Yong Hwa chuckled the whole way to the obstacle course.  Shin Hye was a mess.  Her hair was unrulier than usual, the blanket she was wearing kept sliding off her shoulders, and she constantly tripped on the scuffs that she was wearing – they were miles too big for her.

Unable to resist, he reached out and ruffled her hair.

“Ah!” She ducked away from him.  “Don’t touch my head.  It still hurts.”

He shrugged.  “I told you to stay in bed.  You’re the one that didn’t listen.”

“How can I leave you alone to face whatever Coach Lee decides?” she protested.

Yong Hwa gave her a warning look.  “Shin Hye-”

Her chin jutted out in protest.  “I’m not trying to make things harder for you.  I have kind of a secret weapon that will keep him from making you resign.  If he decides to makes you resign, that is.”

“A secret weapon, huh?” He imagined Shin Hye chasing Coach Lee around with her bat.  “Do I get to know what the secret weapon is?”

“No.”  She pulled the blanket more tightly around her.  “It’s sort of like a grenade.  I can only pull the pin once.  After that, it’s no good.”

She gritted her teeth and put her hand to her head.

He frowned.  He should have fought her harder about staying in bed, or even tied her to the frame with some of Seung Gi’s ties.  “Sit down.”

“No.”

“We’re close to the obstacle course.  He can see us from here.  You can throw your secret weapon while sitting down.  Right?”

Her face was whiter than snow, but she still shook her head.  Yong Hwa sighed and readjusted the blanket around her.  He helped her to grip the soft material tighter, and he noticed that his fingers tingled when they brushed over hers.

“Better?” he asked.

“Mm.”  She nodded.  “I think I can see Coach Lee coming.”

They watched Coach Lee approach in tired silence.  Jong Hyun’s expression seemed strangely neutral as he traipsed the grassy field to get to them.  There was a paper bag under one muscled arm, while the other hand swung freely by his side.

He looked up at Shin Hye first.  “Troublemaker,” he greeted.  “You look terrible.  Should we be taking you to a hospital this morning?”

“And miss all the fun at St Blossoms?”  Shin Hye pulled the blanket up to her nose.

Jung Shin patted her on the shoulder with his free hand and looked at her with his sharp eyes.  “You like this school a lot, huh?”

Her shoulders went up and down inside the blanket.  “It’s not boring.”

Coach Lee seemed to like this answer.  He nodded and turned to face Yong Hwa.  “Teacher Jung.  How are you this morning?”

Yong Hwa narrowed his eyes.  “Stop wasting time.  Shin Hye isn’t well.”

Something almost like a smile flickered across Jung Shin’s face.

“Teacher Jung.  Shin Hye.”  He moved to stand in between them and looked out at the school.  “I think the best way to solve this problem is to have you two spend as much time together as possible.”

The pair were exhausted, but Shin Hye was surprised enough to lose her grip on the blanket.  The material edged off of her shoulders at a snail pace.

Yong Hwa lifted one brow.  “You’re kidding, right?”

Coach Lee thumped his friend on the back.  “Hear me out.  The way I see it, the only way you two are going to get over this is if you spend as much time together as possible.  Teacher Jung, if I know you well enough, she’ll be sick of you in a few days.”

Shin Hye and Yong Hwa’s eyes widened.  “What!?” they shouted in unison.

Jong Hyun shrugged.  “I mean.  Come on.  It’s not like he’s anything special.  He broods a lot, but that can get really annoying after a while.”

Yong Hwa didn’t know what to say.  He just gaped.

“So!”  The paper bag was shoved into Yong Hwa’s chest.  “I think that you two should go and eat some breakfast somewhere this morning.  Make sure that no one sees you.”  He emphasised this last part by sticking his finger in Yong Hwa’s face.  “I know nothing.”

Shin Hye scrunched up her nose and touched her head.

“Are you okay? asked Yong Hwa.

“Just so confused.”  Her fingers clawed her hair.  “Is he saying what I think he’s saying?”

Jong Hyun slapped them both on the back and then went on his way.

“Ah!”  He turned around.  “Shin Hye.  From now on I expect you to behave better than you have.  Now I know what a mature person you can be.”

The cloud in Shin Hye’s eyes cleared.  She looked at her Coach sharply, and he looked back at her with burning eyes.

