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The students had eventually shifted to the basketball court since the sky was turning dark.
The girl I followed, had entered long before I did.
While I stood outside the broad doors to the court, I felt a sudden rush of anxiety in my skin. It was far from being just anxiety, perhaps the mix of guilt in it?
I adjusted my hair over my face before stepping into the arena.
The students were all scattered here and there among their respective common groups.
I was the only one who was not wearing the PT uniform.
"Look, she is here,"
The class monitor, I assumed, informed the busy teacher.
The coach looked sturdy, rough, and ignorant.
"What's your name?"
He asked pointing me to come forward and so I did.
"Min-seo"
I replied, trying to keep my voice strengthy.
The moment one shows they are weak, some predator finds a way to get to them - I speak from my own history.
Except for the fact that the one I chose to harm back then was not as weak as I assumed... not at all.
The teacher wrote that down on the board he held.
"It's the first warning of the weak, you must not forget your uniform from the next day"
He said.
"But I've not received my uniform yet"
I blurted in a hurry as I watched him clap drawing everyone's attention here.
"That is not my concern mam"
He emphasized quite sternly this time.
His eyes glared for a while as a warning before he went back to the center position.
While I knew the way he said that was unjust, I cannot argue on the fact that it truly doesn't concern him. Giving a warning card although, is a bit too much.
I sighed as I took some space at the side of the mass of people around the coach.
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"Looks like someone is minding your presence hard, Min"
Two girls, giggling by the side, said while looking at the coach whose mood had degraded slightly.
"Don't call me that"
I hissed while I clutched the side of my skirt.
"We are to decide that"
They walked off to the other side.
'Min'
That name was once so full of love, admiration, and care. My friends, family, and teachers addressed me as Min all my childhood. Then where along the line of time the name lost all of it's charm? How does it sound so dull and tiring now?
Min-seo suits better, stronger than Min ever was.
"Students, make a group of two and stand in a circle"
The teacher instructed.
"And what about her?"
The monitor asked quickly pointing at me, more concerned than I was.
"Wait till I come back then"
He instructed before wandering off with the same sheet of paper.
The circle loosened and everyone scattered back to their positions again.
I'm partly relieved that I did not receive the uniform yet, or else I would have had to beg someone to make a team with me.
I looked to the glass windows on the side where little rays of the sun came spurring in through the gaps of the clouds.
I really don't think it'll rain today.
*Yawns*
While I whipped off a tiny tear from the side of my eye, I heard a distinct footstep directed this way.
"Let's play dodgeball until Mr. Kim arrives"
I turned to the sound with a certain displeasure.
It's weird to look In-sung in the eye every time I try but now that he's talking directly aiming at me, I must.
"Who'll dodge?"
A certain mockery-filled laughter drew into the scene from the boy standing behind him.
I hadn't realized I was already frowning wide.
"You, new-girl"
He said stepping forward.
I could feel my palms go cold.
"What was your name again?"
He asked, playing with the ball while he stopped about six feet away from me.
I could feel my head tilting a bit on the side.
Has he really forgotten me?
*Throws*
Responding to my reflex I stepped on the side inches away from the point the ball was about to hit me.
"What are you doing?"
I say before I could think.
His lips curled all of a sudden and his eyes were amused.
Someone picked up the ball from behind, I heard.
His eyes moved from my right eye to my left eye and then back to the right eye as if conversing inaudibly through them.
Magically enough, It seemed like I could read them.
It felt like they said, 'I wondered the same back then.'
Is this it then? Is this karma hitting back?
My eyes were struck to the floor, brainstorming everything that happened that day.
"Dodge it... if you can"
I heard him say while he turned back and walked into the circle that had formed eventually.
The ball struck the back of my head and I almost fell to the ground.
Straightening my skirt to my knee from the middle of my thighs was the first thing I did with the throbbing pain I felt on the cold floor.
Waves of laughter filled up the room.
"Know your place girl. We are not dying to be your friends either"
Words stating the same came out of different mouths in different ways while the ball kept circulating in groups, flying at me at times.
It was the same back then, one starts it and everyone else keeps letting it persist... the rage, the disgust.
I stood back up, my eyes filled with tiny hot tears.
The lashes of my eyes perhaps refused to let them fall.
The second hit was on my arm and the third was on my hip.
I sat on the ground feeling a wave of shame washing over me but all I felt was the backlash of a pair of eyes that watched its predator get prayed by a tribe of steel troupes.
By the time the teacher arrived, I had sneaked out of the school from the tiny hole in the back wall of the school boundary, my sister had told me about in her days of schooling.
I was wrong, It did rain that day and I was not equipped with an umbrella whatsoever.
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TO BE CONTINUED