Sweats trickled down her forehead. The squeak sounds of basketball shoes in the court echoed throughout the closed gymnasium. The bouncing of balls on the gym floor echoed repeatedly but it didn’t register in her head. She was looking forward, eyes not particularly looking at anything; she was in her zone.

            With a lowered back, Momo kept on bouncing the ball. She counted in her head, 97, 98, 99, 100 and she crossover to her left hand. 1, 2, 3, 4, … she counted. Her right arm parallel to her body, imitating defence from imaginary defender who was trying to steal her possession. She counted and counted and counted. 97, 98, 99, 100. She released the ball and on cue, Yoo Jeongyeon, the captain blew her whistle and motioned for the girls to gather around her.

            All the sound inside the court died down. Today Jeongyeon told the girls to practice some simple play for the upcoming match against the Mechanical Engineer team. Since the players that they will go against is bigger in term of size, Jeongyeon, with the help of their manager, Wendy go through some shooting strategy.

            “Remember guys, our opponent will surely win the rebound as they are bigger than most of you guys, so we need to step up our shooting game. We will call this play as ‘Thumb’. When Momo put up her thumb, the play will begin.” Jeongyeon instructed.

            “Joy, you come up from the under the board and set up a screen for Irene. Irene then you cut inside and set up another screen for Seulgi. Seulgi then uses the screen to cross court and Momo will pass it to you. I would also provide any necessary screen for Seulgi.” Jeongyeon taught the girls.

            “If Seulgi can’t shoot, I will come forward and Seulgi should pass to me for a 2-point try or a layup. End of play. Questions?” Jeongyeon ended her lesson.

            There was no reaction from anyone so Jeongyeon continued the practice. “Let’s start.” Jeongyeon passed the ball to Momo, who was quick enough to catch it with both of her hand.

            “Everybody take your position and …. Momo, start!” Jeongyeon blew the whistle.

            Momo spun the ball from the half court line and brought it near the 3-pointer line for offensive play. She looked around before raising her hand up and shouted “Thumb!”. Sharp and precise. Quickly, Joy come to screen giving way for Irene which in turn gave way for Seulgi to cross the court from right to left. Momo saw the free Seulgi and toss the ball towards Seulgi. Seulgi received it and positioned her feet before faking to shoot and pass it to Jeongyeon who came to her and lay it in.

            This received a big clap from Wendy who was proud with her team’s quick-wit and athleticism. Jeongyeon was impressed and asked for them to do the same play but in the opposite side. Captain Jeong blew her whistle again and Momo repeated the same movement. “Thumb!”.

-

            Her wardrobe doors were open revealing clothes of different colours for different season. Her bed was a mess; clothes that she deemed weren’t good enough was tossed on her bed. The watch hanging on the wall showed 2:30 pm and still ticking. 3 hours and a half before their date. No, before their hangout.

            Myoui Mina was choosing clothes to wear for her first hangout with Hirai Momo. Her wardrobe smells of expensive blouses and dresses and t-shirts but she can’t still find one that’s good enough to impress Momo. Should I wear dress? Or should I just go for chic-style?

            “Urgh this is stressing me out more than my assignment.” Mina gave up and collapsed on her bed. She closed her eye and think hard. After a long 5 minutes of extreme thinking, she decided to just call Chaeyoung. She dialled Chaeyoung’s number and put it on loudspeaker, eyes closed again.

            “Hello Mina?” Chaeyoung’s voice echoed through the room. “How can I help you?” She continued.

            “Chaeng, I’m in deep right now. You got to help me!” Mina almost cried.

            “Why, what’s up?” Chaeng’s voice was full of concern.

            “Just come here quick. You just finished your class right?” Mina asked.

            “Yup, just finished. I’ll be there quick. ETA 10 minutes.” And with that Chaeng ended the call.

            After a while, Chaeng rang the bell and thus activated Mina’s intercom. “I’m here” The small artist said through the speaker. Mina get up from her bed and unlocked the door via buttons on the intercom. She heard Chaeng took off her shoes in a hurry and opened the door. “Mina, I hope you’re alive.” She spoke between her breathing.

            “You’re late for 1 minute, Chaeng” Mina spoke while lying on her bed, her right arm covering her eyes.

            Chaeng looked around the room. A pile of clothes beside a lying down Mina, wardrobe doors opened wide, her full body mirror was taken down and slanted against the wall.

            “Oh”. Chaeng connected the dots.

            “What the hell Mina? I ran down 6 flight of staircases because the lift was full, took the only bus available at the time which was a seated bus, mind you it was expensive and I ran another 3 flight of stairs because the lift was not working and I thought you were dying but no, you’re just having problem on what to wear?” Chaeyoung strut to Mina’s bed and lay down next to her. She was tired as hell.

            “Chaeng, I’m going out with … you know, and … and she is in the middle of something, so you got to help me pick the ultimate outfit to impress her.” Mina sat upright and made a pout.

            “Alright alright, I’ll help you. But on