Opposites Repel - Liskook

Chapter 6 ~ Late Night Rendez-Vous

Jungkook's POV ~

Walking amidst the sidewalks late at night, Jin runs into me repeatedly, too tired to see ahead of him. The lights of the nightlife in the booming city come to life, honking cars present even at this hour.

"Why did you insist on getting ramen so late at night if you knew you were this sleepy ?" I ask, huffing and puffing, having to support his figure. If anybody else saw him, they'd have thought of him as a drunkard.

"Why do you breathe if you're just going to die anyway ?" He remarks sourly, putting his index finger in the air. I carry him back to the dorm, dropping his body on his mattress and unfolding the fluffy blankets over his knocked-out figure. I sigh, gazing out the window. I stare at the track with a sort of longing in my eyes which is soon replaced by disbelief; I see a small dot, slowly progressing its way around the track. I shake my head, rubbing my eyes and opening them again...If my sleep-deprived brain isn't deceiving me right now, I'm sure I know who that is. Without taking my eyes off the crawling dot, I grab the dorm keys behind me, and rush out, locking the door impatiently. I slide down the handles of the staircases, landing lightly on the last stair as I see the rusty stub on top of the handle. Running to the track, I whip out my phone, using it as a flashlight. I jump the gate which was adorned with spade-shaped iron stubs on the top. Ignoring the minuscule amount of blood on my hand, I run faster, kicking dust behind me. I finally catch a hold of that limping black dot. But it can't be Lisa. When I saw her this morning she was in a wheelchair. My voice seems to return to my hollow throat as I finally speak up.

"What are you doing ?" I call out to them. The figure stills, seemingly thinking that not moving could make them invisible. I faintly hear a consistent click, coming from them and peer at their hands which are tightly clutching a stopwatch.

"Turn around," I say, reminding myself of an officer catching a criminal, "Who are you? What are you doing here ?" I hear them sigh as they turn around. Oh my lord......It is Lisa.

"You ?" I ask a tad rudely.

"Yeah, me," She mocks. Knowing I deserved that one, I bite my tongue to stop me from rebutting.

"What are you doing here ?" I ask a little more politely. She holds a stopwatch up and nods at her legs.

"Training," She says simply. She limps over to the bench on the outer rim of the track, wiping her sweat. I sit beside her, intrigued.

"You're running ?"

"How else would I train ?"

"You can't though. You're in-"

"I'm not. I'm not injured. I refuse to believe it," She takes a huge gulp of her water bottle, finishing it off and slamming it down on the bench. She retakes her grip on the crutches and stands upright. Picking up the stopwatch and putting a small whistle in her mouth, she starts to time herself as she limps hopelessly along the edges. I watch as she speeds up at the curves, "running" at a steep angle. On one curve, she lowers her body too much and falls. I rush over, alarmed even though she doesn't seem the least bit bothered. She swats my hand away, claiming that 'it's all part of the experience', and stumbles back up, glancing at the stopwatch in defeat. She carries herself to the bench, massaging her thigh, or the very little skin on her legs that wasn't covered by an enormous cast. Again, I follow, not sure why I was doing what I was doing, but complying nonetheless.

"Are you okay ?" I ask a new sense of sympathy surges through my head, occupying every thought I have.

"I'm fine," She resets the stopwatch, "Don't be nice to me just because I'm injured. I prefer your sincere attitude before this." She goes to pull herself up, trying to go on one more round on the track, but I gently pull her forearm down, asking her to sit.

"To be honest, I still hate you," I say. She smiles at me, a curious glint in her eyes. " But I can't just leave you here."

"Because I'm a girl ?" She rolls her eyes at me, making a move to get up again. I sit her back down, further away from me in case that's why she feels uncomfortable.

"If you've noticed, I don't really care if you're a boy. I despise you either way."

"How touching," She scowls, grabbing her crutches again. I snatch them out of her hand, being careful not to hurt her. I put them behind my back, forcing her to talk to me.

"What do you need ?" I ask.

"My crutches."

"I-I meant for you to feel better," I say hesitantly. Sure, I'm not exactly friendly with her...But I can't hide the fact that for some odd reason...

I care...

"I want to be able to train again," She sighs, balancing her weight on both her palms which were situated behind her. She looks up at the night sky, staring at nothing in particular.

"Other than that," I insist.

"Why are you so interested ?"

"Why can't I be ?" I snap back. She smiles at me amusedly, turning back to the sky as if that soothed her.

"What do you need ?" I repeat.

"Well, there is one thing....." She starts, still looking at the sky. She jerks her head to me again, a devious smile on her face, "Let me train you."

"What ?" I ask. Disbelief washed over me as the cheshire grin on her face ceases to disappear.

"Let me train you."

"Why ?"

"I want this school to go to the championships. Since I'm off the team, we're short a member. And you saw the only girls willing to be on this team. They only came to get a glimpse at your team members," She scowls at me. I laugh at her statement, both shocked that I laughed willingly at something she'd said and shocked that she'd noticed that.

"Why do you say that like it's my fault ?" I ask.

"When is it not ?"

"When it's Jin's."

"So can I train you or not ?"

"No," I blurt. I'm sure of my decision. She may have beaten me at tryouts, but that doesn't mean that I can learn something from her. Whatever she has to offer is probably less than what the rest of my team has to offer.

"Aren't you tired of not being the best ?" She sighs, finally looking at me.

"All the time," I look down at my lap, losing hope that the stars would give me comfort, "I practiced really hard this summer. But then you beat me at tryouts, and I just sorta...."

"Gave up ?" She finishes for me. I nod, still not sparing her a glance. "Yeah, I know that feeling." She says, nudging my shoulder. "You'll get through it. You'd be a lot better than me if you'd take some advice that people would give you. Reaching your goals on your own doesn't mean isolating yourself." She scoots extremely close to me, our legs and shoulders touching. My eyes widen, realizing that she's like every other girl in the school. She doesn't stay in that position for long....reaching over to me and.......I clench my eyes shut, awaiting what she'd do.

I opened my eyes again in surprise, noticing that she'd taken her crutches from behind me and was already limping away. A smirk releases itself across my face as I sprint to her. I tap her on the shoulder grinning slightly.

"Can you make me the best runner in this school ?" I ask. A slow smile spreads across her face, understanding what I meant.

"Oh, I can make you much better," she says, the familiar grin flashing across her face.

"It's a deal ?" She asks, putting out her hand. I take it, for once the thought of crushing it not even flitting through my mind.

"Deal."

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