Song Sena got out of the car-- or as she would argue-- was forced out of the car, her soccer ball hugged tightly to her bandaged chest. Sungjong and her friends had wrapped it extra tight, to ensure that no one could any sign of curves. 

 

Sungjong climbed over the leather seats of his lilac Volkswagen, and emerged from the passengers side door, standing next to Sena, who had nervous painted all over her face. 

 

Her eyes scanned around the busy campus, where students and their parents were out and about. Today was move-in day at Illyria Academy, the school where she would spend the next month attending, while pretending to be her twin brother, Mino. It's a long story, but we'll get to that.

 

She felt nauseous as she looked at her surroundings. The campus was composed of tall, brick, victorian style buildings, adorned with red and black accents. In the middle of the courtyard, hung a ornate banner, that read: ILLYRIA ACADEMY, HOME OF THE WOLVES. 

 

The Wolves, a team that up until last week, she viewed as her mortal enemies. However now, the Wolves was a team that she needed to join and play on, and her old school's team, well, they were a team that she needed to conquer and defeat to prove her point. 

 

"Sup," a stranger said, as he passed by. Sena's eyes grew wide at the casual greeting, fearing that he made out her as a girl. She turned to Sungjong, panic in her eyes. 

 

"He so knew!" Sena concluded, trying to climb back into the car, but was blocked by Sungjong's surprisingly strong body. 

 

He rolled his eyes with crossed arms, denying Sena of any way to climb back into the car. She was the one that begged him to do this for her, and there's no way in hell that he was going to let her waste his precious hours of hard work, makeup, and faux hair pieces just because of a bit of anxiety. 

 

He gripped her shoulders, as if about to shake confidence into her. 

 

"Song Sena, I did not spend all week coaching you just for you to chicken out." He said affirmatively in a deep voice. To be honest, Sena was a bit stunned, since she had never seen this assertive side of Sungjong in the 2 years she's known him. 

 

Sena blinked repeatedly, half scared, half proud of Sungjong. Who knew her hair stylist best friend could be so, so, manly?

 

"Wow Jong, I've never seen you so firm and testosterone. It's kinda… hot." She said jokingly. Sungjong was good-looking, but in a pretty way. And, although many girls in middle school would have died to be his girlfriend, he didn't exactly play for that team. 

 

"See, I, Lee Sungjong, hair stylist, make up artist, and Madonna fanatic, can act manly, then do I dare say so myself, so can you Sen. You can be a man. You ARE THE MAN." He pep-talked her, knowing that she had attained every aspect it took to be a man. 

 

The wing, the sideburns, the swag walk. She had it down flat. Now all she needed was that extra kick to get her going. 

 

"Who's the man?!" He shouted enthusiastically, waiting for Sena's answer. 

 

Sena looked at her reflection in the car window. She almost thought she was her brother for a minute, that's how good of a job Sungjong did. "…I'm the man." She said in a low whisper, still unsure if she could do this. 

 

"I didn't hear you, I said, WHO'S THE MAN?!" Sungjong asked again, this time even louder and with more spirit. 

 

Sena looked down at her prized soccer ball, knowing that it was the sole reason why she was doing this. Why she had to do this. 

 

"I'M THE MAN!" She cheered, fully confident. "I'M THE ING MAN!" 

 

The two best friends turned to each other, and bumped chest, both of them groaning in pain afterwards. Yeah, maybe it wasn't the best idea. Although Sena's chest was flat now thanks to the gauze wrap, there was still something there. 

 

"One more time, who's the mother ing man?!" 

 

"I'm the mother ing man!" Sena fist bumped the air. Sungjong then pushed her, making her walk towards the courtyard.

 

He reached into his car and pulled out her soccer duffel, tossing it into the air, Sena catching it with ease. "Hell yeah you are! Go get em' girl!" 

 

He made a thumbs up, to which Sena reflected. The two gave each other one last assuring look, before Sena finally turned around and disappeared into the crowd of students. 

 

With Sena out of sight, Sungjong rested his hands on his hips, and let out a breath. "God, she's so looks like a man. I'm even more talented than I thought," he said to himself, giving himself a pat on the back. 

 

---

 

Sena found herself standing frozen, her eyes staring at the sea of oyes that filled the narrow hallway of the male dormitory. It was absolutely chaos, as the rowdy men interacted with each other, passing everything from basketball and joints, to sweat and germs. 

 

One word came to her mind: gross. 

 

Her dorm just so happened to be at the end of the hall, which meant that needed to cross through the mass of testosterone. The hall was a highway, and she was a frog trying to cross without being ran over. 

 

Reciting Sungjong's pep talk like a mantra in her head, Sena braced herself, getting into position to make a run for it. 

 

You are the man. I am the man.

 

1…

2…

3… 

 

CHARGEEEEE!

 

She beelined towards her dorm at full speed, holding onto the top of her head to avoid her wig falling off. Once at her door, she quickly pulled her keychain-- or should I say, Mino's keychain-- and opened the door. She had made it to the finish line safely.

