I was typing this all up earlier, and when I had finally deemed it okay to upload, AFF signed me out and I lost it all.

LSDKFJ:LSDKFJ

So.  Yeah. I'm re-uploading it! :'D I wrote this for my wonderful, amazing Nette Ate~ I hope you like it! >__<

"Foreign Encounters"

"Second quarter, first down!"

"Interception from number 26... Touchdown!"

"Incoming challenge from the coach."

"Number 18 has passed 250 yards rushing!"

What. The. Heck.

The coach didn't make sense. The referee didn't make sense. The announcer didn't make sense.

This entire game didn't make any sense. At all.

Kim JaeJoong carefully observed the athletes running up and down the field, watching every movement they made. But no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't understand the game of American football. It all seemed the same. The ball was passed, someone threw it, someone caught it, someone fell. And then--for some reason--everyone piled up on the guy who fell, and then the referee started blowing his whistle like there was no tomorrow, and everyone separated. Then the whole game was put on hold because the coach and the referee would always argue about...something, and later the game restarted. But the whole process just repeated itself. What was the point of playing if they could only do so for twenty seconds before the referee stopped them again?

JaeJoong didn't understand.

He resignedly slouched on the metal bleacers, finding it pointless to try to comprehend the game any further. Instead, JaeJoong decided to stare at a cicada that had fallen on the bleacher in front of him. He was about to deem the insect just as boring as the ongoing game, but it suddenly hopped onto a female student, who started to shriek and jump around. Interestingly enough, the boys around her were just as frightened of the bug as she, and no one made any effort to rescue the "damsel in distress."

After her screaming became more annoying than amusing, JaeJoong was about to flick the cicada off the girl's head when someone beat him to it. A pretty, petite girl carefully held the bug in her delicate hands and silently walked away.

'Weird...' JaeJoong thought to himself.

The girl looked to be the same age as him, and she was wearing the same uniform as the girls at his school. But JaeJoong had never seen her before, and he wondered why that was. Without realizing it, JaeJoong watched as the straight-faced girl walked down the rows of bleachers, occassionally picking up another cicada on the way, and knelt on the ground, letting the insects crawl to safety under a tree. He could just barely see a smile on the girl's face.

She returned to the bleachers and ascended the stairs in between. It wasn't until she actually sat next to him when JaeJoong realized she had been sitting there the whole time.

He observed her from the corner of his eye and noticed she looked incredibly...

Bored.

She was pretty, no doubt, but that sullen look on her face didn't emphasize that postivie aspect. Surprising himself, JaeJoong asked her,

"Do you understand this game?"

It took a few moments for the girl to realize JaeJoong was talking to her, and she quietly replied,

"Honestly... I don't have a clue."

JaeJoong chuckled a little. "Neither do I. But I had to come here to take pictures for the yearbook." He held up his professional Nikon camera with a little pride. "What about you?"

"My friends think I need to be more social," she replied with a small grimace, "So they dragged me here. They're with some other friends right now."

JaeJoong was taken aback at the delicacy of her voice, which flowed perfectly and gently like a cloud. He didn't expect such a sweet sound from this girl. Suddenly wanting to hear her talk more, JaeJoong attempted to prolong their conversation.

"So, I mean... What's up with this game? There are so many rules, it seems like the players can only move around for so long before it all stops again."

The girl covered and softly laughed, surprsing JaeJoong even more than he already was. In addition to a beautiful face and voice, she also had a beautiful laugh. Still smiling lightly, she said,

"I was just thinking the same thing."

Before either of them knew it, something clicked between them that made them talk to each other more and more. Soon, their conversation wasn't just about American football, but they had gone on about plenty more subjects--music, hobbies, cell phones, and even ice cream flavours.

JaeJoong always tried to make the girl laugh, and he succeeded every time, much to his secret delight. She even laughed at his corny jokes, which made JaeJoong even more happy, because his friends always for not being able to tell a good joke if his life depended on it.

They felt comfortable near each other, and the game wasn't that boring anymore.

As the two were talking about cooking kim jiggae, the girl's cell phone rang. Excusing herself politely, she answered the phone.

"Yeoboseyo? ...WHY?! Aish... Okay, okay. Yeah, I'm coming..."

Sighing slightly, she hung up and pouted a little (which JaeJoong found incredibly cute).

"I'm really sorry... My friends are calling me to leave with them. One of them got into an...argument with some guy."

"Oh... So you have to leave?" JaeJoong didn't even bother to hide his disappointment.

"Yeah... I'm sorry." She started waling away, but turned slightly and added, "I'll see you later!"

"H-Hang on!"

She faced him completely now, wondering what JaeJoong was going to say. After a few moments of clearing his throat, JaeJoong managed to ask,

"Can...can I take a picture of you? F-For the...yearbook?"

"I guess... But I'm not very photogenic," she mumbled, smiling nervously. JaeJoong laughed and steadied his camera.

"That's okay. You look nice."

Click!

"All right..." She looked to the side, feeling a little disappointed she had to leave. "I'd better get going now. Bye!"

And with one final wave and a smile, she ran down the bleachers and was soon out of sight.

JaeJoong sighed heavily, missing her already.

Then he realized...

He never got her name.

With another deep sigh, JaeJoong mentally cursed himself for being such a loser. But when he saw the picture of the smiling girl on his camera screen, his mood immediately became enlightened. JaeJoong smiled and said to himself,

"See you later."

Omo! Did you like it? >__< I wanted this story to be cute, but I'm not sure how it seems to outside readers... x'D It was tiresome to have to retype this all... T__T

Ah, and why American football? Well, I wrote this today, and I was actually going to a football game! Haha. Also, I have no idea how American football works, except for what a couple terms mean. >__<U

The cicada-jumping-on-a-girl incident was based on something similar that happened the first time I attended an American football game. It was funny, honestly. I feel a little bad for saying so. XD But instead of cicadas, there were crickets. It's fun to save people from hordes of leaping crickets~ :D

Oh, yeah. And since JaeJoong likes photography in real life, I just had to put him on the yearbook staff~ (I also know he's your bias, Ate~) XD

What did you think of it? Was it satisfactory? Was it worth the wait..? T___T

Comments are love~ ♥