Announcements: Sorry for taking so long to update! I've been getting really busy lately, but I was finally able to come around and finish up the next installment~~ Lol hope you all love it and thanks for your support!

 

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Today would mark the beginning of my second week of school. For the most part, it was an up-and-down week. The most climactic point being my first kiss, everything else seemed like irrelevant falling action. By the weekend, all our classes were finished reviewing, and we were finally getting to the interesting, new information. Unlike most students in this day and age, I actually had a strong desire to learn new things. So, for me, this would be the real start to the school year and an exciting one at that.

I couldn’t say it was just because I was going to learn something new either. Something I would never admit was that I was starting to sincerely enjoy helping Jin-young with his campaign. Ever since that kiss, he had been considerably warmer toward me. I could often catch him staring when we were drawing up posters or when we were in class. His smile was something I came to look forward to everyday. Our eyes often sought after each other.

Not only that but whenever we were alone together, our lips would too. Whether making posters, talking about plans for the year, discussing policy changes, or simply making our way to lunch - it didn’t matter to him what we were doing before because he only wanted to kiss me again and again. I won’t say I didn’t like it; in fact, it gave me some satisfaction knowing that I was such a kissable person. I never knew I was so good at it. However, it was a bit of an annoyance the way he would interrupt important things we needed to go over just to lean in and plant one on me. I wouldn’t tell him that though. I wanted to kiss him as much as he wanted to kiss me.

I think this is what love is.

That morning I looked in the mirror seriously fighting with myself on what to do with my hair. I wanted to look my absolute best for Jin-young so I tried tying and tossing me hair a bunch of different ways, but after a half an hour of struggling, I gave up. When I thought about it, I realized it was so unlike me to be this caught up in trying to look “pretty” and for a boy even. It was frustrating. I had somehow managed to annoy myself.

Once I was ready and had my hair tied into its usual ponytail, I left home with a bit more pep in my step than days before. The one thing that stayed the same was the morning trek to school with Jimin. It wouldn’t have been as bad if he knew how to keep his mouth shut, but even when I failed to respond to him, he would go on about a new song he had heard and start right on singing it. At least, he didn’t sound like a dying cat like most other so-called “singers.”  I guess another thing I came to expect was the quality entertainment this boy would provide me with every morning. Either way, I would still rather him keep quiet just once so I could have a quiet walk to school.

When we arrived to the classroom, I was slightly surprised to see Mr. Cho waiting there for us. Upon noticing us walk in, he explained that his reason for being there so early was so that he could shuffle the seating arrangement a little more. The few of my classmates that were there seemed eager to find out whom they were sitting beside, but I’m not too big of a fan of change. On the other hand, I looked forward to sitting next to someone less excitable than Jimin.

To my disdain, I found myself sitting behind the one I hoped to avoid once class had started. As expected, he was more than happy to not be separated from me. “I’m not sure what I would do if I didn’t get to talk to you every day,” he said. I wasn’t moved.

In the end, things weren’t that different than before besides my new vantage point. Today seemed to be a curiously sunny day. I was tempted to open the window I sat next to so I could better enjoy it all, but instead a sweet yet distinguished voiced beckoned to me from behind.

“Hey,” the girl behind me whispered. It was unexpected considering not even Jimin had the never to speak up during our math lecture, but still I turned to face her with an expression I figured wasn’t very warm or welcoming.

I recognized her from last week, Amber identified her and her friends by the magenta bow; she was one of those APink girls. Her smile was charming, but I couldn’t help feeling annoyed that she interrupted class just to say, “Hey.”

“You’re that girl Lee Hyojin, right?” she replied inquisitively. I glanced back to see if Mr. Cho had noticed us talking during class then nodded to her as to avoid being caught not paying attention to him. “Wow, you’re a lot prettier than I thought you’d be!”

Not completely sure if that was a compliment or not, I felt my face sour into an unpleasant grimace before managing to answer her again, “Thanks.” I turned around not wanting to continue the conversation before my mind began to wonder. “What’s your name again?” I whispered over my shoulder.

