SPRING; March

Wednesday -- Afternoon

Sure enough, she’s nervous. Jiyoo knew that it was important for the school to check all students’ athletic abilities, but she didn’t understand why it needed to be a giant talent show for the entire school to see. Not only that, but for it to occur every month was even more of a hassle.

At her school, students were required to participate in a monthly fitness test. Their strength, agility, and even IQ’s were tested so that the school could keep order in the system.

This system was designed to aid the lacking areas of skill sets while further pushing the students for “greater things”. But in reality, it was just another way for the school’s top dogs to show off, all while proving that the lower ranked students weren’t anything special.

You could only be chosen to have one of three ranking titles: Alpha, Beta, or Omega.

These titles were determined once a child turns 10, in which they are old enough to be tested to see which gene had pulled stronger in their favor.

With a 25% chance of pulling the RR gene to be an Alpha, and a 50% chance of pulling the Rr gene to be a Beta, the chances of winding up an rr or Omega was at a lower, but still possible 25%.

Of course, these results could be changed depending on what rank the parent genes were, though fate usually tended to do what it wanted in the end anyways.

In Jiyoo’s case, she was an Omega. Which is why she didn’t particularly like the system at her school, though she had no power to induce any sort of change either. Pulling herself back into the present, she’s faced with her last test of the day for the fitness portion.

Jiyoo wanted to keep her eyes on the task in front of her, but her curiosity got the best of her, eyes darting left and right to look for something- or rather, someone.

There to her far right, sat a boy her age. He sat alone in the dirt, legs pulled up to his chest as he watched her eagerly. When she turned her head to look fully, the boy smiled and waved at her, prompting her to smile and wave back just as happily. She felt her nerves calm down as her body began to relax a bit. It allowed her to get into position for her next test:

The long jump.

“Ready…” The examiner called out, giving Jiyoo ample warning before she were to start.

With her legs bent and arms up ready to run, Jiyoo got into position and focused on the task at hand:

Not to fall on her face in front of the whole school.

“Go!”

Jiyoo races forward with as much speed as she can manage. Her legs are slightly uncoordinated with her arms, which follow a fraction of a second after her legs move to allow her to run. After a bit of correcting, she felt her body move much more fluidly, thus giving her enough momentum to take her leap of faith into the designated area.

She may not have landed on her feet, but it wasn’t her face either. She’d accidentally landed with too much weight on her heels, which made her hit the dirt. It wasn’t too bad though, since the distance she’d jumped seemed far enough to the school’s standards after a few “oohs” escaped from the crowd of students. Turning her head, Jiyoo looked for the boy and found him already walking towards her exit route for the test.

“He was going to meet her there.” She thought. No longer embarrassed by the long jump, she dusted herself off and walked off the track in order to meet him.

Once she’d stepped foot outside of the testing zone, she began to break out into a sprint, running towards the boy as he ran to her as well.

“Jungkook!” Jiyoo cried out, running into his arms. She felt her body get lifted off the floor and twirled around a few times before she was set back down.

“You did great.” Jungkook smiled, ruffling her hair before slinging his arm around her shoulders. “I’ll bet you did even better than some of the Alphas!”

Jiyoo looks at Jungkook and felt herself blush a bit from his complement. “Says you, Mr. try hard.”

Jungkook gives a smug shrug before teasing Jiyoo a bit more about her ‘10 out of 10’ landing after the jump. He bends down and pokes her legs, “Your chicken legs really held out for that landing there.”

Punching Jungkook in the arm, Jiyoo grabs his hand to stop him from poking her anymore. Somehow in the mix of teasing and shoving Jungkook away did his and Jiyoo’s hands interlock together. They didn’t mind though.

Jiyoo and Jungkook weren’t best friends for nothing after all.

A lot of people mistook them as a couple, but being such close friends, neither Jiyoo or Jungkook minded. They practically spent half their lives hanging around one another, being the best of friends since their early childhood days. The two had the same things in common:

1. They didn’t have parents (Only Jungkook had a father)

2. They were both Omegas

Since Jungkook lived a mere three blocks down from Jiyoo, it was easy for her to head over to his house everyday to play. Jiyoo would always go to Jungkook’s house to play games or sing karaoke, and Jungkook would always walk her home at night.

He always claimed it was because his father would worry that Jiyoo would get hurt walking at such a late hour, but they all knew it was because he wanted to spend just a little more time with her. Jungkook just used it as an excuse.
 