 

She slammed the door shut, as if there were a pack of rabid dogs on the other side. Relieved that she made it through the sea of sweat and men, she let out a deep breath, leaning her back against the door. It wasn't until she opened her brown eyes that she saw seven boys, each giving her a bewildered look. 

 

Sena let out a sheepish giggle. "Oh- I mean, ahem," she deepened her voice to mimic her brother's, "yo, wassup?" She greeted, bending her back slightly to give off the 'swag' feel. Apparently, this was what all boys did.

 

"…Hi," Mark Tuan spoke first. "You must be our roommate."

 

Sena nearly choked at the red head's words. Our roommate? Were they all going to be sharing this one room with her? 

 

"Um.. all seven of you live here?" She scanned the seven faces, taking notice of the foreign features some of them had. 

 

"We wish, but no." Another voice answered. She turned to look at Bambam, the magenta streak in his jet black hair leaving an impression on him. He most definitely be Thai, she thought. 

 

"Me, Youngjae, and Yugyeom live across from you guys," he continued, pointing the two others that sat in the corner on their phones. Now they were both definitely Korean. 

 

"Nice to meet you, Youngjae." The shorter of the two greeted. Yugyeom put a peace sign into the air, making it known that he was Yugyeom. Sena took note of how he worked the bleach blonde hair rather well. Hell, if Sungjong were here, he'd probably commend him on it too. 

 

Sena nodded, greeting them back with the street slang that her brother typically used. 

 

"Jackson and I live next door," another one of them said. Sena turned to him. He had on what seemed to be an J-Crew outfit from head to toe, and also appeared full korean. He introduced himself as Jr. and introduced the guy sitting next to him as Jackson. 

 

As soon as Jackson spoke, Sena could tell that he was also foreign. American maybe, due to the thick accent in his voice. She had a knack for knowing these things, since she was born in the states herself. 

 

"I'm Jackson Wang, nice to meet you man," he introduced himself, getting up from his spot on the rolling chair and walking towards Sena for a welcoming bro-handshake. 

 

Jackson Wang? Sounds like a Hong Kong type of name. She noticed his dog tags, that confirmed her theory. Definitely from Hong Kong.

 

Oh god, he's coming in for a handshake, what should I do? Sena panicked a bit, hoping that the week of practice she spent mastering the hand movement would pay off. Here goes nothing. 

 

Bump, slide, swish~

 

Yes!

 

She said in her mind after she and Jackson were done with their bro-shake. Jackson pulled away, noticing that he had really soft hands. Like, baby's bottom soft. 

 

He returned back to his seat, and gestured to Jb and Mark, who filled up two out of the three twin sized beds in the dorms. "These two are your roommates." He informed Sena. 

 

"Hey, I'm Jb." He greeted, not getting up from his bed. Sena gave him a nod, and then looked at Mark, who looked back at her. 

 

"I'm Mark, nice to meet you." So Thai, Hong Kong, Korean, and American? Damn, was she at a flavors of the world buffet? She thought to herself.

 

"… And you are…?"

 

Oh crap, she never introduced herself. Sena coughed, making sure to speak in Mino's man voice. 

 

"Oh my bad, I'm Song Minho. But everyone I know calls me Mino. I transferred here from Cornwall," Sena said. 

 

Jackson, Jb, Jr. and Mark scoffed at the mention of Cornwall. Four years of going against them in the soccer finals, and every year, Illyria whopped their asses. 

 

"I feel bad for you bro." Jackson commented. He was the most talkative out of the seven of them. 

 

"I feel bad for me too. It's a blessing that I got out of that rat school," …literally, Sena thought to herself, as she set her things down onto the empty mattress. Her bed was closest to the door, which would come in handy when she needed to sneak out for showers. 

 

Her eyes landed on her soccer ball. "Um, do any of you happen to know when soccer tryouts are?" 

 

"Yeah, tomorrow afternoon. You play?" 

 

This time, Jb answered. 

 

"Yeah love the game bros. Center forward," she replied, picking up her ball and spinning it skillfully with her index finger. "Do you guys?" 

 

Four out of the seven of them nodded. 

 

"Me and Mark are strikers, Jackson's a goalie, and Jr.'s defense. And those three, well soccer's not their style." 

 

Youngjae rolled his eyes. "Why would I try out to run around in the hot sun all day?" 

 

"And risk ruining my hair," Yugyeom added. 

 

Yep, confirmed, Sungjong would definitely like Yugyeom, Sena said to herself. 

 

"I just know that I would get crushed. I mean, look at me, I'm like a buck twenty." Bambam stated. 

 

"Excuses Bam," said Jackson, gesturing at Sena, or as he knew her, Mino. "Look at Mino, he's small. He still plays." 

 

Sena nodded her head in agreement. "Size has nothing to do with the game, it's all bout skill man." 

 

Out of every lie Sena had said today, this was the one truth. It didn't matter how tall, small, big, or short you were, or if you were a girl or a guy; soccer was a game based off skill, not appearance. Cornwall didn't understand that, but she's was damn sure going to prove it to them