“Alright everyone, listen up!”
The teacher in charge tried to vain to get the group of 26 students to stay quiet. So far, it wasn’t working, as the chatter continued amongst the crowd.
Kevin was the only one quiet, listening as his friends talked about who they might be paired up with in their class. The teachers had organised a ‘team-building activity’ where, one boy and girl are paired together to perform a task. They have to follow the directions given to them and find their way to the finish line. Only thing was, they had to follow these directions inside the forest, where the camp was located. It was extremely dark, not to mention freezing so at first students were grumbling about the whole thing.
However, the teachers had revealed that there was a special prize for the pair that comes first and since the school was known for their unique surprises, everyone was now eager to participate in the competition. To be honest, Kevin couldn’t really care less. He would rather stay in his cabin and quietly read a book, being lost in his imagination. He was wondering why he had bothered to come to the camp in the first place. His friends, Eli and Dongho had begged him to come, not wanting to leave their friend behind at school and saying it would be fun. For Kevin however, this wasn’t his idea of “fun”. Not to mention he didn’t like to be in big groups, being an introverted person, he preferred hang with his two friends.
In the end, he was persuaded to come but only because his friends had agreed to buy him the latest book from the series he was currently reading.
There was another reason why Kevin decided to come, though he would never admit to his friends. He was sure they would never let him hear the end of it. As Eli and Dongho chatted, Kevin let his eyes wander through the crowd of students till he saw who he was looking for.
When Kevin found out that Jessica Jung, one of the most beautiful girls at their school, in his opinion, was coming, he thought camp couldn’t have been that bad.
Of course it wouldn’t be that bad He thought to himself and gave a sigh. Who was he kidding? He knew he liked her, he had liked her for a long time but what chance did he have? She was out of his league; he was the nerd, the outcast, while she was part of the crowd.
He gave another sigh and turned to pay attention to the teacher, whom seemed to get the groups of students to settle down as it was silent.
“Alright folks! We’re going to pull names out of the hat. One hat contains the boys, one for the girls. Don’t change and don’t complain. Remember this is a good way for you guys to be more comfortable with one another.”
The assistant teacher began to pull out strips of paper and reading out the names and one by one, students stood aside, each with their pair. Kevin watched in slight amusement when Eli was paired with Sunny, the girl he had eyes on for quite some time. He also noticed how Sunny’s eyes light up when she heard that she would be paired with his pigeon-like friend. Dongho was paired with Soyu, whom he was close friends with, so they were chatting excitedly of their plan of strategy.
Kevin was so busy observing that he didn’t realise that the teacher was calling his name.
“Kevin? Kevin Woo!”
“Hey!” Alexander, one of his classmates, nudged Kevin’s shoulder to gain his attention, “The teacher is calling you.”
Oh…sorry.” Kevin said sheepishly, making his way to the front of the crowd, slightly embarrassed.
“Ok Kevin,” The teacher put his hand in the hat and pulled out a piece of paper, “You’ll be paired with Jessica Jung.”
What!? Kevin’s eyes went wide like saucers and he couldn’t help but blush when his crush made his way to the front of the crowd.