The two were both finished with their fitness tests so they were free to head out to go get lunch before the next period started. But before they could head back into the school, they were stopped by a few classmates.

“That was an amazing jump Jiyoo!”

Turning around, she saw Yugyeom from her statistics class heading over to where she and Jungkook were. He had a friendly smile on his face, but the girls behind him had other intentions.

“You did well Jungkook.” One of the girls almost purred, her manicured hand resting on Jungkook’s shoulder as he froze at her touch.

“Thanks.” Jiyoo says shyly to Yugyeom, voice barely being heard over the hustle and bustle of the other students. She scoots her body behind Jungkook and hides behind his large frame. “Jungkook did way better than me though.”

Jungkook nods his head once to acknowledge Jiyoo before taking a step away from the girls and closer to entrance of the school. While the girls with Yugyeom were shocked by Jungkook’s cold reaction, they were almost furious after seeing his arm maneuver its way around Jiyoo’s waist to guide her away from the scene. After that, Yugyeom and the other girls disappeared as quickly as they’d come, allowing Jiyoo and Jungkook to breathe a little and finally be able to talk to one another normally again.

The two went to Jungkook’s locker first, pulling out two containers wrapped in rubber bands and napkins.

“So, what’s on the menu today?” Jiyoo asks curiously, already trying to open the containers when Jungkook stopped her.

“At least wait until we get to the cafeteria, piggy.” He chuckles, holding their lunches out of reach from Jiyoo, whose shorter frame made it impossible to reach.

She gives him a small pout, but doesn’t bother him anymore about it. Instead, she grabs his elbow and drags him to the cafeteria so that they could eat faster.

They take their usual seat in the corner near the big window, sitting on the same side of the table together with their backs facing the rest of the student population. Jiyoo and Jungkook didn’t have a care in the world as long as they were together, hence why they were fine with closing themselves off from the rest of their peers.

Popping the cover off one of the containers, Jungkook reveals chunks of pork and rice with a side of green beans prepared especially for their lunch today. He gives the first container to Jiyoo, handing her a pair of chopsticks and a napkin before repeating the process for his own lunch.

“Hey Jungkook, why does your dad pack us vegetables when we don’t even eat them?” Jiyoo says mid-chew. She looks over at Jungkook whose mouth is full of rice, the action almost making her laugh if he hadn’t spit rice at her when he tried to talk. “Jungkook that’s gross!”

Jungkook gives her a devious grin before taking a napkin and wiping her face a bit. He chews the large amount of food in his mouth before swallowing, “I think it’s because he thinks one of us will eat it if the other eats it.”

Jiyoo nods her head once, but takes a pitiful glance at their half finished lunches. They were almost finished, but not quite since Jiyoo and Jungkook had eaten all the rice and pork, but every single green bean was still left inside both their lunch containers.

“Too bad we don’t eat vegetables.” Jungkook snickers, handing her the other lid for her container as he already starts cleaning up his own lunch.

The two both giggle at Jungkook’s father’s nativity. They’d never eaten their vegetables no matter how much Jungkook’s father had begged them too. The two trouble makers would eat almost everything else except vegetables, leaving Jungkook’s father with a minor headache and a lot of leftover vegetables after every meal.

And to think that they were first years in high school already.

Taking their empty lunch containers, Jungkook drops them off in his locker before they head to their next period of the day. It was always easier to maneuver around school when everyone else was busy doing other things, which is why they were headed to their next class before the bell rang. Hand in hand, Jiyoo and Jungkook made their way down the empty halls to their next period, which was P.E.

Gym was a personal favorite of the two friends. Well, mostly their favorite. Jiyoo wasn’t the type of person to enjoy sports as much as Jungkook did, but she liked playing if Jungkook played. And today, they were supposed to play dodgeball.

Which the two had excellent teamwork for.

“Toss up!” Jungkook yells, beads of sweat already dripping down his forehead and to his chin.

Jiyoo nods her head once before lobbing the ball up into the sky. It momentarily distracted the other team in time for Jungkook to whip the ball at their legs, leaving bright red circles on their thighs and calves as they were called out of the game. There was no time to celebrate though, for watching the duo play dodgeball for so long had given one of the opposing team members the opportunity to find Jiyoo’s weak spot: She was always distracted when it was Jungkook’s turn to throw the ball, making her an easy target.

