(Low key given up on chapter summaries sorry oh well now it's a mystery)
7 – JK focus
"Attention, students. Sign-up sheets for house games will be available by the end of the seventh period. Your sports this year are Dance, Basketball, Football and Athletics. Choose wisely and good luck!"
Easy choice: athletics. Jungkook had never played basketball before and he loathed football. He could dance pretty well, but the people who went for dance were either girls, professionals, or both and Jungkook didn't particularly want to pit himself against any of those categories. Besides, he could run better than he could walk. He'd have to practice, though; he didn't know who he was up against.
Jungkook had found out on the first day that he was in the Purple house. He didn't quite know why that mattered, but other people in his house seemed nice, so he just went with it. House games were only a few weeks away so Jungkook didn't have a lot of time to practice, but he did whatever he could. The Wednesday rolled around and everyone already seemed thrilled to be having a day off lessons, despite only being back for four and a half weeks.
The day was simple enough: full school assembly followed by house assembly, then Football, then Dance, then Basketball, then Athletics. The fact that Jungkook's event was last didn't help his nerves, but he knew that adrenaline makes you faster, so he didn't entirely mind.
A shrill bell reverberated around the school, signalling for assembly. Hundreds of unenthusiastic boys and girls flooded the corridor and filed slowly into the hall. Chairs squeaked and voices whispered in the dark. Assembly was always so unnecessarily dramatic. The stage lit up suddenly and everyone cringed at the sudden brightness. Smiling far too positively for a Wednesday morning, the head boy and girl walked out onto the platform.
Kim Seokjin and Kim Jisoo; not related or dating, but really good friends and the star pupils of the school. A more charismatic pair of students didn't exist anywhere in the world. Seokjin's assemblies were the funniest performances the school got to see and Jisoo had an imagination that brightened up mornings with tangents about why you shouldn't feed ducks bread or about the history of the machete. They walked towards each other and played about eleven rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors, confusing but thoroughly amusing their audience. By the end of their performance, Seokjin raised his hands in victory and sat down smugly, leaving Jisoo to administer the assembly.
It was just an introduction to house games that year and Jungkook knew most of it anyway from his classmates or from Yoongi. They didn't really talk much but Yoongi would occasionally give him advice and Jungkook hadn't been beaten up yet. Jungkook still liked talking to him, despite his sultry manner.
The locations for house assembly were displayed and Jungkook was relieved to see that Purple stayed in the hall and he didn't have to move. He watched as three-quarters of the school filtered out, leaving him alone in his row of seats. He got up and moved forward a row so as not to look completely alone. Recognising the hair of the person directly in front of him, Jungkook flushed and silently thanked every God he could think of that they had put him in the same house as Kim Taehyung.
Jungkook didn't know what it was. Okay, that was a lie, he knew exactly what it was. It was a crush. It had all come on rather fast but as much as he tried to put it down to hormones or stress, the orange-haired boy invaded his mind and penetrated his thoughts at the worst times: before sleep, during lessons, times where he needed to concentrate and Taehyung wouldn't let him. He could deal with it, though. He'd done it before, he could do it again.
Each sport was laid out in detail and Jungkook wasn't really listening. When the house captain asked who was doing athletics, Taehyung raised his hand as well, which surprised Jungkook. He would've betted on Taehyung being a dancer over a runner. The races were allocated and Jungkook went straight for the 400m. Short, but not quite a sprint. The races were basically tournaments – the bottom two of each race of six were eliminated and the heats continued into the final six. The students weren't separated by age or ability, just by their house. It was a sort of accelerated survival of the fittest: if you aren't fast enough, you get eliminated. Simple as that.
Taehyung wasn't in his race, so that was one thing. It meant Jungkook could focus on himself and himself alone. The house captain finished her speech.
"Remember, it doesn't matter if we don't win, just have fun out there and then at least we've beaten the Blues. Make memories and, 1st graders, make friends. Borasaek!" she shouted and the rest of the hall echoed back.
The bell clanged for the second time that morning. Everyone stood and prepared to make their way to the football pitch for the tournament. Jungkook decided not to go. Football was boring and pointless and the pitch would be way too crowded. He was just deciding where to go when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around.
"Hi, Jungkook!" It was Taehyung. Actually speaking to him. Jungkook smiled and reddened involuntarily. "I've been meaning to catch up with you, you know, just to see how you're finding this hellhole," Taehyung gestured wildly to their surroundings and Jungkook laughed.
"Oh, it's not too bad. Four hours of sleep a night isn't helping anything, though; I'm just not used to it." Taehyung looked mildly impressed.
"Whoa, four hours? I get three on a good night." Well, you look hella good on it, thought Jungkook, once again running his gaze across Taehyung's perfect visage. Taehyung continued, "So, you're doing the 400 metres? I can't do anything shorter than 800. I've got stamina, not speed." Noted. Jungkook was surprised at his own mind. He pushed his imagination away and replied,
"If anything, I'd have put you down as a dancer. I mean, you've got the frame for it and I bet you're pretty flexible." Slow down, Kook. Taehyung grinned.
"No, not me. Jimin's the dancer. I have no idea where he finds the time for it, but he's incredible at it. And he can sing, too. I keep telling him he should audition for something, but he won't listen." Jungkook's mood dampened slightly. Yoongi said they weren't dating, but from the way Taehyung was talking, it sounded like he wanted them to be. Jungkook cleared his throat and changed the subject.
"So, are you going to watch the football?" Taehyung looked at him with a disgusted expression on his face.
"Ew, no. Football is possibly the worst sport ever invented, aside from maybe basketball, but don't ever tell Jimin I said that; he'd go mental. Actually, do you want to go watch him rehearse? His performance is first in his event and he's a bit nervous so I told him I'd give him an audience. Wanna come?" Jungkook wanted to say yes immediately but pretended to think about it for a moment before answering.
Taehyung grabbed his wrist to lead him up the stairs and Jungkook's heart raced at the contact, just as it had done the first time. He allowed Taehyung to pull him forwards to wherever they were going and just focused on not tripping over the steps. Taehyung let go of his arm just before he opened the door to the top classroom and Jungkook felt his wrist tingle at the loss of closeness. He followed Taehyung into the classroom.
Jimin and another boy whom Jungkook vaguely recognised were talking in the middle of the room, which had been cleared of chairs. They both smiled when they saw Taehyung. Taehyung smiled back widely.
"Hey! I brought Jungkook with me, I hope you don't mind," he said and Jimin looked at him with a look that Jungkook couldn't quite decipher. The other boy beamed at Jungkook and introduced himself.
"Hi! I'm Hoseok, I'm in 3rd grade, but I dance with Jimin. It's nice to meet you!" This might be the most genuinely happy person Jungkook had ever met, so he smiled politely and returned the sentiment. Jimin clapped his hands together.
"So, Hoseok, should we get started? You two can sit over there," he said, ushering Jungkook and Taehyung to the desks at the side of the room. Taehyung jumped and sat on the table. Jungkook copied.
Hoseok pressed play on the stereo and a song started to play that Jungkook knew. It was nearly a year old and it was a little bit generic – it was about the singer loving someone that they couldn't have, but they were going to keep loving anyway despite all of the hardships, etc. Jimin danced with incredible passion as if he was at one with the music. Jungkook wondered who he was dancing for.