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...
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today's theme: indirection
Bella smoothed down her pants. "I still don't understand why you asked me to go Christmas shopping with you."
Jisung craned his head to peer around at the mall. Where the fuck was Marcus? They agreed to four. It was four-ten.
Keeping the mall entrance in the corner of his eye, he turned back to Bella. "I just figured you could provide some inspiration. You know, a fresh perspective outside of the group."
"You said you invited other people to come along. I have a café to run, Jisung. During holiday season, no less."
"Okay but," He said enthusiastically, "You look good! I like those black pants...and that top? So very cute, oh my gosh. You wouldn't want to waste this look on just an average day at the café, would you?"
Bella stared at him. "You are disgusting me."
Marcus seriously needed to hurry the fuck up before he degraded himself like that any further.
The two of them had progressed from slight acquaintances into good friends in the past month since his huge crack of excitement over Minho in that phone call. Unlike the image that most Concordia students carried, Marcus was relatively grounded, a breath of fresh air from the stuffy nature of First Sector children.
They laughed over movies, discussed debate topics, tournaments and experiences, and more or less silently shook on the fact that the Academy's hatred for Concordia would go unspoken—after all, as Marcus admitted, it was kind of justified.
Jisung had denied him Bella's phone number the night they called in Tokyo, saying he'd think of something else. Whether or not he was angry at Minho at the time, he couldn't exactly trade in his coach for revenge. But, he finally gave in after weeks of nagging from the boy—on the sole condition that Bella would never find out he set her up.
He'd have to say goodbye to friendly discounts at Blue Caramel if that ever happened. Or rather, knowing Bella, he'd have to say goodbye to his life.
He spotted the brown-haired boy coming through the glass doors. "Ooh, they're here!" He waved at Marcus, who spotted them and began dragging a taller, dark-haired boy over by the elbow.
"You are so fucking late," Jisung complained when he came close.
Marcus shrugged. "Our chauffeur was late." He gestured to the boy beside him. "This is Brandon. Coach, Jisung, Jisung, Coach."
Brandon was tall—really tall, compared to Bella, who was a bit shorter than Jisung himself. His hair was parted down the middle nicely in loose waves, and they fell over his sharp eyes. He also dressed relatively nicely for a twenty-four year old, shoes and pants and sweater all form-fitting to his toned figure.
He set the bar high. But then again, Bella's expectations were up in the clouds, so nobody could really tell how well he'd do.
Jisung opened his mouth to introduce themselves, but Bella beat him to it.