This didn’t mean Jungkook wasn’t aware of it either. As soon as he’d gotten two of the other team’s players out, he’d rushed to grab a ball before throwing it at the boy that was aiming for Jiyoo.

The boy was too startled to be able to dodge, but not focused enough to throw the ball good either. He’d eventually tossed the ball up in a panic, watching as it fell right into Jiyoo’s hands as she flung it back at one of the girls on the other team. Not only did she get that girl out, but she was allowed to bring one more person in, waving in a boy on their team that had gotten out a little earlier in the game.

The whistle was blown a few minutes later, signaling Jiyoo and Jungkook’s team’s win.

“Yeah!” Jungkook cheered, holding his hands up for Jiyoo to jump up and give him high fives.

The two were too busy congratulating one another to notice a jealous face in the crowd. One of the other girls, named Joohyun, was red faced and embarrassed after being taken out by Jiyoo early on in the game. She walked up to Jiyoo and purposely bumped into her shoulder hard. Jiyoo was almost knocked off balance if Jungkook hadn’t caught her from falling.

“Watch where you’re going Omega!” Joohyun shouted, her voice echoing through the gym as she garnered attention from the other students.

Anyone that watched what happened would have been able to tell that Joohyun did that on purpose, but since she was an Alpha, nobody really said anything about it. Jungkook on the other hand, moved Jiyoo behind him protectively before staring down at the older girl.

“Sorry sunbaenim. I should have watched her better.” Jungkook says calmly, though his eyes don’t stop drilling holes in Joohyun’s face.

“I-I don’t want an apology from you.” Joohyun stutters, body feeling a bit dizzy under his sharp gaze. “I want an apology from her.”

Jungkook wants to speak again, but a small hand covers his mouth instead. Jiyoo steps out to Jungkook’s side and bows deeply. “I’m sorry sunbaenim.” She says, voice loud and clear.

By now all the students’ eyes were on the scene at hand. It was a regular occurrence at their school, but as teenagers, nobody could resist a bit of drama.

“Good.” Joohyun scoffs, regaining her composure. She glances at Jungkook for a bit before looking away quickly after seeing his unchanging glare. Walking off with her friends, she leaves Jiyoo and Jungkook in the gym where they resist the urge to roll their eyes.

There were other kids that were of higher rankings still in the room with them though, and it was difficult to tell who was what rank. Getting caught talking back would’ve made the situation a lot worse, especially if another Alpha had something to say about it. Jiyoo and Jungkook were just Omegas after all.

“What a .” Jungkook grumbles, heading back to class with a glower on his face.

Jiyoo looks at her friend and merely pats him on the back, “It’s alright Jungkook.”

Jungkook lets out an irritated huff. His hand reaches down to hold Jiyoo’s hand, their fingers forcefully interlocking as Jungkook tugged her along. Jiyoo says nothing and just lets Jungkook use her hand as a stress ball. The more she endured his painful squeezes, the more she could see Jungkook eventually calm down.

Walking into their next class, Jiyoo was relieved that Jungkook was finally in his usual relaxed state. Jiyoo and Jungkook had the same design class period, therefore allowing them to sit alone together in the very back of the class. And since this was their last period of the day, they didn’t bother to change out of their gym clothes. They needed to take it home to wash anyways.

As class had begun, Jiyoo and Jungkook were on their phones, playing a game together through co-op mode. The class was mostly an independent learning class, thus being the reason why Jiyoo allowed Jungkook to goof off. If it was their shared history class, she would’ve swatted the back of his head right about now so he’d pay attention.

She got in trouble if Jungkook slacked off in school, especially if they were in the same classes. It was only because Jiyoo was so close to Jungkook’s family that she was treated like a daughter to the family as well. That meant that Jungkook’s father was just as stern to her as Jungkook when regarding their grades.

“Uh, Jiyoo?”

Jiyoo presses pause and looks up, ignoring Jungkook’s grumbles to continue the game as she found one of her classmates looking at her. He had his hands nervously clasped together as he shifted from one foot to the other.

Since the boy wasn’t saying anything, Jungkook was getting even more restless than he already was due to the interruption of their game. “Can we help you?”

“Well, uh... You see, Mr. Kim said that we have a partner project coming up with opposite gender pairings.” The boy’s voice got higher and more out of breath as his sentence ran on. Eventually he’d run out of breath completely and had to talk a gulp of air before continuing. “And I was, uh... Wondering if you’d like to maybe be my partner?”

Jiyoo gives the boy a small smile, though her pinched eyebrows said it before had.

