CHAPTER FOURTY one;Sportsfest

   The succeeding day, it was the first day of the annual Sportsfest. Cheer dancers had a call time at 6am in the morning to practice before the opening ceremony. Once I arrived at the venue, all heads turned up to me. Cheer dancers who were in red and black costumes representing our team are all happy to see me and Jaja.

   “We thought you guys would come late”.

   “It got us worried” the words from the students from the lower batches.

“Sorry, we’re sort of late tho—“ Jaja’s words were cut-off by a teacher holding papers. “Girls, time to practice your blockings in the gym now” the lady said and just left like that.

   Jaja and I looked at each other, reminding each other to stay confident and work hard. And after practicing on the last minute, all the students lined up on the fields by their team. And at that venue, we did the opening ceremony. There were a lot of opening games, announcements and lighting of the torch. How silly it was because I was only looking at Team B the whole time, looking for Baekhyun.
   Someone from the front pulled me forward. I glanced at her braid and the same costume as I was. It was Jaja. “If you’re looking for someone, well that someone is looking for you too” she pointed by the flagpole where I saw him. His brown, messy hair was making him look so impossible to not notice. Baekhyun’s eyes turned to look at me. A giggle escaped from my mouth but it was obvious I was trying to hide it.

  And back to my senses it was when the whole school applauds. I joined the crowd in cheering and right before my eyes, students were starting to move around so my sight of Baekhyun was gone plus the cheer dance competition was the first major event to be held so I had to get ready.

“We’re all going to give our best out there, alright?” I encouraged the members as our hands were all in one big circle. “Go! Fight! Win! Go, Fight and Win! Team A is the best so good luck for the rest! Team A, FIGHTING!” Jaja chanted and we became in synced at the last sentence.

  Seeing Baekhyun at the left side of the gym got me so nervous. No one was blocking his view of watching the competition. Luckily, I’m often in front and in middle so it would be quiet impossible for me to see him while I dance.

   Before the music starts, I took a deep breath and made eye contact with the judges. Stay put, let out facial expressions and power… more power. I thought to myself. Winning this competition has a big effect on my grade for this quarter.

***

  After the dance, I changed back to my clothes and went upstairs with In-na. She was on the same team and cheer dance as I was and she is still a friend to me so there was clearly nothing wrong with that. As we reached the hallways were there were at least 20 seniors, In-na hugged Kris who was sitting down on the floor with Lay and his other friends.

   My eyes swirled around at the grounds. I knew Baekhyun was down there, preparing for the high school basketball game after lunch. It was cruel of me to think of cheering for his team in basketball rather than mine. I decided to just cheer for both because why not?

   “Looking for someone?” she smiled at me. My eyes faced her, “No” and shook my head. In-na was the type of person who doesn’t usually tease you since she is very cold and sassy but when she does, you know she’s happy.
   “You and Kris are back together?” I tilted my head in confusion. She looked at the guy mentioned and said “In your dreams” with matching rolling of eyes.

   The last news I heard about In-na and Kris is that they do like each other but since I heard that In-na was maybe going to Australia for College, Kris couldn’t take long distances so they chose to stay as friends no matter how hard it was to resist to stay just like that.

  Then at that moment, my phone vibrated. A text from Byun Baekhyun, it said. I tapped it open and read the text.

   “You’ll watch me, right?”

  It was cute of him to ensure that. “Of course I will” I typed it in and sent it.

***

   After lunch, it was game time. The gym was filled with a lot of people; outsiders, s