Jennie wished she could say she was a straight A student. She basically was. She would’ve been if it hadn’t been for a certain Mr. Oh.

She used to have everything; straight A’s, president of the student body, president of the math and English clubs, great friends. Life was great!

Then Mr. Son decided to retire early. He was the old gym teacher who never really cared how good or bad you were at anything; he just gave out A’s left and right. Which was perfect for Jennie, cause if there was one class she did not excel in, it was physical education.

And then he retired, causing the school to hire a former national team captain in something or another, the young and super athletic Mr. Oh, and with that Jennie’s physical education grade took a nosedive.

She cried. A lot. How would she get into SNU if she failed PE?

“We can go to the gym together to build up your strength,” her friend Lisa had suggested.

“We can join a team sport to improve your coordination,” Wendy piped in with, always looking for someone to do sports with her.

“You could flirt with him and try to get him to give you better grades?” Ew, no, Jennie did not like what Joy had just said AT ALL. No, thank you.

At the end of the day, Jennie hated all of their suggestions. She barely had any free time, why would she wanna spend the little that she had going to the gym or joining a team?

To everyone’s surprise, it was Jisoo who came up with the perfect suggestion; “I mean, the answer is right in front of your nose. What do other students do when they’re not doing well in a class?”

“They ask me to tutor them.”

“Exactly.”

“Wait, hold up, you want me to ask someone else to tutor me?”

“Why not?” She shrugged. “Seems like the best option if you ask me.” Jennie stared off into the distance as she tapped her chin, thoroughly thinking it over. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. She’d get one-on-one time, didn’t have to be stared at by an entire gym, could ask to have it fit into her schedule, wouldn’t have to flirt with anyone… she hated to admit it, but Jisoo was right. The idea was the best option.

“I mean, I don’t say this often, but Jisoo, you’re right.” Their friends stared at her in shock, Jennie truly did not say those three words very often, but Jisoo just gave her a thumbs up, like the confident girl she is.

“I know. And we all know just who you should ask…”

--

Backpack placed firmly on her shoulders, headband securely in her hair, books clutched tightly in her arms, and skirt falling nicely on her legs, Jennie determinedly made her way towards the outdoor court where she’d most likely find the person she was looking for.

The sound of a basketball hitting the net and then the ground met her repeatedly before she even rounded the corner, followed by feet moving around as it chased the ball, shooting from different positions. When the court came into full view, Jennie saw a tall brunette bouncing the ball with a determined look on her face as she did trick after trick before shooting, her backpack and hoodie discarded off to the side. She was wearing shorts and a muscle tee and for some reason Jennie just couldn’t stop staring.

So much so, that when the ball bounced off the rim of the net and shot straight towards her, she didn’t even flinch, not realizing what was happening until the brunette shot towards her, hitting the ball out of the way half a second before it slammed straight into Jennie’s head.

“Woah, careful there! You ok?” She put her hands on Jennie’s shoulder, looking her over, while the ball rolled into the grass on the side of the court.

“Huh?” Their eyes connected and Jennie was finally shaken from her daze. “Oh, yeah, sorry. I’m ok, thank you.”

“You gotta be careful,” she grinned, removing her hands as she went to pick up the ball. “Hurts like hell to get one of these in the face, unfortunately speaking from experience.”

“I bet, thank you again for saving me.”

“It was no problem. Can I help you with anything else?” Jennie just watched as she went over to her backpack, pulling out a water bottle before downing half of it.

“Actually, yes.” Confident Jen was back in the game. “You’re Chaeyoung, right?”

“Mhm. And you’re Jennie.” For some reason, the fact that Chaeyoung knew who she was made Jennie excited.

“You know who I am?”

“Of course, doesn’t everyone? You don’t exactly keep a low profile around here – not that that’s a bad thing!” She added the last part, not wanting Jennie to think she had a bad rep.

“Well, it’s nice meeting you Chaeyoung.” Jennie sat down next to her, placing her books in her lap as her arm was getting tired of holding them. “I’m here because I was wondering if maybe you could help me with something?”

“Shoot.”

“Ever since Mr. Oh came, my PE grade has been slipping, and I really need to get it back up. A friend suggested that maybe I should get a tutor. Slightly unconventional choice for PE, but it didn’t sound like a bad idea, really. And, well, you seemed like the obvious first choice, being the captain of the basketball team, as well as seeming very eager and helpful in gym class.