“Yoon Bomi,” she replied. I would be sure to remember to avoid her as much as possible outside of class. One thing was for certain, she certainly wasn’t my cup of tea. Still though, I couldn’t figure out what her sudden interest me was. That is, until she spoke up once again saying,

“Aren’t you that girl that tried to commit suicide?”

Utterly bewildered by the assumption, I found myself once again turning back to her and making a nasty face. In return, she gave me a genuinely curious expression and a deep contemplative gaze reflecting my perplexed face in her bright eyes. In any case, all I could manage to respond to that with was a whisper with a heightened tone. “What?”

“I hope this isn’t too much of a personally question,” but..? “Why do you want to kill yourself?”

Still taken aback that this seemed to be a generally hot topic around campus, I once again could only give her a one-word answer. “What?”

“You tried to commit suicide?” she echoed only causing the sudden throbbing in my head to shake throughout my whole body in a raging chill. “Everyone’s talking about it. I just want to know why. Whatever you’re going through I’m sure it can’t be that bad! You’re still here so you obviously have a purpose. Whatever you’re going through, you can work through it and come out on the top! The high will be worth this low I promise!”

While Bomi continued on with her inspirational words of encouragement and empty cliché phrases, I still wondered what and how this rumor got started. The question of real concern was who started it, and what’s more why they started it. It was no wonder Hyo-Sonn hated high school so much; it was only the second week and there’s already been so much drama. I didn’t intend to let such petty things discourage me though. I was going to get to the bottom of this and snip this grape vine at its roots.

“Hyojin?” Bomi beckoned. “Are you listening?”

I obviously wasn’t, but she was too oblivious to tell apparently. My hope was to hold myself back from taking out my newly found aggressions on her, but I had to go ahead and set the record straight even if it was just with her. “I’m not suicidal and never have been. I didn’t, have never, nor will I ever try to kill myself, and anyone who says different is a nothing but a liar.” Speaking of which, “Who told you about this, anyways?”

The girl seemed a bit shocked by my strong response, but after a moment to think over my questioned responded, “Eunji heard it from Choa, but like I said, everyone’s talking about it so I don’t know who said something first.” I didn’t expect it to be that easy, but I had a lead so she was no longer useful.

I turned around, but not quick enough to miss her sympathetic, “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” I whispered. But I was going to find out whose fault it was.

As soon as classes ended, the lunch bell rang as per usual thusly giving me the freedom and burst of motivation to bolt out the room and start with my investigations. With Amber’s help, I found the Choa girl Bomi had mentioned and asked her about the rumor. She told me she only knew as much as what was told to her, and of course, after I asked who it was that told her, my investigation turned into just a little more than a wild goose chase. My circling campus made me realize that playing the good ol’ game of he said she said was going to get me nowhere.

Without a doubt, I can’t say anyone else would be as wound up as I was then. I trudged back to the classroom in a fit of silent rage making sure not to scowl too much on the way. It seemed just about right that Jimin would cross my path right about that time. Who else would put me over the edge?

“Hey! Hey!” he said upon seeing me from down the way. That annoying catchphrase was to be expected when he wanted to start a conversation, but even then I’d never be able to get used to hearing it. When we were face-to-face he smiled wide and pretty and continued, “You sprinted out of class so quick you forgot your lunch.”

Extending the box of food to me, he gazed straight into my eyes. It was strange really. Under normal circumstances, his smile would annoy me too, but that day was different. For a moment, my anger burned just a bit dimmer than before, and while taking it back into my possession, I could sincerely say, “Thank you.”

However, whatever moment that was we were sharing would never last with Jimin being the way he was. Though we see each other all the time and he talked my ear off every morning, the boy still had the nerve to ask, “You think we could eat lunch together today?” He explained further that his reasoning was that he hated to be alone and without someone to talk to, and while I was grateful for his giving me my lunch, I didn’t see how his loneliness was any problem of mine.

