Hey Mama – David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha & Afrojack

Chapter Two: Errors

Errors: Times the fielder fails to make a play that should have been made with common effort, and the batting team benefits as a result

Bom woke up the next day to a rabidly growling stomach, slight headache and a nagging feeling that she had missed out on something important. Foregoing the latter, she chose to fill her ravenous stomach up with food, padding lithely into the kitchen to quickly whip together a simple breakfast of pancakes and eggs.

Of course, it couldn’t be considered breakfast, seeing as it was the middle of the afternoon and she knew she had already ed up her usual morning regime. Sighing to herself, she hungrily scarfed down her food, watching a news broadcast as she did so.

“The next segment will be a pre-recorded press conference given by G-Dragon regarding the case of his previously missing children–“

The shrill ringing of her house telephone interrupted Bom’s immersion in the program, the sound causing her head to hurt even more.

Picking up the phone, she snarled, “Who the are you, what the do you want from me and if you’re one of those call-centre douchebags, go and preach somewhere else because I’m not in the ing mood.”

“Well, that’s one way to greet your coach.” The voice on the other line chuckled.

“Coach! Oh, my god!” Bom exclaimed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think–”

“I tried calling your cell but couldn’t reach it.”

“Yeah, it probably doesn’t have battery; I forgot to charge it last night before I fell asleep.”

“Well, you and the rest are five hours late in meeting me. I figured since you landed us in the world championship league, I’d let you guys off two hours or so. But it’s three in the afternoon, so get your asses in here now, or god help me, your irresponsible asses are off the team.”

Bom cringed, hearing the threat in his words. She never knew whether he was joking or not, often used to his extreme way of coaching. She didn’t have time to respond, as her coach had hung up, leaving her to hastily call the rest of the team and relay Coach’s threat to them.

Within an hour, she and the team were all back on campus, sitting in their coach’s office.

He gave them the stink eye before leaning back against his seat. “Y’all know why you guys are here, right?”

“No, Coach,” some of the girls replied.

He smirked, and Bom swore she felt her heart drop a little.

She knew.

She knew, but she didn’t want to ruin all the fun.

“I’m choosing who gets to play in the world university championship league.” Coach said gruffly, almost as if he didn’t care much about what they felt upon hearing those words.

Everyone knew that whoever got to play in the league would be guaranteed an immediate draft into a highly acclaimed team. They all knew that whoever played would basically be given a straight shot into fame, fortune and success. They’d be legends playing in just one game, being the first ever Korean team to play in the league.

For university seniors like Bom, in their final year and still waiting for that one chance, this league would be the one thing that would determine their future. That is, if they even got chosen.

Bom knew she had it. Of course she did. She was the one who led her team to victory yesterday, the very reason why they had the chance to finally play in one of the most anticipated league of all time. There was no way Coach wouldn’t let her on the team – she was sure of it.

“I can’t bring everyone because while some of you are good, there are still those who are sub-par. We can’t afford that – we’re playing in the big leagues now, against players who are stronger, more talented and powerful than you can even dream of becoming. With that said, the following people whose names I will call out have been chosen to play in the league, and if there are any complains about it, then the door is that way.”

With a deadpan expression, he pointed towards his front, indicating the still open door to his office.

“Well, then,” he continued. “Let’s get started.”

It was awful.

Names were read off a piece of paper the coach had in his hands, and each of the girls whose names were called squealed with suppressed enthusiasm. Bom ticked off the positions they played in her head, anxiously awaiting her name to be called.

“And Kim Jennie will be playing pitcher. That’s it.”

Bom was stunned.

She didn’t even have it in her to move a muscle, simply rooted to her place as she felt her whole world stop. She could numbly hear the other girl’s excited scream, her little celebration spreading like poison against Bom’s already broken mind.

She could hear the other girls’ disappointed sobs, protests and resigned sighs so clearly that it rubbed like sandpaper against her skin.

Then she felt uncontrollable anger, a fury she never knew she even possessed, rise up within her.

That was her position.

She had been playing baseball for over eighteen years, starting when she as just four years old. She dedicated all of her time training her body to the pits of hell just so she could even be on the team. The competition against the other girls was no joke, and it caused Bom a couple of good friends when they betrayed her whilst vying for a coveted spot in the team.

