The Unorthodox Method of Falling

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Chapter 1

It was a Saturday.

A Saturday before the first week of school to be more exact. People may find it weird to see actual students in school during this day but if you’re part of Kim Dahyun’s regime, then you are the unfortunate exception to that playground rule.

And when one mentions about Dahyun’s regime, it specifically meant three organizations: The Student Council, The Atteridge Gazette (aka the school newspaper), and the AV Club. You see, Dahyun had a very contemporary vision of a student government. In consolidating the position of these three organizations, she effectively controls the state media, documentation resources, and the executive branch. She even placed two of her friends to head these branches making her practically a dictator, but no one really cares because who gives a flying about running the lousy organization of the alpha nerds?

Apparently, Dahyun does, and so with her clique of scholastic servants, they find themselves huddled in a system of connected rooms which they call The DMZ or The Detention Mediation Zone. It’s a prime real estate of four connected rooms, one for each organization and a common room where the detention candidates are held up (Because nothing is more punishing than being surrounded by nerds).

At the head of the big table, Dahyun looked over her team, standing while everyone was seated. She has always preferred her scrums this way since it makes her see everyone easily. Vintage flower printed yellow sundress under a red cardigan, Dahyun has always looked presentable even on weekends. She is, afterall, the supreme elected official.

“Monday is almost here, guys. You know what that means. Minjoo, let’s get over the Pep Muster program again.” Dahyun pinches the bridge of her nose, making the vice president a bit nervous.

(Kim Dahyun, Senior, Council President, Apex Predator Nerd, Never Dated)

“We start the program by 3:30 PM with an address from Principal Weatherbee, followed by the introduction of the school teams, then an intermission from the Atteridge Pep Squad to learn this year’s school cheer, then we go to the club sign ups. Each club is given a booth then the student council will be serving snacks.” Minjoo recited like she was being graded.

(Kim Minjoo, Junior, Council Executive Vice President, Most Probably the Next President)

“Hey, hey, Chae.” Jeongyeon spins her swivel chair and taps Chaeyoung’s shoulder with a pen. “What has two legs, dirty blonde hair, and speaks just like Minjoo?”

(Yoo Jeongyeon, Senior, Atteridge Gazette EIC, Vocalist for the Recess Absentees, and Dahyun’s bestfriend — sometimes)

Dahyun drops her shoulders and rolls her eyes in exasperation.

“I don’t know, does the current president count as an answer?” Chaeyoung answers without even glancing away from her laptop.

(Son Chaeyoung, AV Club President, Dahyun’s bestfriend — if she’s not playing video games)

“Is there something wrong with the way I speak? Oh! Am I speaking presidentially?” Minjoo perks up.

“I wouldn’t be too happy if I were you, Minjoo. Do you really wanna be that person who calls a meeting on a Saturday?” Jeongyeon shrugs. Dahyun could only watch the  girl wearing a tight vintage shirt lean closer to Minjoo as if whispering something. “It’s almost as if she wanted all of us to have no life.”

“I have a life, Jeongyeon!” the president protested, and everybody hid behind quiet giggles, even Minjoo. “Hey! I am as cool as anybody in this room!”

Then, they all avoided any form of eye contact to Dahyun.

“Prove it. Jennie has a party tonight.” Jeongyeon spins on her chair.

“Not gonna go to somewhere I’m not invited to.”

“No, she texted Jeongyeon.” Hyewon, the silent one on most cases, chose the most disadvantageous time to speak. At least for Dahyun. “She said we should all go. You especially.” she points her small yogurt spoon at the president.   

(Kang Hyewon, Junior, Council Vice President for Public Relations and External Affairs, Always neat, always eating. Would’ve been one of the popular kids if she doesn’t space out too much)

“She just said,” Jeongyeon stands up and reads from her phone (which means in a tune of heavily neutral monotone). “You guys should definitely come. Tell Dahyun to come too. I need blessing from the president to make this year-starter party happen.”  

“Not going if Chae ain’t —” Dahyun speaks but was interrupted.

“Yeah.” Chaeyoung winces and inhales sharply. “I kinda said yes to Jeongyeon about 30 minutes ago.”

“Chae! Are you sure about this?”

“She said the entire DMZ is going! I mean, all of us are going, right?” Chaeyoung reasoned out which prompted everyone inside the room to look at each other and nod. “Jeongyeon thought it’d be fun. Hyewon and Minjoo thinks it’s a good way to start the year.”

“And you?” Dahyun raised a brow.