I had to deal with loneliness for all the years I had been alive. It wouldn’t be all that bad if someone else felt the same way once in a while. Even then, standing there with him in that empty hallway, it was the same as if I was standing by myself. How long have I been alone?

As for Jimin, by the way he acted, it seemed he had never been alone a day in his life. He was so eager to cling to me or anyone with a pulse, it was no wonder he didn’t have any friends. Still, he ever-anticipated my response to his invitation to lunch, and it was only upon seeing Jin-young down the hall behind him that I realized just how much I didn’t want to accept it.

Lucky for me, Jin-young was coming to my rescue. “Hyojin,” he called out catching Jimin’s attention. “Were you planning on doing anything for lunch today?”

My mouth moved all too slow for Jimin. “Actually,” he replied in my stead. “She’s having lunch with me.” Wrapping his arm around my body, he pulled me in close as he smiled in that goofy way he did. It took everything I had not to gut him good.

“Oh,” Jin-young commented obviously taken aback by the situation. “Well, Hyojin I need you so we can work on my campaign strategy. Do think you’d be able to rain check on your little lunch date?”

His choice of words – “date” – irked me, but I tried my best to maintain composure. “Gladly,” I responded brushing away Jimin’s hold on me.

He was a bit shocked; I could see his face out the corner of my eye. The puppy-like look he masked his face with didn’t make me sympathize with him in the slightest. In fact, I might even say it was fuel to the flame.

“And so we’re clear,” I continued. “It was not a date.”

I walked ahead of Jin-young not daring to look back as I was sure Jimin’s pitiful face would rend asunder what little bit of patience I had left with him and the sordid day this turned to be.

Once far from the eyes of anyone else, I felt comfortable enough to alleviate the sudden whale’s worth of stress that had been forced on me so early in the day. I ranted to Jin-young about all the troubles burdening me so, and he offered me a word of advice here and there with a somewhat comforting statement every once and a while. I didn’t exactly need him to comfort me – just having someone listen to me was enough.

After steam from my ears stopped screeching and my fuming was finished, I had realized Jin-young had taken the lead in whatever trip we were taking. He said he wanted to talk about his campaign, but at this point, my mind had drifted to all the previous times he had said something similar.

For instance, I recalled the time we were drawing some of his posters. I was scribbling some of his “catchy slogans”, and he was on about how concerned he was about how the student body viewed him and whether or not he was fit for the job. He was annoying me so I told, “You look perfect and everyone loves you; you’ll be fine.”

I meant nothing by the statement except exactly what I said, but I could surmise from his sudden silence that it had put his mind at ease. Speechless after speechless moment had passed before I became concerned perhaps that I has misspoken. However, when I looked up, I found an unwavering fixation his eyes had set upon me in some sort of astonishment. This was the calmest I had ever seen Jin-young, and the quietest I had ever heard him.

Knocked for six, I dared to break the silence. “What?” I questioned him. “Did I say something wrong?” His gaze still stuck on me, Jin-young failed to respond in a timely manner only making me shudder.

Slowly I could feel the dumbfounded expression I had on my face change to one of discontent, but before I could speak up about it, Jin-young took his chance. “I don’t get you,” he said.

I wasn’t amused in the slightest by his answer. “Well, I’m not exactly the most complicated person,” I replied somewhat crossly turning my attention back to the posters. “So, ‘I don’t get’ what you there is not to understand about me.” While I was by no means an open book, I didn’t exactly try to keep people from reading me. I wasn’t someone to hide my feelings.

“Well, when you go around acting like you hate everything and everyone then suddenly say things like that you can’t really expect people to think otherwise, can you?” I was a bit irritated by his answer so I tried to ignore him. Besides, it was obvious he had misunderstood the purpose of my saying that. “And you act like you’d rather be alone and separate from everyone else,” (only because I would), “but you’re such a beautiful girl and so smart, I can’t believe it.”

Almost springing my neck up to look back to him, I was a bit stunned at those words. He thought I was beautiful? I couldn’t believe that. My heart palpitating in my chest, it was taking everything I had not to fall for the obvious tricks and ploys used by all the so-called perfect, teenaged boys. “You’re just saying that!” I said in attempt to give him the brush.

