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Sana is not entirely sure how she is in this situation right now.
She’s a fairly competitive person, yes, but dodgeball has never really been her game. The countless red balls flying in different directions always made her feel a bit uneasy, considering at least one of them always managed to hit her in the face.
Her tactic consisted of running around court for a few seconds, give her best puppy eyes to the weakest player in the other team and hope for a swift execution off of the game. It worked, sometimes.
Today wasn’t her lucky day, however.
She had made the mistake at looking at the captain of the other team, Park Jihyo. The girl was a natural in this game. She could run fast, throw hard and showed no mercy. Sana knew she was doomed.
“Momo, you got to help me,” Sana said as ran to her friend, quickly hiding behind her back “I feel like I’m about to get murdered.”
“Stop being overdramatic,” was Momo’s reply before she ducked, bringing Sana down with her as a ball went flying past their heads, “you know the rules, nobody is trying to hurt people”.
Sana was about to retort saying that Chaeyoung leaving the court gasping for air after a hard throw from Jeongyeon had hurt Chaeyoung plenty. But her reply died in her lips as Momo was standing up and a ball hit her in the knee.
Momo whined, Sana knew how competitive her friend could get, but she didn’t have time to worry about her hurt ego right in this moment. Quickly standing up, Sana looked around. The last few players from her side of the court had been eliminated and as well as the opposing team. Only Park Jihyo was left.
Well, shit.
Sana rarely, if ever, was the last one standing in dodgeball. Her tactic was almost foolproof, guaranteeing a somewhat safe exit early on in the game. Being last was less than ideal. Being last opposite Park Jihyo was a straight up nightmare.
Not to say that Sana didn’t like Jihyo or that she was a mean person, far from it. As her classmate, she had helped Sana and Momo countless time with the harder Korean lessons the teacher sometimes would assign. She was also gorgeous, with her cute short hair, and beautiful brown eyes, and nicely tanned skin…but that was beside the point. Jihyo was a nice person outside of the court, but when she was playing, she was playing to win.
Hugging her arms around herself, as if that could protect her, Sana looked straight ahead. Jihyo was wiping the sweat from her face, a few strands of hair sticking to her forehead. If she wasn’t fearing imminent death, she would appreciate the look, but she had slightly more important things to worry about her. Jihyo seemed to be momentarily distracted, so if there was a moment to act, it was now.
Looking around the court, she sees a ball not too far from her. As she runs to catch it, silence falls upon the room, the only sound of her and Jihyo’s footsteps running towards the balls laying on the ground.
She grabs the ball nearest to her, and as she turns around all she can see is a red blur. She can hear Momo shouting for her to duck, but it falls on death ears as the ball smacks her right in the nose. The ball falls to the floor, and Sana follows. Her vision is momentarily black, and she can feel the warm blood trickling down her nose. Her hand immediately goes to her face and a groan leaves her lips as she touches her injured nose.
Opening her eyes to a world that is slowly spinning, she sees Jihyo kneeling down by her side and some of the students surrounding her. Momo seems to be simultaneously throwing daggers at Jihyo and looking concerned about Sana.
“I’m so sorry, Sana!” Jihyo begins to say, “Are you ok? I mean, you clearly aren’t, there’s blood all over, shit, I really didn’t mean to throw it that hard! And my aim was a bit off, I swear it was supposed to hit you in the arm! And now your nose is all messed up-“
“Jihyo,” Sana’s voice sounds funny to her own ears and if she wasn’t in so much pain, she’d probably be giggling about it “stop critiquing my nose and just take me to the nurse’s room, ok?”
Jihyo’s ramble stops for a second as she puts one of her arms around Sana’s hips and helps her stand up. She feels a bit flustered, because Jihyo is strong and lifted her so easily, and she doesn’t take her hand away from her hips.
“Don’t you want me to go with you, Sana?” Momo asks and the glare she sends to Jihyo direction makes her shiver.
“It’s ok, Momoring, I don’t want you to miss your next class and Jihyo is already helping me out. I’ll see you later, ok?”
Momo nods as Sana and Jihyo walk away from the court.
The walk to the nurse’s is silent but not uncomfortable. Jihyo is standing closer than necessary, especially since only her nose is hurt and not anything that harmed her sense of balance, but Sana is not going to complain about it.
Reaching the nurse’s room, Jihyo sits her doom in one of the chairs, calling in the nurse. Her nose is not broken, thankfully, just swollen. She’s given an ice pack that Jihyo insists on holding to her face and if she’s blushing, she blames it on the coldness of the ice.
“I’m really sorry, Sana…I didn’t mean to hit you that hard.”
“It’s fine, Jihyo. Maybe I can use this as an excuse to never have to play again” Sana laughs, the pain subsiding thanks to the ice. “And I don’t really mind since it was you that hit me.”
“The ball hit you quite hard, didn’t it?”
“Yeah…” she shrugs “but I know a way you can repay me.”
Jihyo looks at her quizzically before replying “Do you want me to do your homework or something?”
“Or something,” Sana smirks as she takes Jihyo’s hand “take me out to ice cream after class and we are even.”
And well, who is Jihyo to say decline such an offer?