judge me once, love me twice | 2yeon

9 | volleyball and rants

Sana looks over to Jeongyeon, who seems out of it today.

All she's been doing for the past twenty minutes of practice is slamming the volleyball into the wall so hard, there's already a dent.

She can't help but be suspicious anymore. Maybe Momo was right.

This girl excels in everything. It would take a robot to defeat her—or a ballerina in the form of Myoui Mina.

Mina and Sana had gotten closer during lunch.

Seeing as both were Japanese and Sana could finally talk to someone about things that happened back in her hometown.

Momo listened too, but the sound of crunching chips made Sana's ears bleed.

Sana had learned from Mina that the two of them (referring to Jeongyeon) had practically grown up with one another, but when the former had searched up the younger girl, it showed that Mina was in a high class family.

So Jeongyeon must be loaded too.

But why would she be in a school that is....quite the opposite of what a rich person would expect?

But then again, Sana goes to this school, so she shrugs it off.

Mina walks up to Sana and looks over to the mad girl.

"She's really taking her anger out on that ball, huh?" Mina comments, with a laugh on the side.

"Anger?" Sana looks at Mina. "What about?"

"Just personal problems. Your best friend would know."

"Momo?"

"The other one."

"Oh, Nayeon." Sana strikes a puzzled face, because since when did Jeongyeon and Nayeon become close?

Mina notices that look. "No, they're not close. Nayeon accidentally overheard something." And she hasn't told me yet? Must be serious.

Sana's thoughts are disrupted as the coach blows the whistle to gather them all in.

The girls form a circle and each count in twos, so they can divide themselves into two teams. The bibs are a different colour this time, so it's orange vs green.

The entire gym becomes silent when they realise something.

Nayeon and Jeongyeon are on separate teams. Oh fuck. Sana grits her teeth and puts on her orange bib, getting into place as a defensive specialist in position 5.

Jeongyeon just so happens to be the orange team's opposite hitter, and is placed in position 2, in contract to Nayeon, who is in position 3 for the green team.

Mina's the setter for the green team, and her blonde hair with black roots makes her look like Kozume Kenma, and she's officially looks like the brains of the team.

The game starts off hefty: Hyunjin serves the ball for the orange team, which Yerim receives from the back row for the green team. Mina catches the toss and passes it ever so swiftly to Nayeon, who jumps up and spikes it into the other team's area.

Nayeon glares at Jeongyeon fists and looks up, and there's some sort of rage in the girl's eyes.

Jeongyeon doesn't hold back for the next few rounds.

It's an epic game of tug-and-war as Mina, Jeongyeon and Nayeon are fighting for points, and the scoreboard is racking up points faster than a spice shelf.

Jeongyeon continuously scores points for her team, and all her strength is being shown as the ball hits the floor like an earthquake.

Soon enough, Tzuyu sets the ball for Jeongyeon, who jumps up ever so perfectly to spike it.

But she doesn't.

The ball lands in their court, and the sounds of weeping can be heard from the usually tough Yoo Jeongyeon, who is crouching down on the ground.

Sana doesn't know what to do.

Nothing bad happened; orange team were in the lead anyways.

So why was Jeongyeon crying?

Jackson, the intern coach, walks up to the girl and pats her back. "Hey." He gently greets her. "Let's go and talk outside, yeah?"

Jeongyeon doesn't meet his gaze and nods, standing up as Jackson gently begins to take her off of the court.

"Wait!" Someone calls out, and everyone looks at Nayeon, who looks like she's been in shock. "I-I'll talk to her."

Sana is even more puzzled now.

Jeongyeon doesn't flinch as Nayeon helps her get out of the gym, and the mumbles of Chaeyoung wondering what happened to her Unnie makes her confused.

Sana doesn't understand what's going on, and clearly neither does everyone else.

*****

Jeongyeon breaks down.

It's tears and heavy breathing, and she doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. She doesn't know how to stop herself, and it's flood central on Jeongyeon's neatly ironed uniform.

Nayeon comes back with a plastic cup of water, which she hands over to the girl.

The tears pause for a while when Jeongyeon takes a sip, and Nayeon comes and crouches on the floor next to her.

"So what's wrong?" Nayeon asks, genuinely worried for her. "You seemed angry at practice. It was like the ball was your enemy or something."

"No reason." Jeongyeon takes a huge breath in and feels more tears coming out.

"It can't be no reason if you're crying this hard." She smiles, and the younger girl huffs. "You don't have to tell me everything, just tell me like a code."

"You're still on that whole spy thing?" Jeongyeon sobs, and holds her head between her knees.

Nayeon replies with a shake of the head. "No, I realised it's just foolishness."

Jeongyeon purses her lips and stays silent (with a few sniffles and tears) for the next few moments, but Nayeon doesn't mind it at all. She's willing to wait.

"Unnie." Jeongyeon starts, and Nayeon's ears perk up. "I'm scared."

Nayeon already knows this, but either way, she needs to comfort the girl. She wraps her arms around her back and holds her in an embrace.

It's something Jeongyeon hasn't felt in a long time.

"I don't want to leave. I don't want to start over. I don't want to break again." Jeongyeon says in short breaths, and Nayeon nods to remind the girl that she's listening. "I'm so so scared."

"Shh. Everything will be okay, I promise." Nayeon reassures her. She takes a deep breath and leans onto Jeongyeon's shoulder. "I know I've been acting mean and cold to you for the past few days and I'm sorry. I should be more considerate of your feelings, and I promise that I'll do better."

Jeongyeon doesn't reply.

She just cries her heart out in the embrace of the bunny-teethed girl.