Chapter 12

In all your life, you’ve never considered yourself a competitive person. Maybe you’ve heard your mom mention you being competitive once or twice during your childhood, but one thing you’re sure about is your ability in sports.

To put it simply, you .

Due to this incident, you have deemed yourself to be more impulsive than you thought. You weren’t sure if this stupid impulse would lead you to make the worst decision you’ve ever made, or perhaps the best decision you’ve ever made with the chances that you might win.

However, there is no way that you’d let yourself lose to Oh Sehun.

“Alright,” the coach cleared his throat, the students hushing their voice immediately down upon hearing a single sound of his voice. “I’m going to need two team captains. Raise your hands if you want to volunteer,”

A number of students raised their hands, showing their enthusiasm. Your eyes quickly fleet over to Sehun to see if he raised his hand, unconsciously heaving a relieved sigh upon seeing his hand hanging down. Meanwhile, Do Hwi and Seung Joon weren’t anywhere at sight, and you’ve noticed that the other students were starting to catch up. You figured that they were probably sent to the school counselor, but every time somebody asked you where any of them were, all you could do was shrug and say you didn’t know—which technically isn’t a lie.

If Do Hwi was here, you can imagine him yelling at the coach to pick him. With the absence of his presence, the first team captain was easily chosen, and immediately the rest of the students who hadn’t been picked got even more excited and pumped up to be picked.

“Kim Jongin, you may come up to the front,”

Your eyes immediately widened as soon as you heard the familiar name being called. Your quickly searched for the said male, seeing him confidently walking up to the front and stood beside the coach. Out of sheer instinct, your turned your eyes to Sehun, who coincidentally did the exact same thing with you. The two of you wordlessly asked each other what’s going on, clearly showing that neither of you expected Jongin to be chosen. You didn’t even notice Jongin raising up his hand earlier.

Without sparing another moment, the two captains started picking their teammates. As expected, the first few athletic students were picked, Jongin going more for the leaner and agile students that seem suitable for dodging quick throws, while the other captain picked buff students that would seem skilled in catching and throwing the ball with ease and accuracy.

Sehun slowly made his way closer to you as the students lessened around you, and you almost instantly welcomed his presence with a bit of a glare.

“If you apologize now, I promise I’ll go easy on you,” he whispered.

You snorted at his offer. “You’re basically asking me to admit defeat straightaway,”

“You and I both already know the outcome to this,” Sehun chuckled at your defiance. “Better just admit it now,”

“We never know until we get there,” you muttered. “For all we know, we both might end up—“

“Alice Park,”

Just when you least expect it, you heard Jongin’s voice calling your name. You whipped your head up and locked eyes with Jongin out of surprise, the other male staring right back at you with expectant eyes. Glancing at the empty spot beside him, he silently asked you to come forward and join his group.

At first you were too caught off guard to immediately react, but when you heard the other team captain already calling out his next pick of student, you finally gathered yourself and stepped forward to join Jongin’s team. Even as you walked away, you could feel Sehun glaring at Jongin, who seems to be holding in his laughter as the male teased the blonde with his crescent eyes.

“Ready to win?” he whispered over to you once you stood by his side.

Before answering, you took a glimpse of the opposing team and your confidence started to waver just after seeing them, “I wish I could confidently say yes,” you murmured.

“Don’t worry,” Jongin told you coolly as he pointed at a new member, the two of you speaking with each other without having eye contact. “As long as you dodge well, we’ll win,”

“Easier said than done…” you sighed, trying hard to cover your unease with a resting face. “I’m sorry, but I might have to depend on you for this one.”

“Depend on me?” Jongin snickered a little before looking down to sneer at you, “It’s about time.”

Of course, who is Kim Jongin without his smirk? Holding in your snort, you moved a bit farther back to the group to make more room for new members. You waited until everybody got into their groups. With Jongin putting you in his team, he basically ensured that Sehun would be on the opposing team, helping you to go head to head with the idiot once and for all. You questioned whether Jongin was actually helping you or was just excited of the potential scene in which you and Sehun throw balls at each other with passion.

“Before we begin, I’d like to remind everybody that this is just a game,” the coach asserted after the two teams stood in their respective positions. “There are five basic rules to dodgeball—dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge. Remember to play safely, okay?”