Yong Hwa stared at both of them in bewilderment.  As far as he was concerned, Coach Lee’s Nikes had finally cut off the circulation to his brain.  It was possible that the school’s Action Jackson had just given up on his morals, but he suspected it had more to do with the insanity of St Blossoms.

The place just did that to people.  It was a world of its own, and it skewed the way the teachers and students looked at things.  As far as they were concerned, their decisions made complete sense.

Including his own.

A small hand tucked itself in the crook of his arm.

“What are you thinking about?”  Shin Hye smiled up at him.

“Things.”  He found himself smiling back.  She was so pretty.

He looked back down at her hand squeezing his arm, and he jumped.  The bag fell to the ground and crushed the grass underneath.  He shook his arm away from his student and moved backwards.

Shin Hye chuckled, as if it was the funniest thing in the world.  “Coach Lee said it was okay.”

“You!”  He pointed at her.  “Stay away from me.”

“Coach Lee said to do the opposite.”

“Coach Lee wears BB Cream to stop his skin from getting freckles!  Are you going to listen to someone like that?  Where is he?”

“Gone.”  Shin Hye pointed to the building across the way.  “Back to his dorm to make sure that they eat their brown rice.”

He grimaced.  He’d let that idiot get away without a fight.

“Are you going to help me back to bed, or are you going to continue brooding?”

He frowned.  “I am not a brooder!”

Shin Hye’s lips puckered, like she was trying to hold back another chuckle.  “No.  Never.”  She looked down at the bag.  “That smells good.  Let’s take that back and share it with the others.”

Yong Hwa frowned at Jong Hyun’s words and suddenly stomped forward, back to the Hibari dorm.

“Wait!”  Shin Hye picked up the bag and her blanket.  “Sick student here!  Teacher Juuung!”

Yong Hwa did a 180 turn and stomped back.  Shin Hye was alarmed and raised her arms to her face out of fear.

He ripped the blanket from her hands and wrapped it around her tightly, hands and all.  He then hoisted her up in the air like a rolled up rug and carried her over one shoulder.

“What are you doing?”  Shin Hye kicked and tried to break free, but the blanket had her imprisoned.

“Aish.”  He steadied her with his second hand.  “Stay still or I’ll drop you.”

“Stop!  I think a shoe fell off!”

“If you think I’m letting you down so that you can make trouble...”

“I won’t!  I won’t even touch you.  I swear!”

“That’s right.  You won’t.  So keep still or you’ll make yourself feel worse.”

“Asssssssssh!  Put me down.  This is so embarrassing.  What if someone sees?”

“Then they will think you are getting what you deserve.”

Yong Hwa carried her around to the back entrance of Hibari.  He hoisted her up straight and held her until she’d gotten her balance back.

“Go inside.”  He said.  “This way will take to my room and the kitchen without being seen.  Get some rest.”

She lifted her chin.  “What about you?”

“I have a point to prove.”

Shin Hye searched his face.  “Okay?  Right now?”

He left her there and marched inside.  Yong Hwa hurried into the breakfast hall, past the students who hadn’t been out to the club all night, and up the stairs to the dorms.  He continued forwards until he was outside Shin Hye’s door.

He wasn’t a brooder.

His foot kicked outwards.  The door fell open against the wall with a satisfying ‘bang’.  Some of the students shot up from their sleeping positions as if they’d been shot.  Others groaned and writhed on the floor.

“Wake up!”  He shouted, making the kids whine.  “You’re all going on an excursion today.  No excuses.”

Hibari lifted herself from the ground as if she were half dead.  She rubbed the smoky-eyed makeup around her eyes until she looked like a zombie.  “Another excursion?  Teacher Jung.  I think I’m about to drop dead.”

“No excuses.  Everyone go out and have a cup of coffee.  Now!”

“Urrrrrrgh!” the students whinged in unison.

Yong Hwa looked around the floor as they scrambled to their feet.

“Where’s Seung Gi?” he asked.

Hibari blinked and did a visual sweep of the room.  “Where’s Shin Hye?”

In the cool darkness of Yong Hwa’s bedroom, Shin Hye gratefully clambered into the spare bed on all fours.  The pillow eased some of the throbbing in her head, and she did some long relaxing stretches once she was underneath the covers.

