Coincidence | 3mix

Coincidence

Jihyo met Jeongyeon and Nayeon when she transferred schools during her first year of senior high school. Their meeting seemed almost impossible. They were all in different years and Jihyo was highly introverted. She was almost half expecting herself to graduate three years later with no friends at all when taking into account her inability to speak to anyone without stuttering and spluttering.

But Jihyo was taken by surprise during the school's routine sports event for that year. Jihyo's first at that school. She had never been a fan of sports, but of course there was a requirement for students to complete at least three track events to count the day as a participation. So, mustering up her strength and lack of fitness, Jihyo found herself trudging down the field to the marshalling area for the 100-metre sprint.

There were a lot of people from her year participating in the girl's race. Jihyo didn't like crowds very much, so she kept to the back of the group away from the swarms of fifteen-year-olds, so she didn't have to risk talking to them. The teachers and officials were organising the students into heats. There seemed to be a fair few. Maybe four full heats of eight girls before the officials reached Jihyo.

"Oh." One of the official's looked at Jihyo awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. "Looks like you're going to be in a heat on your own."

His words shot fear directly into Jihyo's heart. Alone? Running in front of that stadium... alone? Jihyo's dislike of being the centre of attention far surpassed her hate of crowds. This was the worst possible outcome.

The official turned to the marshalling table.

"This one's on her own for the last heat." There was muttering and shuffling of pages before one of the women with the papers waved him over.

What was going on now? Jihyo's legs were shaking. How was she supposed to run without falling over? What if she did fall over? In front of all those people... it would be mortifying! The rest of her time in high school would be hell! She would be known as the girl running alone who tripped over her own two feet! She wanted to cry.

"Never mind!" The man called Jihyo over to the marshalling tent where two other girls she had never seen before were standing. They looked like they were having an intense argument. "The sixteen and seventeen age groups are pulling a prank today it seems." He laughed. "There's only one from each age group competing, so you can just run with them!"

Jihyo's stomach dropped to the floor.

"Yah! As if you're faster than me!" Her eyes were immediately pulled to the two girls that must be the lone sixteen and seventeen-year-olds. Their faces were red, and both had their fists clenched as if they were about to start a fist fight right then and there.

"I am! I'm taller! I have longer legs than you! It's only logical!" The girl with hair that was cut just below her jaw yelled, her voice almost breaking.

"Being tall is not related to being fast!" The other girl cried. Her hair was tied in lop sided pig tails. Jihyo wasn't sure if that hairstyle was serious or not. "I'll trip you over before you can even get up to speed. BET."

"I'll just pull your ugly hair and yank you back behind me. BET you BITCH."

The girl with the pigtails gasped dramatically.

"How dare you call me that YOO JEONGYEON! I'LL KILL YOU."

"Enough!" The official cried. He looked half mad, half like he was about to die holding in a laugh. Jihyo was just confused. "You guys are up. Use the three end lanes please. One, two and three."

The three girls made their way to the track. There was a roar of outrage from the crowd as the race was announced.

"This is a special heat with three girls of three different ages thanks to the sixteen and seventeen age groups. Congratulations! You get to clean up the whole school while everyone else goes home!"