Mrs. Kim has been about fifty times nicer to me- she must have heard about the fiasco that was Hoseok’s birthday party. Her way of saying sorry is apparently buying me boatloads of designer clothes and makeup. They sit untouched in my closet. Janet Harvey is apparently nowhere to be found.

Taehyung and I have been avoiding each other like crazy. Half of me is relieved, because he isn't tormenting me anymore.

The other half of me is incredibly confused, a little nervous... and more than a tad bit disappointed. 

No. That kiss was a fluke. Taehyung makes out with everyone. Remember the time you caught him in bed with Laila? 

But he was so different that day-

Shut up, Joo! 

In an effort to get my mind off Taehyung, my journal has been filled with diagrams of swords, daggers, and even magical pipe bombs (which we’ll never be able to create). Dev, Lucy, Tom, Jin, and I meet almost every day to discuss and analyze our findings. Jin’s inclusion in our meetings is incredibly useful; we now have a sorcerer’s perspective on topics we are confused about.

Life is actually going alright.

“It’s frustrating," Lucy says. It's been a few weeks since that disasterous weekend. The crisp November air ruffles our hair as we loll around in the Windsong courtyard. "Taehyung’s library is useful, but we’re making our way through his books at a snail’s pace. There’s so much we still don’t know.”

"Like what?" 

"For example. I keep reading the words hado, kado, and chi over and over again. We know chi is magic. But I can’t figure out what the hell hado and kado are.”

“Maybe they’re names of spells?” I suggest.

“Maybe. The book I’m reading either references them as the Hado, capitalized, or hado, lowercase. I can’t figure out if they’re talking about a group of people, or maybe some field of magic?”

“We need a comprehensive book on the history of magic,” I mutter. “It wouldn’t answer all of our questions, but it sure as hell would take care of a lot of them.”

“We need a comprehensive book on everything. Magical creatures, magical spells, magical-,”

Suddenly, someone ruffles Lucy’s hair. The two of us turn around in shock. When Lucy sees who it is, her eyes light up.

“I’m not a child,” she says in a reproachful tone, grinning.

“What? I just ruffled your hair,” Jimin says innocently. “Hey, Joo.”

“Don’t call me that,” I respond. Jimin’s ruffled hair and loosened tie cause him to exude a complete devil may care attitude- the complete opposite of how the school president should look. Behind him are Hoseok and Yoongi. We stand there awkwardly, mutually ignoring each other, as Lucy and Jimin talk.

“Are you done filing the club reports?” Lucy asks.

Jimin smiles. “It’s actually perfect timing that I saw you. Guess what, Luce?”

“What?”

He lowers his face down to hers, a cheeky grin on his lips. “Not only did I finish filing the club reports, I finished signing off on the expense sheets.”

These words mean nothing to me. Lucy’s eyebrows, however, shoot up.

“I’m impressed. You might even get all your work done on time for once.”

“Here’s the thing: I’m already done.”

Her jaw drops. “What?”

“Yup. I turned in my update for Windsong’s President Report column after 2nd period.”

“Jimin!” Lucy claps her hands together, beaming. “I’m- that’s awesome! I’m so happy!”

“You didn’t even look this happy when I told you I bought us tickets to 1984 on Broadway,” I grumble. Lucy ignores me, her attention focused on Jimin.

“You know what this means, right?” Jimin says.

Lucy tilts her head. “What?”

“You have to come to my lacrosse game tomorrow.”

I expect her to roll her eyes and sigh; instead, she giggles. “I was going to come anyway.”

“Okay, in that case, you have to come wearing my numbers.”

“I don’t have anything with 28 on it.”

To my disgust (and Yoongi and Hoseok’s, judging from their expressions), Jimin shrugs off his lacrosse jacket and places it over a starry-eyed Lucy’s shoulders.

“Now you do,” he murmurs. “See you at the game, Lucy.”

They share a long, long smile, causing Yoongi, Hoseok, and I to exchange looks of disgust. Finally, Jimin ruffles her hair once more and strolls away. As he leaves, I hear Yoongi tell him, “Man, you are such a flirt.”