“Peer ing pressure!”

“I need you to be stronger, Chae!” Dahyun throws her hands up in the air.

“I tried to be! But it’s our last year! When was the last time you attended a highschool party? Because I sure haven’t been to!” Chaeyoung leans back against her chair, folding her arms loosely under her chest. Jeongyeon just looked at Dahyun’s eyes because she knows full well what she’s gonna say next. There was a smug smirk that never sat well with Dahyun.

Dahyun begins, “I went to Billy —”

“Billy Rosenthal’s party is a ing bar mitzvah and you were fourteen!” Jeongyeon groans and everyone just looked down to the floor when the disappointment that’s Kim Dahyun finally revealed herself.

“Fine!” Dahyun surrenders. “I’ll go to Jennie’s party later!”  

“No take-backsies!” Jeongyeon laughs in triumph. Chaeyoung pumps her fist in the air. Minjoo sighs in relief. And Hyewon just shakes her head while she stared at everyone blankly.

“Now, get some flyers and post them around campus.” Dahyun goes back to being the president. “And Minjoo, don’t forget to message the teams later. Tell them all school teams should wear their lettermans on Monday. Thanks everyone! Now, get to work!”

The meeting disintegrates into its individual components, but before Jeongyeon could walk a step away from Dahyun, she felt her forearms being yanked.

“Stick with Chaeyoung, please. Athletes are out and about this weekend.” Dahyun said, making sure that only Jeongyeon heard her.

“Gotcha, cap.” Jeongyeon winked then joined the others.

///

Meanwhile, on the other side of the school, the football team was just finishing their weekend training. The season’s coming up soon and the team is hard pressed to win the elusive state championship this year.

They’re holding on to high hopes since their roster is pretty promising. Pretty. And promising.

On one of the bleachers, a magnificent specimen stood and watched the players shuffle to her direction. Yoga pants and a compression shirt so snug, it was hugging her toned figure quite nicely, almost like a second skin. Her raven black hair is tied into a neat ponytail, a stark contrast to the messed up ladies who just got off the field.

“Great runs today, guys!” Sana highfives or fistbumps every player that passes her.

(Minatozaki Sana, Senior, Quarterback and Captain, Textbook Definition of Campus Heartthrob)

“Hey, Yujin.” she calls out to the shorter girl who was just about to walk past her. The girl tilts her head up, just enough for Sana to see her eyes below her cap visor, then she quickly obeys when the captain signalled her to come closer. “Starting the official season training, we’ll be doing drills for option passes and deep runs, so I’m gonna ask you to come in earlier than the rest. Is that okay?”

The younger girl nodded quickly without hesitation, and not even a hint of complaining or questioning.

(Ahn Yujin, Junior, Quarterback, Doesn’t hang out as much and keeps to herself. Love affair with baseball caps)

“Your passes are good. We just need to focus more on making you play both ways, but great job today.” Sana lightly punches Yujin’s shoulder.

“Thanks, cap!” Yujin beams before walking away. “See you Monday.”

“Hey, hey hey!” a blonde calls out before Yujin could take another step. “What do you mean by ‘See you Monday’? Jennie’s having a party tonight. You’re not going?” Momo asks in disbelief.

(Hirai Momo, Senior, Running Back, Part Time Footballer, Full Time Moron)

From behind the blonde, Sana was shaking her head and swiping her fingers over .

“No, I’m going.” Yujin shrugs and points at Sana. “Not sure, about the captain, though?”

“Who, Sana?” Momo chuckles confidently. “Oh, our captain’s going to — Sana! Come back here!” the blonde quickly glad ances at Yujin and mouths a ‘See you later!’ before running after the captain. “Don’t you run away from me!”

“I’m not going, Momo.” Sana just waved her hand and continued walking.

“We talked about this! Are you really gonna mope around?”

“I’m not moping. I’m heading to the general direction of my car.” Sana points to the other side of the school, where none of her teammates are parked.

“I don’t give a damn on where general direction you’re going! You can walk towards hell for all I care.” Momo tried to get ahead of Sana to stop her from walking. “You’re going to this party and take it like a champ!”

Sana finally stops and just sighs while the blonde stood defiantly in front of the captain, forcing the both of them into a staring contest stalemate.

“Okay, fine. I didn’t mean for you to go to hell. That’s for your ex.” Momo surrenders. Sana was quiet for a quick moment, then she skillfully cuts behind Momo. “Sana! You told us you got over her!”

