said between heavy breathing.

“No problem” she patted the dust of her shorts. 

The two of us walked to the girls change room, I went straight to a bathroom and she went to her friends. I always tried to not be last, but every single time my clothe managed to feel smaller then ever before. By the time I was done, my hair was a mess, seeing how the new students were arriving I left without glimpsing at my reflection on the mirror.  

I hurried to my class, slid the door open and snuck onto my desk. Miss Choi hadn’t arrived giving me time to take my notebook out and draw. Hearts covered all the pages.

“Stand up,” The class president said with a firm tone and once Miss Choi was at the front of the board we all bowed. 

“Hello to everyone, I hope your classes are going great.”

She flipped through her thick blue binder and pulled out the attendance list, she scanned the room, I blinked waiting for her to stare in my direction. 

She folder the note neatly and picked her binder, we all stood.

“Please behave, I don’t want to hear anything from Mister Kim regarding your rebellious  behaviour.”

She paused and looked passed me. 

“Luhan your father is waiting for you at the office,” Miss Choi waited for Luhan before exiting the room. 

Class continued, surprisingly Taeyon was behaving, there were no interruptions the whole class. Mister Kim was so impressed that he allowed us to finish our homework outside, as long as we didn’t hang by the park.

Nicole and I took a seat under a tree, while everyone else  spread over the field getting direct sunlight. 

“Mh,  what do you think Luhan is doing?” I asked and continued drawing a heart around Luhan’s name.

“I don’t know,” Nicole pulled on the grass. 

“Don’t do that” I mumbled, she may not believe it but nature itself is a living thing and plants have feelings too.

Nicole did not seem to have heard me so I chose to ignore her actions, I didn’t insist and went back to my own world. 

“I see Luhan, lets go!” 

Nicole pulled on my wrist, her grip was so strong that it was hurting me. Finally, we reached him. 

He looked up, his eyes had lost light, it seemed like he had recently cried. I wanted to reach to him and tell him that it was going to be fine. But I didn’t want to either be wrong, so I froze and watched him huge Nicole. I too wanted to help, if I hugged him his hands wouldn’t completely wrap around my body. I did not want that so I tried to cheer him up the only way I could.

“Luhan I love you and I hope we can all become football players” I said with as much enthusiasm.

“Hope, that is stupid. Hope won’t get you anywhere.” Luhan let go of Nicole, his lose hands formed into fists.  

“Don’t be mean,” my voice was staring to break.

“You and your dream are both pathetic,” Luhan pointed his index finger directly at me then walked away. 

I use the back of my hand to clean the tears from my cheek, - “Stop crying for something so stupid!” Nicole said with such hatred that it made me want to cry even louder.

There was no way in life that I was going back to school, so I cried all the way home. Nicole and Luhan were being so mean to me and I hadn’t done anything wrong. He  probably never wants to hang out with me. Now he will only see me as a fat girl that has a huge crush on him. If anyone else finds out how I feel, there going to make fun of me.

“I hate my life”

I left the house early because I didn’t want to see Nicole or Luhan. 

I grabbed my textbooks and pretended to be interested on them. Miss Kim arrived, we greeted her and proceeded with the class. When the teacher turned to write on the board I would at Luhan. His partner and him sit two roads away from us, so it is not hard to catch a glimpse of him. 

He was paying attention to the teacher and writing notes down.

He looks so good, his eyes are as light as caramel. He is perfection. I felt a tap on my shoulder, Annie slips a note of paper to me. It’s written on English, she’s wants to play tick tack with me. I agree, I’m winning but that’s perhaps do to memorizing the patterns. Annie has this funny look on her face when ever its her turn,I try not to laugh.

Ann says something but I can’t quite understand her, her English accent is so thick that the vowels just sound like she’s trying to spit. I don’t like it, I prefer she stays silent.

“You don’t have to speak Korean” I tell her and place my mark under her circle.

“You have a really cute births accent” She speaks really fast and I miss her words.

“Did you ask something?”

“Can you teach me, please” She puts her palms together and pouts at me. I have no clue why her lips are trembling. Maybe she saw a K-drama while trying to learn my culture.The truth is I never seen anyone do that, its mostly meant for couples or the opposite gender. It weird me out but at the same time I find it oddly adorable. Annie has really chubby chicks, squirrel cheeks. 

“Ok”