Chapter 4
Tutor WarsMirae and Suyeon are the loudest people supporting the Daegu Lions. Even the coach looks back at them a few times, trying to see who the hell is screaming so loudly. Contrary to the spectators’ opinion, however, the girls are not cheering out of school spirit.
No, they are cheering out of bloodlust.
“Come on Jungkook!” Mirae hollers. “Slap the ball out of Oh Sehun’s hands! Yes! YES! Drive to the basket!”
“Kim Jongin just committed a foul!” Suyeon shrieks at the referee. “Come on! This is BS!”
“I’ve never seen these two so excited before,” a girl remarks in a hushed voice to her friend.
Her friend snorts. “I’ve never seen these two at a sporting event before. Aren’t they ranked #2 and #3 in the class? I thought they just studied and tutored all the time.”
The crowd on the Daewon Peacocks’ side of the stand is throwing Suyeon and Mirae dirty looks. Apparently they do not appreciate their rude, mean-spirited screaming.
Well, it’s Oh Sehun and Kim Jongin’s fault, Mirae thinks defensively.
“I’m so mad,” Suyeon whines. “I can’t even focus on Hoseok! I’m too pissed at Sehun and Jongin!”
“Sehun, Jongin.” The Daewon Prep coach beckons his two players to talk to him.
“Yes?” Jongin pants, wiping sweat off his forehead with his jersey. He exposes his lower midriff, causing excited squirms to echo amongst the girls. Jongin smirks, winking at the crowd.
The coach snaps his fingers in front of Jongin’s face. “Hey. Jongin. Pay attention. Look, do you two have enemies from Daegu Public High School?”
Sehun scoffs. “Why would we? We don’t even want to talk to those public school kids. I’m pretty sure all of them are high 24/7 anyway.”
“Hey, look at me, I go to public school,” Jongin mocks in a slow, dopey voice, his mouth half-open. “I do poor people drugs, like weed. Har har har.”
Their coach throws them an irritated look. “The reason I’m asking is because there have been some people from the Daegu Tigers’ audience that have been screaming your names all night.”
Jongin and Sehun exchange knowing smirks. “Well, we can’t say that this is the first time.”
“Can you two be serious for a second here?!”
Sehun rolls his eyes dramatically. “Okay, Coach Guk, we know. I’ve been hearing an annoying, shrill voice practically curse me out every time I’m on the court. Beat Oh Sehun! Oh Sehun !”
“Same here,” Jongin adds. “But we really don’t know who it is. Like we’ve said, we don’t associate with those kinds of people.”
“Now can we get back in the game now?” Sehun asks pointedly. “It’s been dandy talking to you, Coach. Why don’t we go out for tea sometime?” He sprints back onto the court before his coach can retaliate. Jongin follows right behind.
“These damn rich kids,” Coach swears under his breath, glaring at the two boys with narrow eyes. He was not a varsity starter throughout high school and college basketball just to become a doormat for these degenerate brats.
The game is in its final few minutes. The shot clock is rapidly racing down the time, numbering the seconds of the game. Glowing yellow numbers on the scoreboard read 53-53. The Lions and Peacocks are set in a dead tie, with their best players on the court to try to push through to the end.
“Number 2!” Namjoon yells out, referring to a special inbound play that his team developed together at practice. “Break!”
Mirae and Suyeon watch with bated breath as Taehyung cuts across the paint and catches a swift bounce pass from Namjoon. A gangly, crazy-haired boy with the name “Park C.” written on his back towers over Taehyung. Taehyung fakes left, pulls up for a shot, and immediately passes the ball over to Jungkook.
“Hoseok!” Jungkook calls, and passes the ball to him. Jungkook immediately picks the defender as Hoseok dries to the basket and-
“SCORE!” Suyeon yells, jumping up and down. “Yay, Hoseok!” The scoreboard now reads 55-53.
“Suyeon! Look who has possession of the ball now!” Mirae says in a biting tone, glaring at the court.
Suyeon narrows her eyes. Why, it’s Tweedledee, also known as Oh Sehun. And look! Tweedledum is standing right over there.
Only 30 seconds are left on the shot clock. Sehun quickly passes the ball to Luhan, who goes for a 3 pointer. It tips off the rim of the basket, barely missing, but Kris has got the rebound immediately. He twists around the tangle of limbs and hands and legs defending him, and passes the ball to Jongin. Jongin backs up behind the red 3-point line.
“Come on, Jongin,” Kris pants. “If you make this, we win.”
Jongin understands the gravity of the situation. He squares up in front of the basket, perfectly positioning himself to make the shot. Concentrate, Jongin commands himself. This will be easy. Just focus on the basket. Nothing but net.
Jongin is about to release the ball in a perfect shot when someone screams, “Miss it, Kim Jongin!”
The sudden cry catches him off-guard. Jongin jerks back, the basketball slipping from his hands. Right at that moment, the buzzer emits a loud ringing sound. The referee blows his whistle. “Game!”
Jongin’s head whips back to the Daegu Lions audience. His entire body is pulsing with rage. Who the hell said that? They messed him up! If it weren’t for them, he would’ve made that shot and the Peacocks would have won the game!
“What bloody little said that?” Sehun roars. The Lions looks rather frightened. “You- that-,”
“Get off the court, young man,” the referee says, escorting Sehun away by the arm. “You too,” he adds to Jongin, who is still fuming.
“I’m going to go get some water,” Jongin tells Sehun. Sehun nods, rudely yanking his body away from the referee. He follows his friend as he storms through the doors of the gym, shoving past all the people leaving the game.
“Jongin!” Jongin disregards the voices that call his name. He merely stomps away, heading to god knows where. Jongin wants to isolate himself from his teammates, his fellow students, all these people watching the game. Otherwise he will be forced to deal with their sympathetic stares or disappointed looks.
Jongin angrily kicks the wall. If he finds the little that messed him up-
“I ing hate this school,” Sehun growls. Jongin turns. His friend is leaning up against the wall behind him, his fists clenched. “They won on a fluke. There’s no way we could lose to this pathetic little public school.”
“I know. God, who the hell did those s think they were?” Jongin rolls his eyes. “Did you see that captain? Namjoon or whatever? He trying to act so ing noble. Like that whole ‘good luck’ thing he said to us. Is he actually kidding?”
“Poor people,” Sehun sneers knowingly. “I have to deal with them enough during tutoring. I don’t want to deal with them during games too. God, this school reeks of filth-,”
“Excuse me.” a tight voice says. Sehun and Kai turn.
Suyeon and Mirae are standing behind the boys, their arms crossed.
“We need to talk.” Suyeon asserts in a low voice.
A/N: Omg why do my characters always turn out to be meaner than I mean for them to be (cough KAI cough SEHUN)
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