Because I was more of a deviant than I had earlier thought (no, not really), instead of the smart thing to do, and that was to stay where I was until someone found me, I stood up and walked further into the woods. My parents (and Ian) always told me, that should I ever get lost, I should stay right where I was and wait for them (or someone) to come find me, it was good advice though I've never really gotten lost before. Right now, as much as I'd like to uphold my parents' wise words, I was not really up for getting captured by the enemy. Yes, I could stake my life that Ian and the others would rescue me, and that might even be a good strategy for finding out where the other bases are, I still did not like the idea of being captured.

Not far from where the Eunhye-Hyunjoong team base was, I came across something that I believe I would have rather lived blissfully unaware of.

“I don't want to talk about Minji!”

“Look, we were just writing a song-”

“Writing a song? You were with her the whole weekend, you cancelled our date because of that?!”

“Fei-Fei, that song accounts for half our grade this semester!”

“Don't you Fei-Fei me Kim Junsu!”

I shrank back into a tree behind me and waited for Junsu and Fei to walk past me. I did not want to get caught in between a lover's quarrel, especially not Fei and Junsu's. While they were fun to hang around with individually, together, they were like quicksand. You do not come out of it alive. They disappeared into the woods in a few moments, and I sighed in relief. One thing I kept in mind though, they were arguing because of Minji.

Junsu and Minji were the class songwriters. You can lump Taec along with them, but Taec's latest creation, So Hot, immediately jumped on by the Wonder Girls, was, let's just say not exactly quite on par with the other two's writing. Those two spent many a day together just brainstorming for lyrics and playing around the piano and no one would think anything of it, except for Fei of course, because Fei didn't like any girl near Junsu. Although sometimes I think she's particularly wary of Minji. Why they were put together in a team, I could only wonder in horror. Perhaps Ms. Ami and Mr. Jung were trying to make a point, but what that was, only the conclusion of this game would ever say.

Here I realized I should have at least tried to talk to them. Seulong would kill me if he finds out that Junsu and Fei passed by and I didn't even inform them of our brilliant plan. But what was done was done, and I continued on with my trek to find, well, the other bases or our own- whichever came first.

It was easier said than done.

I spent the last hour walking around aimlessly, and by the time I felt like passing out, from dehydration and tiredness, I was sure, it was already past the meeting time back at base. Was it frustration? In my mind I knew I wasn't lost, it was just the IDOL lodge and nothing was going to happen to me here with the security and all, but knowing did not calm the bubbling panic inside me. I felt my knees start to tremble and I probably shouldn't have attempted climbing up a slope because my legs ended up giving way, and I collapsed and slid down the hill.

I rolled over a few meters before finally losing momentum and stopping, and at that point there was just no other choice left for me but to cry. Cry because I just felt so frustrated and angry...angry at myself? Angry because I was 'lost' and couldn't find my way back to base? Angry because I didn't accomplish anything when Ian had put so much faith in me? That I could be the tipping point that could lead us to victory? I didn't even know anymore.

“Hey! Are you alright?! Hey!”

I didn't need to look up because even that was done for me. I wished I didn't recognize his voice, but it was too late now. Jay pulled me up into a sitting position, and he put his hands on my face, “Yo, can you see me? Can you talk? What happened?”

I never realized how brown Jay's eyes were. Sure it was just brown, typical east asian irises, but right now, there was something about the way Jay looked at me that made his eyes stand out much more than I was comfortable with accepting to myself. “Yo!”

“Huh, yeah...I'm alright...”

Of course if it was Jay, a round of expletives commenced, “You're bleeding!”

I didn't even get time to process that because Jay just...suddenly moved so fast that the next thing I knew, I was already on his back, and he was running as fast as he could towards, I would hope, ground zero.

It was quick trip, I didn't know Jay could run so fast, and I felt a wave of both relief and trepidation, and some embarrassment when lunch tables came into view. Everyone was there, and everyone was running towards me, and they were all going to see my fail.

I dug my fingers into Jay's shoulders, unable to physically move my lips to tell him to stop, but Jay didn't appear to even feel my digging into his skin and he just ran faster, “It hurts? Just a little more.” he said.

No- well yes, I never noticed the pain when I was crying just a while back, but now that he mentioned it, yes, it did hurt like hell, but that really wasn't the issue. I didn't want people to see me like this!

Halfway into the open grounds, Ian and the rest of my team finally saw me, and Taec, Junho, and Minji all ran with him towards me. I didn't know how to feel, except that I was really really mortified to be seen like this. I tried to hide behind Jay's head, but it wasn't nearly as big as his ego.

“Are you alright? Jay, what the hell happened?” Ian was angry. The purity of that anger scared me even more, but Jay didn't seem to be afraid.

“I just found here, I think she fell off a hill near our base, I was doing the last minute rounds before heading to lunch when I heard someone scream, then I saw her.” Jay's voice was steady, level, almost challenging Ian.

