“Oh God what's wrong with me? Why did you do this to me?” Chunji moaned at lunch, sitting alone with Niel for a change. L. Joe had disappeared somewhere. He wasn't too sure where or why, but at the moment he really couldn't care less about the other boy's absence.

If he saw him, he would probably just yell at him or beat him up or something.

“There, there, it's not that bad. Right?” Niel tried to console him, rubbing his back lightly, feeling more than a little conflicted over the whole matter. He was here with Chunji, trying to console him about their latest assessment results, but he couldn't commit to it wholly. Normally they would complain about the person who beat them; mostly because it had always been Minyoung. But now he cared for the person that had beaten Chunji, and he was proud of the other boy's success.

“Bad? Bad? It's worse than bad. Don't you see? Everything is ruined.” Chunji complained, stubbornly. He was kind of irritated by the thought of putting up with an annoyed Chunji. At least it was better than before; he'd looked like he could have burst into tears at any moment. That was much worse. A crying Chunji was much worse than an angry one.

“Not necessarily. Nothing's decided yet. It was just one task, and you're still right at the top of the grade, so it didn't change that much.” Niel pointed out. “Oh really?” Chunji scoffed, quickly withdrawing his precious notebook and opening it up to the most recent page.

Niel's eyes scanned the other boy's messy handwriting, but all he saw were a lot of lines of numbers and working out. There were no words explaining anything to him, and yet Chunji was looking at him in that way that told him that all the proof was right before him. But proof of what? He noted two numbers, circled harshly in blue pen, both very close but different. Maybe it had something to do with that?

As the moment drew longer and longer, Chunji sighed in resignation. “These are the grade calculations they use to determine our total mark for the year. Based on the marks for the first 3 tasks, those are our grades.” he explained.

“What's this out of?” Niel questioned him. “50.” Chunji answered shortly. “Wow really? You're doing so well!” Niel cheered. Chunji rolled his eyes exasperated, “But can't you see Niel. Thanks to that last task, he's trouncing me in everything!” he complained.

“I wouldn't say trouncing is the right word.” Niel began hesitantly. “Oh really? Look at English. I was beating him by 4% and now he's beating me by 2%. that means he made up 6% between the exam and the task. 6% that's massive! And don't even get me started on music. He's 8% ahead of me in music. Therefore he's trouncing me in everything we share in common.” Chunji whined.

“Okay so he's beating you in two subjects, big deal. It's not the end of the world you know. You're still top of Science and Maths. Besides, if he managed that from one or two tasks, then so can you. We've still got more work to do for these classes, you know. You could steal it back.” Niel pointed out. Chunji sighed, “Maybe.” but they could both tell Chunji didn't believe a word of it.

Not one to dwell on matters for long, Niel couldn't help pondering “I wonder what my grades are.” “Don't. It's better if you don't know.” Chunji informed him flatly, making Niel pout as he smacked the other boy lightly on the arm, only for Chunji to hit him back twice as hard.

Clearly Chunji hadn't cheered up at all.

“Oh I've just had the best idea ever. Why don't you come round my place? I'll invite Ricky and Changjo and L. Joe and we can all hang out tonight.” Niel suggested excitedly.

“No thanks. The last thing I want right now is to hang out with L. Joe.” Chunji responded, stubbornly, but Niel would not take rejection so easily.

“Oh knock it off. You're the one that's been pestering him about his laziness towards his work, preaching at him that this is the most important year and that he needs to study. Then he goes and follows your advice, and it pays off and all you want to do is get angry at him.” Niel argued.

“He didn't have to go and beat me.” he grumbled, but his words sounded childish to his own ears. “Well you're just going to have to work harder too.” Niel retorted.

“Work harder? Are you kidding? I'm already working as hard as I possibly can. I can't work any harder than I am now, and he still beat me.” Chunji sighed.

“And you know what the reason for that is, now don't you?” Niel pushed. Chunji turned to face him, straight on, “What are you on about?” “Well, it's obvious isn't it?” Niel pressed. “You've been going so hard for so long that you're mentally fatigued. You've worn yourself out. When that happens, your brain is so tired it doesn't matter how much you push yourself.” he explained.

“That could explain it, I suppose.” Chunji agreed, reasonably. “Exactly, once again I am right. Now, the only way you're ever going to improve is if you take a night off to just chill out, relax and have some fun with your friends.” Niel stated, decisively.

Chunji bit his lip in thought, hesitating. He didn't really like the thought of hanging out in a group, even if it was with the boys he knew best in the whole school and included his two best friends. But at the same time, he needed to get back first by whatever means were necessary. At this rate, CAP would stop asking for his help: he wouldn't be smart enough now that there was someone else coming first. If Niel said this would help him fix that, then what other choice could he possibly have?

“Alright I'll come.” Chunji agreed. Niel's face lit up, shimmering with excitement, “Really? Awesome. I'll let the guys know the second we get into class. Ah this is going to be so much fun!” Niel informed him, noting the time with a frown. Chunji couldn't help but to return Niel's smile: maybe the other boy was right. It had been ages since he'd hung out with his friends.

He felt the beginnings of excitement swirling in his stomach. It felt like forever since he'd had some fun.