10 December 2009

Victoria found herself drawing closer to Hoseok as they walked down the steps of the main building. He was scanning the quad, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Only when they reached the bottom of the stairs did he realize that she was basically pressing against him. He panicked and moved away quickly.

"What's with you?" he asked, feigning annoyance.

She pressed her lips together, a blush creeping up her neck as she struggled to find the words. "I—"

Hoseok only let out a huff before he averted his gaze to the quad before them once more. Victoria followed his gaze and realized why he was so focused on it. It was completely empty. It was almost as if most of the student body had filed out of the large gates as soon as class had ended about ten minutes before.

The two of them had wasted time at Hoseok's locker, but he noticed everyone practically running to exit the building. So when they stood outside and were faced with a mostly empty campus save for some campus security and a few stragglers, he was dying to know what was going on. It was mostly because he didn't want to acknowledge that he liked the way Victoria pressed close to him—but he'd never admit that.

"Let's find Jimin—he might know what's going on." Without waiting, he took off toward the boy's dorm, leaving Victoria to purse her lips before exhaling heavily and following suit.

Inside the boy's dorm, the hallways were completely empty. Hoseok checked both of them thoroughly, but Victoria already spotted Jimin sitting on the couch in the game room. She approached the back of the green couch. "Minnie—"

"Hey, Jimin." Hoseok's voice cut through her instantly as he stopped beside her. She hadn't realized he was already done checking both hallways. "Where is everybody?"

Jimin turned around where he sat to look at them before he turned back, elbows resting on his knees and hands clasped together. Victoria noticed a melancholy note in the way his sharp eyes scanned them and in his voice when he spoke. "Oh, hey guys. I bet you're both really mad at Jin-hyung since he said all that stuff about you and got the rich kids to throw eggs at you."
"Seokjin will get what's coming to him—what's wrong with you?" Hoseok asked, a bit of an edge to his voice. Victoria couldn't tell if he was annoyed or worried.

Jimin stood up and walked around the couch to pass them on his way to the vending machine. "Well, for one minute I had friends. And yeah, Jin's a snake and you're a psychopath—"

"Oh, come on," Hoseok mumbled.

Victoria was about to speak up, but then Jimin banged his fist on the metal, startling both of them. She noticed Hoseok move to stand in front of her slightly, leaving her to stare up at him in utter confusion. "But at least I wasn't left out!" Jimin yelled, turning back to them with his face twisted into a sad mix of desperation and frustration. "And sure, I still have Victoria but she only ever pays attention to you these days."

Her face flushed, the skin becoming hot as she raised a hand to press it against her cheek. Hoseok seemingly wasn't fazed by the accusation. He opened his mouth to say something, but Jimin continued, throwing his hands it the air and walking over to the other side of the couch. "So now I'm back on my own—and I'm too cool to be a dork, but I'm too dorky to be anything else." He collapsed back on the green fabric with a heavy sigh.

Victoria's heart ached to see her cousin that way. She didn't realize she'd been clinging to Hoseok so much that she was neglecting the most important person in the world to her. She stepped forward to go sit next to him, but Hoseok spoke before she could. "Jimin, come on. Where is everybody?"

"They're probably down at the beach for the big bike race," he muttered.

Hoseok scoffed. "Bike race? Why didn't you say so? Come on!" He turned on one heel and rushed out of the dorm. Jimin stood slowly and went to follow him, but Victoria stopped him. She was angry that Hoseok ignored Jimin's feelings—she hated how selfish he could be at times.

"Minnie, I'm sorry," she said quietly, gazing at him sorrowfully.

Jimin shrugged, a small smile tugging at his lips. "It's fine—I figured you would end up liking him."

"What?" Her voice quite literally squeaked as her eyes widened at his statement. "I don't—"

"Yeah, yeah." The shorter boy waved her off with a playful smile and turned toward the door. "Let's go before Hobi-hyung gets on the bus without us."

Victoria smiled back, a bit relieved that he dropped the subject. She felt nervous when he accused her of liking him—like she'd been caught. Shaking the thought, she left the dorm with Jimin and found Hoseok outside the gates holding the bus for them.

The three of them arrived at the beach seemingly just in time. A few hundred kids were gathered along the beach around four bikes. Three were occupied by some of the rich kids. Hoseok was clearly irked by this. He stormed off toward the bikes and Victoria lost him in the crowd. She and Jimin tried to get out of the cluster so they could watch on the outskirts, but then she lost him.

She shouted for Jimin, trying to find the small boy among the teenagers of all ages. With one violent push from a big girl, she was thrown into someone who caught her with steady hands. "Are you okay?" The voice was deep and soothing—she'd heard it before. "Oh—" Taehyung's face lit up when he realized it was her. "Noona!"

Victoria stood up and steadied herself, a bit shocked to see the drop-out at the beach with the rest of his old classmates. "Taehyung—what are you doing here?"

"What?" he shouted over the roar of the students. He pulled her out of the crowd until they were standing a few feet away from everyone. "Sorry, It was loud in there."

She smiled, letting herself relax. Something about the tall boy with the box smile made her absolutely calm. "What happened to you? It's like you disappeared—"

"Well it's not like you ever come to my side of town," he said quietly, that cheeky smile still spread across his lips.

Victoria nodded, laughing a bit. It was true, she hadn't gone back to the place she'd met him yet she expected him to show up in her life. "Can't argue with that." But she'd found the place where their worlds overlapped. "So—you like bike races?"

Taehyung shrugged, his eyes flickering from her to the bikes and back again. "Not really. Just heard it was gonna be a big deal or something." Without giving her a chance to respond, he took her hand excitedly. "Wanna go get some ice cream?"

With Jimin and Hoseok in the back of her mind at this point, she nodded vigorously, the only thing she was able to focus on being the way her heart jumped when he touched her. His smile radiated such happiness that she suddenly felt like everything was going to be okay. "Yeah—"

At the bikes, Hoseok had already argued with Jaehyeong and challenged him. He took the fourth bike and entered the race. Jimin had made it to the front and was watching all the way until Hoseok had lapped the other three and won the race by a landslide. Everyone was cheering and in hysterics. A dumb big plastic trophy was given to him, but he was more confused than proud.

He made his way over to Jimin and shouted over the commotion. "Where's Victoria?!"

"I don't know!"

That didn't sit well with Hoseok. In fact, it bothered him for the rest of the day, especially since he didn't see her again until the next morning. Jimin had told him that she came back to campus the previous night with a huge smile on her face, but Hoseok didn't want to hear it. He suspected she was with a guy and that sucked for him. It really sucked.