Chapter Text
Hyeongjun’s favorite season of the year: Spring.
No, not necessarily for its weather - if so, winter was always her favorite.
Spring. Spring was her favorite mainly because:
Football.
This year was a bit different for her, though.
This year, she was going to join a new girls’ football team.
In her new school.
Hyeongjun started her sophomore year at an all-girls’ school this school year. She would say that she has become well-adjusted in a way, becoming close to a girl named Seungmin, after bumping into her at one of Hyeongjun’s favorite bands, yeti let you notice’s performances.
After the rather relaxing but also hectic months of studying during the autumn and winter semester, Hyeongjun was finally able to get her body moving to start her sports season.
“Jun-ah, you’re literally looking so desperate that you want the class to end right now. You’re looking at the clock every second, as if that’ll make time move faster. You’re that excited for the football season?”
Seungmin whispers, her eyebrows raised high as she looks at Hyeongjun.
“Yeah. I’ve waited so long for it. Football’s so fun, no?”
“I do enjoy watching it, but, really, I definitely do not want to play in the rain. My makeup is going to get all runny, plus, being drenched is the worst.”
“I get the make-up part, yeah. But I find that playing in the rain is always part of the fun in playing football.”
“Gee, I’ll never quite understand you. Either way, I’ll join as the manager and have something to do in my spring season. Plus, I want to see how our team plays, we’re one of the best teams on the plain, thanks to the really good players on our team.” Seungmin hums, her face a satisfied smile as she returns towards her screen, scrolling through her Pinterest feed that inspires her for the next outfits.
“You’re going to be the best manager. I can see the vision,” Hyeongjun replies, earning an adoring smile and a thanks from Seungmin.
Hyeongjun briefly catches onto the teachers’ never-ending talk on different societal stuff, but only loses her focus on her computer, opening it to catch up on the recent manga chapters. After reading through the dynamic monotone pages of the weekly updates, she remotely moves over to look through guitar riffs to practice, her fingers mimicking the codes and cutting style.
And finally, the loud, cyclic sound of the school bells echoed.
Hyeongjun stuffs her laptop into her bag, quickly telling Seungmin, I’ll see you around, to whom she responded with Good luck. Hyeongjun then darts out of the classroom, heading for her locker to grab her kit. After making a quick sorry after almost bumping into a girl nearby, Hyeongjun rushed down the stairs to the changing rooms.
Walking in, the room smelled of the scents of perfume and deodorant: flowers, shampoo, all mixed. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but Hyeongjun’s nose adjusted eventually. As she walks by the sinks, she finds a few girls already kitted out, hair tied up in little hairdos, making them look pretty despite it being a tryout for the team.
Another group, seemingly the team trying out for track and field, was also chattering by the stalls. Track and field also happened during the same season, but Hyeongjun never quite found herself piqued by it.
Seungmin told her that the football team’s coach was extra selective in her players, her eyes almost as keen as an eagle searching for prey upon her choices.
In her previous school, Hyeongjun was also on the team, playing left wing as she sped and cut through opponents. Hyeongjun was quite confident in her skills, being complimented by other coaches on her attacks during turnovers. But hearing Seungmin’s words, the new environment wasn’t going to let her join the team easily: she truly needs to show her best.
Her way to build her confidence was to recall how she excels at playing the guitar; she applied the same approach to playing football. To fight against her nerves from a new setting, list the positives: a new team means new skills, new techniques, and many new things to build her character.
Hyeongjun reaches for the pink-soft curtains, pulling them to separate her space from the other girls who are still conversing by the sinks, then dropping her heavy belongings onto the floor.
As Hyeongjun unbuttons her white collared uniform, Hyeongjun flinches from the sudden noise of the curtains being pulled over, along with two chattering voices entering Hyeongjun’s secluded space.
Hyeongjun immediately grabs onto her nearby shirt, covering her chest, conscious of her bare skin peeking. The two seemed to be unbothered by Hyeongjun’s presence, bickering as they made their way across the room.
