judge me once, love me twice | 2yeon

4 | invitation

The screeches of trainers could be heard scratching against the newly varnished gym floor, and the sound of volleyballs bouncing and people receiving with a grunt.

Sana walked up to Jeongyeon, who was packing her things on the side of the bleachers.

"You're here to join, right?" She asked, and Jeongyeon nodded her head. "Basketball, football, badminton, tennis, volleyball, athletics, netball or dodgeball?"

Jeongyeon didn't even know dodgeball was a proper sport. "Dodgeball?"

"The girls wanted a chance to get rough." Sana nonchalantly shrugs and hands Jeongyeon a clipboard with the list of all the sports. "Just sign your name here and the clubs you wanna join."

Sana left Jeongyeon to finish off the task, and headed over to Nayeon who was getting the girls to warm-up by running back and forth.

The guys had just left the guy's lockers rooms and some of the girls were coming out of the changing rooms in their kit. Jeongyeon decided to head there first.

*****

Jeongyeon did not like the kit ONE bit.

Nayeon looked like a person with good fashion taste—couldn't she have asked her father to change up the uniforms a bit?

Nevertheless, it was all they had and she had to make the best out of the situation.

"Yoo Jeongyeon, signed up for Basketball, Volleyball and Tennis. Tennis?" Sana looked up. "You strike me more as a football person."

"I've played too much football in my lifetime."

Sana's eyebrows arched. "You're 18."

"As I said, in my lifetime."

Sana shrugged it off and headed away to give the form to Nayeon, who was rounding up the girls to sit on the bleachers.

Jeongyeon noticed her loose shoelace and bent down to tie it in a knot. What she didn't hear was the sound of Im Nayeon making her way to the clueless girl to get her with the others.

All it took was for Nayeon to trip and for Jeongyeon to simultaneously stand up and hit their heads at the same time.

Coincidence? Perhaps.

"Ah, fuck!" Nayeon held her head in pain, dropping the clipboard after the sudden surprise. "My head!"

Jeongyeon winced in pain. "Your head? MY HEAD! Ouch man!"

"What's going on here?" Coach walked up to the two who were hopping around as if their lives depended on it. "You guys still okay to play?"

Jeongyeon looked at Nayeon and turned back to the coach. "Yeah, it's just a minor bump." She straightened up and let go of her bruising head. "I can still play."

Coach turned to Nayeon, who was squeezing her eyes. "You good, Im?"

Nayeon nodded her head without opening her eyes. "Mmhm. Just need a bit of time to readjust to my new life."

Drama queen, Jeongyeon silently laughed and headed over to the bleachers where the other girls sat.

She watched as Nayeon made her way out of the gym, presumably to go to retrieve an ice pack for her throbbing head.

She turned back, hearing the steps of someone approaching.

The coach walked up to the girls and smiled. "We'll be splitting our team practice for today. Volleyball girls, you'll be on the left side of the court, wannabe-Steph-Curry's, you're on the right side. Let's go." Coach clapped her hands as the girls split up into two.

Jeongyeon had signed up for basketball...But the sound of being a 'wannabe-Steph-Curry' definitely did not sound like music to her ears.

Guess it's the Volleyball girls for today, then.

*****

It was the least to say, tense, in the gym.

No one could get past Jeongyeon's amazingly weird spikes and heavy blocks. The other team were struggling with getting any points, and the only time they had gotten any points was when Yerim had accidentally volleyed the ball into the net.

But that was one point, compared to the fifteen points Red team had already conquered.

Nayeon watched from the sidelines, looking at every single one of Jeongyeon's blocks, spikes and receives.

Her body moved so effortlessly, so gracefully, as if she had been trained by a ballerina of some sort. Her receives were perfect, and her passes went wherever she wanted them to go.

Nayeon hadn't seen anything like this in a long time, and she was even shocked at Jeongyeon's desired form whenever she hit a minus tempo spike.

Of course, not all of the points Jeongyeon could take credit for. She'd also have to thank Chaeyoung for her amazing ability to effortlessly move around—even if she were a bit slow, but that's not the point right now.

Another gem on her side was Chou Tzuyu. Yes, she didn't exactly have much stamina, but she had height. It was good for a decoy, and Jeongyeon could easily get past the other girls.

The coach blew the whistle to tell the girls to take break—and the blue team was so tired, they wished it was a game over.

"Sheesh, Jeong." Sana gulped her water down like there was no tomorrow. "You're a monster. You this good at Basketball too?"

Jeongyeon shrugged. "Guess you could say so, but I doubt it."

"Humble too." Sana glared at her. "Are you sure you're not in college?"

"You literally told me earlier, 'You're 18.' So obviously, I'm not in college."

The Japanese girl chuckled before before putting her bottle down.

"Can I ask you something?"

Jeongyeon uncrossed her arms. "Go on."

"Why did you move to this school late into the semester?" Sana curiously quizzed. "No one comes this late into the semester unless they're loaded."

Jeongyeon had no idea how to answer.

She couldn't tell Sana her life story, could she? It's not like there was enough time anyways.

"Well, I-"

"HEY, YOO!" Nayeon screamed from the net. "Let's fight."

Thank god Jihyo for this divine intervention—or should it be labelled more as a curse?