“So, long story short, I was wondering if you could help me get my grade up? I pay well.”

“That sounds pretty interesting, actually. And basketball season just finished, so I do have the time…” she tapped her chin, pretending to think before bursting into a big smile. “I’ll do it.”

“Really?” It’s not that Jennie was expecting her to say no, but she was still open to her maybe saying no.

“Sure, it’ll be fun. How do you wanna do it though?”

“…I haven’t really thought about that actually, sorry. How about we schedule our first session and we’ll talk it over then?”

“Works for me. When are you free?”

Jennie pulled her backpack around, pulling out her calendar before scanning the pages, looking for any available time. Chaeyoung thought it was adorable how organized she was. “First available slot is 3pm on Wednesday.”

“I’m free then, should we meet in the gym? I’m sure I can convince Mr. Oh to let us stay behind.”

“Sure, thanks again. See you then.” With a wide grin, Jennie shifted her books once again as she walked away with a small wave. Look at her taking control of her own education! She was sure she’d get that A back in no time.

--

“Hey, sorry I’m late! I was talking to Mr. Oh.” Chae said as she ran into the gym, ponytail swaying as she moved.

“It’s ok, is he ok with us using this space?”

“As long as we clean up after ourselves, he doesn’t care.” Chae sat down on the bleachers next to Jennie who was definitely not dressed for physical exercise. “Did you bring a change of clothes?”

“Should I?” Jennie looked down at her cute skirt and Chanel tee her mom had given her for her birthday.

“Uhm, yeah, I think that would be a good idea,” Chae laughed softly, not wanting Jennie to think she was making fun of her. “Don’t worry about it though, how about we use today’s session to go over the curriculum and decide what our strategy is to help you out, that way we can decide how often we need to meet.”

“That sounds like a good idea, and I promise to bring a change of clothes from now on.”

“That’s all I ask. Anyways, the reason I was late, was also because I asked Mr. Oh if he could print out a copy of his grading criteria for me, figured it would make it easier to help you out if I knew what to focus on.”

“I’m actually surprised I didn’t think of that, that’s brilliant. Can I have a look at that?” She pointed at the sheet Chae was holding, eager to find out what she could improve on, rather than practice everything. Something about working smarter, not harder.

Quickly scanning through the list, she read out loud in case Chae hadn’t had a chance to see it yet. “Hmm, okay basketball – that’s fine since you’re helping me, right up your alley. Music movement – can you dance?”

“I’m fairly decent I’d say, you?”

“Not for the life of me.”

She was so serious that Chae couldn’t help but laugh. “No worries, we’ll get you up and dancing in no time.”

“Putting a lot of faith in yourself, but I like it. Up next is Olympic fair, where we have to do different small Olympic activities with a partner – ugh, I hate partner activities. And then there’s arranging your own PE activity that we have to share with our class. Ok, so half is fine, the other half sounds like hell.”

“Hey, don’t be so negative, it sounds like a lot of fun to me. If we can choose our own partner for the Olympic thing, I’ll choose you so we can help each other out. And we can come up with activities to share with the class together. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?”

“Not when you put it like that. Thanks Chae, I really appreciate your help.”

“If anyone had ever told me that the Jennie Kim would come ask me for help with a class I would’ve laughed, but I’m really glad you did. I’m sure we’ll have a great time. Now bring out that calendar of yours, we need to schedule our sessions.”

Jennie’s calendar was a lot busier than Chae’s, but at least it meant that their schedules weren’t clashing too badly.

“How often do you wanna meet?”

“I think we should start with at least twice a week; we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. I’m sure you’ve seen me in class before, I’m not exactly athletic.”

“I don’t think you’re as bad as you seem to think you are, but that’s fine. Let’s start with that, and we can adjust it as we go. Do all Wednesdays work for you?”

Chae’s compliment made her blush, and she was relieved they were both studying their calendars so the brunette wouldn’t notice. “Yeah, they’re all free. And Fridays from 4:30pm, after student council.”

“You have student council on Fridays after class?”

“Yeah, I know, we all hate it, but apparently the school insisted on it this year.”

