hate me ; twiceteen

0.5

"Okay girls, you have 20 minutes to run around this track 10 times. Now go." Kim instructed, starting the time on her timer.

On instinct, the girls started whining and complaining. However, all Kim said was, "Your time started 30 seconds ago. Are you sure you still don't want to start running?"

As soon as the girls heard those words, the girls started panicking and started running as fast as they could around the tracks.
Halfway through, Tzuyu ran up to Mina, who was running ahead of all the other girls.

"Are you okay?" Tzuyu asked, trying to keep up with Mina, who was runninng surprisingly fast.

"I'm fine." Mina glared, increasing her pace.
However, Tzuyu followed.
"Hey, I saw what happened in the canteen. Besides, we're a team now. Let's stop acting like strangers. If you have any--"

"I'm fine! Okay? I'm fine. Thanks for your concern but I don't need it. Just go away!" Mina yelled, pushing Tzuyu aside. Without turning back, she continued her run, not noticing that Tzuyu had fallen down.

>>>

Tzuyu fell, trying to grab on to an invisible hand in mid-air as she fell. However, to no avail, as her knee hit the hard stone track, causing a searing pain to shoot up her leg. Looking down, all she saw was a patch of red on her knee. Wincing, she slowly got up, wanting to call out to Mina, but her knee did not allow her too as she fell back to the ground due to the pain.

"Tzuyu! Are you okay?" the other girls showered her with concern.
"I can't believe Mina would hurt Tzuyu!" she heard Dahyun say.
"Guys, it's not her--"
"Tzuyu, we know you're nice. But you don't have to stand up for her when she's being mean." Sana said, crossing her arms.
"Hey! Let's not argue here and tend to Tzuyu's wounds first, okay?" Nayeon said, helping Tzuyu to get up. Nodding in unison, the girls agreed.

>>>

"Hurting a member of the team? How could you, Mina? This whole training was to bring you girls together, to create a stronger bond between each of you so that you will work better as a team!" Kim scolded as the other 8 girls stood by the sides, watching Mina get scolded.
"I--"
"No excuses. For your punishment, you will lift two bricks on each arm. You will do this for 2 hours. But for everytime you put down your arms, I will add another hour to your punishment. Also, I don't want you to see this as a punishment but as a opportunity to train your arm muscles. Understand?" Kim asked, looking at Mina sternly.

Not able to retort, Mina reluctantly agreed.

For the first half hour, it wasn't that bad. However, after a while more, exhaustion had started to kick in and her muscles were screaming. At least you finally know how strong your arms are. Mina thought to herself, as she started to reflect on what she did to Tzuyu and Jungyeon, and thought of what Joshua had said, that she could not run away from the problem forever. Should she try to approach them? Should she apologise? Mina asked herself. Arghh, her ego. She simply could not do it. Maybe she could do it in private? Just maybe...

Thinking about all that, it distracted Mina from the bricks and unknowingly, she put down her arms. Oh my god. Another hour. Yahhh Mina! How could you! Mina scolded herself mentally.
"One more hour." a voice said over the speakers.

Arghhh. Mina thought as she lifted her arms again, feeling like a mess.

>>>

All of a sudden, someone spoke up.
"Kim? Can I help Mina finish up her punishment?"

Immediately, Mina looked up. It was Tzuyu.
Looking at Tzuyu for a while, Kim agreed.
Mina's eyes followed Tzuyu as she walked over towards her and took the bricks from her hands.

As Mina started walking away from Tzuyu, she stammered, "Thank... Thank you..."

>>>

Jungyeon looked over at Mina, who was sitting opposite her at the dining table. Mina was staring at her food with empty eyes, using her fork to poke at her noodles.

Trying to break the tension in the room, Jungyeon cleared her throat and said, "It's funny how we all go to the same school but almost never see each other."

However, the response she got was not what she actually expected when Sana pointed out matter-of-factly, "We have a big school."

And that was the end of the conversation as all the other girls agreed with her.

"Um, since we don't actually know each other so well yet, why not we introduce ourselves to each other?" Nayeon suggested, probably trying to break the tension in the room too. Nodding their heads, the other girls agreed -- except for Mina.

Not long after, the girls started to take turns to introduce themselves. When it came to Mina's turn, the whole room silenced.

"I have to do this right? I can't say no?" she said, putting down her fork.

"Well, if you don't want to, then--"

"You have to do this." Jungyeon cut Nayeon off.

"Fine. I'm sure all of you know me. 'Mina the Bully' -- of course you do. But now I think it's more like... 'Mina the Loner'..." Mina's voice trailed off as she finished her sentence.

The girls exchanged glances with each other for a while, before Jihyo finally spoke up, "Hey, we're a team now. We'll go through all hardships together, and stick together no matter what. Okay?"

Hesitating for a moment, the girls agreed.

Raising up her bottle of coke, Momo said, "Cheers to 'Code Twice'!"

"What's code twice?" Dahyun asked.

"Kim said that that was our code." Momo answered.

"Cool. Then why not..." Jungyeon trailed off, before raising her cup of drink, cheering, "One in a million, we're Twice!"

Smiling, the girls raised up their cups in and together, they cheered, "One in a million, we're Twice!"