60 The Training Tour. ( 2 )

"Come on! I'll carry you on my back!"

"Huh?" Mia and April looked at each other in shock.

"On…Y-Your back?" April asked again.

"Then whose?" The guy said and while sitting, he went a step back, closer to April.

April looked at Mia and again at the guy, sitting in her feet.

"Oh come on! Why are you hesitating so much? We're just trying to help you. Aren't we bud?" The guy, who was standing, said.

"Yes of course! That's what our president told us to do. To help our juniors!"

"…Um….Will it…be okay?" April asked hesitantly. Mia couldn't believe those words.

"April!" She went towards her. "What are you doing? Are you insane?" She whispered.

April looked at her, as she didn't get what Mia was saying. "Are you really thinking to have a ride on his back?"

"He is just trying to help me. Cause I am hurt." April said innocently.

'What? What is wrong with this girl?....I don't feel if this is right…These guys….are not…just right…'

Suddenly,

"April?" Someone called April's name.

Hearing Ray's voice, Mia got relieved. 'Thank god...'

She sighed in relief when she saw him coming towards them.

Looking at a guy sitting in April's feet and the other guy standing before Mia, Ray looked cautious.

"What's going on here?" He asked while looking at the guy, sitting.

"Mia? April? Why are you guys left behind?" Ray asked again.

"What do you want?" One of them asked arrogantly.

"Huh?" Ray looked at him frowned.

"Who the hell are you?" The other guy said.

"Who the hell are YOU?" Ray said, coming right in front of the guy and asked him looking right into his eyes.

"Wait…He is my….my brother…" April's words made those two guys look at her.

"Hey!!!" Everyone looked in the direction of a loud and bossy voice; and there was standing the president, on a big rock, with her hands folded, her gaze piercing through them.

As soon as, the two boys saw her, their faces turned pale.

"What's going on here?" She jumped down from the rock and started walking towards them.

"Shoot!" The guy, who was sitting, quickly got up and went towards his friend.

The president came towards two of them. "What are you two doing here?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"Umm…Uh…" The guy couldn't find words.

The other guy said somehow, "We…We were…just helping…that girl…" and he pointed at April.

President looked at her, the look in her eyes, made April's whole body shiver.

"I…I….I hurt…myself….So…he said that…he'd take me up there…on his b-back…"

"WHAT?" Ray literally shouted and looked at the guys.

Now the president was also looking at them.

"We…We were just…helping….helping…" The guy kept repeating. President narrowed her eyes. Both the guys quickly looked down.

"I..think…we should go…" And by saying that, they ran away from the president, towards the others who were a bit up on the mountain.

Looking at them, running like that, Mia couldn't help but smile. She was laughing inside.

"And who are you?" The president was talking to Ray, looking at him suspiciously.

"I am Kim Ray. I am C.R. of class 1-C with my sister." He looked at April and again at the president.

"Oh!"

"They were left far behind, so I came down to see if there was any problem." He said further.

President didn't say anything to him and turned towards April. "You really can't walk?"

She came towards her and looked at April's feet. Her big toe was now bleeding a bit and the sides of her feet were turned blue.

She sighed out loudly, "The kids these days….." She said looking at April's shoes.

"Hey kid, can you take her on your back?" She asked Ray.

"Of course." Ray answered.

"But…But she is wearing a short skirt!" Mia said.

On those words, April widened her eyes. Now she understood why Mia was not letting her to go with that senior guy.

The president took down her backpack and opened it. Taking out something, she threw it at April. Though startled by it, April caught it somehow.

It was a track-pant. A very long, track-pant! As April held it in the air, they were looking huge.

"These are gigantic!" April complained.

"If you don't want them, then come up on your own two feet, shorty!" The president growled.

"Just wear it!" Mia whispered.

With an unsatisfied face April agreed to do it.

Taking care of the things, the president went ahead. Within a minute, she was back in the front of the whole group.

'Wow….She is awesome!!!' Mia thought to herself.

~

"So, a lot of complaints have come to me." The president was talking standing in the very front. All were reached on the top now. Ray got April down. His face was sweaty and he was panting heavily.

