In the debate world, there are five unspoken rules. The first four are trivial; simple social laws that every sane person would understand.
But the last one. Now that's something.
Rule Number Five: Never, ever, under any circumstances, date your d...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
today's theme: propositions
Jisung yanked off his shoes and dashed up the stairs to the second floor of the apartment. This was an absolute emergency; a disastrous slip at best.
"Jisung! No running!" His mother's voice reprimanded him from the first floor. He had completely forgotten to greet his parents in his rush to scream.
"Sorry mom!" He yelled back, before closing the door to his room and immediately hurling himself onto his bed.
This was bad.
Actually, it wasn't bad. The word 'bad' was on the blacklist when it came to debate vocabulary. It sounded generic, unimportant, and bland, and no effect on your judges or your opponent whatsoever. Jisung shouldn't get into the habit of saying 'bad'.
No, this wasn't bad. This was horrendous, extremely unfortunate, and a blindsided error that would cost him his dignity.
"Jarvis." The smart home system on his desk immediately blinked to life. "Video Call 'Brainless Lobster'."
"Ringing Brainless Lobster."
The room instantly darkened and a projected screen appeared on Jisung's back wall, across from the foot of his bed. The newest homeowner technology truly did work wonders.
"Hello?" The top of Hyunjin's fluffy head of hair came through, then the rest of his face. He was eating what looked to be like a pocky stick.
"You have to fucking help me get out of this," Jisung dramatically shrieked into his pillow. "Minho offered to help me prep for SOpe and I said yes."
Silence.
"And?"
Jisung sat up, offended, and pointed an accusing finger at the wall where his best friend was currently plastered onto. "The hell do you mean 'and'?! One of—no, the best debater of the century offered me, me, an average debater, help. The person I've idolized in debate for as long as I can remember is offering me help and I said yes!" He dropped back down.
More silence ensued from an extremely confused Hyunjin. He began talking in between bites of pocky sticks. "I am," he chewed, "failing to see the problem here." Chew.
Jisung rolled onto his back to face the high ceiling. "The problem is," he snapped, "I have done a total of one page of research. One. I'm going to be presenting my celebrity crush with a single page of prep and he's going to think I'm asking him to do everything."
He slapped his hands to his face. "And that's not even the worst part!" he groaned into his palms.
"Minho's research skills are probably top tier. No, they're definitely royalty, A-grade shit. He's going to be so fucking disappointed when he sees my work, no matter how many pages I add in between now and when he looks over it."
