『••✎••』

Jungkook thought cheerleading tryouts were personal and alone.

Jungkook was wrong.

Jungkook was wrong the moment he walked into the gym. He was wrong the moment his eyes adjusted to the lighting and silence sunk over the room. There were other people there.

There were a lot of other people there.

Everyone stared at him for a second, and Jungkook only stared back. He was the only male in the room, surrounded by females with their faces caked in makeup and their fake eyelashes threatening to scratch against their skin every time they blinked.

Jungkook had on a pair of loose gray sweats and a baggy white shirt. All the girls there were in leggings and sports bras. Maybe he would've found it attractive... if he wasn't gay.

"Hey! Can I help you?" one of the cheerleaders asked, her voice pitchy and squeaky. Her dark brown hair was put in a high ponytail on her head. She walked over to Jungkook and when she was close enough to him, everyone else went back to their normal routine. Whatever that happened to be.

"U-Um, I'm here for the cheerleading tryouts..." Jungkook mumbled, feeling intimidated by the girl's beauty. How was he supposed to win over Taehyung's heart if there was a cheerleader this beautiful?

"Awesome! You came to the right place. I'm Hyuna!" she said, holding her hand out for Jungkook to shake. Jungkook hesitatingly took hold of her hand and shook it, wincing at her bruising grip.

"Follow me! We're gonna stretch as a warm up," Hyuna said, turning on her heel and almost hitting Jungkook with her ponytail. Jungkook followed reluctantly, staring at the back of her shirt, trying to decipher what "HBIC" stood for.

Hyuna turned around again, this time almost smacking Jungkook in the face with her fake eyelashes. "Go ahead and find a spot, I'm going to lead the stretching!" she said in a cheery tone. Jungkook could taste how fake it was.

He found a spot kind of sectioned off from the rest of the cheerleaders and stood around awkwardly, wishing that he had forced Jimin or Hoseok to come with him. They were dancers, they could probably do this well.

Hyuna fathered everyone together and began to lead the warm-up. Jungkook followed along as best as he could, his jaw almost dropping as he watched Hyuna effortlessly sink down into the splits. He awkwardly followed, struggling to get down as far as the rest of the girls.

He looked up at Hyuna and felt a shiver run down his spine. She stared back at him with a menacing smile on her face.

This was going to be interesting.

『••✎••』

"How'd it go?" Hoseok teased, twirling his straw around in his strange cappuccino. Or maybe it was a macchiato, Jungkook wasn't really sure.

"Hyung, don't make fun of Kooks," Jimin scolded. "I'm sure he did his best." Jungkook smiled up at Jimin. He was probably the only decent human in the entire high school.

"Holy shit," Yoongi muttered, the book falling off of his face. "W-What?" Jungkook asked, thinking of all of the things that would cause Yoongi to snap out of his sleep. The list wasn't very long.

"Did Hyuna's fake eyelashes get longer?" Yoongi asked, grumbling as he shifted around in his chair. "How does she see with those things hanging off her face?"

Jungkook giggled and shook his head, picking up an abandoned book that was thrown haphazardly across the table. He pushed his glasses up on his nose again. Jungkook blocked out the background noise from his group of friends and decided to get lost in his book.

He found peace in reading, but his peace didn't last for very long. Jungkook jumped when he felt someone tap at his shoulder.

He set his book down, making sure to leave a bookmark at the page he left off on. Jungkook glanced up at his hyungs, feeling a wave of confusion wash over him at their surprised expressions.

He turned around, trying not to jump again when he saw Hyuna and a couple other cheerleaders staring down at him. Hyuna smiled, her makeup almost creasing as she did so, and batted her fake eyelashes.

"Jungkook!" she said, catching the attention of the people sitting nearby. Jungkook gulped harshly, pushing his glasses up on his nose shyly.

"Practice is after school today from three to five. Welcome to the team!" Hyuna said, adding a (fake) giggle after what she said. Jungkook's eyes widened as he watched her turn on her heel and walk out of the cafeteria, ponytail bobbing with each step.

Jungkook turned back around to his friends, trying to ignore the lingering stares coming from the people around him. "I-I didn't expect that..." he mumbled, sinking into his chair.

"Congrats!" Jimin beamed, ruffling his hair, much to Jungkook's dismay. He rolled his eyes and soon the rest of his friends began to mess with him as well.

It wasn't even first period yet, and Jungkook knew that it was going to be a long day.

『••✎••』