Mia sat down, and took her and April's backpack down, which she was having on her back and her front. Then taking out some tissues, she handed them to Ray. He gave her a tired smile.

"…That "Why no one told us about this mountain climbing?" or "Why weren't we informed properly?" or "We might have come prepared." And all such things.

So my friends, my juniors and specifically girls….This was a test!"

"Huh?" All the girls and boys started talking with each other in disbelief and upset tone.

"..Listen…Listen you all." President tried to quiet them down.

But no one stopped.

"SHUT IT!!" On that, everyone went silent.

"That's better. So….You all knew that this was a training tour.

We have clearly told you that this was not a fun trip, haven't we?

So you all are supposed to wear proper clothing."

"How is this related to us being class monitors?" A voice came from the crowd.

"Yeah, what is this test for? A test for our fashion sense?" The other voice came from the girl's side.

After hearing those, the president spoke further, "Some of you are class representatives; some are members of the student council president…" She was talking, looking at everyone one by one.

"…You represent your class, our school. So it DOES matter what you wear. I am not talking about your private life, but it's just a common sense. You guys should know what you are wearing and where you are wearing it.

"Training" is not where you go wearing short-skirts..." She said looking at April specifically.

April quickly looked to the other side, avoiding the eye contact.

"…Just like that, when you guys are in the school, you should wear your uniforms properly.

Your look represents your whole class.

Unbuttoning your shirt's upper buttons, not tucking in the shirt in your pants or skirts, or wearing something different giving a stupid excuse is not what you are supposed to do…" She said.

"This was a test to see what you guys choose in what conditions and a lesson on how you should behave in the school."

"So this was all for a lesson to wear proper uniforms?" April said to Mia.

"Yeah…Isn't that too much?" A girl standing in front of them whispered.

Mia was standing silently there.

"It feels like freaking military training to me. All this she did, just to tell us to be proper?"

Other girl complained.

A girl, who was standing next to Mia, was hearing all this. "Well, she does want to join army!"

Other girls looked at her puzzled, Mia too.

"I know she is strict guys, and she goes to extremes to explain the smallest thing. But she is doing it all for your own sake."

Mia gently nodded her head understandingly.

"Yeah…whatever…" The other girls ignored what she said completely, and started complaining about the president again.

The girl sighed and looked in the front again.

~

While climbing up the stairs of the shrine, everyone saw a proper cement road, which was coming till the main gate of the shrine. And there was standing their bus, with their teacher waiting for them.

'Ughhhh…..' Most of them clenched their teeth in frustration.

~

"So, I am making 3 teams as the three classes. As we all have 3 main works to do.

The first one is, cleaning the shrine from inside as well as outside. This whole area.

The second one is, cooking meal for all of us, here…outside.

And the third, planting vegetables in the field over there…." She pointed at an already cleaned, small land at a distance. "…And planting flowering plants and other trees, in the front yard of the shrine."

"Class 3…will do the cleaning.

Class 2…cooking.

And class 1….the juniors….you'll do the planting."

LET'S DO THIS!!!"

~

"…So like this, you make a soil berm…So when we water the plant, it retains there…" Mia was talking as she was making the berm around the plant. Everyone was standing there, surrounding her and was carefully watching her, doing everything step by step.

"Great!" Ray said. "So let's go and plant the others. We have a lot of them back there."

And with that everyone went to get the plants.

The whole area of the shrine was filled with these high school students. Everyone was busy doing their work. Some of the class 3 students were busy cleaning the shrine from inside while the others were sweeping the front and backyard.

The class 2 students were in the back of the shrine, in an open shed. A couple of them were near the gas-stove, some were washing the vegetables, and others were cutting them.

And the class 1; everyone had their own plant with them, which they were busy planting.

The shrine which was so silent for the whole year was now filled with chatter of all these kids.

The president who was watching all this from a distance smiled to herself. Then she went to every group to check their work and to give them a hand. She was like at every place, helping every group in different ways.

.

"Is this right, Mia?" April said when she got up and looked at the plant she had just planted.

