chapter twenty five: xxv. exams, assessments & wushu

Winter was ending, and that meant that spring was nearing. That also meant that there were exams and that it was almost time for the end of Term One and marks. With exams that were worth a high percentage of your grade, pressure and stress was high. Everyone was busy studying for exams and working on summatives, essays, and/or final projects for subjects without exams.

Well… almost everyone. I had an English summative and exam this term. For math, I had only an exam (which was worth 30% of my grade); for music we had to perform a song (whether it be a song you wrote or a song of your choice) through singing or instrument or both, and for dance we had a group performance (I had Tao, Sunyoung, Seulgi and Jinki in my group—Luhan and Minseok were put into other groups).

For me, the most stressful things were the math exam and the dance group performance. The math exam? Simple: because I at math. The dance group performance? Because a) I was yet to have confidence in my dancing skills (while I had improved immensely) and b) it was a group project which meant that if I failed the performance, I wouldn’t just be letting myself down, I would be letting the whole group down. Just the idea of sharing that burden as a group made the burden even heavier.

I practiced long after everyone had left, until everyone was sleeping. I had already done my music assessment—I had aced a song that I had written (called Behind the Lies) and gotten a 98 for performing it perfectly while playing guitar and singing it at the same time. I guess the fact that it was my song (and one of my personal faves) gave it a few extra marks as well. I had to admit, it was very musically professional. I had also handed in my English summative yesterday and done my English and Math exam today. Now… all that was left… was the dance group performance.

And this one wasn’t just getting marked. We were performing it in front of the whole school, as a bit of a ‘term one is over celebration’ concert. Henry had also requested me to sing my song there, and I had agreed. Next week, I was going to sing my song and dance. Another thing that made me even more nervous: the fact that there was going to be scouts there. If I wanted to become a singer, I would have to ace everything.

So here I was, in the practice room, going over my steps over and over again. My hair was tied messily up, and I was wearing jersey shorts and a loose shirt: my style of comfortable clothing that was conveniently easy to dance in. My ‘loose shirt’ was stuck to my back with my sweat, and I was thanking myself for deciding to wear a black shirt today… what if someone had come in and saw me in a white shirt, sweat making it see-through and my bra being as clear as day?

I groaned, sinking to the ground and panting. I crawled over to the music and paused it. Then, I crawled over to my water bottle, squeezing out the last drops over my head. Empty. I needed to refill it, but the closest water fountain was over fifty meters away, outside of the practice room. Did I even have the energy to make it there?

Yes. I needed to stay hydrated if I wanted to get the moves down properly. I pulled the neck of my shirt up and wiped the sweat off of my face. I stumbled out of the practice room, and managed to get to the water fountain, drinking water from it eagerly. Then, I filled my water bottle to the top, before drinking more water from the fountain. Feeling slightly (just slightly) re-energized, I returned to the practice room, to see someone leaning against one of the mirror walls.

“What are you doing here, Tao?” I asked, shocked.

He was wearing hip hop pants-the kind that Jackson from GOT7 liked to call I pooped in my pants pants (what can I say? A teenage girl is a teenage girl who loves their y boy bands), and a black sweater, underneath was a thin white wifebeater.

“I could ask you the same thing. What do you think you’re doing here so late?” he growled.

“What do you mean?” I asked, taken aback. “I’m practicing for our dance performance.”

“And I’m asking you why you’re doing that so late, when you look like you’re about to collapse?” He eyed my legs that were shaking slightly, cheeks that were flushed from all the dancing, messy hair and sweat dripping everywhere. Not attractive at all.

“It’s ten, Pandtao. Shindong-saem says that we’re allowed to use it until eleven,” I reminded.

“Over practicing will not get you anywhere. You have to rest, you know!” he scolded, face softening slightly.

“I know, but I’m having a really hard time getting that part at the one minute mark down properly.” I gulped down some more water. “Let me just practice for like ten more minutes, then I swear that I’ll go sleep.”

“No. Besides, when we left you said that you were only going to practice for twenty more minutes. It’s been four hours since then.”

“Pandtao!”

He thought for awhile. “Okay, what about this? You go and sleep for today, but tomorrow, I’ll stay and practice with you and help you until you get that move down.”

