"Its going through my throat now. I can feel it.", Bambam mumbled for the third time this morning before doubling over and gagging out loud, the only thing that's coming out of his mouth however was air.
He then resumed to cough continuously after sitting back upright on his seat, his face unusually pale.
"What did you eat again yesterday?", I asked him in full concern as my eyes scanned over his weak body.
He just stared at me with an impassive face before muttering another 'I don't know'.
"Dude, you sure you're gonna be fine today?", Yugyeom who was also on the table leaned over his best friend to check on him, his hands palming both of Bambam's cheeks.
Today is actually the most awaited day since the past few weeks; yes you guessed it right, the sports festival day.
I was getting ready in my room this morning when I got a call from Yugyeom telling me about Bambam's condition. I went to the cafeteria straight away to see both guys on our usual table with a somewhat gloomy aura surrounding them.
And then I found out that Bambam is getting food poisoning.
I tried forcing him to go to the nurse's office, but Bambam being Bambam, refused to do so and instead decided to just wait for the pain to go away.
So here we are, waiting for him to puke out the bad food remnants inside his stomach.
I sighed as he went into another gagging fit when I heard someone shout my name.
Looking around, I finally spotted Jisoo unnie at the cafeteria entrance as she waved her hands around for me.
"Lisa! Let's go!"
As if noticing my obvious hesitation, Bambam nudged my body away.
"Just go. I'll see you at the field.", he drawled slowly before coughing once again, earning a worried look from me.
I looked at him unsurely, "If there's anything, just call me alright?"
He just nodded before waving his hand off at me, his forehead now resting on the surface of the table.
"Its okay, I got him.", Yugyeom smiled at me as he patted Bambam's back multiple times, earning a groan from the guy.
I returned his smile before standing up to make my way towards Jisoo unnie who now has both of her hands on her waist, her face not too happy.
"So, where are we going?", I asked her as we began walking together- or basically just me following behind her.
She sent me a disapproving look over her shoulder, "You didn't read the itinerary."
Whoops.
I give her a sheepish grin as I shrugged, "Yeah, about that.... I forgot."
She just shook her head at me, "To the academy hall for the opening ceremony. And then we're gonna have a briefing session for our sports category along with other students.", she explained quickly.
"Anyways, what's with your friend just now? He doesn't look too well."
I let out a humourless chuckle at that, "Not well is an understatement. He got food poisoning."
"Wasn't he competing too today? I saw him wearing sport shoes and all.", she wondered out loud as we took a turn over a corner, me almost bumping onto someone in the process.
I muttered a quick apology to the person who flashed me an annoyed look before fastening my pace to walk beside her, "Yeah, he's joining the high jump, double tennis and also track relay race."
"In that condition?"
"Probably. He's so stubborn.", I let out an exasperated sigh.
Jisoo unnie nodded her head thoughtfully, "Men."
The bit of information about her secret history with the elites crossed my mind for a second before I shrugged it away, my eyes taking in the crowded hall in front of me.
"Come, we're sitting in the sky box.", she ushered me closer towards a black door a few steps away from us.
I looked up to see the sky box that I sat in the first time I came here with Bambam and his friends, the moment felt as though it was ages ago.
And to think that I'm on a first name basis with the elites now...
We then went past a professional looking bouncer who thank God didn't mention about any appointments as he led us inside to climb the set of stairs.
I was instantly met by the sight of Chaeyoung and Jennie who's also donning the same outfit as me, the academy's signature gold with black stripes t shirt and also a fit black tracksuit bottoms.
But instead of letting my hair down, I decided to put it up for today since I already know that I'm going to sweat a lot later.
"Over here!", Chaeyoung exclaimed loudly for us to come over as we were already making our way towards them.
I just shoot her an amused look before taking the seat in between her and Jennie unnie who's busy playing with her phone.
Earlier I learnt that only seniors get access to this place but exceptions are also given for their friends so long as it doesn't exceed the allowed quota.
These are actually one of the times that I feel so grateful for Jisoo unnie.
Around us, I noticed that a lot of other students have also settled on their respective seats, my eyes then catching Seulgi's across the room.
I flashed her a smile before waving my hand up, only to be confused by her indifference when she just looked at me coldly before turning her head away.
Huh?
I just stared at her back in confusion as I recalled back our recent encounters where she also behaved very weirdly.
Last week when she saw me at my locker, her whole body literally froze before she immediately looked down and walked off the opposite way.
Then there's also that time when she ran out of the bathroom after seeing my reflection in the mirror.
Could she possibly be avoiding me? But why?
I was about to get up and walk to her when the lights around us suddenly went off.
A figure standing at the middle of the enormous stage quickly caught my attention and I took my time scanning his appearance, my mind already having an idea of who the person might be.
Black cap, black mask, black hoodie, black shoes...
This guy never really wear anything other than black, does he?
Loud siren sounds started booming out from the large speakers that were hung high in every corner of the hall, accompanied by flashing red lights around the stage.