As soon as she got up, the long pant she was wearing slid down a bit.

"Ughhh….These pants are so annoying!!!" April said pulling them up.

"Why don't you fold them at your ankles? So they wouldn't get in your way that much."

"Hm." April said with an annoyed face. She was really frustrated with the pants.

"I'll go and get another plant." And holding her pants in a funny way, she walked away with a weird walk.

"Cute!" Mia smiled to herself.

"Hey, Mia!" Ray came towards her and sat down beside her.

"Hey…" She said as she placed the plant in the pit and started covering its roots with the soil.

"How many did you plant?" She asked him.

" Five." He answered.

"Five? Wow, you are pretty fast. This is my third one."

"Haha…I may be fast, but you are the better one." He said. "How do you know every point of this? Is this one of your secret skills or something?"

"Haha….Oh No, No. I really have nothing like that. This is all thanks to Jun!" She said smiling.

"Jun? You mean Do Jun?" He was surprised.

Mia understood what she just said, "Um…Yeah….Actually….He taught me all this last spring, when…we planted some of the vegetables in our front- yard…"

"Really? Does that mean, you know him from last year?"

"Umm…Actually from childhood…"

"Ohh..." He said and then looking at Mia, doing her work, he said further, "But it's interesting actually!"

"Huh?"

"I mean, Do Jun and gardening! That's an odd combination!" Ray said laughingly.

"Yeah…" Mia laughed back. "Well he is way different than he looks…." She murmured.

"Did you just say something?"

"N-Nothing…Hehe…" Mia said as she started making the berm around the plant.

While doing that, some of her bangs were coming on her face and were irritating her, so with the back of her palm she tried pushing them back. But as her hands were muddy, the mud got on her forehead.

"Ugh..tsk..sss"

"Wait, wait." Ray said as he got out a tissue from his pocket and leaned forward towards Mia.

And then taking back her bangs carefully from her face, he started wiping the mud from her forehead.

'Whaaaaaaaa....What? …..What should I do? Oh my…Oh my….' Mia was freaking out inside.

But outside, she was just sitting really still, without making a single move. Looking at Ray from so close, she forgot to breathe too. She was just sitting there, staring at him weirdly. Her face was turned completely red.

"There you go…" He said and taking away his hand from her forehead, he looked at her.

And when he saw her face, her wide eyes and her red face, he startled and quickly moved away.

"S-sorry…I just…." And getting up. "I…I'll go…and plant more brings….I mean…bring more ..p-plants…" He said very quickly and literally ran away from there.

As soon as he went, "Hoooooo…." Mia let out the breath, she was holding for all this time.

Putting hand on her racing heart, she looked in the direction where he went.

~

After the work finished, everyone got their lunch.

"I was dying from hunger!" April said as she sat down, beside Mia.

Mia smiled at her. "It surely feels nice, to eat after working so hard."

"Hm! Eating outside, under a tree….so nice!! The air, the food and the company, everything is so good!" April said winking at Mia.

Mia smiled again.

Then taking out her cell-phone, she looked if anyone's message has come. Her mother, So Hee and Hana's messages were there. Replying back to them, she went into her contact list and clicked on Jun's name.

"Junaaa…" She messaged.

After couple of minutes, he saw the message but didn't reply.

"JUNAAAAAAA….." She messaged again. Now he saw it and messaged back.

"What is it?"

"Nothing!"

"Then why are you messaging me?" Jun messaged along with an annoyed emoticon.

"I miss you!" Mia sent with a smiley faced emoticon.

"Huh? Did you fall on your head or something?"

"Nope. But I just said what I felt."

On that, Jun didn't message back, though he read it.

"Junaaa….I wish you were also here….We really had so much fun!! And I really miss you....

By the way, I am having lunch right now. We would head back by 4 maybe."

"Okay."

"See you in the evening! Bye bye."

"Come as slow as you can…so that I would enjoy my day even more!" And an emoticon with a teasing expression popped up on the phone's screen.

Mia smiled, 'Classic Jun….' She thought as she put back her phone in her pocket and started having her lunch again.  

~