Age 11

"Yuwreeee! Play with me!" 

"Later Sica, just one more score." I say and turn back to the game

She sits on the bench pouting and disappointed. I smile at the sight of her, knowing that she doesn't like to be kept waiting. 

Hae passes me the ball, and i dribble the ball dodging Leeteuk's incoming attacks. I'm very used to the feeling of dribbling a ball, its the only time were i feel like i've got everything under control. 

 Whilst dribbling I swoop pass Leeteuk stopping at the three pointer line to make a shot. 

"Waheyyy, Kwon Yuri strikes again!" I cheer myself on. 

"The sun was in my eyes!" Leeteuk complains.

"Yeah, yeah, always making excuses Teukkie" I stick my tounge out. 

Hae runs from the other side of the court to us and passes me a towel to wipe my sweat. 

"Thanks Hae." I grab the towel from him and start to wipe off the droplets on my forehead. 

"Aren't you suppose to be a girl." Leeteuk commented. 

"Aren't you suppose to be better at basketball than a girl?" I said back, and Hae laughs. 

"Whatever, look theres your princess." He points at Jessica who looked bored out of her mind. 

I hear the familiar click clack and see Sooyoung coming in from around the corner "and theres yours." 

He turns around and sees Soo happily skipping along the court, Hae and I look at eachother and laugh as we noticed Leeteuks cheeks turn to a shade of pink. 

"Yuwreee!" Jessica shouts across the court.

"Well see you guys" I wave at them before heading to where Jessica's sitting. 

"What do you even like about basketball?" She asks me as i walk her back to the Jungs residence, icecream in our hands. 

"Well, i like dribbling the ball and shooting." I answer, continuing on, our footsteps began to match eachothers. 

"But its for boys." Her eyebrow furrows as she struggles to finish her icecream. 

"Yeah but Oppa said i could play too."

"Oh okay as long as my Yuri likes it." She smiles happily up at me and icecream filled face makes me burst out into laughters. 

"wha-what?" She asks, her face turning pink in embarrasment. 

"You have icecream all over your face silly." I lift up the oversized basketball jersey i was wearing which belonged to my oppa, "here" I started to wipe off the icecream from her face. 

"t-thanks." 

"Earth to Yuri, are you there?" Soo waves her hands infront of my face. 

"Huh? oh yeah." 

"Come on the game will be starting soon." Soo grabs our bags then finally my arm. 

We head to entrance of the schools halls, there standing was Hyo waiting for us. We enter at the same time, the loud cheering that came from the crowd reminded me why i hated going out nowadays. I looked up the benches that were filled with people from the students in my school, parents of the basketballers and the other schools students. Siwon notices us through the crowds and signals us to come out into the court where he had reserved a bench just for us. A perk for having the basketball team captain as one of you're bestfriends.

"Finally, i thought you guys weren't coming." Siwon says smiling quite nervously which is a first for me to see. 

We sit down on the bench and Hae scoots up next to me. 

"Good luck out there Hae." I say

"Thanks, have you seen the team we're up against?" He asks nodding his head towards the other team. 

"You didn't tell me you were against Saewon Elite Academy." S.E.A was a well known elite academy in our area, thats the school Jessica's parents sent her. It was a school with high expectations, and could well make sure that you get the future career you wanted. 

I could imagine that they probably train their team like they were competing for the olympics. I didn't want to admit it, but, i don't think our school team could ever defeat S.E.A, because for one they only meet up after school on tuesdays and friday and two some of the members of the team are only there for the after practice pizza and drinks. 

"Yeah, i know we're screwed. Thats kinda why i needed you here Yul, its our first match of the season and we're already against them." I notice the droplet of sweat accumulating on Hae's forehead. Hes nervous for sure. 

I had something in my bag which always helped us when we were nervous, it was a branded sports drink. The one my oppa always used to drink right before the game, he used to tell me and Hae that it was his secret source of power. So whenever we were nervous about an exam we shared a bottle of PowerAid believing it would somehow help us. Although it didn't help us with our grades much, it did help us feel confident before entering the exam hall.

"Here Hae," I pass him the bottle of PowerAid "Hope this helps bud." 

He eyes the bottle and a his lips break into a smile. "Thanks Yul." He takes it from my hand releasing the cap and downs the bottle. 

"I think Leeteuk and Siwon can use some of it aswell." We both look back at the nervous wrecks that were Siwon and Leeteuk.

 "Well thank God i had more than one" I grab two more bottles from my bag "Leeteuk, Siwon here" I call out and hand them the drinks.

"Oh thanks Yul." Siwon downed the drink in an instant.

"This is same drink your brother used to drink before a match wasn't it?" Leeteuk asks, eyeing the bottle. 

I nodded "Thanks Yul." 

I hoped that somehow the drinks will help them miraculously win the match, all i could do was hope. 

The teams get into position and i notice that the three of them were still nervous. It's our final year in cheondong high and we havent yet won the national basketball team award and this was our last chance, so i could see why they were nervous. 

"Are they gonna be okay?" Soo asks worriedly.