“Jiseok, I swear, this year we’re literally going to be beating every school out there.”
“Yeah, yeah, Jooyeon. When you quite literally gave one of the girls on the last team we went against a really bad foul, and that kinda got them a PK and then our first and only loss of the season.”
“That doesn’t count for me! Because hey, that bitch deserved it! I was doing nothing, but she gave me an elbow on the stomach when she was moving back to her defense line! She also said something like I was being too pushy when I dribbled past her, but she barely even reached me. Does she expect me to just stand around like a statue for her to steal the ball? Obviously not. I’m guessing it’s probably because I was too good at dribbling past her and she was jealous. But, hey!”
Hyeongjun peeked behind her shoulder to make out the figures who were clearly talking about the season.
One had short black hair; the other long, chocolate-blonde locks that fell to around what seemed to be her chest.
The brunette turned around to reach for her stuff, making Hyeongjun starstruck, a sudden rush of nerves and adrenaline devouring her.
Her face was stunning, almost as if Aphrodite was existing right in front of Hyeonjun: lush, plump pink lips, long lashes placed so perfectly to emphasize her round puppy-like eyes. She had a sharp, sculpted brow contrasting with her adorable eyes, creating a cool, mature look.
Hyeongjun’s eyes wander down as she watches the girl’s long, bony, but firm fingers trace down to unbutton her shirt, the garment flowing open in the process.
Hyeongjun flusters, dropping her shirt in the process. She fumbles down to reach for her shirt, naturally finding herself rummaging through her stuff in an attempt to repress the sound of her rushing heart.
And what just so happens is that perhaps she might’ve made too much noise, catching the attention of the pair, as a question that was truly only targeted to Hyeongjun:
“Uhh, did you forget something?”
The girl with short black hair, whom Hyeongjun assumed from the conversation was Jiseok, asks.
Hyeongjun tenses, reaching for her long black hair that was starting to curl up despite straightening it in the morning.
“N-No! I just found it!”
Hyeongjun says, clearly not holding up anything as she absent-mindedly fumbles through her stuff without any objective.
“That’s a relief! Then, guess we’ll see you on the field.”
The voice of Hyeongjun’s panic responds, her voice filled with contentment, making Hyeongjun’s heart skip a beat as she realized that the girl paid attention to notice that she was trying out for football.
Hyeongjun stares into her bag as the sound of the two girls disappears into the distance, her racing heart still running laps. She hasn’t even started running for the tryout, yet she feels like she just played full-time on the field for both halves non-stop.
ーー
Walking onto the field, she finds a few of the other players already practicing their passing. She spots the brunette in the distance, who, instead of passing, was practicing her dribbling skills against the raven-haired.
Amidst the dribbling, though, she tackles her onto the ground, pinning the dark-haired down to a wrestle. Hyeongjun’s face frowns, a slight hint of judgment and a tingling at the corner of her lips.
A small giggle escapes from Hyeongjun’s mouth, and the two girls face Hyeongjun’s way.
“Wanna join?” The brown-haired girl shouts over, her hair becoming a mess despite being tied up into a ponytail.
“I think watching it is already enough for me,” Hyeongjun responds, a timid smile on her face as the small black pebbles that keep the fabricated grass on hold squish underneath her cleats as she makes her way over to the pair. The two untangle from each other’s hold, patting down on their shirts, small wisps of green falling onto the artificial turf.
“I’m Jiseok, this annoying, weird, crazy one, Jooyeon.” The black-haired introduces themselves, a feeling of relief and ecstasy, falling onto Hyeongjun after being able to get the two’s names differentiated correctly.
“You’re new here, right? Never saw you around last year. Have you played football before?” Jooyeon perks up, her eyes beaming in the direction of Hyeongjun, making her squirm from unease.
“Y-yeah. I played left wing on a different team last year.” Hyeongjun makes out, a hint of annoyance in her mind, hearing her voice come out almost like the sound of a mosquito that flies around your ears when you’re attempting to fall asleep.