Bom did not spend the whole four years of her university life shackled to a rigorous training schedule that was enough to kill someone, shuffling back and forth between her apartment and the university just so her position, her place in the team would be stolen by a rookie who had absolutely nothing on Bom when it came down to power and experience.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She growled, her pent up rage burning like an inferno through the brittle layer of her patience as she stood to face the coach. She ignored the look of warning Jennie gave her behind her back, clearly disturbed by her reaction. “You’ve got to be ing kidding me.”

“Language, Park. I’m still your coach.” He warned, raising an eyebrow as if to challenge her to continue.

“I deserve to be pitcher. I deserve that position. I led our team to victory this whole time, with no backup help, with abso-ing-lutely nothing but my sheer will and strength to keep a broken team together by constantly waving the dream of entering that ing league. I have worked myself to the goddamn pits of Hades to ensure we would win every single game, and I have delivered more than what I should have!”

She was seething, practically spitting in his face.

“Unnie–” Jennie had tried calling her, attempting to in before things could further escalate.

“You ing stay out of this,” Bom hissed, glaring at her, immediately shutting the indignant girl up.

“What makes you think you’re better than her?” Coach questioned. “She works hard–”

“’Works hard?’” She scoffed. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve trained, how much I had to give up in order to reach my standing now? I deserve to be pitcher – I’ve shown you my abilities, what I can do, and you yourself said that I had talent in me!”

“Talent that you don’t even want to cultivate!” He yelled, finally bursting. “The problem with you, Bom, is that you never push your boundaries! You always play it safe, never truly testing your limits. You may throw pretty good fastballs, but one day, it’ll bite you in your because you’re not the only good one out there. There are seven billion people in the world, and you’re just one of them! You want to be the pitcher in the team, then ing prove to me you can pitch better than what you always show me, because from my standpoint, you’ll always be a good pitcher but never the best!”

It shattered Bom completely, hearing his words.

It was like two metals scratching against each other, a sound that forces you to cringe, to curl in on yourself and shudder at its intensity. She refused to back down, however, in spite of the hurt she felt, matching his glare evenly.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she attempted to keep a lid on her frustration. “Fine, then. You want me to prove my best? You and me, on the stadium mound. I pitch, and you bat.”

“Why not Jennie?” Coach asked, jutting his chin out at the still watching girl who looked completely stricken at his suggestion.

Bom snorted. “I would demolish her. I know that, she knows that and most importantly, you know that. Don’t around, Coach.”

He smirked. “Fine, then. But if I win, you’re off the team.”

She felt her heart clench.

If she lost, all her four years of relentless training, endless pitching and excruciating loneliness would all be for nothing. Her hard work, the time and effort she carefully placed into being the best that she could ever be would fall into pieces with just one wrong move.

Setting her game face on, Bom nodded. “So be it.”

OoOoOo

On hindsight, maybe she should’ve just shut up and accepted her fate. She should’ve just let it slide pass her, move on to send applications to local baseball teams and hope for the best.

She couldn’t help but feel nervous, even more so than she usually felt during games.

“I can’t play against you because it’ll mess up my arm,” Coach Hyunsuk told her as they walked into the mound a couple of hours later. “So I called up a good friend of mine to play batter.”

Bom’s stomach felt like it had dropped fifty stories down as the coach’s so-called friend came into view. She literally felt as though she couldn’t breathe, staring at the player in front of her with so much fear, she didn’t have to look at her hands to know they were trembling.

“Hyunsuk-oppa!” The national female batter, Gummy, smiled widely. “Nice to see you! It’s been so long!”

They hugged, and Bom swore she had never felt more humbled in her entire life before, watching as her coach and her baseball idol exchanged greetings.

“Is this the girl you’ve been telling me about?” Gummy gestured towards Bom, eyes carefully raking her over.

“Yeah.” The coach cleared his throat. “Okay, we all know the rules. Three strikes, and you’re out, Gummy.”

“Please, she wouldn’t even make it past one.”

Bom wanted to wipe that smug look off her face. While she admired and looked up to Gummy, she was in the way of her dream, her ultimate goal and future. Bom had worked herself to the bone to get where she was, and though she knew it would be futile, seeing as Gummy already held several world titles under her belt, Bom wasn’t going down without a proper fight.

They got ready, and her heart thundered brutally against her chest with trepidation and doubt. She tried to take a deep breath, once more eyeing the distance between her and Gummy, ignoring the fact that Coach Hyunsuk would be her catcher.

You got this, Bom. Show him what you’re made of.

“You ready, squirt?” She heard Gummy chuckle, swaying her bat beside her with ease.

