Amber and Yuri arrived at the gym at 9:30 the next morning to warm up before the boys got there. Before long Jonghyun, Minho, Taemin and Key showed up. Key walked over to the bleachers and sat down.

“Not going to play today, Key?” Amber asked.

“Not today. I broke a nail last time. It was horrible,” he said while glancing at his nicely manicured fingers.

“Diva!” Amber teased.

“Yes, I am,” he responded as he gracefully snapped his fingers above his head.

The group was soon joined by EXO members Suho, Luhan and Kai. Amber introduced the boys to Yuri as they all stretched and shot warm up baskets. Donghae and Eunhyuk showed up a few minutes later and joined the group on the court.

“Good, we have 10 players now,” Minho shouted. “Let’s split into teams.”

Kai and Minho were made captains and a coin was flipped to see who would pick their first teammate.

“Heads!” Minho shouted as Amber flipped the coin. “Heads it is. Minho, pick first.” When they were done choosing players, Minho’s team included Amber, Jonghyun, Yuri and Donghae. Kai’s team consisted of Luhan, Taemin, Suho and Eunhyuk.

“First team to get 30 points wins!” Suho shouted as he winked at Kai. “Losers buy lunch!”

Kai and Suho were convinced that their team would win since their opponents had an extra girl playing for them. They knew Amber could hold her own on the court, but assumed Yuri wasn’t a threat. What they didn’t know was that Yuri, just like Amber, grew up playing basketball with her male neighbors and cousins and knew her way around a basketball court.

Minho looked at Amber and smiled. When he had called Amber the day before to invite her to play, she told him that Yuri was also a good ball player. “Good enough to help us beat those EXO boys?” Minho asked. “Yes, definitely good enough,” Amber told her frog-faced friend. Minho had been on the losing team the last three times they had played ball. He was very competitive and didn’t like to lose just as much as he didn’t like paying for lunch.

The gym began to fill with more people including the f(x) girls and most of SNSD except for Soo Young and Yoona who were visiting their families. Ryewook and Sungmin showed up to cheer on their Super Junior cohorts, while Chen and D.O. came to root for their EXO brothers. Goo Hara, who had been invited by Jessica, also showed up and took a seat next to Jessica in the bleachers. Not soon after, Ailee walked in and sat next to Sunny and Hyo Yeon.

Key grabbed the basketball from Taemin and walked to the center of the court. “C’mon boys, let’s get this game started.” Minho and Kai approached center court. Key threw the ball in the air which Minho tipped to Amber who took a shot from the 3-point line. Swoosh! Amber sunk the first 3-pointer of the game.

“Yay, Amber!” Krystal shouted.  The tomboy blushed and waved at her biggest fan.

“Go, hyung!” Sulli cheered and gave Amber two thumbs up.

Everyone knew that Amber was a good basketball player and were surprised to see that Yuri also played well. Both girls kept up with boys which made for an interesting game for those in the stands except for Key who was busy with his cell phone taking selfies of himself in various poses.

During a time out, Suho walked over to Kai. “, Kai. They’re kicking our asses…looks like we might have to pay for lunch today.”

Kai wiped the sweat off of his face with his shirt. “We’ll see. Just put the pressure on Yuri and steal the ball from her.”

The score was now 20 to 14 with Minho’s team in the lead. Amber took the ball out and passed it to Yuri who was being guarded by Suho. The boy put pressure on Yuri as Kai had instructed. She dribbled the ball down court and passed it to Donghae who couldn’t get a clear shot and passed it back. The tomboy dribbled the ball back and forth between both hands keeping her body between the ball and Suho. She wanted to pass the ball to move it around hoping that one of her teammates would be open to take a shot, but the other team was playing man-to-man and nobody was open.

Suddenly, Suho charged forward and lunged for the ball. Yuri dribbled the ball behind her back, reversed, spun around and then went in for an easy layup. Jessica felt the urge to cheer for Yuri, but stopped herself before the words came out of .  What the hell am I thinking?

Just then, Ailee stood up and yelled, “Go, Yuri! Woo hoo!” Everyone, including Yuri, turned to see who was cheering. Yuri glanced at Ailee and smiled, then turned her attention back to the game. Jessica looked back and forth at Ailee and Yuri. How do they know each other?

During the next play, Yuri stole the ball from Suho and passed it to Minho who sunk an easy two points. Amber high-fived Yuri and then smacked her .

“Yay, Yuri oppa!” Seohyun called out softly which caught Hara’s attention.

Hara nudged Jessica. “Sica, who is that guy with Amber? Seohyun said his name just now. It’s Yuri, right? He’s really cute.”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “She’s a she, not a he. She’s Amber’s cousin who is visiting from California.”

“Single?’ Hara asked smiling.

“That’s what I hear. Why? You interested?” Jessica asked looking annoyed. She knew that Hara dated frequently, both men and women, and knew she was likely contemplating adding Yuri to her list of conquests.

“I don’t know…maybe. It would be fun to flirt with her though,” Hara teased. “There’s nothing wrong with a little innocent flirtation and if it leads to more…well, we’ll see.”

“Watch out, Hara,” Jessica warned. “I think she’s a player.”

“A player? Even better,” Hara replied. “Nothing more fun than playin’ a player. In the end we both get what we want anyway. Introduce me after the game, okay?”

“Okay,” Jessica answered reluctantly, “but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

After a few more plays, the score was 28 to 24 in favor of Minho’s team. Kai’s team had just scored 2 points. Donghae took the ball out and passed it to Amber who dribbled to center court. She passed the ball to Jonghyun who took the ball in closer. He saw that Yuri was open and readied himself to pass the ball.

Suddenly, Hara stood up and yelled, “Go, Yuri!”

Yuri quickly turned to see who called out her name since it came from Jessica’s direction. At that exact same moment, Jonghyun passed the ball which hit Yuri directly in the face and sent her falling to the ground.

“! I’m sorry, Yuri!” Jonghyun yelled as he ran towards her.

The players crowded around Yuri as Amber knelt down next to her cousin. “You okay, Yuri? Yuri?”