"Jieun! Jieun! Come take a look at this!" Yoojung called Jieun excitedly, pointing at a poster on the school noticeboard as the clique was making their way back to the classroom after lunch. "You'll wanna see this!"
Jieun, Jimin and Taehyung walked over and Taehyung read the poster's contents out loud, "'In view of recent events, it has come to the attention of the school directors' board that bullying has been taking place. This is a reminder to all students that bullying of any form, regardless whether verbal, physical, mental, etc. to state a few, is an offence. Take note that such actions will not be tolerated and immediate disciplinary actions will be taken on offenders. Thank you.'"
Jieun beamed at her friends. "This is all thanks to you, guys."
"No, we should thank Mr Kim!" Yoojung's eyes twinkled. "He must have raised it up to the board of directors..."
Their moods were immediately boosted for the rest of the day after seeing the poster on the noticeboard. They skipped back to class happily.
"Jungkook, your food is-" Jieun walked into the classroom with the food they had taken out for Jungkook, but stopped halfway when she saw someone sitting at her seat, talking to Jungkook.
As she walker closer, she realised it was Lisa - the dancer in her class whom she wasn't very close to, but had done the art project together with a month ago.
This wasn't the first time she saw Lisa sitting at her seat. Ever since the end of the art project, Jieun sensed Lisa's sudden interest in Jungkook. Jungkook didn't pay much attention to her, but Jieun felt bothered somehow.
What made things worse was that Lisa didn't seem to like her at all. She would always look for Jungkook during lunchtime when her seat was free, and that made Jieun really, really annoyed.
Lisa looked up, sensing at Jieun had returned. She stood up. "I hope you like it," she said with a smile to Jungkook, patting him lightly on the hand, which made Jieun frown. Then she returned to her seat in front, not sparing Jieun a second glance.
"Why did you take so long! I'm starving to death." Jungkook exclaimed and Jieun saw him shove a pink-coloured box under his desk.
Jieun frowned, but walked towards him, passing him the bag of food. "There was a long queue! Next time come eat with us if you want it faster."
Jungkook dug into the food, ignoring Jieun's comment.
"Eat slower, you're gonna choke." Jieun mumbled under her breath. But her mind wandered, she couldn't help but keep thinking of Lisa - why she disliked her, why her hanging out with Jungkook made her jealous, what was that she hoped he'll like?
Jungkook was wolfing down the food at rapid speed and didn't even stop until all the food was gone.
"How do you eat that much and not gain weight?" Jieun sighed, but at she was just saying random things while her mind wandered elsewhere.
"Thanks, it was a good meal." Jungkook said quietly.
Now that he had finished his meal, this was her chance.
"Jungkook, you know..."
"What?" Jungkook wiped black bean sauce from his mouth. "You wanna ask me something?"
"You know..."
"What is it?" Jungkook frowned. "Look - I don't have all day, just say it."
"Well..." Jieun bit her lip.
Just say it, Lee Jieun. Just ask what you wanna know. Don't be a coward.
"Nothing."
She couldn't say it after all.
Jungkook frowned. "Alright, then." He stood up. "I'm gonna take a nap, so call me when Mr Kim is here, alright?"
Jieun nodded. Urgh- Lee Jieun, you fool! How difficult was that to ask? How long are you going to be limited by your anxiety-
"Oh, by the way." Jungkook said nonchalantly, but Jieun snapped to attention straightaway.
"Yeah?"
He reached under his table, pulling out the pink box from earlier, throwing it carelessly onto Jieun's table. "For you."
Jieun's eyes widened. This was the box Lisa just gave him. "What?"
"Someone gave it to me and I don't like chocolate so you can have it." Jungkook mumbled, putting on his headphones. "Eat it if you want. If not, help me throw it away."
Jieun opened the box, only to find eight pretty chocolate truffles waiting to be devoured. She looked up at Jungkook, who was already resting peacefully on his desk.
Jieun beamed.
It was as if the answers to all the questions she wanted to ask Jungkook didn't matter anymore.
~
"Okay, guys. Class dismissed!" Ms Ahn announced at the end of art class.
Almost two weeks had passed with negligible F5 drama. It was already Friday - everyone's favourite day of the week. It wasn't just because that meant the arrival of the weekends, but for Class 12B, it also meant PE lessons, which was almost everyone's favourite class, other than majority of the geeks, who would very much rather study.