“No!” Jin-young exclaimed as he rose slamming his hands on the small, round table that separated us. A moment later, I would give in and look into his eyes as he stared into mine so earnestly. “I’m not.”

Stupefied. I never imagined someone would feel that way about me, let alone confess as much to my face. It felt like a dream that just kept getting better. Just then, as we continued to gaze into each other’s eyes, Jin-young began leaning over that round table. He placed his band gently over both of mine as they continued fidgeting with the marker we used for the posters. All of a sudden, I became very aware of myself and my very sweaty palms. Aside from my extremely unsteady breathing and my still racing heart, there was only thing I could make note of.

Those eyes – I had never given them much thought before then, but as I continued to stare into them, I saw a flicker of bronze that I had never seen in anyone else’s eyes before. They were near perfect. Nitpicking away as time ticked and tampered off so quickly, the only thing that separated them from perfection was one single eyelash that wasn’t in line with the rest.

My observations all made, the moment came when my lips locked with his for the second time. The warmth of the afternoon sunshine that came in from the window glowed against my cheek as I scraped the bottom of my shoes against the floor; the kiss was that good. My feet lifted from the ground and my heels touched the of the seat. I closed my eyes gradually losing myself in the kiss.

His tongue tasted of fruit punch. I hate fruit punch. I couldn’t stand the way he tilted his head to kiss me from a different angle either. His nose had swept across my face in the process, and the feeling was one of the most off-putting things. Yet I didn’t mind as long as his lips were on mine.

As his hand rose to hold my face, the sound of door knob rattling ruined what was a perfectly good moment. We both stopped what we were doing on a dime turning to the door like two deer caught in a headlight only to find that no one was there. Such was a common happening for the second floor classrooms. Whenever a door at any distance of the hall was opened or closed, they all rattled just a tad. It was annoying for sure and a distraction during class. I wondered what a high-end school like this was doing with its money if not fixing something so trivial.

 I could feel my face flushing; about that time was when I once again became very aware of myself and that moment. Rising as quickly as I could, I refused to look into those eyes again. That’s what kept trapping me at the ankle. I took my leave giving no regard to the pleas coming from behind that insisted I shouldn’t.

My heart was so fussy. I couldn’t believe I fell for it again. The simple-minded tricks of a boy. I admittedly enjoyed it, but what was I doing? I couldn’t let some boy distract me from what was important, and I definitely couldn’t let him play with me heart. That’s what I thought at least.

Yet time and time again after that, we sought after each other, and our lips wanted to meet. Whenever we were alone, he would make his move. Left behind in the classroom, behind a column in the hall, just before parting for the day – if it were just the two of us, I could count on the fact that he would try something. At first, I thought myself grotesque for allowing things to escalate so far, to allow myself to become like the degenerates I despised. Yet now, I wouldn’t have things any other way.

By now, I had realized after waking from my day dreams that he was leading me to the roof of the school. Perhaps, he was hoping this would be like one of the getaways you catch happening in those anime. Having calmed down enough to try my hand at playfulness, I asked, “Is this your idea of a lunch date?”

He looked back at me grinned in that cute way he did. I love his smile. “Maybe,” he replied as he unlocked the door to the staircase leading to the building’s highest point. Looking over both shoulders to assure there were no witnesses, he tugged me along by the hand as we climbed the summit.

“Is that your attempt at being mysterious?” I inquired trying once more at a lively tone though I could admit that I was sounding more like one of the annoying trollops you see on TV than I’d have preferred.

What annoyed me even more after that was the way Jin-young tugged me as we cut around the corner. I nearly fell to my knees as we finally found the door to our destination. If he hadn’t have help me back up, I might have cursed him good right there. “Just shut up already,” he said still trying to be cool.

Normally, something like that would set me off, but staring into what were I dare to say the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen, I just couldn’t get angry with him. His faced twisted to a y smirk as the two of us leaned in. As expected, this was the reason he wanted me alone, and I was happy to have him all to myself too.

