THIRTEEN

"Okay so force equals mass times acceleration," Mr. Joung, their math teacher said as she scribbled on the board, "that is Newton's second law of motion."

Suddenly the bell rang making the class stand up. They were all leaving as if they had been tortured. After all, it's math; it is torture.

Nari's head hit the desk abruptly. She had fallen asleep in math class for the first time ever. Luckily there was no more math class for the day so she wouldn't be getting detention this time.

      "I'm not surprised." Eun sighed as they both stood up and started walking to the lunch room.

     She hadn't slept because of Ara and Jimin. She tossed and turned last night until it was time to get up.

     "I was worried for her." she said as they took the trays filled with food.

     Eun nodded, "I know, we'll figure something out."

     Both had gotten their food so they walked to their usual spot. Hyuk followed them after a few minutes and sat down. Their table was empty.

"I got an A on my English test!" Hyuk exclaimed as he slid the evaluation paper on the table.

Both girls cheered for him. He was good in English, which was weird because he could've tutored Jungkook. Sadly, it had to be her instead of him. But, she preferred to go through hell just so her best friends would be okay.

Suddenly, the chair beside Nari was pulled away. She looked to the owner of the noise and saw Jungkook with yet another smirk on his face.

"Hello, gorgeous." he said as he sat down and placed his arm around her shoulder.

She put on her most fake smile that she could ever master. Sure, bangtan and her friends knew that it was all an act but the whole school thought the opposite.

His tray had been placed on the table and so had been the other six of his friends.

She'd have to get used to that.

"Guess what," he whispered to her on her ear sending shivers down her spine, "B+ on the first English exam, and it's all thanks to you."

He kissed her cheek and she blushed. His lips could send her into a fit of butterflies all over her body.

The paper had a giant B scribbled on top. She smiled at him.

"It's also because of you." she said truthfully.

He had proved her wrong during these few weeks. Jungkook had actually tried his best and payed attention to every single detail Nari had explained, at least that's what she noticed.

    Her heart stopped when she noticed Jungkook's other hand. He had it under the table, on top of his knee. It had scratches all over it with a hint of dry blood on them. It looked as if he had punched someone.

"Your hand." she whispered to him.

     His hand looked swollen but as she saw, he had managed to hide it with the school uniform.

She had noticed that he fought the guy from the party with his left hand. Meanwhile, his right hand was now swollen.

His slick ways startled her more as the weeks passed.

     "It's nothing." he mumbled as he sipped on his apple juice.

     She widened her eyes and gestured to his hand. How can he be saying it's nothing? His hand is swollen!

     "It looks swollen, Jungkook." she replied.

      "What looks swollen?" Hyuk asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

     Nari had forgotten about them being there. They probably even heard their conversation.

     Jungkook widened his eyes and stuttered, "M-my lips! Nari, babe, you should kiss them better."

     Her cheeks reddened. There he goes again. His friends laughed with him.

     Trying to lighten up the mood, I guess.

   "Aish." she mumbled as she played with her food in hopes of calming her speeding heart beat.

    It didn't work.

    She was pretty sure that everyone could hear her heartbeats from a far. To be more specific, she was completely sure that her heart could be heard through the school ground.

      "You don't have to do this here," Yoongi said as he aggressively slurped his ramen, "when I am eating." he finished as he shot daggers to them.

Jungkook put his arm around Nari. She still kept playing with her food. Nothing could stop her beating heart.

"Cut it out, dude. We know." Hyuk said as he rolled his eyes at him.

She heard Jin chuckle, "If they do, then they'd think something was up," she saw his eyes darken, "dude."

The tension between Hyuk and the boys, specifically Jin, was noticeable. All of them spoke to Hyuk in the nicest way posible—they'd still get ignored by him. It was some other kind of tension. She still couldn't put her finger on it.

      She heard her friend sigh, "Then it's your fault," he pointed an accusing finger at Jungkook, "for coming up with that brilliant idea."

     She felt Jungkook tense up beside her. His fists were white from the pressure he had been emitting.

"If it wasn't for me and my brilliant idea, she might've not even been here," he kept his eyes on him, "if I were you I'd shut up." in one second Jungkook had left the lunchroom.

   The silence prolonged for a few minutes. Jimin had stood up to talk to Jungkook. The others stayed, finished their food and looked as if they were about to kill Hyuk.

    She had forgotten that her friends knew nothing. They weren't at the party. This was new information for them.

     "Nari–I–why didn't you tell us anything?" Hyuk asked with a sorrowful expression.

    "I was going to–" she started but was interrupted again.

    She saw Eun's eyes water, "He did this for you?" she asked her.

    Did he do this for me?

    Or did he do it because he just felt like messing up with my heart, like he does with other girls?

   "He did it so that Yong Zik could stop feeling her up." Hoseok said.

Eun stood up in a huff, "Yong Zik, the gang boy?" Nari could see the imaginary smoke coming from her ears.

"Let it go, Eun." Hyuk exclaimed lowly as he tried to pull her down to her chair.

"Eun–" Jin started but was interrupted.

      They didn't know that they were Bangtan. If only she knew.

     Her best friend took a breath, "That son of–"

    As she was about to go to Zik's table. He sat down silently as he watched her mad. Nari noticed everything.

He sat alone. Nari averted her eyes and looked at Taehyung holding Eun by her shoulders.

"Calm down. We already took care of him." he whispered to her as he leaned to her eye level.

She tried to get out of his grip, the tears were falling rapidly on her eyes, "Taehyung, he–"

"We already took care of it." he reassured her.

She had never seen her this emotional. This was her first time and her heart was broken at the sight of her hurt friend.

"It's okay, I'm fine." she had walked to her side and gave her a hug.

Nari encircled her arms around her friend's waist. Taehyung had let her go but Nari saw his eyes filled with sorrow.

Both friends hugged each other. Later Hyuk had also joined. The three had joined into a heartfelt group hug.

"Listen, your food is getting cold so I'm going to eat it." Namjoon's voice was heard and all eight teens chuckled.

Namjoon had eaten Nari's ramen in seconds. His face was smeared with sauce which made him look funny.

She couldn't stand seeing Eun cry or Hyuk mad. They had become her second family, no one was going to hurt them. She'd put her life on the line for them, all of them.