Ari's P.O.V

Mr. Kim is still giving me the evil eye when the bell rings. There’s no question about it- even without a watch I’m certain that my first Daewon maths class was the longest of my life, hands down.

“Talk about a drill sergeant,” I whisper to Sujeong as we finally head to gym.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she says as she slings her backpack over her shoulder. “The Number Cruncher didn’t seem that bad to me- definitely not as bad as the stories. And at least we got to review. My maths skills went into hibernation over the summer. It’s nice of him to wake us up gently.”

Gently? Is she kidding? Mr. Kim-the-maths-menace has a gaze of steel. I don’t know what his median is, but his mode is all mean. Still, there’s no use harping on it. I decide to shake off my maths class like I shake off a bad soccer play- you just have to move one. And I’ve got something to look forward to…something that starts in exactly four and a half minutes! 

I can feel the smile spreading across my face but then I spot Nari coming out of the gym. She looks all pale and shaky, like she’s seen a ghost. My smile fades.

“Are you okay?” I ask, even though I know we don’t really have time to talk. But Nari looks awful, which makes me feel awful.

Nari shakes her head and wipes a tear on her sleeve. She’s obviously struggling to pull it together.

I put a hand on her arm. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out,” I whisper. Nari hates drawing attention to herself so I know she won’t want to get into it now- whatever it is.

She looks back at me, her brown eyes glistening and full of doubt. Then she pulls away and heads off down the hall.

With a lump in my stomach, I push the door to the locker room open. When we were little, Nari and I would always cry when the other twin did- even if we were responsible for inflicting the tears in the first place. And even though I am not tearing up, I still feel like that on the inside. When she hurts, I hurt.

“What’s up?” Sujeong asks as she pulls open her gym locker. She’s studying my face and she looks worried.

“Something’s going on with Nari,” I reply, slipping on my favourite soccer shorts. “I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t look good.” Tears on the first day of school are not a positive sign.

Once we’re changed we head out to the field. Finally, I get to hit all that freshly mowed, ready-for-play grass. We gather at the edge of the track with Mr. Kang, the new assistant football coach, and wait for him to take attendance.

“All right, have a seat if you like, but stay close. I’ve got a lot of names to call out and I want to get through them fast so we can move on to the good stuff.”

Sujeong and I exchange smiles and collapse on the sod.

“Im Suwoong.” Mr. Kang begins, calling the names one by one. When attendance is out of the way it’s time for some laps. “Three times around,” the coach instructs, “and the person who beats me gets to sit out the laps next class!” He drops his clipboard and takes off around the track with everyone racing after him. Sujeong and I finish with the front of the pack and drop onto the grass, out of breath. We’re fast, but nobody beats Mr. Kang. 

“Nice job,” he tells us as the last few runners straggle in. “Looks like everyone here will do all right on the assessment on Wednesday.” Then he rambles on about the obesity epidemic in South Korea and how the government is trying to combat it with exercise programs in the schools. “The assessment will test your strength, endurance, and agility, and the results will be averaged. Anyone who'd doesn’t score a seven out of ten will have to take a required athletics class after school.”

No problem, I think. Soccer uses all three of those things, and a lot more. Sounds like the assessment will be a piece of cake, and fun, too. Even the fitness class sounds kinda cool.

“And now for some real fun,” Mr. Kang says with a smile. “Follow me.” He leads us over to the far side of the field a little away from the soccer field and while we walk towards the course, I take a glance over. 

The boys are still out practicing soccer. I wonder how long they spend practicing. Is there going to be a game coming up? 

Subconsciously, my eyes wander around to find the certain boy with the amazing kick and I see him in the goal with a pretty determine look plastered on his face. Seems like him and his friend switched positions as the snapback guy takes a turn at shooting. I my lips as I anticipate. If he can block as good as he kicks, he’s pretty much the whole package. I swing from side to side in excitement. 

The snapback guy did a little run in before kicking and the ball swerves in the net effortlessly and I frown. That kick was weak, even an amateur can save that and somehow the guy in between the goal posts manages to let the soccer ball go in. Somehow I’m kind of disappointed but then I look over at the guy in the net and he seem to be disappointed as well.

He has his arms crossed with a frown on his face. His action reminds me of a little kid. It’s cute. I let out a little smile before going back to being disappointed. No matter how cute he is, I was expecting a bit more from him. You know, at least you should be able to catch that! It’s best to attempt to be an all-rounder in soccer.

The guy from the net manages