This will be a long chapter...

It was now the day of the festival almost everyone looked forward to it. The school was decorated with banners and balloons. The tents were set up and food and drinks stalls tended by the students lined the entire school. The booths for the amazing race were also set up. Almost everyone was excited for the race.

For the first time ever, there were many participants, boys and girls alike. The boys all wanted to get the kiss from Jennie while the other girls idolized Jennie and wanted to spend time with their idol.

This was how the race works: Students have to race around the school and go through check points in sequences where they will receive a special rubber band. Once they received all ten bands which they can wear on their wrists, they must make their way to the finishing/starting line. There's also a limit to the number of bands given at each check point. Once all the bands in a particular check point has all been given out, the rest of the participants who were unable to collect those bands will automatically be eliminated.

The participants were all lined up. In a few minutes, the race would start. Jisoo looked at her competitors' eager faces, there were so many of them. She recalled last year that there were hardly thirty who signed up. This year seemed to have half the school signing up and Jisoo reckoned that the whole school would probably have signed up if there was no limit to the number of participants.

Jisoo remembered having to sleep in school so that she would be the first to sign up for the race. Her efforts were paid up as within five minutes, all the slots for the race had been filled up. As the older one, it was up to Jisoo to save her younger cousin. That meant that she had to win the race. She could not fail Jennie, she promised her that.

Jisoo glanced around once more; ready take down anyone in her path. A familiar messy brown hair caught her attention and Jisoo cringed in disgust. Kai was competing too. Of course! That lunatic was obsessed with her cousin.

She recalled him harassing Jennie a few times even after both Jisoo and Jennie beat the crap out of him. Jisoo was now even more determined to win the race. There was no way she was going to let some psychopath lay a finger on her precious little cousin.

"Lisa?" Jisoo suddenly spoke as she saw her friend beside her on the starting line. "What are you doing here? Why are you competing?" Jisoo was bewildered.

"Why are you competing?" Lisa asked back, not answering Jisoo's question.

"Of course, I have to join! My cousin is the damned prize for goodness sake! I have to protect her!" Jisoo nearly shouted. "And what about you? You have no reason to join!"

"Jennie is my friend too. I just want to help out. Besides, two people is better than one don't you think?" Lisa replied nonchalantly.

The truth was that Lisa could not stand the fact of Jennie going to kiss another guy. Just the thought of it makes Lisa mad. She knew that Jennie was forced into it as she knew that she was not one to volunteer. Still, she was thinking of giving her a good lecture afterwards for getting herself into that mess.

Jisoo raised a brow at her friend. She was not sure what on earth Lisa was thinking. Sure, Jisoo trusted Lisa with her life, but not with her cousin's. No one will be good enough for her cousin.

But then again, among all the other girls and boys in school who likes Jennie, Jisoo would very much prefer Lisa. She would have to let that one pass for now.

At the spectator stand, something else was going on.

"Twenty bucks on Manoban!" Wendy said confidently.

"I say twenty on Jisoo!" Joy replied. "No one should ever underestimate the power of cousin love!"

"I'll take my chances with Manoban!" Irene said. "Though Jisoo is one of the best sportswomen, everyone knows Manoban is better. Twenty bucks on Lisa!"

"But I agree with Joy! You should see Jisoo's over-protective mode! She becomes a berserker! She'll surely win! Ten bucks on Jisoo!" Seulgi joined in.

"I thought you're confident of Jisoo winning?" Irene questioned Seulgi's bet.

"Yea I am, but I'm also broke," Seulgi chuckled.

"OK GET TO YOUR POSITIONS COMPETITORS!" Miss Minji barked. Suddenly everyone else tensed up. The race was about to start.

"READY...SET...GO!" Miss Minji shouted, and the race had finally began.

The crowd erupted into roars and excitements; they were rooting for their friends. The participants were all rushing for the first check point.

The tennis court was the first stop. Participants have to complete a series of Sudoku puzzles. Once they have completed the puzzles and are correct, they will receive the special band and they can move on to the next check point. There were only fifty bands to be given for the first check point.

In less than twenty minutes, only fifty participants were left, the rest were all eliminated.

"Jennie?" Jisoo exclaimed when she caught sight of his raven-haired cousin at the second check point. "What are you doing here? You didn't join the race too did you?" Jisoo asked incredulously.

"Of course, I joined the race! You expect me to sit still and wait for you to save my ? I don't think so!" Jennie replied.

"Of course," Jisoo thought, chuckling to herself.

She did not spot her earlier on due to the massive number of competitors. Only when there were less people did he finally see her. Her cousin was no damsel in distress. She could very well take care of herself.

Jisoo then decided that she would be just behind her for backup.

Lisa was surprised too. Though she knew Jennie would probably put up a fuss, she never thought about her joining the race. Jennie was sure something. She was predictable yet unpredictable at the same time. Lisa knew that it's very contradicting but that's the only way she could describe her.

It was now the last two check points before the finishing line. There were five people left: Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo, another boy called Taehyung, and surprisingly Kai. No one would expect a loser like Kai to be in the top five but no one would be surprised either if he used underhanded means to get to his position.

The second last check point was Archery. There were only three bands for that stop and the first three students to get bulls-eye will receive the bands.

Lisa and Jennie were the first two to receive their bands and they preceded to the last check point. Jisoo, however, was having trouble concentrating. Rosé was in charge of that check point. She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of her