After a long moment of peace and quiet, Shin Hye stared up at the ceiling.  “What has gotten into him?”

A rap on the door startled her.

Thinking fast, Shin Hye pulled the covers over her head before the person opened the door.  There was a chance that it was a student looking for Teaching Jung, and she couldn’t let herself be caught.

The door opened, and someone walked in.

“Ssaem?” called the voice.  “Ssaem, are you here?”

She let drop the covers.  “Seung Gi?”

The handsome face paled at the sight of her.  “Shin Hye!”

“Ssssssh!”  Shin Hye sat up.  “No one knows that I’m here, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“W-what are you doing here?” he leapt around the corners of Yong Hwa’s bed to get to her.

“Sleeping.”  Then she rethought her answer.  “Trying to sleep.”

He looked annoyed.  “What about your own bed?”

“Ah.  It was surrounded by a whole floor of bodies.”  She lifted her hands to point at the floor.  “I got scared, so Teacher Jung...What is it?”

Seung Gi’s face was drawn.  “I was afraid that I’d find you here.”

Behind him, the door handle turned.  Metal slid against oiled metal.

“Shin Hye?”  It was Yong Hwa.

She opened to tell him that she was decent.

The words were stolen from her.  Seung Gi put his hand around to her back and jerked her into a tight hug.  Her chin ended up bumping against his shoulder blade.  Her hands lifted and fell onto his arms.

Her fingers clawed at the crisp material of his sleeves and tried to push him away.  With panicked eyes she watched Yong Hwa walk through the door, let his eyes drift across the room to the bed, and then freeze on her.

“Be still Shin Hye,” Seung Gi whispered in her ear.  “Think of your brother.”

She continued to claw at his arms, but the damage was done.  Yong Hwa’s face went from light to darkness in a millisecond.  All the lines from his past frowns returned to his face.  He looked at the back of Seung Gi’s head, nodded as if the student was supposed to be there, and went out of the room without a word.

The door clicked shut, and Seung Gi let her go.

Shin Hye gave him a cruel push, nearly sending him toppling off the edge of the bed.

“You!”  She felt like she could tear him to pieces.  “Why did you do that?”

“Protection,” he answered.

“I told you, I don’t need-“

“Not for you.”

She held back tears.  “Then it was for your protection?  How?  In what way?”

“Shin Hye.”  He reached out to touch her hand and she whipped it out of his reach.  He would not touch her again if she could help it.

“Dear Noona,” he added.  “I want you to like me more than anything else.  But this time I had to protect him.  Forgive me?”

“Him?”  She shook her head.  “From what?”

“You.”  He tilted his head to one side and regarded her.  “Your pretty face.”

Crash!

The pair jumped and turned to peer at their loud visitor.

It was Yong Hwa again.  This time, the door handle had made a dent in the wall.

Shin Hye sat up in her bed.  “Teacher Jung!”

To her delight, the darkness in his expression had gone.  He now came with some odd rebelliousness in his eyes that she had only seen a hint of the night before.  It made him seem more vivid, more full of life.

He stormed up to the bed, and lifted Seung Gi upwards by the ear.

“Arrrgh!  Hyung!  That really hurts!”

“Did I give you permission to be in here, you punk?” Yong Hwa dragged him out the room.  Seung Gi went, albeit in a contorted position so that the pain in his ear was minimised.  Shin Hye thought that he looked like a twisted bonsai.

“I was just hugging my girlfriend,” Seung Gi protested weakly.  His ear was turning red around Yong Hwa’s thumb.

“You have no time for that.  You’re coming on an excursion with me and the Hibari dorm today.”

“Me?” he gasped.  “But I don’t even go to this school.  Why do I have to come?”

“Because.”  Yong Hwa tossed him out the door and let go of his ear.  “I have a point to prove, and I can’t do it with you in here.  Ah, Shin Hye?”

From her position in the bed, she closed her gaping mouth.

“Go to sleep,” he ordered.

Obediently, she lay back in the bed and pulled the covers up to her nose.

He smiled in smug, self-satisfied way before pulling the door shut, leaving her alone.

After a few seconds, she pulled the covers down and grinned at the dent in the door.

“I think he likes me just a little bit,” she reasoned.