Bom clenched her teeth. “Bring it!”

With a deep breath, she got into her stance and finally released her ball.

Gummy’s bat barely grazed the ball before it calmly ended up in her coach’s glove. She grinned at Bom mockingly, as if to say that she was just testing her out, and that her full power had yet to be released. Bom knew it too; she’d watched too many of Gummy’s tapes to know what the older woman’s power truly was.

When she saw her grip on the bat change, Bom knew she was done for.

Gummy had turned a one-eighty, eyes alight with a competitiveness that she could grudgingly relate to. The older woman now looked ready to obliterate her, and Bom was forced to recalculate the pressure she would have to exert in order to avoid Gummy’s bat.

When she saw her nod, Bom knew she was ready.

This time around, Gummy had swung way too early, miscalculating Bom’s throw from the previous one. She had assumed Bom would throw a much faster ball, and with that in mind, she had swung earlier in anticipation of her ball.

She was wrong.

When the coach threw the ball back at her, Bom could already feel her arm growing tired from the strain. With yesterday’s ground-breaking events still freshly etched on her being, her body simply couldn’t take any more physical trauma.

She was already at her limit, the summit of what she was capable of doing.

Her last throw to Gummy was the best she’d ever done so far, and Bom knew that the former would be giving it her all as well for the final ball.

She gulped, eyeing Gummy’s rigid stance, eyes deadly in their complete and utter focus on the ball. She’d seen that only a couple of times, when the game was rough and Gummy’s opponents were particularly strong.  

She always won in the end.

Gummy nodded, indicating that she was ready for Bom’s throw.

You’ll just be a good pitcher but never the best! The coach’s words echoed off the confines of her mind, causing her to grit her teeth with irritation.

She’d prove him wrong.

She’d prove them all wrong.

With a deep breath and her mind set on the image of her family, Bom gave it all she got for the final throw.

No one saw it coming.

Her fastball flew so rapidly it was impossible to watch it go by.

Even Gummy was gobsmacked.

The coach, on the other hand, smirked as he took off his glove and rubbed his aching hand. “Out.”

Bom collapsed once more, feeling all her energy drain out of her as she gently massaged her throbbing right arm.

“Get up, Bom.” Coach Hyunsuk bluntly said. “Listen very carefully to what I have to say next.”

Bom got up as she was told, staring down her coach as she did so.

“You’re talented, Park, the most talented kid I’ve ever seen in all my thirty years of being in this industry. But you’re cocky, selfish and overconfident in your skills. It’s not someone else who’ll get you kicked out of the game – it’s that attitude of yours. You’ve got so much potential; you just never got the right push.”

It occurred to her then, why he went out of his way to indulge her dare, feeling remarkably stupid as her realization hit home. “You son of , you were planning to let me be pitcher all along, weren’t you?”

“Of course I was. Jennie’s good but she’s nowhere near as good as you.” The coach chuckled as she exhaled a sigh of relief. “Do you understand now, why I did what I did?”

She thought back to Gummy, to her desperation in winning so that she could play in the world championship league. She thought back to when she’d pictured her family, whole and thriving, just as she threw her final ball.

“You ing owe me a goddamn rest day, Coach.” She grunted, infuriatedly walking past him.

“I expect you in your gear two days from now, Park. We have a lot to do.” He called after her.

Before she could exit the mound, she was stopped by Gummy, who grasped her elbow in her calloused hand. “You’ve got a brilliant arm there, squirt. Take care of that.”

Bom smiled at her, feeling an enormous surge of humility wash over her as she stared into her idol’s eyes. “Thank you, sunbae-nim!”

“Who knows, we might even play against each other professionally in the future.” Gummy shrugged, letting go of Bom and reaching over to ruffle her hair.

“I hope so.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it.” Gummy hugged her briefly before making her way over to the coach.

It wasn’t a huge step in particular, but Bom was glad it was still something. She knew she had a long way to go before she could be considered the best, and though it was cruelly planned, she was still grateful her coach had put her in her place.

He was right.

She had been cocky, too confident that her skills were at their most prime. She hadn’t realized that she could do more, be more, and that in itself was something that made her thirst for further knowledge of what she could truly do.

It turns out she had a lot more training to do.

She hadn’t known then that her life, in the coming months, would completely and irrevocably be altered not due to her renewed mind-set, but because of two little boys and their father.

A/N: Not much of GBOM here, but I had to write this as a foundation. Thank you all for reading! Hope you guys liked it! :)