-
the whole school was buzzing when she entered today.
"why is everyone staring?" she pulled seulgi aside, painfully conscious of the stares.
"i think you should look at your locker." she said to her awkwardly, obviously hiding something as her eyes looked at everywhere but her.
minyoung looked at her suspiciously and made her way to the crowded locker, which parted like the red sea when she approached.
"huh?" she stared wordlessly at her locker.
someone had pasted an a3 sized paper on her locker, and scrawled something on it with bright red marker.
she did not need to squint to make out its contents.
cheater. get out of the school.
she felt a prick in her eyes as tears threatened to fall as she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. there was no way she was going to let the school population present see her cry.
"you lost to one the worst players on our team, and you expect me to believe that you were accepted based on merit alone?" joohyun crossed her arms, as yerim and sooyoung stood next to her, "its no wonder people are suspicious!"
she ignored her and turned around with the most expressionless face she could manage in her current state and made to tear off the paper. but someone's else's hand had reached out and ripped it off before she could.
"whats this?" he stared at the paper.
the crowd, who had parted for them too, gasped when he reached out and tore off the rest of the small post-it notes that were also stuck on her locker.
"minyoung deserves her spot in this school as much as many of you do, maybe even more than some." soobin spoke as he held up the paper.
the rest of the boys looked around, and yeonjun started to walk away, obviously not wanting to be part of the drama.
"as athletes, one of the most important values we uphold is sportsmanship, and this," he shook the paper violently, "demonstrates none of that."
he grabbed her shoulders and gently pulled her slightly behind him as half his body shielded her from the dozens of curious eyes.
"i do not want to see anymore of such rumours, am i clear?" he concluded loudly.
the crowd dispersed soon after that, and she was left with the five boys, one very reluctant, and seulgi.
"thank you for that, soobin." she said.
he just gave a smile in response before leaving.
"did you...just get saved by soobin?" seulgi ran to her.
"i guess...?" she scratched my head.
"wow, i never knew he could be like that."
minyoung honestly saw nothing to be surprised about, she was not exactly in the right state of mind to bother with an issue like that.
"its just that soobin and i have been friends even before we came to this school but he has never spoke up in front of the school like that, he's shy you see."
i did not know how to react to that piece of information, so i just nodded in silence.
-
"i said, french fries come from france." beomgyu was trying to prove an argument.
"don't be stupid." taehyun was saying, "they-"
they were interrupted by a small commotion in front, and soobin craned his head to find the source.
"she can never catch a break, can she?" yeonjun said lazily, attempting to go by another route to get to class.
as much as soobin wanted to break his neck at that instant, he decided that minyoung needed more help than yeonjun needed death at the moment.
"what's this?" he asked aloud as he tore off the paper.
he was infuriated by the contents, but even more so at what joohyun had just said. it was obvious that the girl had something to do with it, but he chose not to say anything to her yet.
"as athletes, one of the most important values we uphold is sportsmanship, and this," he shook the paper violently, "demonstrates none of that."
by the time they made it back to their 'room', the awkward silence was becoming too much to bear. he made sure to lock the door before turning to his four friends. yeonjun was already seated in his usual seat, after leaving mid-way through the chaos.
soobin simply tousled his hair as they looked on curiously.
"why did you grab her?" hueningkai broke the silence.
"i don't know?" he plopped down on a desk, "it was instinctive."
"you just made your crush known to the whole school." beomgyu added.
"i do not," his neck turned slightly red, "have a crush."
the boys either clicked their tongues or gave knowing smiles before turning back to their conversation on french fries.
the only one silent was yeonjun, who was sulking in a corner.
"what's up with the long face?" soobin sat down next to him.
"nothing," he replied, "just a little skeptical about minyoung."
a small leap in my chest that soobin tried to bury.
"no need to hide it from me, i can see right through you," he smirked, "you clearly like her."
when soobin shook his head indignantly, yeonjun gave a low chuckle.
"fine, you don't," he just went along with it, "but i'm not her biggest fan."
"for the petty reason that she was the only one who condemned your rejecting of gifts?" taehyun spoke up teasingly.
"she thinks she's so great, so righteous," yeonjun got up, "also, that mixed training thing coming up is bullshit. it happens every year and all it does is interfere with my training."
he stretched as he let out an impossibly louder sigh.
"i'm hungry, toss me one of the food gifts yeah?"
edited as of 02/01/21