Just like all the times before, he kissed me passionately, and this time I returned the favor pressing mine hard against him. Jin-young took my cheeks in his soft hands and presses his lips even more to mine. My arms betraying me, wrap themselves around his neck and kissed him back. Taking breaths in between every smack of our lips, I pushed him further and further back with my body while my hands adventured around his fit body. With him pinned against the door, I suddenly felt some sense of victory as my heart raced, and he latched onto me rubbing his those hands up and all the way down my back.

Of all our kisses, this one had escalated the quickest. While I was more than happy to be sharing our love like this, in the back of my mind, there was some concern that maybe things were moving too fast. However, I disregarded it. There was no room for thoughts like that if I was going to continue enjoying this.

Jin-young snuck his hand around to the knob of the door and opened it without having turned around. “Impressive,” I had to admit as we backed into the open. Yet again there was a distant foreboding, a feeling that something was wrong. Something smelled awry in how easily he had done it. He must have had experience.

But, there would be no dwelling on that thought. “Hey!”, “Whoa, whoa!”, “Hey!” These were the types of sudden exclamations I heard as we stepped out further on the roof’s floor. It took me completely by surprise as I had assumed that it would be only Jin-young and me up here.

We both turned to face the owners of those voices rather abruptly. I guess he was just as afraid of getting in trouble as I was. (So much for all those attempts at being cool.) Staring back at us was a couple just like us sitting on the edge of the roof. The girl had a rounded face and small eyes, and the boy wore wide brimmed glasses while holding a ukulele in his hands. The two were cute but at the same time rather strange-looking especially for a couple.

“Who are you?” Jin-young questioned quickly.

“Us?” the boy questioned eagerly. I was disinclined to anticipate his continued response with a tone as bright as that one, but that wouldn’t stop him. “We’re the rising stars of the east, Akdong Musician!” A rising star? I had never heard of them… “I’m Chanhyuk, and this is my sister Soohyun!”

Soohyun smiled and gave a single wave while saying a simple, “Hi!” I like her more already and we had barely known each other two minutes.

“Now, who are you?” Chanhyuk investigated.

I looked to Jin-young wondering what he planned to do. Then I realized that for the first time I had went gone for answers outside of myself. How strange, and over something as unimportant as introducing myself. I should just tell them my name, right? Was I losing the ability to think for myself? Who was I becoming because of this boy?

“You can call me Jr.,” Jin-young spoke up. His tone was so confident if I didn’t know better I wouldn’t be able to tell that just moments ago he was just as scared as I was of getting caught.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Chanhyuk said shooing him away with the back of his hand. “I was talking to this pretty lady here.” He kneeled right in front of me with his ukulele and lifted his eyebrows suggestively.

Creepy. “Hyojin,” I reluctantly replied in disgust.

“What a beautiful name,” he purred nervously. As my distaste for the little booger grew, my repulsing urge to gag did as well. Meanwhile, readying his uke, Chanhyuk smiled brightly asking, “Want to hear a song?”

Doubtful. “No,” what a simple response, but it got the point across.

Or so I thought. “Yo! Yo! Hey Hyo!” he called out before suddenly strumming away at his ukulele. Despite my earlier refusing to hear his song, Chanhyuk went on with some amorous, marginally charming ballad about how the beauty of my name went perfectly with the beauty of my face. Again. Creepy.

Before I could cringe out of consciousness, Soohyun came in to stop him, “I’m so sorry,” she said pulling him back to his feet. “My brother can be quite a handful.”

So they were siblings. That would explain why he was able to so blatantly flirt with me right in front of her. “I think I’m the one that should be sorry,” I replied just barely speaking above a whisper. “Sorry you have to deal with him that is.”