“He is such a flirt,” I tell Lucy annoyedly. She blinks.

“I know,” she says, snapping back to cool and collected mode. “I don’t like him or anything.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious!” she protests, drawing his jacket closer around her shoulders. “We’re just... co-workers. President and Vice President.”

“Yeah, right. How did you two end up as President and VP anyway?”

“Well...,” Lucy looks off into the distance. “We met sophomore year- I don’t know how, but I was elected secretary of student council.”

“Because you’re smart and amazing.”

“I’m serious. I don’t know how. I don’t even remember running.” Lucy smiles. “Anyway, Jimin was Vice President, and his friend Sehun was President. No one did anything except for me- they just screwed around all the time. I didn’t have the authority to tell them to stop, of course, so I kept quiet and did all the work.”

“s. I’m not surprised.”

“Yeah. So, there was this huge report due to the school administration, and Sehun just kind of pushed it onto me, so I had to do the whole thing. I was at school on a Friday night, frantically working so I’d finish everything on time. Around midnight, I was so tired, I fell asleep.”

“Mhm.”

“Around 2 AM, I woke up. I was lying on the sofa wrapped in someone’s sweatshirt. Jimin was sitting at his desk working.”

My eyes widen. “Oh, . Really?”

“Yeah. He said he’d forgotten something at the office, and when he came back, he saw me passed out on the table with a pen in my hand.” She snorts. “He felt pretty guilty, so he picked up where I left off.”

“So you guys became friends?”

“Yeah. I realized that when he actually does his work, he’s pretty smart and creative. When next year’s elections came around, he specifically chose me as his vice president, because he knew I wouldn’t be elected into the position.”

“Wow. So you’re a product of nepotism?”

She shoots me a look. “Shut up.”

“Kidding. Well, that’s a cute story and all, Lucy, but he’s total danger. Not only is he a sorcerer, he’s a total boy-,”

“I know, I know. Which is why I don’t like him. He’s just... fun. You know. Kind of like how you feel towards Taehyung.”

My jaw drops. "Wha- Taehyung? I hate Taehyung! What makes you think I'd ever- wha-," 

Lucy rolls her eyes. "I'm not an idiot. I've caught you staring at him when no one was looking." 

I have no response to that. Lucy grins in triumph. 

"We’ll see how you feel about Taehyung when you see him scoring points during the game tomorrow," she hums.

“I’ll still hate- wait, what?”

Lucy crosses her arms. “You’re coming with me to the game tomorrow.”

I stare at her open-mouthed for one, two, three seconds.

Then my face crumples.

“Lucy, no. Please don’t make me go.”

“You have to! Just pretend you’re going to support Jin!”

“I can support Jin in other ways! I can go buy him chips! I can help him with his homework! I can tell him he’s a great friend- actually, I’ll do that now-,”

“No!” Lucy bats away my hand, which was reaching for my phone in my pocket. “Joo, please. You owe me. Hey, you should wear Jin’s lacrosse jacket to the game! That’ll piss everyone off!”

“I don’t want to get melted into a puddle of goo by one of these crazy monsters!” I bury my head in my hands. “This is so unfair. You know I can’t say no.”

She gives me a smile that’s almost half as enthusiastic as the one she gave Jimin.

“You’re the best, Joo.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I hope Windsong gets its beat.”

“I say Windsong, you say fight! Windsong!”

“Fight!” the crowd roars.

“Windsong!”

“Fight,” Lucy says monotonously, and then turns to me. “Joo, please try to be less obvious about not wanting to be here.”

I resentfully sniffle in response, rubbing my nose with a tissue. “I don’t want to be here,” I say in a congested voice. “You didn’t say I had to participate in these chants.”

“You have to admit. This game’s kinda fun.”

“No, it’s not. Dev and Tom refused to come, so I don’t even have anyone to whine to. The only fun part about this is seeing how miserable Jin is. And that isn’t even fun. It’s actually pretty depressing.”

