Tuesday afternoon 4pm

"Cai Xukun, Chen Linong, Fan Chengcheng, Justin, Lin Yanjun, Zhu Zhengting, Wang Ziyi, Xiao gui, You Zhangjing, Bi Wenjun, Qian Zhenghao, Bu Fan..." Jackson was naming the number of people present "and Qinfen and Han Mubo" . "Ok everyone is here. The twelve of you get into a line and figure out your positions . Qin fen and Mubo I'll get you two ready first, follow me!"

"How are we going to do this?" Nongnong asked. "Why did they even pick us?" Zhangjing whispered out of annoyance and Chengcheng who heard nodded in agreement. "I could be practicing basketball at this time" Chengcheng said and sighed. "Bro the tournaments were already over " Ziyi recalled.

Without Jackson present the group was dispersed. There was Xiao gui, Chengcheng, and Justin being the loud ones running around and messing with Bu fan while the others either sat down or stood up wandering around. Jackson sighs and took off his black cap to brush back hair before wearing his cap again. His voice was loud enough to get their attention that he doesn't need to use a whistle. "Where's your line?!" he fumed. The 12 boys quickly stood next to one another, Justin being the wittiest one made up a report "L-laoshi this is our order. W-we've already got it sorted we were just waiting for you!".  Jackson observed the line looking left to right,right back to left. "Are you sure this order would work?" He questioned because the line didn't look neat as the short people stood next to the tall people. The order went like this (from left to right) Lin Yanjun, You Zhangjing, Chen Linong, Cai Xukun, Qian Zhenghao, Bu fan, Zhu Zhengting, Wang Ziyi, Fan Chengcheng, Justin, Xiao Gui, and Bi Wenjun.

Xiao Gui looks up at Wenjun "Bro, How tall are you?" he asked.

" 187(cm), You?"

"Oh close to you"

"Really?!"

"178"

"Ah that is very close"

"Laoshi what does our height have to do with this?" Xiao Gui asks. Jackson thinks for a second "It's part of our strategy, if your legs are similar heights then it would be easy to run together. It's like how a pair of chopsticks have the same length, if they were different then wouldn't it be hard to eat?" Jackson explained and felt proud of himself for being smart for once. "But lets try this order you guys 'came up with' and see how it works. You can't leave until you've  walked at least up to the first white line". Ignoring the protest Jackson has already started to wrap elastic bands around their ankles together.

"1, 2, 1... 2, 1,2- offph" Jackson watches them in despair, this was the 10th time they fell over, and they were still near the start. He then received a call 'Yeah Aite aite aite aite aite aite aite. You got me feeling like a-' "Hello Wang Jiaer speaking.... Ah my pizza is here? ... Ok I'll come get it now! Thank you" end of call. "Hey you boys continue until I come back. If I found out any of you leaving the field you'll be cleaning the toilets for 2 weeks!" Jackson commanded. "But what if we need the toilet?" Nongnong asked. "Go to the nearest one then" Jackson shouted as he ran off the field.

"1,2 ,1,2 ,1-"they chanted and fell again "Agh Xiao gui watch out for my head" Wenjun exclaimed "Sorry 187" apologized Xiao gui.

"Again! 1,2,3,4,1,2,3-aiyo!", "Justin you're counting it wrongly" yelled Zhangjing. "Ay you two get off me I can't breathe!" Zhengting muttered underneath Bu fan and Ziyi. Bu fan quickly got off, afraid that Zhengting would kick him off.

"Again!" "Aya" "Ei ei ei ei Xukun slow down I don't think Zhenghao can keep up" Chen Linong points out. "Keep up brat" Xukun spits out to Zhenghao. "Ah that's not wh-" "Nongnong! You stepped on my shirt" Zhangjing's voice surpasses Linong's thoughts.

"Hey don't we just rearrange the order?" Wenjun suggested. Yanjun yells across from the end of the line "I agree, but it's not just because of the order..."he pause and sees Xukun scolding Zhenghao. Bu fan, Zhengting and Ziyi bickering and Chengcheng,Justin, Xiao Gui who were in their own world "... our teamwork is also the problem".