Soohyun chuckled as she continued to pull him away from me. I suppose she didn’t realize I was being serious. Then would’ve been a good time to tell her as much, but right when I was going to Jin-young spoke up interrupting my train of thought. “Y’know, in all the rushing we were doing, I think I forgot my lunch.” It was obvious that he purposely neglected to bring it for this little rendezvous he was planning, but I kept myself from pointing out how bad of a liar he was. “You wait here! I’ll go back and get it!”

“Wait here?” I questioned him. “Why don’t I just come with you?”

“Nonsense!” Jin-young exclaimed. “We wouldn’t want to miss out on this amazing view!” So, he continued to lie. At this point, I could deduce that he was doing what the youth nowadays call a ‘prank’ by leaving me here with them. I didn’t plan on falling for it, but…

“Yeah,” Chanhyuk wrapped his arm around me trapping me there with them as he continued, “What are you so worried about, anyway? I’ll be here to keep you company!” I turned to him to find him smiling at me adorable with a button nose like what they describe in children’s books. I could admit that he was cute, but that didn’t change the fact that he was creepy.

With that, Jin-young scampered away and back down the stairs leaving me with these two by myself. As expected, Chanhyuk was eager to learn all about me and my interests not that much interests me at all. For the most part, I spent lunch talking about myself all the things I liked (not that I like many things at all), all the things I disliked, and the siblings would respond with this retort or that. I ended up talking so much that my lunch had once again gone to waste. Maybe I had taken a few bites of my rice? I didn’t eat much at all, but I wasn’t hungry anyways so I guess it’s better that I didn’t.

In all of our life discussions, I found that actually didn’t hate either of these two very much. In fact, I dare to say that I liked them, and they liked me. The thought of that made me smile. I kicked my feet around childishly with excitement. I could make friends on my own. Who knew?

“You definitely don’t seem like the suicidal type,” Soohyun commented randomly in the quietest span of our conversation.

Said comment struck me, and my high was shot back down. I cut a glare at her as I went on with the discontinued rant I started with Jin-young, “I’m not suicidal! What a completely ridiculously notion! I mean, how did someone come to such a conclusion? The better question would be who actually! Who’s going around saying this crap!”

Upon my asking, Chanhyuk proceeded to strum at his ukulele furiously. Apparently, he was going to answer my question in song. “My beautiful cherry blossom!” he exclaimed almost melodically. “I hate to tell you, but it somehow seems you’ve made an enemy.”

An enemy? Seems about right, at least according to the laws of physics. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I should’ve known I couldn’t go around being buddy-buddy with everyone and not expect something like this to come about. Yet something still puzzled me. As I stood up, I asked them. “What could I possibly done to have made anyone my enemy?”

Just as unexpectedly as her brother had, Soohyun joined in the singing as she whimsically replied, “Maybe enemy is the wrong to use in this context. Either way, I think you should know the culprit behind this mystery is Jessica and those cheerleaders who call themselves Soshi!”

The harmonious rhymes fleeing from their mouth were nothing to me. In fact, the only purpose it served for them to inform me in such a pleasant-sounding way was to be the incendiary catalyst necessary to once again set fire to the embers of the inferno that was my previous rage.

I scowled at them then in attempt to keep from exploding I turned away I took my lunch with me. “That’s not a happy face!” Chanhyuk remarked as I stormed away.

I didn’t answer him, but I’m sure he understood as well as I did that I could never be truly happy.

My face crumpled into what I was sure would be a permanent pout. The school bell range just above me as I made it back down from the roof floor. Even in class, I couldn’t focus on anything, but that . Her actions didn’t sit well with me. In fact, I would go as far as to say, they didn’t sit with me at all.

She sat on the opposite side of the room giggling with one of the other cheerleaders, chortling in the wake of her own dom. I couldn’t keep myself from constantly cutting glares at her, and once, she even caught me mid-grimace. We stared each other down from across the classroom then after a moment or two she tipped her head at me mockingly then smirked as she turned back around. I absolutely abhorred that stuck-up smile. I didn’t know how or when, but I knew I was going to get her back.