“Yes, coach,” the two team captains answered along with soft voices of agreement from the other students.

“If I see anybody trying to purposely harm someone, they’d have to deal with me,” he warned without an ounce of joke in his voice, earning nods and solemn looks from the students. “Understand?”

“Understood!” all the students answered.

“Great, then let me reiterate the rule,” the coach blew his whistle to sharpen everybody’s attention. “A player is out if the ball they threw is caught by the opposing team. You’ll also be out of the game if you hit a player above their shoulders, so remember to throw accurately and avoid hitting the head at all cost. The same rule applies if you cross the center line. You may use your ball to block, but if it’s knocked out of your hands, then you’re out. Hold the ball longer than five seconds would lead to a penalty. Most importantly, be honest and take yourselves out of the court if you’ve lost. Any questions?”

Jongin glanced at his team to check if anybody’s confused, just as how the other team captain is doing. With no questions asked, the coach nodded in acknowledgement and gestured at everybody to take their places. Before making a move, you watched the others discuss with their teammates before taking their preferred spots. Seeing your confusion, Jongin approached you.

“Hey, how fast can you run?” Jongin asked once he reached you, seemingly already thinking of a strategic spot for you.

“Um…” you knit your eyebrows in attempt to gauge how fast you are. “Not bad, I guess? I didn’t do too bad at track and field,”

Jongin glanced at the opposing team in search of Sehun, seeing that the blond was standing at the corner of the court. “Okay, do you want to try the Middle position? I could switch Ji Yeon for you, she didn’t seem too enthusiastic about playing,”

“Maybe, I don’t really know, Jongin. Honestly, I don’t think I’d be any advantage to your team,” you murmured apologetically, starting to have second thoughts on your decision. “Maybe you should just put me as a backup player,”

“Why?” Jongin asked with a hint of concern. “Are you hurt anywhere, or—“

“I’m not,” you assured him before he could even finish. “I’m just… nervous,”

Jongin literally needed a solid five seconds to process the words coming out of your mouth before finally snorting, “Are you sure? You were pretty confident just a few moments ago with Sehun,” he mentioned with a smug grin.

“That was my ego speaking, not me,” you quietly admitted, almost muttering to yourself. “Also, I look like the weakest one out of our team, so I think I’d be their first target for sure,”

“We don’t know for sure,” Jongin tried to encourage you by patting your shoulder. “Don’t sell yourself short,”

“If I lose, that Oh Sehun would never let me hear the end of it…” you muttered, already imagining the worst case scenario in your mind.

“Do I smell fear?” Sehun blurted all of a sudden in a loud voice, although it was as clear as day that his words were directed at you.

Holding back your urge to yell at him to shut up, you snapped your head at his direction and glared at the blonde.

Jongin immediately laughed at your reaction. “It’s okay, Alice. I’m sure you can do this,”

“How?” you bemoaned as you turned back to him, glancing over at your opponents for a moment.

“Easy,” Jongin answered with a smug grin. “Just imagine all their faces are Sehun!”

At that exact moment, you had to seriously contemplate whether Jongin was a genius or a complete idiot. With Jongin’s wise words, the game ensues with your confidence floating in midair.

“In order to determine the velocity of the canister and study the changes in its gas pressure and volume, we have to carefully make trigger a small explosion that is derived from the combustion of ethanol. Remember to wear your safety goggles and avoid breathing in the fumes caused by the explosion. If there aren’t any questions, you may start your experiment.”

As soon as the teacher finished her instructions, the students of class 2-B quickly got themselves to work. In this particular class, we have Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo who were busy assembling and checking if they had the required materials for the experiment. Unlike the first years like Sehun and Jongin, the high school sophomores have a contrasting character when put against their juniors.

Deriving from its Greek roots, sophy moores or more commonly called sophomores, is a compound word that basically described itself as wise morons. Knowing the second year’s character trope, the description is pretty much accurate. Being in the middle ground, one could say that they have a relatively equal balance of intelligence and youthful folly.

“I can’t believe there are schools that would let minors create explosives,” Kyungsoo commented in what sounds like disbelief. “This is irresponsibly dangerous,”

“You’re talking as if this isn’t awesome,” Chanyeol said as