“I did. But that doesn’t mean that I need to be where she is.” Sana pulls the strap of her gym bag up her shoulder.

“Then what’s with the attitude?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” the captain chuckles and continued to walk on. Momo briskly walks just to catch up, trying her best to intercept the Sana once more.

“Oh, don’t play coy! She’s still affecting you!” Momo accuses which puts Sana to an abrupt stop. The words left a taste so bitter in Sana’s mouth that it didn’t take long for Momo to realize Sana’s mood changed entirely. “Dude, I’m just saying.” her voice suddenly mellows down into a mumble.

“Figure me this. I came from a place full of sickness, got sick, then got well. Do I go back to the place full of sickness?” Sana raised her brow to coerce an answer. The analogy made sense, much to Momo’s dismay, and at this rate, she’s quickly running out of reasons to convince Sana to come.

“Your team is going to hang out with the plague herself, Sana! Not to mention your best friends.” Momo sighs. “Jihyo and I will be going. The rest of the team, too. It’s our last year so can we at least enjoy the ride? The season’s coming in soon and we might not get nights like this.”

Sana closes her eyes as she takes in Momo’s words. She has a point but Sana will not admit that outright, so she remained quiet. Another beat passes before Momo tried to reason again.

“I’m sorry my words came out wrong. Jihyo and I just want our friend back. We haven’t seen you since that damn leadership summit and we felt a bit left out. Don’t clam up on us, Sana.”

“Fine.” Sana shakes her head, a small smile curving up from her lips.

‘Yes!” Momo clasps her hands together and presses them against her forehead.

“Dress codes?”

“You do you, Sana. But in the name of everything that you hold dear, dress up well.” Momo places her hands over her heart then she began to walk backwards. “I’ll see you later, cap!”

Sana just chuckles and waves her hand, trying her best to ignore the fact that she’s been convinced by Momo to do something stupid.

///

Walking around school made her realize how difficult it would be once school starts, most especially after practice when she had to walk all the way to the other side of the school just because she agreed to park beside Nancy when they were still together.  

The distance will be enough to parade herself around prying eyes but it’s fortunately a Saturday — the school barely has a handful of students save for those who decided to start the year early.

There were some student council staff members (that form a semblance of a civilized high school society), Advanced Placement students (who get more Yes’s on SATs than on dates), and members of some club. Or cult. Or maybe both (The damn ‘Ottacku’ Club’s cover dances for anime tunes and blood pacts!). And while she wasn’t sure if these people were remotely interested in her, she tried her best not to care less. Until one of the junior league footballers screamed out “Heads!”

Sana watched as the ball flew high up into the air where it seemed to float for a while before arching back down to earth. She watched it fall like a speeding missile where she hoped it doesn’t hit any unfortunate girl who’s on a ladder, stapling some flyers for — holy !

Sana dropped her bag and sprinted towards the first possible ball casualty of the year (and a ladder? Seriously?). She looked back at the ball and it seemed like she’ll intercept it just in time. Maybe so much in time that she’s speeding up more than she could force herself to brake.

The ball comes in, Sana dives. The metal ladder falls, then a squeal. A lot of clattering came after (also maybe a skittering cat, and a confetti of flyers), and then there’s a heavy feeling pressing down on her torso. There’s also the smell of blended cherry and baby cologne, and Sana wonders why death smells so damn good (It’s a smell that reminded her of leadership summit).

“Ugh..”

Sana’s heart clenches a bit when she hears a soft groan. As the weight pressing over her shifts carefully, Sana props herself up on her elbows to keep her — or both of their balances.

She carefully opens her eyes and finds Dahyun beautifly sprawled over her with her eyes wincing in pain. Dahyun managed to raise her body, straddling Sana between her arms as she slowly came back to her senses.

“Oh my god! Are you alright?!” Dahyun covered with a hand when she realized who was toppled under her. She didn’t even notice that half of her body is still on Sana.

“Yeah. I think?” Sana assures but quickly shifts to doubt. “Am I still alive? I’m still alive, right?”

As visible members of the scholastic community, Kim Dahyun knows who Sana is. She watched her play since her junior high school days. Her contribution as a quarterback easily earned her the team captaincy, plus the hearts and romantic fantasies of everyone else.

Sana could say the same to Dahyun. She’s the poster child of the perfect academic achiever. She ran successful campaigns of vice presidency for the past years until she was voted as the president. She’s good in class, even more so in her civic duties. But of course, she’s not as popular outside. After all, people treat her as the extens