I craned my neck to get a better look down there where Jungkook is now starting to roll his body very subtly, both of his legs moving forward in measured steps.
Behind him, four other men in white shirts slowly appeared before they began taking their positions around him, putting him in the centre.
"The devil dancer.", a woman's voice then whispered through the stereos before the deafening alarm finally went to a stop.
Everything was quiet.
Then Believer by Imagine Dragons started playing and the entire hall went crazy.
I swear even the glass windows of the sky box rattled a little due to the excessive amount of screaming that's happening on the ground floor.
Chaeyoung let out a delightful sigh beside me, "Kim Taehyung sunbaenim is so talented.. Whoever that gets to become his girlfriend is seriously very lucky."
I almost let out a snort at that before quickly covering it up with a cough.
"Yeah, I guess.", I managed out instead of correcting her.
My eyes then wandered off to Jisoo unnie to see her watching the performance with disinterest while casually sipping her drink once in a while.
On my right, Jennie unnie shook her head, "Talented is not the way you say it. I believe that the right word is hot."
"Now unnie, where would that put your Yoongi oppa?", Chaeyoung shot back cheekily.
Huh, I wonder why that name sounds familiar...
I looked at Jennie unnie just in time to see the playful smirk on her face slip off before it was replaced with an annoyed scowl.
Chaeyoung was quick to put her hands up in surrender.
After the powerful performance by Jungkook (as much as I hate to say this, he actually did well), we were then graced by the appearance of the college's cheerleading squad who performed their new routine that involved a lot of hip thrusting and ass shaking, followed by our headmaster's super long speech before we were instructed to go to our respective sport venues for the briefing sessions.
By the time we arrived at the track, I started searching everywhere for signs of Bambam or any of his friends but couldn't find them anywhere, worry settling deep into my guts.
"Gather around!"
I couldn't even look for the owner of the voice when Jennie unnie dragged my arm towards the bleachers where a middle aged man was standing with an ugly frown marring his face.
"Its the track running team's coach.", Jennie unnie whispered to me.
I nodded at her as my eyes took in the four girls that were standing right beside him, their pretty faces all smiley and bright.
Tearing my gaze off them, I then focused my attention on the coach.
The man cleared his throat loudly, "Listen up! My name is Coach Choi and I am going to be the first person in charge for your category aside from Miss Jessi and also Mrs Kim here.", he gestured to the two women that were sitting behind him.
The one that I acknowledged as Miss Jessi waved at us with a grin before quickly looking back to the screen of her phone.
"Anyways!", Coach Choi shouted, gaining our attention back.
"I would like to believe that all of you actually made an effort of reading the rules and regulations that were written on the form, because I'm not going to repeat it here."
He opened his mouth to continue lecturing us about it when he suddenly stopped, his eyes focused on something or someone that were behind us.
"Boys.", he beamed at whoever they were.
Fucking beamed.
Honestly, it doesn't really take a genius to guess their identities.
I turned my head begrudgingly and there they were, Jimin, Jungkook, Taehyung and also another guy who I've never seen before, each with a cocky smile on their faces.
Well, except Jungkook. That guy basically has no emotion at all.
My eyes then met the said guy's for a brief moment and he just stared at me with his signature impassive face before I saw his eyes do a once over on my appearance and stopping at my mismatched socks where both of his eyebrows lifted.
Shit, I almost forgot about that. After Yugyeom's emergency call this morning, I was rushing and couldn't find the pair to the black sock that I was already wearing, so I just reached for the one that's under my bed before running off towards the cafeteria.
And the other sock just had to be the pink hello kitty one that I always wore before going to sleep.
Yeah, I'm unlucky like that.
Instead of showing him my embarrassment however, I just tipped my chin at him as if to say 'so what?' and quickly whipped my head back towards the coach without waiting to see his response.
He's probably wearing his stupid smirk at the moment.
Whatever.
"So yeah, like I said, I expect all of you to know the rules already. The race will start off with the females first and we'll have a 30 minutes break before we proceed to the male's category. All teams have to be ready by the track 10 minutes before the race begins and any team that fails to do so will be disqualified. Questions?"
Nobody said anything.
The coach clapped both of his hands, "Excellent. Now feel free to wander around before the match begins, but remember what I said, ten minutes. The estimated time for the race is at 10.15 am, but we will be making an announcement 30 minutes before that, so there should be exactly no excuses if you couldn't be here on time."
And then after sending all of us a pointed look, he squared both of his shoulders back.
"So yeah, off you go! And good luck. You're gonna need it.", he muttered the last few words, but I managed to hear it anyway.
And I also didn't miss the exchange between him and the four girls beside him, his face super determined that he already knows who's gonna win.
Well yeah, not today buddy.
***
Author's Note: I was supposed to complete this chapter two days ago but then I watched Lisa's solo dance stage during their Osaka concert and all sane thoughts flew out of the window.
Anyways, I'll try to finish the next update as soon as possible because believe it or not, it actually pains me to leave a chapter hanging lol so yeah till then, upvote and comment! 💕