MISSION: Love

+ seven +

I warmed myself up silently as I took a few deep breaths. My eyes travelled to Jay who was also stretching himself before our volleyball training started. I accidentally made eye contact with Sunghoon and quickly averted my gaze elsewhere.

Why does he keep glaring at me like that?

I shrugged the thoughts away and something— or someone, caught my attention. One of the seniors suddenly came with an unfamiliar girl. "Guys, she is the new member of the volleyball team. Meet Geum Jihu."

I stared at her, examining her from head to toe. She was beautiful and I could sense she would be one of the popular kids in no time. She already succeeded in winning the seniors' hearts even though she just entered the school. My eyes widened when I saw Jay approaching Jihu and putting out his hand to shake hers, "Hi, I'm Park Jay."

She smiled and shook his hand, "Nice to meet you. I hope you can help me improve my volleyball skills. I've never played it before but I'm very interested!"

I glanced at him and waited for what he had to say. "Sure! I would be glad to help you," he exclaimed happily and they both walked away while talking about something, getting to know each other. I clenched my fists and shrugged all the frustrating thoughts away. I didn't know why I would get jealous so easily. He wasn't even mine, to begin with.

Heeseung who was laughing and talking with Sunghoon noticed my frowning expression and approached me. I sighed and looked away, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Is this about Jihu? I'm sure it's nothing."

"I know. I'm not mad or anything. Jay's just being nice to her because she's new. Why should I be jealous? He's not even mine."

"You know Jihu is the new girl in our class right?" His words made me stop what I was doing. I took a deep breath and nodded, "She seems nice. Maybe it would be fun to have her around?"

After everyone was done stretching themselves, the seniors gathered us all to play volleyball. As we took our places, all the female seniors invited Jihu to be in their team. I tried to stay positive and stayed still to where I was standing. Suddenly one of them said, "Hana, you go stand there in the other team. We want Jihu with us."

I wanted to like the new girl, I really do. But seeing her get a lot of attention made me annoyed. I didn't want to be the attention-seeking bitch. I faked a smile before going to the opposite team, standing in between Sunghoon and Heeseung. When Sunghoon started serving the ball, it was about to land in Jihu's direction. But all she did was nothing and avoided the ball. And what made me frustrated was how she laughed it off. If I did that, the seniors would scold me and embarrass me in front of everyone.

"It's okay, Jihu. You can do this," Jay said as he clapped his hands to encourage her. Sunghoon looked at me for a while before handing me the ball, "Hana, why don't you try to serve?"

I looked at him with widened eyes since he rarely talked to me. I gulped down my saliva nervously and caught the ball he threw at me. I took a deep breath before serving, releasing all my frustrations with it. Unfortunately, it accidentally landed on Jihu's face. She fell to the ground and winced in pain.

"Hana, what the hell are you doing?!" One of the seniors yelled at me before helping the new girl stand up. Jay immediately ran to her and checked if her face was okay. "It's alright, Hana didn't mean to serve the ball at me."

Hearing her say that made me feel worse about myself. I could feel the seniors making me the benchwarmer on the day of the volleyball tournament. Am I unapproachable? Even if I tried to win the seniors' hearts, they would always cast me out.

I backed away slowly, earning Heeseung's attention. "Hana-yah," he called me softly. I shook my head and ran away from the court. I was too embarrassed to face everyone.

💌

I waited in front of the school gate for my mother to pick me up. Only God knew how glad and happy I was when I saw her car arriving in front of the gate. I ran to the vehicle and got in before breaking into tears. My mother widened her eyes, feeling startled by the sudden reaction.

"Hana-yah! What happened?" She reached out to hug me. "I don't understand. I worked my ass off to get on the seniors' good side. And I even had to stay silent watching the seniors creating wrong decisions due to their stupid brains. But when this new girl arrived, she had everyone wrapped around her finger. Including Jay."

"What did this new girl do?"

"I accidentally served a ball too hard as it landed on her face. Everyone scolded me as if I did it on purpose. And now I could feel all the seniors hate me. And they're known for bullying juniors so I'm sure that would make me the bench warmer during tournaments. And they will never let me play."

"And what about Jay?"

"He was so interested in this new girl. Now all of those sweet things he did to me are making me more confused."

"In my opinion, you now have two options. Either you soldier up and stay in the volleyball team or you can quit and try again next year. If you decided to stay, remember to always believe what is right and never sell your soul and pride to those stupid seniors."

I thought about what my mother said and nodded, "I will stay. I will not quit and show them my weak side."