“Hope that changes next year for your sake. But that works for me, I can hang around and do homework or shoot some hoops while I wait. So it’s settled then? Wednesdays at 3, Fridays at 4:30?”

“Perfect,” Jennie nodded, scribbling it into her calendar right away. “Any idea what we should start with?”

“Probably basketball, he said that’s the next activity coming up soon.”

“Ugh great. No offense, but I’m hopeless at it, so it’s not really my favorite sport. It feels like the hoop is 10 meters in the air.”

“None taken. I know it’s not easy, but lucky for you, I’m pretty good at it so I know just how to help you. And it’s 10 feet in the air, which is really just 3 meters, not too bad, we just need to work on your throwing.”

“The pessimist in me wants to groan and throw my head back saying it’ll be impossible, and we should just give up right now, but the optimist in me that’s here right now is saying we can do this.”

Chae laughed at her honesty, getting paid to spend time with her didn’t sound so bad. “That’s the spirit! I promise we’ll have fun. And who knows, maybe there will be award for accomplishments?”

“Yayyy,” Jennie clapped excitedly, if there was one thing she enjoyed, it was rewards. She thrived for them, they pushed her to be better. She was definitely gonna work hard for this. And to get that A, of course. Can’t forget the original goal of this all.

“Should we call it a day and meet up on Friday then?”

“Sounds good. With a proper attire.”

“See, you’re a quick learner,” Chae grinned, grabbing her bag as she stood up. “Do you need a ride home?”

“No thanks, I’ve got it covered. Thank you though. I’ll see you on Friday.”

--

“Just stand right here,” Chae gently held Jennie’s hips as she moved her to the three-point line, “aim for the basket, and shoot.”

“Do you promise not to laugh? Because I promise you this ball is not going anywhere near that basket.” Jennie looked at her skeptically, clutching the ball in her hands.

Chae’s face looked dead serious as she crossed her heart, “cross my heart and hope to die. I know I’m good now, but I haven’t always been this way, it’s taken me thousands of hours of practice.”

“Well, I don’t have thousands of hours.”

“You don’t need it either, you don’t have to become an expert, just enough for him to see that you’ve improved and are making an effort. Now go on, show me what you got.”

Jennie gave her a nervous look and a sigh, before aiming and shooting.

The ball flew through the air before landing with a thud as it bounced away, nowhere near hitting the basket, just like Jennie had predicted.

“Honestly not as bad as I thought it would be. Your technique is good, you just need some more strength behind it. Here, watch me.” Chae grabbed another ball and lined up next to Jennie, getting into shooting position. “See how I stretch my arms? I’m left-handed, so for you it’ll be the other way around, but I simply support the ball with my right hand, and use the left to steer and shoot. Then I add a small jump, and shoot.” With that, Chae jumped up gracefully, the ball hitting nothing but net as Jennie looked on in amazement.

“Wow, you make it look so effortless.”

Chae laughed as she handed Jennie another ball. “That’s what lots of practice gets ya, but thank you. C’mon, try another one.”

Taking a deep breath, Jennie tried copying Chae, left hand balancing the ball as the right shot, but this time it shot straight to the side, almost hitting Chae in the process. Thankfully, the taller girl was quick and managed to catch it before it hit her face.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t worry about it, happens all the time. You’re a bit too focused on one step at a time rather than seeing it as a smooth process. Try not to overthink it, and you’ll be fine.” Chae handed her the ball with a pat on the back.

Jennie didn’t land her third attempt either.

Nor the fourth, fifth, or sixth.

On the seventh she was so frustrated that it drove the competitive side of her wild, causing her to finally hit the rim. It wasn’t a basket, but it was something at least, and she couldn’t stop grinning when Chae cheered for her.

“Good job! You’re close to making your first basket now! High five,” they high fived as the mood was considerably lifted.

It fell slightly when her eighth, ninth, and tenth attempts failed miserably though, but Chae didn’t seem to lose her spirits.

“Do you mind if I help you with a shot?”

“Uhm, no, go ahead?” She didn’t sound too sure, mostly because she wasn’t sure what Chae was gonna do, but Chae didn’t mind, getting behind her as if she was gonna back hug her.

“Ok, so hold the ball like this,” Chae put the ball in Jennie’s hands, guiding her left hand to