Twelve:

Sana was adamant on picking me up from my house at morning. She wanted to make it obvious we were dating and although I wasn’t so fond of the attention, she threatened me to agree anyway. Baekhyun joined us on the way, throwing smirks in my direction from time to time by pointing out at us holding hands. I just shrugged. Sana gleamed.

Chaeyoung she was waiting for me in the canteen because she had to skip breakfast. I stood next to her and raised our hands, declaring the news to my bestfriend.

“Meet my girlfriend.” I shrugged again and Chaeyoung laughed. I was baffled…it wasn’t a reaction I had been expecting. She continued to laugh, covering with the sleeve of her uniform hoodie. “Sana. Is now my girlfriend.” I said again and she nodded.

“About time.” Chaeyoung giggled as she slid to the side to make space for us to sit. I scrunched my brows.

“Are you not…surprised?” I asked. Sana happily ordered three burgers (two for herself), and two giant cokes. She was sure walking in the clouds since yesterday.

“You both kissed at the Heroes vs Wyverns baseball match.” Chaeyoung leaned on her elbows, flashing me a knowing smile; “The attraction was still present, I’d say.”

“This is not fair!” I gasped. Humiliation! “This is…not right! No!”

“What did you expect? I’m an information collector. I know you like the back of my hand.” she chuckled and joined Sana in eating the fries.

I sat with my jaw hanging. I kept staring at the both of them – who were unbothered with my unsaid inquires and went on with their meals. I scoffed and decided to start my own burger before I’m the only one left unfinished.

“I’m happy for you. Cutest couple in my eyes.” Chaeyoung continued, grinning at us. Then she took a noisy slurp of her drink and hummed. “However, we still need to clear Sana’s name. Things are so messy in the team.”

“If not Sana, they’ll find someone new to blame. We need to get rid of this issue from the roots.” I nodded in approval.

Sana cleared and leaned in, waiting for us to do the same. “I’m suspicious of Chaeyoung.” She said and Chaeyoung looked dumbfounded.

“Mm…me?” she asked, face lost in confusion.

Sana raised her brow and then the realization hit her and she made a foolish ‘oh’ with her lips. I shook my head at her idiocy and then smiled. My girlfriend can be stupid sometimes…but she’s adorable nonetheless.

“Oh not you. Well, there’s this other Chaeyoung.” Sana corrected herself.

“Basketball Chaeyoung?” Our Chaeyoung asked back and Sana nodded. “I know her. We keep getting our files exchanged by staff mistake.”

“I once saw her sneaking into our changing room…but that was that.” Sana told us, almost dropping her coke when she shifted to sit closer to me but I held it back in place. She’s so clingy. “I also found out that she’s a transfer student from West Hangang. Stuff adds up, doesn’t it?”

“But she really loves it here.” Chaeyoung doubted.

“Maybe she wants you to think in that way?” Sana said again and I agreed even though I didn’t yet know who this other Chaeyoung was. But Baekhyun had told me that the West can go to any length to defeat the East…so this could be a possibility.

“I think you’re right. It’s only been a few months since she came here.” Chaeyoung hummed again.

“And old friendships don’t die so quick.” I said too.

“I’ll look into her. I’ll do more research about her current social connections.” Our own resident spy declared and we three did a small fist bump.

Team ignored Sana at the practices but my girl said she didn’t care. We also made our relationship official by sharing a kiss during partner routine. Jihyo seemed happy for us, the rest squealed and whispered but didn’t say anything further. Tzuyu made a face at us and then stared at Jihyo for the rest of the time. Mr. Changmin was too busy with his Amigurumi for Beginner’s Guidebook to notice our PDA.

Practicing was going well. I was confident in my skills now so I flaunted it every time. No more misses, no more panic attacks. I was just being myself, along with Sana’s support, and I had become the new possible ‘power hitter’. It was too good to be true and I’m not a pessimistic person anymore but I was beginning to wonder if I’m just stuck in a dream for so long.

Apart from my life going smoothly in every aspect, there was only one thing I still had to overcome – Tzuyu. The problem with being a power hitter for the team is that there can only be one. And we were two most favorite team players at the moment, both playing heatedly every practice we’ve been doing. The dreaded day to choose our preferred positions was drawing nearer like a time bomb ticking closer to the explosion.

Today’s very fine Monday, a week before the annual Interschool Baseball Tournament series for female teams was going to begin, Mr. Changmin gave us a ten minute break before he would start picking out team members and their respective roles.

I leaned back on the grass with Chaeyoung and Sana sitting on either side of me. The sun wasn’t so ablaze today, the wind cool and refreshing.

“What are you aiming for?” I asked Chaeyoung who was stretching her legs.

“Nothing particular. Outfielder seems nice.” She told. “I have a sharp eye for catching high flying balls. And it keeps me safely away from Mina.” She sighed, causing the rest two of us to laugh.

“Mina is confirmed for pi