A few weeks of school passed and your life followed a schedule now. You found yourself more in Taekwoon’s company than any other classmate. He was in your group in English class so even if you didn’t want to see him, he was there. You were now commonly called noona by his friends except N and Ken who comfortably addressed you informally whenever they saw you but you had yet to return the favor.

“Mikyung! Did you stay inside again?”

You looked up from your book and nodded at N. You only looked at him and avoided looking at the other person behind him.

They came into the room and you went back to your book. They whispered to each other but you were more engrossed in your book.

When everyone came in with your homeroom teacher walking in urgently, you put your book away.

“Now the school’s usual sports competition is coming up and we have to decide who is going to do what sport. It was announced we’re just going to focus on fall sports since we also have the upcoming winter and combined spring and summer competitions later on in the year. So the sports that were decided on are soccer,” the homeroom teacher was interrupted by the cheers of the guys. Many of them turned to look at Leo happily. “Anyway, there is also volleyball and a cross country race.”

He took out a piece of paper out of one of his folders, “Sorry but I looked up each of you in the school records for your sports activities and I wrote a list based on what I found out.” He started to write on the board placing a sport on top of the board. He started writing names underneath each one. “This competition will span three days next week. Each sport for one day and participation is mandatory since school time is dedicated to this. So I better not receive any random doctor’s excuse about an ineligibility to participate unless the reason is valid.”

Your name was written under the volleyball and cross country label so far which didn’t surprise you since the other girls were also listed under them. He continued adding a few names on the cross country list and started on the soccer.

“Now let me make this clear,” he looked at everyone gravely, “This list is what is recommended but you are required to join at least one sport. To form a team, a minimum number of players must be met and I would like our class to be able to join each sport. You all have to check in with me and tell me which sport you will join by tomorrow. I encourage you to practice or train for your sport as soon as possible.”

Conversation started with some people declaring what sport they will sign up for. You didn’t join in and looked out the window instead. This time of the school year was one of your least favorites. It had been the same last year and the year before; both of which you had chosen the cross-country race and mainly walked and jogged throughout the course. The present frigid cold weather that has become more frequent had you ruling that out. Volleyball was new this year though.

The chatter died down as the math teacher came in. He put you guys in groups to work on a small project together. You didn’t contribute much but just wrote down what was being discussed and tweaked a few things here and there, double checking a few things on your calculator. A specific person who was coincidentally in your group didn’t say anything like usual as he basically glared at his paper and only nodded or shook his head when asked a question. You could relate with him since math wasn’t exactly your forte.

You let your groupmates look over what you wrote and tentatively, the only other girl in your group faced you. “So Mikyung-ssi which club are you thinking of choosing?”

You gazed at her without answering making her fidget in her seat. You shrugged your shoulders after a few seconds.

She then asked the other person sitting next to you, “How about you Taekwoon-ssi?” He just sighed before looking away. It became quiet after that as separate conversations took place while you and the other person sat in silence.

Throughout the day, a few of your brave classmates asked you the same question and you shrugged the question off. The more they asked, the more you were put off by the whole thing. But the way the guys kept patting Leo’s back, almost in relief, made you curious. Ken and N jokingly acted as his bodyguards when break started and ran errands for him exaggeratedly even though he hadn’t asked for anything.

You decided to walk around during break since there were more people in the classroom. You wanted to pick a sport by the end of the day so you forced your thoughts in that direction to get it out of the way.

Well, you weren’t terrible at sports but you didn’t excel in any either. You had tried playing a few just to spend some quality time with your dad and then there was Nunji who had joined her school’s volleyball team, which was your school now. She had taught you a few things whenever she practiced at home back when she was in high school. That was the extent of your relationship with any sport. So volleyball was your best choice and you were sure Nunji would enjoy spiking balls at you again because that had been her way of teaching you how to receive the ball. Painful memories came back that you had tried to bury and you could almost feel the fast balls whacking various points of your body. You shook your head to get rid of those thoughts and tried to convince yourself that the sudden aching feeling in your head and arms was just your imagination.

You were determined to join volleyball now since you knew Nunji could whip you into shape. While you didn’t care much about what people thought of you, you didn’t want embarrass yourself knowing you could have prevented such an outcome. So as long as you weren’t the worst player, you were good.

With your mind set before you talked yourself out of it, you set a course for the teacher’s lounge. You stopped walking and looked around puzzled almost not recognizing the hallway you somehow found yourself in. You looked through one of the doors. Judging by the posters and lesson plan on the wall, you were in the  first year section of the building.

You looked at the bright posters that were on display. It had been a while since you had been in this part of the school. You idly ran your eyes over the hallway and walked by students that littered the hallway. Group