Rank One (Park Sunghoon FF)

17

Juna tapped her paper anxiously. Writing an apology essay was a hundred times harder than writing an informational one. She couldn't bring herself to apologize for turning her head to look at Sunghoon.

She groaned and slumped her head onto the table with only two sentences written: Mister Choi, I'm sorry for not paying attention in class. It was wrong of me today to not focus on your lecture.

"What's wrong? Don't know what to write?" Sunghoon reached out from his desk and tapped her head gently with his pencil. Juna hummed in response. "Just say that it's my fault for being so good-looking you have to turn around and stare at me."

Juna immediately sat up. "That's not what I did."

"Well, that's what I saw."

"You were asleep!"

Suddenly, the door flew open and Juna automatically reached for her pencil and straightened her back, thinking that it was Mister Choi. Only for the person to be Jang Boram.

Juna raised her eyebrows but smiled softly. She was genuinely happy to see the girl; she wanted to be friends with Boram since she didn't really have any friends other than Heeseung and her study group - if they even counted. "Boram? What are you doing here?"

"Uh...I got detention, too," Boram stammered, her face red.

"For what?" Juna asked, concerned. What could such a well-behaved person have done to get detention?

"T-Turning in homework late," she stuttered.

Juna and Sunghoon exchanged confused glances. Detention for late work? That was unheard of.

Sunghoon scoffed. "Liar."

Juna whipped around and hit his arm. "What? Don't say that. We all know how unpredictable Mister Choi is. He gave me detention just because I wasn't paying attention for a second."

"Late work gets points deducted, not detention, Juna," Sunghoon said as he kept a cold gaze on Boram.

"Maybe he changed his policy?" Juna shrugged then turned back to Boram. "Come on, don't mind him. Sit next to me." She pulled out the chair from the desk next to her. Another scoff was heard from Sunghoon. Juna threw him a dirty look.

His unlikable personality, here it is again.

She turned back to Boram and smiled, handing her a piece of lined paper.

"By the way, are your knees okay? I saw you were bleeding earlier, too." Juna asked with a worried expression.

Boram nodded gently, her lips slowly curving upwards. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you? That ankle must hurt."

Juna shrugged. "It does, but I think it's a bit better now. I'll probably just rest for a week or so and it'll be good again."

"Does that mean you can't play basketball tomorrow?"

Juna shook her head with a sad smile. "Probably. But I'll be there to cheer you on."

Sunghoon snorted, turning all the attention to him. "Like I ever invited her."

"Park Sunghoon!" Juna reached out and flicked his forehead and he just laughed at her actions, his eyes glued to her the whole time. "Why are you being so mean?"

He raised his hands in surrender. "Just saying." Then he went back to writing his essay as if he didn't just offend someone.

"Again, don't mind him," Juna sighed, turning back to Boram. "He's a jerk most of the time."

Boram nodded and looked down at her blank paper. She picked up her pencil and words started spilling from it like magic. Juna stared.

She's so good at writing...She must be really smart.

Subconsciously, she found herself comparing Boram to her. Juna shook her head quickly to clear her thoughts. She focused on her own paper and set her pencil down.

What do I write? What do I write? Why do I always struggle with these things? How am I ranked so high?

Unknowingly, she started chewing on her bottom lip and pressed the lead of her pencil harshly on the wooden desk until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Sunghoon looking at her with worried eyes.

"You okay?"

"Huh? Yeah...I just don't know what to write..." Juna admitted, still biting down on her lip. She could taste blood at that point.

"Stop doing that."

Juna gasped when she felt his thumb run across her bottom lip. She hurriedly turned away before he could see her blushing cheeks. Her heart was picking up speed - and fast. She could hardly breathe, let alone say anything about what he just did.

What was that? What just happened?

As if she had just gotten inspiration to write, her pencil darted across the paper and words started popping into her head for some reason. Suddenly, she could finish the whole paper in less than two minutes.

"I'm done," she announced mindlessly to the other two before darting out of the room before she got to hear their answers - if they said anything at all. 

Juna ran and ran until she reached the teacher's lounge. Only once she arrived outside that she allow herself to finally breathe. Holding the piece of paper against her chest, she leaned against the wall beside the door and slid down to the ground.

She tentatively brought a finger to her lips. Somehow, she could still feel his touch lingering there.

What the hell is wrong with me? He probably didn't even think anything about it. And it probably didn't mean anything. So why am I acting like this? I'm supposed to make him fall for me but why does it seem like the opposite right now? What am I missing? At this rate, my rank will drop instead of his.

The essay in her hand crumbled up as she held it tighter, completely forgetting why she was at the lounge in the first place. Until a voice broke her out of her thoughts.

"Juna?"

It was Boram. Thank goodness it was Boram and not Sunghoon.

She quickly got off the ground and dusted her skirt. "Boram! Hey."

"What's wrong?" The girl asked, her eyes round. It was the first time Juna even saw the shape of her eyes since they were always glued to the ground.

Juna sighed. "I don't really want to talk about it now...Are you done with your essay?"

Boram nodded. "Sunghoon's done, too but he left."

Juna frowned and before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "Why?"

Boram shook her head. "I don't know. He didn't tell me anything. He just shoved me his essay and left."

Juna rubbed her temples with her fingers. "Sounds like him."

"Juna...I think you're the only girl he wants to talk to."

-

"Why can't that girl be me instead of you? What's so special about you, Ahn Juna?"

Jang Boram