"Dude, she is so hot." Jimin pointed out a brunette that walked by.

Yoongi agreed. "Absolutely, damn wish I could date her."

Heejin laughed at her friends. "Bro, I would have a better chance than you."

"You don't even know if she is gay."

Heejin countered, "Straight girls are like noodles, they are straight until you get them wet."

Everyone in the group laughs and hoots fist-bumping and high-fiving Heejin. Yoongi opened his mouth only to shut it, having no witty comeback to respond with.

Heejin has always been one of the "guys." It was mainly because of her brother Jungkook. It all began when they were both in elementary school. Heejin was attached to her older brother and tailed him wherever he went, and young Jungkook gave little Heejin a lot of affection until he became "too cool" to hang with his little sister, like all young boys at the age of ten. Despite the change in her brother, young Heejin remained by her brother's side, even when he and his friends went a bit overboard with their teasing. 

The young girl was stubborn and determined to fit in and joined them whenever they played baseball. Jungkook complained to their parents that she was too clinging, but at some point, he accepted his sister and would always invite his younger sibling to join him. It became the norm; if Jungkook were there, Heejin would be present as well. Even with the gender difference and being a couple of years younger, she eventually found her place in her brother's group. 

As the years went by, Jungkook thought he would have to worry about his little sister dating his friends. But Heejin made it very clear she was into girls when she was only fourteen...Maybe she did hang out with his friends too much. The fact that Heejin stuck with his friends even when they talked about girls possibly influenced her attraction to the same . She also joined their "boy" talk about girls. Who were hot, who would they date, who they wanted to kiss, the typical boy topics. The guys were comfortable with Heejin because they all knew she was only interested in girls. At this point, she was a bro, but they kept their desires reasonably clean, and they weren't too vulgar around her.

Jungkook vividly remembers when he and his friends stumbled upon his sister kissing another girl, then shamelessly introducing her flustered girlfriend as if they weren't smooching moments before. Everyone was surprised and even more baffled that she was the first to get a girlfriend out of the group. Come to think of it, Heejin probably dated more girls than all of them combined during high school.

Heejin was passionate, hardworking, and a perfectionist in whatever piqued her interest. That interest was baseball, and it was something special to her. The sport contained many precious memories with her brother when he used to teach her how to play. Like the time when he helped her how to properly watch the ball and swing the bat, the joy of hitting her first home run was unforgettable. Or the times he would show her the different kinds of hand positions for the various types of pitches and then spending countless hours sharpening her skills. Or how he would have to cheer her up after having an off day. What she loved the most was the warm feeling she got when her brother proudly smiled and hugged her after winning games. 

Pitching was her favorite part about the game, maybe because of all the time she spent with Jungkook perfecting her technique. It became her specialty, and she loved the fact that pitching controlled almost the entire game, meaning if you were a beast at pitching, you could carry your team to victory. She fell in love with the sport and practiced more and more, and eventually, she was better than all the guys in her friend group and was good enough to play for college teams. 

The Jeons lived in a small town, and the nearby university didn't have enough space, money, or willing girls to make a separate softball team. Thankfully the school allowed a coed baseball team, but that didn't mean they would slacken the requirements to be part of the team. In Heejin's mind, it worked out perfectly. She preferred baseball's overhand style of pitching over softball's underhand pitch.

Even in college, the group somehow stayed together, and here she was slouching into the bleachers relaxing before baseball practice, checking out girls with her friends. She usually dressed similarly to a guy, currently clothed in her baseball slacks and oversized letterman jacket. 

The group spots a redhead leaving the locker room.

Taehyung was excited to see the cute girl he had a useless crush on. "Guys, what are your thoughts on Jiwoo? I would kill to go on a date with her. She is so cute and adorable, basically perfect girlfriend material."

Heejin grimaces at the sight of the girl, instantly recognizing who she is. "Yeah, she is TOO cute, not my type at all. Too girly for me and-" 

Taehyung interjected, "One day, I'll convince you Jiwoo is more than cute and that she is perfect." 

"You realize she is the most well-known lesbian in our school, right?" The girl's face screamed, 'are you blind?'

"Yah! One can always fantasize, don't ruin it for me!"

Heejin grimaces. "Please, keep your fantasies to yourself."

The boy had enough of Heejin's critiques, and he wanted to turn the tables and see if her taste in girls was any better. "Since you are criticizing my type of girl, who is your type, Heejin?"

A dusting of pink appears on Heejin's cheeks, the only time she acted like a girl was when she talked about her crush. Jungeun. Too bad Jiwoo was-

Oh, speak of the devil.

The aforementioned girl strolled up to Heejin with a blank face and monotone voice, a stark contrast to her usual beaming smile and bright tone. "Get up, Jeon. We have practice."

"You don't have to tell me twice, Kim," the shorter girl grumbled.

"Just needed to make sure you weren't going to slack off, you have a lot of catching up to do if you want my spot." The redhead smirked as she left the group.

Heejin's instinct is to glare at Jiwoo, boring holes at the back of her head. Jiwoo is the ace pitcher of the team, #1 in their starting line up while Heejin was #2. Jiwoo was known for her fastballs. Hell, she even topped the university's fastest pitch records with her four-seam fastball. She also threw some mean cutters and splitters to throw batters in for a loop. Heejin couldn't pitch nearly as fast as Jiwoo, but she was infamous for her breaking ball pitches and producing crazy curveballs and screwballs, making them almost impossible to predict. Despite their rivalry, they make a deadly combo on the field.

The redhead was a year older, on her third year in college, joining the team earlier than Heejin, who is currently in her second year. That still didn't change how competitive Heejin was aiming for that position since day one. Even though they were teammates, the two were always at each other's throats. Jiwoo and Heejin were complete opposites, like oil and water, they never meshed well.

"Uhm, see you, Heejin."

"Goodluck with practice!"

All her friends knew about the two's rivalry, and they were glad the tense atmosphere quickly dissipated when the two left.

As usual, baseball practice was tough and exhausting. The coach worked them to the bone, working them the hardest since the season started for next week's rivalry match. It was predicted to be a close game, and the head coach wanted to make sure every member of the team was well prepared. 

Heejin and Jiwoo avoided each other like the plague, even in the locker room. Heejin would usually wait until Jiwoo finished changing