I considered it. His presence there was definitely going to be a huge help. He would correct my mistakes and tell me what to do better. I sighed. “Fine.” I took the remaining water in my water bottle and poured it over my head, enjoying the feeling of the cold water mixed in with my warm sweat trickling down my head, neck, back. I pulled my hair out (my hair was now just long enough to be barely tied) and whipped my head (and hair) up and down.

“Yah!” yelped Tao as a mixture of water and sweat went flying into his direction.

I couldn’t help but laugh, continuing to do the same thing.

He quickly escaped from the room, and I shut the music player down and turned the light off. Closing the door behind me, I laughed again at him glaring at me. “I was surprised you were being so serious on me all of a sudden but I’m glad you’re back to normal.”

He scowled. “I can be manly and serious sometimes too, you know.”

I nodded. “Sure you can, Pandtao.”

“Stop mocking me!” he spat, glaring.

Nevertheless, when I stumbled on the stairs out of the school, he made sure to put his arms around me and make sure I wouldn’t fall. Whenever I stumbled at all his arm was automatically around my waist, ready to support me, scolding me.

“See? This is why you shouldn’t over practice. Tomorrow you’re going to be so sore that your moves will be all stiff.”

“That’s why I have to work even harder tomorrow,” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes as I yawned. I shivered; though it had warmed up considerably, it was still cold. And… I had slept in today, and I had been in too much of a rush to remember my jacket. Of course, that hadn’t mattered when I had been in class or practicing… now… when the dorm building was about one hundred meters away… The sweat and water coating my body was not helping at all. Maybe I shouldn’t have poured the water… but that refreshing feel then, it had made it all worth it.

I felt Tao put something on my shoulders, and opened my eyes in surprise. Tao had his hands in his pockets, his arms bare. The only thing he was wearing on top was his thin wifebeater-he had given his black sweater to me. I shrugged it off, handing it back to him. “It’s cold, Tao. You’re going to get sick.”

“Look who’s talking! You pour water over yourself and you’re sweating. You’re exhausted. It’s freezing cold. All of these things are going to add up to you get a cold. So wear my freaking sweater and let me be a man for once,” said Tao, jabbing his finger at me. Which was considered very rude in Korea, but seeing as we were both foreigners… it didn’t really matter.

I sighed, putting the sweater back on. He was right; I was bound to catch a cold if I wasn’t careful. Which wasn’t going to help me in getting better at the dance at all. I swiftly grabbed Tao’s hand, looking him straight (up) in the eye. “Run.”

Going ahead of him, I pulled him towards the dorm building, running. I barely had any energy left but I still felt the thrill, which thoroughly energized me. When we reached the building, I quickly opened the door and pulled him in with me, panting hard. Taking his sweater (which was now covered in my sweat) off, I handed it back to him.

We trudged up the stairs, and I stopped at the second floor. “Good night, Tao. Sleep well.”

He shook his head. “Let me take you to your room so that you don’t collapse before you get there.”

I rolled my eyes. Stubborn panda was too stubborn. There was nothing I could say that would change his mind. Besides, after everything that had happened, he had become extremely protective of me. I somehow managed to get to the fourth floor, and somehow managed to get to my room. I unlocked the door, turning the knob. I turned back, smiling tiredly at him.

“Sleep well,” he said softly.

I smiled. “Thank you, Pandtao.” Not only for the ‘sleep well’ but also for taking care of me. For… everything. “You sleep well too.”

“Five six seven eight,” Tao counted us in.

I watched myself in the mirror, making sure my moves reflected Tao’s, moving to the beat. I smiled, feeling a bit proud of myself. Before, I had always looked a little out of it, but now I moved with him, what they called kalgunmu-perfectly synchronized dancing. For the amount my body was smaller, and the amount my limbs were shorter, I had to pop harder and make my movements wider and with more power… but I had gotten good at it.

The music came to an end, and I finished the dance perfectly. I hadn’t made a single mistake. My smile widened into a grin; I was really proud of myself. Who knew that Dance Terrorist Jooeun Kim could ace a high level dance? My brother had been the Fashion Terrorist (and Item Terrorist-everything around him seemed to break) of our group, and I had been the Dance Terrorist. Yoongi had been the Humour Terrorist, Jungkook had been the Women Terrorist, and Taehyung had been the Men Terrorist. That’d been us.

And here I was… I held out my hand for a high five and Tao high fived me back, matching my grin with his own.

“Now that you’ve got it down… we still have tomorrow to practice… let’s go get some bubble tea.” Tao grinned.

“But I need to practice—” I protested.