"Oh- I almost forgot." Ms Ahn addressed the class one more time. "Um, Mr Kim would like me-"
The class let out a collective "oh~" at the mention of Mr Kim. Mr Kim and Ms Ahn had finally gone public with their relationship and rumours about their marriage coming soon was also rampant in the class. The so-called rumours traced back to Seokjin and he denied it, but everyone knew better.
Ms Ahn blushed slightly, coughing loudly to silence the class. "Mr Kim would like me to remind you all that your examinations are exactly a month from now and to study hard. Any questions?"
A hand shot up at the back of the classroom, to Jieun's right.
"Yes, Hoseok?"
Jieun was caught by surprise. For her first month in school, it had always been Seokjin sitting to her right with an aisle in between them. However...
Her eyes shifted to Byulyi. She was looking worse than ever. Ever since Seokjin had insisted on swapping seats with Hoseok to avoid seating with Byulyi, they hadn't said a single word to each other. Everyone in F5 were worried for the two of them - they just didn't say it.
"You two look great together!" Hoseok shouted and the class burst into laughter.
Ms Ahn looked slightly flustered and her cheeks turned pink again. "I asked for questions, Hoseok." She paused. "But thank you."
"Oh, then can I ask a question?" Hoseok answered.
"Go ahead."
"What do you like about Mr Kim?" Hoseok asked cheekily and the class burst into laughter again.
Ms Ahn turned beet red this time. "That's not relevant to the exams, is it?" She glanced at her watch. "Oh, time for me to get to my next class. Class dismissed!"
And she walked out of the classroom, amidst more cheering and laughter. Hoseok waved his hand dramatically, as if he did something great, and the class cheered him on enthusiastically. He was really popular, indeed.
Then the bell rang.
"Time for PE! Please don't be late!" Hoseok shouted excitedly, as he ran out of the classroom. He was the PE representative afterall, so he had to be there earlier than anyone else to set up the equipment.
Byulyi glanced up nonchalantly. It was already her 2nd PE lesson without... him.
"Byulyi, can we talk?"
Byulyi looked up. It was Taehyung. She hadn't talked to Taehyung since that day either. And it was her decision. Talking to... him was difficult and since Taehyung was his brother, it wasn't easy either. Thankfully, Taehyung respected that and kept his distance.
"Sure. What's up?" Byulyi tried to sound as casual as possible.
"Look - this won't take too long." Taehyung sat down on Hoseok's seat. "It's just that... tomorrow is the birthday celebration and I was wondering if... you're still coming."
Right, the birthday celebration. Byulyi had long forgotten.
"You don't need to be pressurised to say yes or no, Byulyi." Taehyung said, looking at Byulyi with his soft kind eyes. "I'll understand regardless of what decision you make."
At that moment, Seokjin and Jisoo walked past, both changed into their PE attires, Jisoo's arm linked to Seokjin's. Seokjin's eyes fell on Byulyi and Taehyung, momentarily, but they darted away almost immediately.
"So 12pm tomorrow, okay? I wanted to say 11.30am but I wanna dress up well, I'll be seeing them for the first time tomorrow and you know how I am... I wanna leave a good impression..." Jisoo's voice trailed off when she saw Byulyi. She smiled and waved awkwardly. "Oh- Hi, Byulyi."
"...hi." Byulyi's voice was so small even an ant wouldn't be able to hear her. She stared at the floor, waiting for Seokjin and Jisoo to pass.
"Byulyi?" Taehyung said softly. "They're gone."
"Oh." Byulyi looked up, faking a smile. "Sorry, I suddenly felt giddy for a moment."
Taehyung looked at her with sympathy. He was Seokjin's brother... but he already knew the whole truth, what was the point of hiding her feelings in front of him?
"Ah, you should rest more. There has been a virus going around lately." Taehyung played along. "Anyway... would you be able to give me an answer now?"
Byulyi smiled. "A while ago, I was really going to say yes. I really wanted to see... your parents again. I miss them a lot. But..." Byulyi winced slightly. "I think I might be coming down with a flu so I don't think I'll be able to. Help me apologise, alright?"
"It's alright, Byulyi. Don't worry, I understand." Taehyung smiled understandingly as he got up. Nice excuse.
"Thanks, Taehyung." Byulyi smiled gratefully.
"Some colds take longer to heal, but everything will get better. The tough days will come to an end."
~
"Alright, class! Listen up! Today we'll be playing dodgeball." The PE teacher, Mr Bang Shi Hyuk, announced.
Mr Bang was ironically a round chubby man, but he was kind and funny, and always let the class play all kinds of games during PE lessons while the other PE teachers made their classes run around on the track. That was why the class adored him.