"I hope so." 

As soon as the referee blows the whistle the ball gets thrown in the air, and as soon as it hits the air S.E.A main player, Tyler, gets the ball.

K Tyler, Siwons known enemy. Those two had history, a competitive one. 

It always amazed me how Siwons face seemed to change whenever he was on the courts. I remember when we first started recruiting for the basketball team. Siwon was the last to be recruited, he seemed like a perfectly normal nice guy and he was like that all throughout  practice, he was good, but he was utterly amazing when in a real match. 

We were being beaten 32:12 They had more than doubled our score and i could see Siwon getting really fired up, so was Hae and the rest of the team for that matter of fact. 

it came to half time and the team came back drained. They had only began the season game and already they knew they weren't going to play any more games. 

It upset me the fact that they had already given up. This team didn't use to be like this. I got up from the bench and stood infront of them as they wiped themselves with towels. They looked up from where they were sitting and i suddenly forget why i stood up in the first place. It's not like i could do anything, i had quit playing basketball years ago, plus its not like they would let me play anyway. But the least i could do was give them advice, not to win the game, thats near to impossible. But to atleast help them so that the end result would be a draw meaning they were in to play more games until the final, however they would face S.E.A again. 

"What is it Yul?" Hae asks. 

"I may have a plan." 

3 Minutes. I had 3 minutes to come up with something to somehow get this team to atleast draw with S.E.A

From my knowledge Tyler is known to have immense power, however he doesnt have the endurance to go with it. And from watching the game i noticed that S.E.A defence recklessly leaves the left side of the court having most of their defence on the right. 

"Right. I want you guys to make long passes as much as possible which will hopefully tire out Tyler, Siwon you can't be the only one to defend him either so some of you will have to focus on blocking Tyler for the rest of the game. Also always go through the left side of the court" If we keep making three pointers then we're sure to catch up. "Leeteuk try to get as many three pointers as you can get, that goes to everyone. 

 The referee blow his whistle again. 3 minutes up, hopefully it was enough. 

They get into position again, the ball gets thrown and once again Tyler gets the ball, he runs to our side of the court but is blocked by both Siwon and Hae. Together they stop Tyler from getting yet again another slam dunk and passes the ball by long throws to Leeteuk. Three pointer. 

My plan carries to be successful and we had managed to caught up thankfully. 42:39. With 10 seconds left this is our only chance, getting one more 3 pointer would end the game in a draw. 

Everyone is clearly tired but are still powering through. Even the crowd is exhausted. This was surely an intense game of basketball. Too intense for a starting game. 

The ball is currently in Tylers hand which he dribbles to our end of the court. 

5

This time 4 members of the team are on him, blocking his way. 

4

no.3 from our team gets the ball and manages to go through their defence. 

3

the ball gets taken off of him and is again being dribbled to our side

2

He then gets blocked by no.8 from our team and passes it to Leeteuk whos ready to make a shot.

1

Leeteuk makes the shot. 

Buzzzzzz

"What happened?"

A buzzer beater. Surely that counted. 

There was a pause for a few seconds, even the crowd went silent. 

"S.E.A goes through to the next match!" 

"What!" I shouted from the bench. The crowd drowned out my repetitive questioning, the team laid there on the floor, exhausted and disappointed. 

Angrily Siwon got up and went to talk to some officials and the referee. "Man Siwon seems really pissed." Hae comments as we watched him stomp to the announcers table. 

I help Hae up on his feet. and we both head over to Siwon. 

"You are only a team captain. I need to speak to your coach, if you even have one." One them said. 

"I'm here." Their head swung around to me. "I'm their coach." 

"A girl?" Another one said like it was the most ridiculous thing they've ever heard. 

"Dad," Tyler joins the conversation, no wonder this guy and his team always wins, his dad's one of the officials. "I think we should hear what Siwons team has to say" He says smirking. Smug bastard. 

"Go on girl" His father says spitting the word 'girl'. 

"Well sir," I gritt through my teeth "Im confident that, that last shot, the three pointer should've counted making the scores 42:42 meaning a draw." 

"And what does a girl know about the rules of basketball?" The old fart laughs. 

"Sir, im qualified enough to know the basics of the basketball rules." He laughs again. Mockingly. 

"Mr Kwon i think we should consider what she's trying to say." Another old man comes to my defence.

Mr Kwon? This old fart and his son share the same last name as me? I hope theres no way we could be related. 

"As i was saying, im sure that you are familiar with the term buzzer beater? That last shot made it in the hoop as the buzzer went off making it count." 

"Sir the girl has a point perhaps we should announce it as a draw." The announcer says. 

The old fart contemplates for awhile then finally says "Alright. We'll let your team through. But that only means that my sons team will have to beat you again." 

"Thank you for your consideration." 

Before i turn he asks me "Whats your name girl?" 

"Yuri. Kwon Yuri. See you at the finals." I say then head on back to our bench with Siwon and Hae. 

The announcement goes off saying that both teams had made it through. Siwon puts his arm around me "Thanks Yul." And i finally get to see that warm smile from him again.