Before We Begin: A gratuitous high school!AU because cliches are fun.

“Can’t you just feel the school spirit in the air?”

“All I’m feeling is your arms. No more energy drinks for you.” Victoria pouted at Tora and put her arms down, surveying the tiger-headed girl rubbing at her nose with a scowl on her face. A difficult feat to pull off when a component of the scowl is currently slightly out of commission. The Chinese girl had somehow convinced her friend to attend the first basketball match of the season with her, mostly because Tora had a choice between watching basketball and talking to emergency patients to help their nerves settle.

“Sorry!” Victoria called over the cheer of the crowd as their school – Star King Academy – scored two points courtesy of Ok Taecyeon.

“If I need rhinoplasty, I know whose bank account I’m referring Gran to.” Tora grumbled, leaning back in her seat once she was sure her nose wasn’t bleeding.

“Oh come on, Tora! Where’s your school spirit?” For emphasis on her point, the Chinese girl waved a blue and yellow Star King flag in support of Huang Zitao stealing possession of the ball.

“This is my school spirit. Normally I wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this.” The tiger-headed girl folded her arms in finality, ignoring the squeal of applause for Hwang Chansung scoring a free throw, “I’m waiting for the part where it gets interesting.” The referee blew his whistle to signal half time, and the players exited the court for the half time entertainment. Tora had to cringe at the cheerleaders of Star King as they strutted onto the court in their too-short skirts and their fake smiles, flipping about the place like they were made of springs. You aren’t paid to put on a show, the tiger-headed girl growled mentally as she allowed her eyes to be torn away from the display and flick toward the player’s huddle.

Then she saw it. “Victoria, I’m going to hell.”

“What have you done now?” asked the Chinese girl in a bored tone.

“Spotted a tattoo on the shoulder of our team captain.” Victoria let her eyes travel along Tora’s own line of vision, spying the elaborate scorpion that sat on Star King’s basketball captain’s shoulder. She let her eyes return to Tora’s face, which was contorted into the same face someone who hated enclosed spaces would probably wear.

“Calm down Tora, I’m not judging you over an ink ,” Tora relaxed visibly, “but I would like to know why tattoos.”

“If done well, they can be really y.” The tiger-headed girl allowed a crimson hue to take over her face as she buried her head into her hands, “Kris invited me to this game, and I said I had an assignment to work on. If he sees me here with you he’s going to think I swing for the same team.” Victoria shifted her eyes again to the player’s huddle, where she caught the eye of the male they’d been talking about and winked at him.

“He won’t, trust me.” Tora stared in incredulity at Victoria.

“What do you mean?”

“When Kris told me you rejected him-” The Chinese girl ignored the “That’s a bit harsh,” from her friend, “-he told me to use any way I could think of to get you here.” Golden eyes narrowed at the Chinese girl, who didn’t even flinch.

“So you…”

“It was for a good cause!” The entire support of Star King erupted into cheers as Kris scored the final points of the game, giving the victory to Star King Academy. A tidal wave of cheering cascaded down the stands, its destination the five players hugging each other in the centre of the court. Most of the supporters had stood up to whoop and holler, Victoria and Tora choosing to remain seated to prevent any injury to their persons. Somewhere amongst the crowd Tora caught Kris’ eye, who offered her something that appeared more like a smirk than a smile and raised his fist in a victory fashion. A pink sprinkle decorated her cheeks, and his smirk widened before he turned to clap Chansung on the back.

“Yeah, yeah it was.” was all she said to Victoria as they both stood up to leave the court.

Author's Note: Don't worry, there are plenty more cliches out there just cowering in fear because I'll be moving onto them next. MWAHAHA!

-GuardianOfTheDawn :3

PS: I KNOW I should be working on the XiuHan wedding, but it's harder than you think to write one of those things, what with all the stuff I want to add!