“Cool. Excited to see how you play.” Jooyeon’s mouth forms into a heart-catching gummy smile. Hyeongjun’s eyes darted around the field, unable to hold contact. She can feel herself shrinking in her presence, freezing in the spot as she feels Jooyeon bring her arms around Hyeongjun’s shoulder, closing into Hyeongjun’s space that she has never quite let open to anyone without any special occasion.
“Let’s get over to the center circle, the coach is here.”
Almost like Hyeongjun’s foot has just been secured on the spot with wax, Jooyeon makes a failed attempt to move Hyeongjun.
“You good? Let’s get moving.” The girl peeks into Hyeongjun’s face, her hair a faint smell of soft, fluffy marshmallows. Hyeongjun’s eyes meet with Jooyeon, her eyebrows furrowed, her dark-chocolate colored eyes listening in the light. Hyeongjun feels her face flush, making a crooked smile.
“Y-yeah. Sorry, I got a bit nervous.”
Hyeongjun is then gently dragged over by Jooyeon, who’s singing a random song that Hyeongjun feels like she knows but cannot quite remember in the moment.
“Nervous? You played before, right? You’ll be fine.” Jiseok comments, her face painted with a slight hint of concern for Hyeongjun, clearly red not from nerves from the tryout, but from another cause of the butterflies in her stomach.
“Yeah. Thanks.”
ーー
Hyeongjun would consider herself to be slightly competitive. If there are occasions where she has to sprint, she’ll put out the max, wanting to be the fastest: the first to finish in line. And back on the previous team, Hyeongjun was always like that.
Playing full for both halves was never the most realistic option, but she always aimed to be on the field most of the time. Even if she was asked to be benched, she often went up to the coach, ready to speed through after a few minutes of rest.
The coach blows the loud whistle to signal the start of the seven-minute run.
Hyeongjun nodded, closing her eyes for a few seconds as she ran through. The cool but warming wind licks around her face, entangling with her dark locks that grew perfectly to a length to tie up just to start off her football season.
Four minutes into the drill, the coach voices from the side, “Keep it up! If you can’t, then come cheer from the sideline.”
For Hyeongjun, that was nothing to worry about. She knew that she could run for the full seven minutes. From Hyeongjun’s observations, this new team seemed to be a lot more fit than her old school’s, but still, she found herself to be far less tired compared to them. After completing about four sets of running line to line, she saw many of the team already starting to fall behind, their pace turning into light jogs.
Only for Hyeongjun’s eyes to land on another figure, running at a similar pace to Hyeongjun, her form angled perfectly as her tied-up light chestnut hair waved in follow. Emotions of astonishment, along with her dog-eat-dog personality, build up, prompting Hyeongjun to push herself further. Across the field, Hyeongjun’s eyes meet Jooyeon's, her mouth forming into her iconic heart-smile, holding up a small thumbs-up.
She slowly starts to feel her energy drain, her mouth gradually tasting like iron from the blood that somehow found a scapegoat into her airways. When her pace was starting to fall, she was only dragged back into the scene as loud cheers erupted from the sidelines.
“Jooyeon!”
“Let’s go, Jooyeon!”
“Who’s that? She’s the only one who’s been able to catch up with Jooyeon.”
Hyeongjun again turns her head in the direction of the blonde-brown haired. Her legs were starting to move similarly to Hyeongjun, slowing down to a jog.
“Last minute! Let’s see which one of them can still keep up!”
The coach shouts, followed by the loud cheers from the team.
“Jooyeon!”
“Keep it up!”
“The new girl, too!”
The corner of Hyeongjun’s eyes catches Jooyeon sprinting forward at a speed that only looks like she has just started the exercise. Hyeongjun’s eyes widen from the sight, abruptly pulling up to bolt to catch up with the other.