“We’ll come back and practice more after we get bubble tea. Let me text Sehun so that he can come with us,” said Tao, walking over to his bag and pulling out his phone. After a few seconds, he grinned at me. “Sehun says that he’ll meet us there.”

“I didn’t even know that there was a bubble tea store near here,” I grumbled, reluctantly going over to my messenger bag and pulling out my panda hoodie. It was simple really, the arms black, the body white (though there was a thick strip of black connecting the arms in a full circle), the hood white with black ears attached to it. It was a proper panda hoodie, not like those fakes that were all black with the ears and a weird design on the front. Those weren’t accurate at all.

I pulled it on, pulling the hood on so that my neck wouldn’t get cold from the sweat and cold air. “Lead the way.”

We walked out of the dance room, out of the school, out the gates, and started towards the right. The mall was straight ahead, and if you went left you would eventually get to the hospital that I had stayed in. I had never gone right, though. We walked for a while, perhaps ten minutes. The area started to look sketchier and sketchier, and I absentmindedly started walking closer to Tao. We took some turns, and I took note (or tried to take note) of the path, just in case we got lost. “Are you sure you know where you’re going, Tao?”

He scowled. “Of course I do! Who do you think I am? I’m Tao! Huang Zitao!”

“Also, where’s Sehun?”

“He said he’d meet us there. He was apparently out shopping for some clothes or something, and so he probably got there a while ago.” His face brightened. “Oh look, we’re here!”

He pointed at a store with a bright and colourful sign that said Beau-tea-ful on it, with a little animated picture of some bubble tea. Through the glass window I saw Sehun sipping on some bubble tea. Chocolate, by the looks of it. I waved at him, grinning.

He burst into an eager smile, waving wildly. I rolled my eyes at him, skipping into the store, Tao at my heels. Sehun greeted me by patting me on the head, pulling my hood off. I scowled at him, pulling it quickly back on. “Yo, I was just dancing! My hair is crazy and I smell like sweat. Let me leave the hood on, okay?”

Sehun shook his head at me, tutting as he pulled down my hood once more. “First of all, your sweat has dried up because of the cold air. Second of all, if you hair is crazy just let it down,” he said, gently pulling my hair out of its elastic, then combing it with his fingers. “And lastly, you look beautiful anyways.” He looked at me fondly, and Tao punched him lightly on the shoulder.

“I shouldn’t have invited you,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I wanted some alone time with Joo Joo! Stupid of me to invite you. Anyway, what bubble tea do you want, Joo Joo?”

I winced at the nickname-I still couldn’t get used to it-before speaking. “Um… strawberry. Without the bubbles? I don’t like the bubbles, sorry.”

Sehun stared at me. “But the bubbles are the best part! How do you not like the bubbles?”

“They… taste weird,” I stared at the ground, a slight pout on my face.

They both rolled their eyes at me, Tao going over to the counter to order his and my drinks. “Wait actually, Pandtao, do they have coffee here?”

I sipped on my (fourth cup of) coffee happily. Sehun had gone ahead first; he had finished his bubble tea and Tao had basically kicked him out. Tao and I had stayed for long after, talking and laughing about random things.

I got up from my seat, stretching. “Pandtao, it’s getting late, we should probably head back.” It was dark outside, courtesy of February, and the clock in the café read 10:30. We’d been here for… three and a half hours.

Tao nodded, taking his (third cup of) bubble tea and throwing it into the garbage. I still had a bit of coffee left (this one was iced coffee) so I kept it. I put my hood back on, knowing that it would be chilly outside. We walked out of the café, thanking and saying goodbye to the café owner as we left. Then, we started down the streets.

“Pandtao, are you sure you know where to go?” I asked in a whisper, not knowing why I was whispering.

He nodded. “I’ve been here a million times, Joo Joo.”

I walked really close to him because of the cold and because of the dark. Eventually, he just put an arm around me, and we walked like that. It seemed like we were suddenly at a loss for words, but really, we didn’t need it. I wrapped my arm around his waist, leaning my head against his chest as we walked.

Suddenly, we heard a loud banging noise, and I jumped in fright. Tao pulled me protectively closer, looking around frantically. “That was a gunshot,” he muttered.

My eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “I know a gunshot when I hear one.” A million questions flooded into my brain, but I chose not to ask them.

We started walking faster, but then another gunshot rang out, this time closer to us, making me flinch.