When our history class was over, it was time for P.E.. It would be the first time we had that class, and I wasn’t exactly anticipating it. Honestly, I felt as though P.E. was just another way for some dirty-minded lechers to get their kicks watching teenaged girls in uniform and running and hopping around for the sake of “physical education.”

In any case, unlike the other girls in the locker, I wasted no time chatting up my peers and was first to change and go out to the playing fields where I met Coach Janavich. He was from the U.S. which explained how abnormally chatty he was. I took no interest in his love for soccer or his life’s story and how he now found himself in South Korea, but he was more than willing to tell me about it regardless.

Before I got any more frustrated than I already was for obvious reasons, the rest of the class slowly filed out in a somewhat timely manner. My eyes met Jin-young from across the way, and that Bomi girl daringly waved at me as she walked with one of her other APink friends. Soohyun and Chanhyuk were there, too. My heart was still full of rage.

It was only when Jessica finally decided to make her appearance that I could truly feel how angry with her I was. I glared at her as hard as I could hoping that the 0.0000000000000675% chance that all my staring would strike her with a curse and kill her. Needless to say, my efforts were in vain. Jimin’s attempts to calm me down weren’t helping at all either.

I had to isolate myself from everyone else to keep from bursting at the seams with all the emotion I was trying to hold inside, but that strategy wouldn’t last long. Our instructor, Hwang Yoo Na, wanted that we all rotate through exercise stations so she could “feel out how physically fit the class was.” I was spotting people while they lifted weights, helping them stretch, and waiting to tag out for a trampoline relay of sorts. By the end of the class, I was worn out, worse for wear, tired. I’m not exactly the athletic type so even simple tasks like this were beyond me. Still, in my panting for breath, I thought it strange that I was so out of shape. I had never gotten so winded before.

All that changed the instant Coach asked me to run laps with that girl, the Ice Princess. There were other girls that planned to run with us too of course, but I only cared about Jessica. If I couldn’t beat her into a bloody pulp then I was going to beat her at this race. She was going to eat my dust.

When I approached the running lane next to her, I had but one question on my mind. “Why did you do this?” I growled just under my breath moments after coming into earshot.

She let out a sleek, smug sneer that dripped through the tunnel of my ears like a drop of molasses – in lame men’s terms, in the most unpleasant way possible. Her response, “Because I thought it would be fun.” She got in position so she could launch herself into a proper sprint. If only looks could kill.

I had made up my mind at this point. I was going to beat her, and not just in this race – I was going to beat her at her own game. Coach gave us a warning that she was going to blow the whistle for us to go in moments. She gave a secondary countdown as further precursor to the inevitable. My mind was sharpened. When the whistle had finally let out its loud shriek, I was ready.

Jessica and I along with the other girls ran at top speed. There was no way I would be able to keep up with them I thought at first as they left me behind completely, but then that smirk crept over Jessica’s shoulder as she glanced back at me. I couldn’t care about how tired I was just then. I gave everything I have to catch up. I can’t recall my body aching anywhere near as much as it did in those moments, but I ignored the pain.

The prissy was surprised when I was shoulder to shoulder with her. I could see her shoulder face out the corner of my eyes, but I didn’t dare turn to face her and enjoy it as much as possible. My focus was on the finish which at that point was only meters away. I let out an extended yelp as I pushed hard as I could to pass her completely, and with the lap over and done with, I felt accomplished. My pounding heart was the only thing I could feel in my body along with the sweat that dripped from my brow.

A hand patted me lightly on the shoulders, but I couldn’t bring my neck up to look them in the eye. I recognized the dork’s voice. “Wow! Wow!” It was Jimin. “I didn’t know you were so fast!” Just go away… “That was amazing! You’re amazing!” Just shut up…

“I’ll say so,” Coach nodded in the background. “I think you have a future in track, huh?”

Stupid. Just stupid. I would never let myself be caught dead on a track team especially if I had to do stuff like that every day. I couldn’t take it. My chest hurt. I was out of breath and… I felt somewhat dizzy. I don’t remember what happened after that. My body made a loud thud when I hit the ground, and then I just out.