As if on cue, Jin looks up at the student section, scanning the crowd. When he finds us, he gives us a miserable look. I shake my head in sympathy.

“You don’t know what fun games are,” I tell Lucy. “Back home-,”

“Oh, here we go again,” she says with a roll of her eyes.

“I’m serious! These uptight New Yorkers don’t know how to really get hyped up.”

“Just drink your soda,” she says, her eyes fixated on one particular figure. Rolling my eyes, I follow her line of vision- yup, it’s Jimin, speaking to Evan on the sidelines with his lacrosse stick over his shoulders. The two of them are facing the crowd, cocky smiles on their faces as they converse with each other. Suddenly, Jimin raises his arms and flexes, causing the crowd to roar with excitement. I hear a strangled scream leave Lucy’s lips, and I rub my temples in exasperation.

Windsong is up against Anderson Academy, one of the toughest players in our division. I can tell how heated the rivalry must be based on the massive size of the Anderson crowd (this is an away game for them), the heated chants on both sides, and the absolutely vile looks each side is giving each other. Although I know next to nothing about lacrosse, I can tell that both teams are almost evenly matched.

I say almost, because Taehyung Kim is almost singlehandedly kicking their .

He’s amazing. Really, really amazing. He completely outshines every other player on his team and the Anderson team. No matter what is going on, Taehyung is always faster, quicker, more reflexive. I’ll lose track of him for a few moments, and the next thing I know, he’s scored. The crowd is going absolutely crazy for him; booming chants of “Kim! Kim! Kim!” fill the stadium after every play he successfully executes- which is pretty much every play.

The worst part is, I can’t even attribute his success to magic. Jin said magical use is strictly prohibited during games. A strange mixture of resentment, hatred, and... another feeling I do not want to name are rising up in my stomach as I watch Taehyung score yet another goal.

“Captain Kim, he’s our man! If he can’t do it, no one can!” the cheerleaders chant. I see Sofia step forward, her makeup flawless and an enormous, plastic smile on her face.

“I say Captain, you say Kim!” she yells. “Captain!”

“Kim!” the crowd screams.

Taehyung turns to the crowd, his trademark cocky, arrogant smirk on his lips. He raises his hands in the air, his bulging muscles prominent through his uniform, and the crowd goes ballistic.

“Captain!”

“Kim!”

“Captain!”

“Kill me right now,” I growl, standing up. “I’m going to get some nachos.”

“Yeah, you’re going to rip someone’s head off if you’re here any longer,” Lucy laughs. “Go get some food.”

I awkwardly maneuver my way through the packed stands, ignoring the nasty looks I receive as I mumble, “Excuse me.” The concession stands are almost deserted, save for a couple making out by the trash cans and a gaggle of snooty-looking middle-aged women with identical Anderson t-shirts and suburban mom, can-I-speak-to-your-manager haircuts.

“Nachos with extra cheese, please,” I tell the teenager manning the booth.

“Missing the game?” he says with wide eyes.

I shrug. “I’m hungry. I could use a break.”

“Fair enough. I’ll have those nachos right out.”

“Thanks.” I had him a wad of dollar-bills and step aside. I’d rather not be next to the couple kissing, so I decide to stand over by the group of women. I see them give me judgemental once-overs out of the corner of my eye and decidedly ignore them.

“These Windsong kids are the absolute worst,” one of them says in a whiny, high-pitched voice. I internally wince; her voice literally sounds like nails grating over a chalkboard. “They’re so classless! I’m sure they’re cheating!”

“And those cheerleaders!” This woman’s voice is somehow even worse than her friend’s. “They look like tramps! I can practically see up their skirts!”

“That little brown-haired girl’s the worst.”

“Which one?”

“You know the one. The girl who’s leading all the chants.”

Sofia, I realize with a jolt. My eyebrows rise up into the stratosphere.

“Oh, that one! Lord, she’s such a disgusting little girl! I don’t know who she thinks she is-,”

“Nachos!” I hear the person at the concessions stand call, and I grab my food and race back to the student section as quickly as I can.