“It’s okay, just keep on going,” he said, but the fear was evident in his voice. Had someone like Kris been here, he would’ve been cowering away. But because I was the one here, and he felt the need to protect me, he was pretending to be strong.

And I needed it.

We kept walking, my hand unconsciously clenching the sleeve of his sweater that my hand had somehow found its way to. We heard shouting, and Tao quickly pulled me to an alley, making it so that we were hidden. I recognized the sound of someone limping, of someone dragging their leg forward desperately as they tried to escape the person chasing them. That sound got louder and louder until that person passed our alley and quickly came back, eyes widening at the sight of us. It was a young man, maybe even a boy… he quickly put a finger to his lips and rushed behind us, collapsing against the wall.

Blood was gushing from his wound-he had clearly been shot. Tao took his sweater off, wrapping it around the boy’s injury swiftly.

He had to be younger than us… probably only in middle school… what was he doing, going around getting shot?

“I know you’re there somewhere, Chanwoo! Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

The boy’s eyes widened, and I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, urging for him to calm down. My own heartbeat was racing, I could only imagine how the boy must feel. Then, the thought that this boy was a criminal came to mind. I quickly shoved that thought away, knowing that I should help him first.

The calling was getting louder… the man with the gun was getting closer to us.

“Stay here, Jooeun,” Tao whispered. “Stay with him.”

He got up and started… stretching? He stretched his arms, stretched his legs, and stretched his back, before cracking his neck side to side.

“What are you doing?” I whispered furiously. “You can’t be thinking—”

He quickly shot out of the alley, moving to the next one.

I swore under my breath. Was he crazy? Did he want to die? There was a man with a gun out there. I was about to get up to go after him when I remembered that there was an injured boy beside me. I turned to him, cursing my terrible luck.

“What’s your name?” I asked, in attempt to distract him from the obvious pain.

“I’m… Chanwoo,” he responded, a bit hesitantly. He winced as he held his leg.

“I’m Jooeun. Now you have to stay still unless you want yourself to lose more blood.” I tied Tao’s sweater tighter, making sure that less blood would go through.

“Why are you helping me?” he asked, trying not to flinch at the pain.

“Why not? Besides, my friend is out there right now… and I need to be able to kill you if he dies because of you,” I said, before smiling weakly at him. “No, I won’t kill you if he dies. But I will kill that guy after you. Mind telling me what’s going on?”

Chanwoo gulped. “Well… um… no, I don’t think I can tell you.”

I sighed. “Whatever. I won’t push you to tell me. But let me just ask you… I can take you to the hospital, right?”

He shook his head furiously. “No, no, you can’t.” He tried to get up and get away from me but I grabbed his wrist.

“Do you have someone who can look at your wound, though?”

“You’re… you’re not going to force me to go to the hospital? Or call the police on me?” he asked, eyes wide.

“No.” I looked straight into his eyes. “Now answer my question. Do you have someone who can look at your wound?”

He nodded slowly. “But he—” His whisper was cut off by another gunshot. I flinched, automatically stepping in front of the boy.

“Do not move. You better be here when I get back,” I whispered fiercely before poking my head out of the alley, swallowing back the fear.

I recognized the figure of Tao knocking the smoking gun out of the other man’s hand with his foot, before punching the man in the face swiftly. He then used his other hand to hit the man at the back of his head, causing him to go unconscious. I saw another figure rush passed me and head for Tao and I instinctively stuck my foot out, causing the man to go flying. The man quickly got up and snarled at me, causing me to automatically make a defensive pose, before kneeing him in the balls. After he fell to his knees, I kicked him on the chest, causing him to go backwards and hit his head on the ground. Tao then came over and hit the man sideways on the neck and the man was knocked out.

I took a deep breath and let out a long sigh of relief, before remembering Chanwoo. I turned back to the alley and saw that he was still thankfully there.

“Where does your friend live? We’ll take you there.”

A/N: Ahh cliches after cliches ;-; 

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! ^^ I probably won't update for a while since exams are coming up soon and I have a lot of summatives, but I hope all of you will understand that and respect my private life! :)

Thank you guys for all the support so far for this story, and I hope you guys had or are having a very Merry Christmas, and if you don't celebrate it, a Happy Holidays!! ^^

If any of you ever want to talk to me about anything, just PM me. I've got your back ;)

(oh, and I also started a XIUHAN fic called Cry, if you want to check it out)

~Jinny out