Hyeongjun was almost a few meters away from Jooyeon, who was a few meters ahead. The loud beep of the timer signaled the end of the drill.
“Ok, you two can take a few, grab your drinks, and cool off. We’ll start a different drill while we’re at it. Join together as a pair once you’re ready.”
The coach suggests that as Hyeongjun’s head falls low, panting. She gradually makes her way to the shelves, her legs feeling sluggish.
“Jooyeon’s so cool. Really.”
“I was with her last year, but her dribbling was so good. Thanks to her, our team is the best.”
“I wanted to join the team because of Jooyeon.”
Hyeongjun drinks her water, making the taste of blood circulate in her senses. Jooyeon definitely was the kind: the type to catch the hearts of the younger girls, too.
“You’re the only one who caught up with me!”
Hyeongjun timidly turns in the direction of the cheerful voice, facing no other than Jooyeon, smiling ear to ear. Hyeongjun distinctly makes out a tail wagging as her eyes glisten, inching closer to Hyeongjun.
“Definitely going on the team.”
Hyeongjun blushes, backing up from the ever-so beautiful face coming closer each second, turning her face to quickly chug from her waterbottle. “Thanks.”
Jooyeon then steps back, the cheeky smile still plastered on her face.
“I didn’t get to ask, what’s your name? What grade are you in? A freshman?” Jooyeon asks as she grabs her drink, crouching down onto the floor as she leans on the shelf. Hyeongjun stares from the corner of her eye as she looks at Jooyeon’s hands that open up the lid of her water bottle. Her hands were big, with nails that were cut short: no sign of nail polish. Her fingers were long and bony, another trait that God seemed to favor in creating Jooyeon.
Jooyeon brings her drink up to her mouth,
Hyeongjun’s vision magically trails Jooyeon’s lush pink lips, gently being placed, her throat bobbing up and down as she takes a drink of the water.
“You good?” Jooyeon snickers as she brings her drink down, noticing Hyeongjun’s gaze.
Hyeongjun’s eyes widened, blinking as she realized she was leaving Jooyeon off for too long. Busy staring at her. Her details.
“S-sorry? What did you ask again?”
“I asked: What’s your name. And what grade you're in.” Jooyeon tilts her head as she looks at Hyeongjun without a hint of hesitation despite being stared at, or more so, checked out by. Hyeongjun's blush creep up to her cheeks from realization, quickly responding,
“Oh. I’m Han Hyeongjun. I came this year as a new student, so I’m in my sophomore year, actually.”
“Sophomore? Really! I’m also in my sophomore year! Hyeongjun… considering how I’ve never heard your name around - I guess we’ve never had a class together.”
“I’m not the most social type, so maybe that explains why,” Hyeongjun responds, waving her hands to soothe her warming face.
“I get you. I’m also the type who prefers to stay quiet, too. On my weekends, I like to sleep, play games, and play the bass.”
Jooyeon nods, pulling on her hair to tighten the loose hair band. Hyeongjun’s eyes light up from Jooyeon’s comment, responding a little too fast, “You play the bass? I play the guitar, actually,” mentally cringing at how her pitch was clearly higher than before, almost going cracking in the middle.
Jooyeon’s eyebrows raise from surprise, glancing up at Hyeongjun with a cute smile.
“Really? Cool! We should definetly jam together sometime.”
“Yeah. We should.” Hyeongjun’s lips curl up as she grips her water bottle tighter, a sound of her heart skipping.
“Well, Hyeongjun. Shall we get back into the drill?”
Jooyeon says as she rises from the ground, leaving no time to let Hyeongjuns discrete heartbeat to return back to normal. Almost like Jooyeon knew the exact moves to make Hyeongjun become even more restless, she grabs Hyeongjun’s hand guiding themselves back onto the pitch.
Hyeongjun was only certain that she won’t have as many challenges in this new team, her skills were perfect, the players were well trained. But perhaps, Hyeongjun was wronged. She just found her biggest threat this soccer season: Jooyeon.