"Can you two stop keep squishing me! So heavy!" Zhengting complained dragging the 'so heavy'. "Maybe if your legs don't get in the way!" Ziyi snapped back. Zhengting huffed and unstraps the elastic bands locking his legs he then notices Zhenghao's scraped knee. He gets more irritated when Xukun lifts up a leg causing to Zhenghao to trip "Cai Xukun it's your fault for going so fast!" Zhengting blurts without thinking "Haohao's knee is like this because of you !". "Zhu Zhengting don't blame everything on Xukun!" Ziyi defends. "What does it have to do with me" Xukun asked and shrugs. "You're purpos-" Zhengting is muted by Wenjun covering his mouth "Guys me and Yanjun have figured out a problem and a solution to the problem too" Wenjun starts off and looks at Yanjun to speak "Me?" "Just say it" "Ah so because our line isn't neat and teamwork is trash. So we have a solution for the line, tall people in the middle and shorter ones at the ends so it like a triangle or pyramid and for teamwork... we'll leave that for later"

After New arrangement...

"Zhengting are you ok? You look unhappy"Nongnong asked cautiously as it looked like the boy next to him was about to punch someone. "Hm I'm totally fine" Zhengting said through gritted teeth and a forced smile. "I not fine, why do I have to be next to Cai Xukun?"  Zhengting mentally cried. "At least Haohao is safe"  he thought on the bright side as he saw Xiao Gui slinging his arm around Zhenghao's shoulder happily teasing how the younger boy was shorter than him in a friendly manner.

The new line went like this(left to right) : Zhangjing(176), Yanjun(181), Justin(181), Chengcheng(183), Ziyi(186), Bu fan(192), Wenjun(187), Nongnong(185), Zhengting(183), Xukun(181), Xiao gui(178), and Zhenghao (172).

"Woah what happened while I was away?" A husky voice was heard and they knew who it belonged to. Jackson was chewing on a slice of pizza with Mark behind him holding about five boxes of pizza and a plastic bag of drinks. "The line is so neat ,you guys finally figured it out. I thought I would see another mess" Jackson said as he wiped away a fake tear. "I thought half of them would've left already" Mark commented jokingly "Hey Jackson go give this to Qinfen and Han Mubo" Mark ordered. Jackson skips over to Mark and takes a box of pizza and two Pepsi cans walking to the other half of the field where Qinfen and Mubo were  ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶l̶o̶v̶e̶y̶ ̶d̶o̶v̶e̶y̶ practicing.

"Okay let's see how you boys are doing. If you can reach that white line then you can leave and share these boxes of pizzas and Pepsi" Mark said trying to motivate them and it actually worked, no one could resist free pizza. "Let's go!" Xiao Gui and Justin cheered. They got prepared and ready in position "One..." Xiao gui being the boy with a loud voice chose to lead count "two..." the boys took a step forward "one, two!" Two steps.  Everyone chanted "One,two,one two" the count was faster as they neared the white line. Zhengting could see the line in front of him shine "Yes finally! Free pizza!"  He smiled at the thought of free food. But his gummy smile washes away when he felt the band on his ankle tighten and the weight on his right side was getting heavier as Wenjun dropped. Zhengting shuts his eyes tightly as soon as he saw the green mossy ground. Scrunching his face he prepares to fall flat faced, but... something hooks his waist and he was brought closer to a warm soft surface. He opens his eyes confused looking everywhere and sees everyone has collapsed except for him and ... Xukun, who held onto him.

Zhengting's eye made direct contact with Xukun's the longer they stared at each other the blurrier their surrounding was. Only Xukun's face was in view , they were so close that Zhengting could see the cute mole just on his left cheekbone and the sparkly glinting grey eyes soon became Zhengting's favorite treasure in the world.

Cai Xukun embraced Zhengting tightly and for the first time in his life he felt he had a very important mission for himself...

"From now on if you fall, I'll catch you and I'll protect you....

...Forever."

°To be continued...°