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By the time you arrived at the gym, you knew the wolves had finished their performance and they were getting ready for the curtain call with all the other performers. You could still hear their music booming from a mile away as you ran from the large performance hall towards the gym. As you passed by the locker hall doors opening to the large gym, you saw families coming in little by little, filling up the bleachers at the front with excitement.

Your heart thudded in your chest and you curled your hand into a little fist and hit your chest lightly. Stay  calm...stay calm..

However, you could not force your heart to return to it's normal pace. How had the wolves performed without a slight hitch to an audience greater than their school population? It was impossible, for you, at least. Now you had more doubt about your abilities. Were you really going to make the first round?

"It's almost time for the competition to start! Racers and hurdlers, please meet by the bleachers! You all are up first! Everyone else, please seat up by the benches!"

You froze for a minute, feeling the reality sink in. You never prepared yourself for this. Rather, you'd prepare yourself to jump over that bar. But to do it in front of more than a thousand people? It was nerve-wracking and pressuring.

As if sensing your anxiety, the wolves had popped up in the locker room's hallway and smiled at you. Your heart slowed down slightly as their mere presence calmed you, but you were still shaky and light-headed.

"Don't be so nervous, Ahra." Suho smiled and ruffled your hair affectionately. "You'll do great."

"Y-yeah.." You responded uneasily and rubbed the goosebumps away. You pinned your hair up into a ponytail and slipped on your mint green high-jump jacket. It had your name and competitor number on your back and the school's logo on the front. Reality really was catching up to you.

"Come on, you chicken." Chanyeol poked your side and you jumped up from the ticklish feeling. You frowned up at him and he tweaked your nose. "Be more confident in yourself, would you?"

His words had no effect on you as your eyes continued to flicker from their faces to the increasingly full bleachers outside. The wolves exchanged glances, before nudging Baekhyun. He yelped when Chanyeol's sharp elbow dug into his side and responded to him by kicking him in the leg. Chanyeol hissed and pouted.

Baekhyun gently gripped your wrist and pulled you into his chest and smoothed down your hair to try to calm you. Plan failed. Your heart beat even faster as his minty scent filled your nostrils and his soft lips pressed down on your forehead.

"Have hope in yourself, alright?" Baekhyun muttered in your ear. "And remember, we're behind you. Just think that you're only performing for us."

With his final words, he pulled away and Kai sent you a challenging smirk when you still remained pale.

"How about this?" He chuckled and leaned forward to eye level with you. You blinked at him and his eyebrow raised. "If you go up there with no regrets, we'll go out tonight and celebrate. If you don'tt...you're going to have to move out the house and stay at yours till our winter break is over."

You froze in place at his deal. The wolves, in turn, also did too. They glared at the back of the dancer's head, who was still smirking and acting like what he said wasn't such a big thing. Force you to move out? Was he crazy or something?

Though, he turned out to make a good choice when you nodded after a few seconds of contemplating and shook on it, pressing the of your thumb against his. You pulled back, but his large, warm hand clasped tightly around yours and he ran a thumb against the back of your hand. You locked eyes with him to see, that behind his look of daring confidence, he was still worried about you. Worried, you have no idea about.

Though, before you could ask, the whistle sounded and all the coaches called the competitors over. The racers, hurdlers, and relay racers were to pile up by the starting line. The rest were going to be on the benches until further notice.

You shakily zipped up your jacket and waved at the wolves. They gave you encouraging smiles and nods, while D.O. twisted your hair into a bun and pinned it with another hairband. Before they left to try to get some good seats, he pecked your cheek and ran after the wolves. You rubbed at the warm spot and smiled to yourself at his waddling figure. Kyungsoo...kyeopta.

You jogged over to the bench and seated yourself besides a girl you didn't know, but had the same colored clothes as you. You took in a few deep breaths, then turned your attention on the coaches, who were introducing the sports part of the Festival to the guests.

This is going to be a loong day..

Soon, the hurdlers and racers were on the benches too, and the relay racers were getting ready for their fourth and final racer to grab the baton. As soon as the first person came near the finish line, an uproar of noise sounded around the room and scholars started to chant the person's name. And that person was none other than Lee Han Bi. She passed through the white roll of cloth and her teammates engulfed her and cheered. Other racers slowed down as they too passed the finish line and their teammates gave them comforting pats on the back.

You let a small smile slip onto your lips as you clapped with the rest of the people in the stadium. No matter how much Han Bi had bullied you and humiliated you, you could never hate her. She was your cousin, still a family member, and you could never hate her in any way, no matter how much you wished to do just that. So you chanted her name, until the coaches came out and started to give out the medals.

Han Bi was glowing, as she stood on the block that stated '1st place'. She was smiling and waving at the people who called her name from the bleachers and you were happy for her. Truly, sincerely and positively happy for her.

Alas, that happiness faded away when the coaches called for the high-jumpers to come on up, and the staff members started to set up the mattresses and poles.

You were one of the last ones to stand up and head for Coach Kang, who asked for the competitors that were all dressed in mint-green to circle around him. You clenched and unclenched your fist as you stood at the back and heard the deafening chatter around you.

"Alright. The first competitors will be going by names...." You blocked out Coach Kang's gruff voice and stared blankly at nowhere. You distantly heard your name and the term '4th' and connected the dots. At least you weren't first...but you weren't last either so it had both the upsides and downsides to it. Though you didn't experience the super nervousness of being the first one to perform, you weren't going to be the last one to perfor