grand slam | seokhan

06 || The Beginning of Something New

Six pairs of eyes stayed fixated on the entrance to the large gymnasium as the sound of footsteps approaching the otherwise vacant room gradually grew closer every passing second. The footsteps paused momentarily and following that silence came the expected sound to the wide doors to the gymnasium opening.

All six pairs of those eyes perked up at the sight of those closed doors finally opening up, but all six baseball players then began to share matching frowns on their faces when they realized that it was just the school janitor coming in to clean the large gymnasium.

While four out of the six official members of the baseball team sat on the bleachers in the gym, their captain and Seokmin instead sat at a small table where an empty sign-up sheet laid flat on its surface. The group of teenagers had been there all afternoon, right from when the last school bell rang to now, when the school was getting ready to close its doors for the weekend. Jihoon had a large scowl on his face, whereas Seokmin's bright expression shined with anticipation that none of the other baseball members could share.

A majority of the teenagers felt discouraged by the lack of attendance at their tryouts, especially because they had tried so hard to get the rest of the student body interested in their team. Even Baekho who usually radiated confidence and happiness out of his pores at any given moment felt downhearted by the empty gymnasium.

"I expected Jeonghan to not show up, but I didn't expect nobody at all." Jihoon broke the silence among his teammates first.

Usually being the group moodmaker wasn't up to Jihoon, but as their captain Jihoon knew that checking in on his team was now one of the many responsibilities entitled to him. Making conversation during difficult times was what their previous captain did to lighten the mood whenever things got dreary. Jihoon wanted to use Seungcheol as an example of what a good captain would do, and so he followed in his example.

"He didn't really seem impressed by the idea of going to tryouts." Seokmin agreed without hesitation. He glanced over to see Jihoon twirling a silver pen in his right hand and observed how every time the pen slipped out of Jihoon's pale hands, the small captain picked it right back up to repeat his actions. While the tall brunet stared at the spinning silver pen, he began to think about Jeonghan.

He hadn't managed to really talk to the dark-haired student since last week because of how busy he had been with the team, but Seokmin was positive that things would work out between them. He just knew things would work out just like how he knew that the team still had hope. "By the way, you seem like you're close to him. How do you both know each other?"

"We went to the same summer camp every year as kids until about three years ago. It's hard not to remember pretty much my only friend at those dreadful camps." The short senior explained as he continued with twirling the silver pen in his right hand around.

"I have no idea why my parents thought sending me to those was a smart idea though. The whole making friends at camp concept is such a hoax. I've only made enemies there, and not the good kind."

Seokmin nodded as Jihoon spoke calmly. The pale senior seemed like someone who didn't talk much which was also the first impression Seokmin had gotten from him. What was surprising though was that Jihoon did make more of an effort to speak and respond the more he got to know you. The rest of the team had come to realize this as well.

All of them were cautious around Jihoon at first, but now they were all at the stage where they trusted Jihoon and his judgement hence why they trusted him to be their captain.

"Hey kids! Did anyone show up for tryouts?" The six pairs of eyes joined together once again to gaze at the entering figure. It was an older woman, their Coach, entering the gymnasium with a warm smile despite seeing the frowns shared amongst her students' faces. The woman was way more focused on the idea of finally getting to leave behind her duties as both a gym teacher and a coach at the school for the weekend than on how her team was doing mentally.