Someone pulled me off Jay's back, and I saw Seunghyun and Taec on either side of me supporting me. I looked at both of them, and a look passed between the both of them, and Taec was the first to let go. What was that even supposed to mean? Seunghyun carried me in his arms, and when I look back at Jay and Ian, both were silent.

“It's good you found her, I was getting worried.” Ian finally said, was he conceding? Jay was telling the truth though- at least about the part when he found me. I didn't know the veracity of his statement before that.

“Mr. Choe, I'll take her to the infirmary.” Seunghyun announced, but only loud enough for the group to hear.

Ian nodded, and I watched as he turned behind him to look at a contrite Seulong. I almost forgot about him. “Just be glad she's safe.” Ian told him.

Seulong nodded, his face crumpled into something that was about to cry in relief and fear. I couldn't blame him nor could I begrudge him. “I'm sorry.” and he sounded rightly apologetic so.

“Ewww. That doesn't look pretty.” Minji was not helping, but she never did and we loved her for it anyway, “can I touch it?”

I looked down at my scratched knee and the blood oozing down my leg was not pretty at all, but the pain was more of a throbbing, a regular pulsating that didn't bother me as much as I knew it should. There was no point in complaining about it, it's not like the pain would go away that way. What I did want to complain about was the way everyone was looking at me as Seunghyun carried me to the nurse's office next to the dining hall. I could feel the ice cold glares being sent my way, and I didn't want to even know who they came from. The hairs at the back of my neck were all stiff, and I just knew I was going to get into so much more drama than I would like.

Seunghyun was fast on his feet and he laid me gently on the clinic cot, quickly turning to nurse Joori for further instructions. Nurse Joori looked surprised seeing someone from 3C actually help someone at all, and she eyed him curiously and then turned her beady eyes to me, granting me the same curious stare. She smiled rather evilly, very much pleased with herself and slapped her hands to her chest.

“Omo~ such young love, like Romeo and Juliet!”

I dropped my head into my hands at nurse Joori's conclusion. I was too tired to argue, and the pain in my leg was becoming more of a demanding throbbing, and tears were ready to spring from my eyes as the the adrenaline wore off, leaving me with the after-effects of my fall.

Nurse Joori clucked her tongue at the mess I made on the white sheets, but she duly pulled out her first aid kit and opened the white box with a loud click. “Seunghyun-ah, will you help her up please, we need to wash off her wound first.”

Seunghyun draped my arm around his neck and wrapped his arm around my waist, and I limped towards the wash area where nurse Joori opened the tap to let the water flow. I toed off my shoes and socks and stuck my knee under the running water, wincing in pain at the pressure of the water on my open wound.

Once nurse Joori was satisfied that there were no more “foreign particles” she dried off the area with a fluffy towel and I was seated back onto the cot. Without the blood and the dirt on my leg, the wound presented itself as a combination of gashes and abrasions. It was actually worse than I thought.

The nurse dabbed the disinfectant on the wound, it was cool and it didn't sting, and for that I sighed in relief. I didn't think it was very becoming if I huffed in pain every time the nurse dabbed at the wound. After dressing it, and it was a long piece of gauze too, nurse Joori stood up and packed her kit.

“Well, you can stay here for a little bit,” she said, wiping her hands on her apron and looking at both Seunghyun and I. “You two can come out when you're ready.” she grinned.

The nurse hummed as she walked out, and I threw an apologetic look at my companion. “Sorry.”

He shrugged, “What happened to you anyway?”

“You can go now, I think I'll be able to walk out by myself anyway.”

“Were you with Jay the whole time?”

While I'd loved to have continued the incongruous conversation, Seunghyun was not the type to let this go easily, and I sighed. “No, he just found me. I was a little lost.”

“So Seulong was telling the truth.”

“Why would Seulong lie?”

He scoffed, “I don't know, you tell me. You're the B.”

I rolled my eyes. “And you're a C and if looks could kill I would have died by one of Dara's eyes alone.”

This time, he rolled his eyes. “Yeah right. You ready? Or do you want to stay here? 'Cause I'm hungry, not gonna lie.”

I laughed, and tried standing up, “Thanks for helping.”

“We're friends, right?”

Friends. I didn't answer him as we both walked out the infirmary and back towards the dining hall in silence. Wordlessly, Seunghyun and I took our seats on the team table, and I wished I could ignore the looks the other students were sending my way. I avoided Ian's gaze most of all, but it wasn't easy when the last remaining seat was across from him. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, Tiffany and Yoobin took the seats next to him, sandwiching him in the middle.

“What did the nurse say?” he asked.

“Uhm...just a flesh wound.” I answered.

“Seunghyun?”

“The cut's a little deep, but most were just scrapes from some twigs. Nothing serious.” Great. Now even Ian and Seunghyun have bonded. Fantastic.

The rest of the lunch period proceeded in silence, and when the bell rang to reconvene the game, I was demoted to camp guard with Wooyoung while Renn went with Seulong to scout some more. Wooyoung was mystery, and I was determined to find out more about him. Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing after all.