“That was quick,” Lucy says as I settle down next to her.

“Yeah. Dude, the nastiest women were at the concession stand. They were saying the worst things.”

“Windsong or Anderson?”

“Anderson.”

“Yikes. What were they saying?”

“ about Sofia and stuff. I don’t know. It was just really bad. I got out of there ASAP.”

“Sports moms are ing crazy,” Lucy hums, shaking her head. “Thank god I’m a science person.”

“Are you kidding? Science moms are ing nuts, too. My kid’s smarter than your kid! My kid deserves 1st place! I didn’t do that experiment for my kid! What are you talking about?”

“Ew. I’m having science fair flashbacks,” Lucy giggles, stealing one of my nachos.

The game continues. I find my eyes drawn to Taehyung time and time again, no matter how hard I try to resist the urge. I hate myself for it. But he’s just so...

Good.

No. Joo. Do not.

I catch Jin’s eye on the field. He gives me a silent look of agony.

I hate lacrosse, his eyes scream.

Me, too, I telepathically tell him.

I zone out for the next twenty minutes, choosing to read an interesting primer on electrostatics published in The Scientific American instead. I haven’t even explored the possibility of using electricity in our magic- but that would probably require more sophisticated processes. I’m almost scared to try it. Hopefully, when I learn more about it, I’ll be more comfortable with working with it. A shiver of excitement runs through me- god, I love science so much-

“Joo!” Lucy squeaks, nudging me. I look up and realize that the entire crowd is on their feet.

“What’s going on?” I say, standing up as well.

“The Windsong coach took Taehyung out of the game to give him a break, but Anderson ended up catching up. We’re tied but now Taehyung’s back in and there are two minutes left on the clock and we have possession,” Lucy quickly explains, her words stumbling over each other. I blankly look at her. Then I look at the field.

Namjoon is booking it down the field, his stick raised as the white lacrosse ball flies through the air. He catches it and almost immediately flips it over to Jimin, who flips it back to him and flings it down to Evan, who evades the Anderson team and passes it to Taehyung.

The tension disappears from the Windsong supporters’ shoulders; they know it is all over now.

And when Taehyung easily scores and the buzzer blares through the air and screaming and yelling and chanting fill the air and the crowd storms the field, I think to myself, yeah, they were absolutely right. A small part of me can’t help but get swept up in the hype and I head down to the field, Lucy right by my side, as we are jostled and pushed around by hordes of eager, maniacal fans chanting, “Kim! Kim! Kim!” over and over again. Someone shouts, “Long live Windsong!” and everyone cheers; I am a little overwhelmed, because- okay, fine, I'll admit it- even though we had games back home, they were never as big as this.

Taehyung is just standing in the middle of it all, his eyes closed and his hands up, his hair drenched in sweat; in the next moment Namjoon has gotten him on his shoulders and he is riding far above us all as the crowd amasses around him, yelling his name in joy. He rips off his jersey, flinging it out to the crowd- a pang hits my stomach as I stare at his chiseled torso, my gaze slowly trailing up his body until I find his eyes-

A jolt of shock hits me as I realize he is staring at me, too, his expression unreadable. And holy , I don’t even know why I’m feeling this, this strange combination of wistfulness and want and bitterness and a small little voice of pride whispering in my ear, He's looking at you. You and only you-

“Come on, Joo!” Lucy grins, tugging on my hand. “Let’s go find Jin!”

I blink hard. Taehyung looks away from me, a smirk on his face, eliciting a welcome, familiar feeling of irritation in me.

“Yeah,” I say.

A/N: i have 1.5 days left in seoul. what should i do? :--)

also idk what how or why but in the last 24 hours i've literally written like 5-6 chapters. holy . im working on the second to last chapter in this arc. i still haven't decided if i'll make a new fic for the sequel, or just continue uploading chapters on this fic. also.... i was so sure of the direction this story would go for the longest time (after this arc), but now... i dont know. idk lol ill have to think about it