“Sorry… But I’m partnering with Jungkook.”

Her voice was soft, but was heard clearly since the entire class was watching their conversation unfold. It wasn’t an uncommon thing to find someone asking Jiyoo if they could be partners in a project, or just friends in general. She always chose Jungkook in the end anyways, making it a predictable outcome on her part.

“Oh, but… You and Jungkook were partners last time and-”

“And we’re keeping it that way.” Jungkook butts in, “And you’re in our way.”

He waves his paused game in front of the boy’s face, earning a small slap from Jiyoo. She doesn’t say anything though, giving the boy an apologetic smile before watching him walk off.

“You could’ve been nicer, you know.” She tells Jungkook, watching as her classmate had sat down with a sad expression on his face.

“He should’ve known.” Jungkook shrugs.

The two had resumed their game and continued to play until the bell had rung, indicating that class was over. Since the two of them had cleaning duty that day, they decided that Jiyoo was going to grab their belongings in their lockers while Jungkook started cleaning. This sped up the process and was convenient since Jiyoo knew Jungkook’s locker combination and vice versa.

She headed out first and went over to Jungkook’s locker, grabbing his backpack and slinging it over her chest as she packed the two containers of food inside. After zipping it up, she was about to close his locker when someone else had done it for her.

Jiyoo feels her heart skip a beat and not in a good way. In front of her stood Yugyeom for the second time that day. She prayed that he was just doing a friendly deed, but even after locking Jungkook’s locker he’d just continued to stand there with a smile on his face. “We meet again.”

Jiyoo gives him a curt smile, hugging Jungkook’s bag closer to her as she had already begun to try and find a break in the conversation in which she could bolt out of there. “We do, huh?”

Yugyeom gave Jiyoo a small smile and Jiyoo already knew he wanted something from her. It was common for Alphas to be very upfront about getting what they want, even more so when that something was from an Omega. Though, the reason was just because that’s the way that Alphas were raised. At least Yugyeom was still polite about whatever it was that he wanted.

“So Jiyoo, I was actually wondering if-”

Yugyeom stops mid-sentence and looks somewhere behind Jiyoo. She on the other hand watched him instead of turning around to see what he was looking at, completely unaware of Jungkook who was watching them from a small distance away. In Yugyeom’s eyes, Jungkook wasn’t too close to them, but it wouldn’t be hard for the latter to run over if it looked like Jiyoo was uncomfortable. Jungkook was giving Yugyeom a cold glare that stopped him from speaking any longer.

Since he was being watched, Yugyeom knew he wouldn’t be able to talk to Jiyoo without being interrupted. He bid her a quick goodbye and ran down to hall to his friends, leaving Jiyoo a bit confused, but also relieved that she got out of that somehow. Spinning around on her heel, she went to her own locker to grab her bag before walking back to her design class where she found Jungkook stacking the tables so that they could mop the floors.

“Jeez, you just started?” Jiyoo teased, setting their bags down to the side before she went over to go help Jungkook. “What would you do without me?”

Jungkook rolls his eyes and stacks another desk on top of the desk Jiyoo was carrying, laughing hysterically at her panicked face as she struggled to hold two desks.  After they’d cleaned the floor and wiped the chalkboards, the two of them finished up by taking out the trash before they were finally free to leave. They held hands the whole way home, unaware of the six pairs of eyes watching them from from afar.

“That’s him?” One of the men asked astonishingly, “He doesn’t look like an Alpha.”

“His file says he’s an Omega!” Another voice cries out, flipping through the contents of Jungkook’s school record.

One figure, being older than the last, took the folder and flips to the second half of the folder, revealing a picture of Jiyoo. “I still don’t understand why we need to gather information about the girl as well.”

“They’re practically glued together. What do you expect?” Someone scoffs, earning a slap from the another.

The unknown figures retreated for the day, leaving Jiyoo and Jungkook alone. As the two continued to laugh and smile the rest of the way back to Jungkook’s house, they were oblivious for what was going to happen tomorrow.

A/N: I'm writing a new story and I hope I don't go MIA for it since I started off so strong and even put off my other Exo story for it hahaaa

Thank you for reading the first chapter and I hope you like the rest of my new series Red Lines !

Also, if you want to get to know me a little better, I made an instagram account! You can find me @mishhinggyuu if you wanna know what I look like or what I even do outside AFF haha

Thanks a lot nn see 'ya next time!!!