"Basically we'll have 4 teams of 6 and we'll play 6v6! You just have to throw the ball over the net and try to hit each other. But remember - no throwing above the waist! Only waist down, you got me?"
The class shouted "yes" in unison.
"Alright, so now I'll choose the team captains who will form their own teams. When I call your name, please stand up and come to the front. According to my randomiser, this week's Team Captains 1 to 4, in order, are Taehyung, Sejeong, Jungkook, Lisa! Please come forward!"
The four of them stood in a row in front of the class.
"Alright, Taehyung! You can pick first!"
Taehyung thought hard, so hard that he took almost forever to say his first choice.
"Come on, it ain't that hard! Even if you think with your butt, it wouldn't take this long!" Someone from the back shouted and everyone burst into laughter. Everyone didn't need to turn around to know that it was Hoseok.
Taehyung laughed. He made up his mind. "I choose Byulyi."
Everyone was shocked. Why didn't he choose an F5 member? Why Byulyi, of all people? Even Byulyi herself was shocked. As she walked towards Taehyung, she mouthed "why?", but Taehyung didn't answer. Only he knew why.
"Sejeong?"
"I choose Jackson."
Jackson was one of the most athletic in class. He was a jock afterall. It was normal for the jocks to be chosen the first during PE class.
"Jungkook?"
"Jieun." Jungkook said without hesitation. The class gasped, but soon everyone began teasing, whistling and clapping.
"Me?" Jieun herself was confused. Did that mean... she was now his best friend? She was his first pick afterall. Somehow, it made her really happy. She stood up, walking towards Jungkook. "Why?"
"Just come here already." Jungkook grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her behind him.
"Ooh~ sangnamja ya~!" Hoseok shouted from the back once again.
The class erupted into a combination of laughter, howling and whistling. Jungkook remained unfazed, but Jieun's cheeks began to burn up.
"Oh~ someone's blushing!"
"No, I'm not!" Jieun fanned her cheeks frantically.
"No one said I was talking about you~"
"Stop it!" Jieun was so focused on being embarrassed by Hoseok's continuous teasing, but she still couldn't help but notice Lisa's sour expression from the corner of her eye.
"I choose Seongwoo." Lisa butted in, cutting the sweet moment short. The class stopped laughing at once.
"Now it's back to Taehyung!"
"I choose... Jennie." Taehyung said. Yet another non-F5 member. Yoojung's blood was was beginning to boil.
For the next few rounds, all of them chose the most athletic people in class, aka the jocks, on their turn. Well, except for Taehyung.
"How dare you choose two people over me. Is our 10 year friendship worth this much?!" Yoojung stared daggers at Taehyung when he finally called her name a while later. "What is this random mishmash of people!"
Taehyung laughed. "Am I team captain or are you team captain?"
Yoojung stared daggers at Taehyung. If looks could kill, Taehyung would have died right there on the spot.
Jennie laughed, hugging Yoojung from the back and whispered. "It's alright, Yoojung. He chose Byulyi first because... you know how she is lately."
Yoojung stared at her relationship advisor in awe. They had officially become friends for just over a month, and yet Jennie never failed to surprise Yoojung at how much she knew all the time. "How did you-"
"Shh." Jennie grinned. "I'm not a love guru for nothing, alright? And he chose me because he has a crush on me since like... forever. I know that too. He isn't my type but, well."
Yoojung gawked at Jennie.
"Actually, I chose you because I wanted to talk to you, Jennie." Taehyung walked over at that moment, fiddling with his fingers. "I wanted to ask if you have time tomorrow. I have this party-"
"Oh man, Taehyung." Jennie frowned. "I'm really sorry, but I'm busy tomorrow... I would totally go if I were free though."
Taehyung smiled. "It's totally fine. I understand. Thank you." And he walked away, not looking totally fine at all.
"How did I do? I totally rejected him nicely, didn't I?" Jennie said proudly. She did have a significant improvement in tone after being trained by Yoojung for more than a month now.
"Yeah, but that's not the point." Yoojung frowned. "You actually knew Taehyung had a crush on you?"
"Yeah. Wasn't that difficult." Jennie said nonchalantly.
"Just..." Yoojung frowned as she watched Taehyung looking at the floor, waiting for the game to start. "Please don't hurt him. If you don't like him, just reject him as soon as possible. Don't get his hopes high, alright?" Yoojung looked at Jennie sincerely. "Please."
Jennie smiled. "Don't worry, I know my limits."