My cleats are newly shined, my jersey is clean, yet practically awaiting to get thrown in the dirt and grass, and my pink Nike sweatband is snug across my forehead. Some hardcore song from Show Me The Money is blasting through the lockers from someone's bluetooth speaker, adding to the momentum of the night.

It's the night of our next game, one against a pretty close contender - Pilhyun High. They've had one loss in the season so far, and while purely looking from numbers, we're on top - they're still a pretty stacked team - both in talent and in popularity around town. Their wingback and attacking midfielder have both been sponsored by the city already; I even recall seeing their faces being plastered on restaurant banners and printed on coffee cups. It's quite funny, but I bet they're raking in all that money.

With this, we can all expect tonight to be an extremely crowded game. That could go one of many ways; we could win, building off of the hype and the rivalry, or two, I could allow all the -talking from the other school get to me and completely throw me off my game.

Oh well - wishing for the best!

"Alright, team, huddle up!" Coach Soo's voice rings throughout the entire locker room, echoing off the metal walls. We all collect towards the entrance of the locker room, where I see Principal Cho, and, surprise-surprise, Sujin right beside him. Sujin gives me a wink, and I return it, despite not knowing why she is even here in the first place.

"Principal Cho has joined us today for a few announcements, though I am unsure why exactly his daughter needs to be here...," Coach Soo's voice trails off and he gives us all a perplexed look on his face. "Alright. Principal Cho, you may take it away. Team, listen the up!"

"Thank you, Coach Soo." Principal Cho's clear-cut voice affirms. "So you all may be asking why I just showed up here today, on a random game night. The reason is that I was forced-"

Sujin nudges his side, and he stifles a cough unsuccessfully.

"I mean motivated," he corrects himself. "I was motivated to by my daughter, and your Class President here - Cho Sujin. For the last week, my daughter has gone on and on about how this team, specifically out of all the school's sports teams, are binded by such strong friendship. Truly, the way that she explains it, I would think you are all siblings than teammates."

Sujin flashes us all such an eloquent pageant smile, like she's probably done for all of her high-school career.

"I just wanted to let you all know that it has not gone unnoticed. Your team is setting an example for all sports teams in the school, and perhaps even schools within our city, for acting like a true family, both on and off the field. Possessing such a team is rare, let me tell you. I am so proud of all you for rising to the occasion, being mature, and sticking true to the purpose of your sport."

As Principal Cho speaks, I cannot help but fight the urge of laughing my off. Being mature?! Where? We had buried our first ever team feud, that stemmed from an idiotic high school breakup. Also, I doubt Taehyung himself knows how to spell out the word maturity.

Sujin cuts her father off as he's about to continue his monologue. "Like my father said, I am so humbled to serve as your Class President and to be able to represent such a fine group of classmates that rally together around their one, shared passion: soccer! I admire each and everyone of you guys' drive, honestly. To balance academics - exams and projects - to all of your practices and games, I know it must be so tough! And even on top of that, making sure that you all have time for each other, even outside of school, that's just the icing on the cake."

Sujin speaks as if she's a politician, which isn't too far of a stretch from being Class President.

"Like when I ran into Jungkook and Yerin last weekend, having your cute, little hangouts at the theatre? That's so awesome you guys prioritize that," Sujin continues, and my heart immediately sinks. I dart my eyes towards Jungkook, who I can tell is just as startled as I am.

"Excuse me, what?" Taehyung interjects, unapologetically. "It was just Jungkook and Yerin together?"

"Oh, uh, I saw Jungkook and Yerin. We were in the same theatre for A Dozen Roses For My Lover. They told me they were waiting on the rest of you guys to show up. Did you all not end up making it, cause I'm a bit confused."

All eyes are split directly towards me and Jungkook, as we are standing across from each other. I feel the heat of everyone's eyes on my skin, and I just wish that the heat could just melt me away.. away from this situation. I truly don't know how to get out of this! I take a quick look at Jungkook and he's riding in my same exact boat. His eyes dart back and forth to Coach Soo and myself, with his lips having no intention of opening.

"Alright, this speech was longer than I expected it would be; thank you to Principal Cho and his daughter for joining us." Coach Soo steps in and shakes both of their hands right afterwards, giving both the signal that it's time to scurry away.

I take a deep breath once I see the Principal Cho and Sujin leaving, excusing that awkward moment for now. Coach Soo directs us to all huddle together, and Jungkook starts his routine of amping up the team. We all hear the same encouraging spech, join our hands together in a circle, and break on the count of five.

I think I'm in the unclear until I feel a nudge on my side from Coach Soo.

"I am not happy about this," Coach Soo whispers in a stern tone when we're walking side-to-side to the field.

"Coach, I can explain -"

"Save it for after the game, Yerin. I need you on your A-game for now, but don't think I forgot. Remind me to pull you both aside at the end of the night."

"Yes, sir," I say, biting my tongue.

Within the first quarter, we were getting stupid penalties left and right, but luckily, Jungkook was talented enough to bat them away in the goal post. These Pilhyun rookies were esentially tripping on their own laces and had not gotten a single score in for the entire half - though I am able to spot out a standout - their wingback. It's one of the most physically demanding positions, but it seemed like he was on high stamina for the entirety of the half. He was sending crosses to the box so fluidly, though it was the rest of his teammates that couldn't complete the pass.

And then that's halftime. The buzzer plays all throughout the field, and so we all start our trek back to the locker rooms; I'm optimistic that Coach Soo won't have much to say yet, since we're up 2. But knowing Coach, he'd find something to nag us about anyways.

"Hey, great passes in the first quarter," I say to Jimin. "I've kept telling you this again and again, but you need to tense up your ankle a bit more when you're about to kick. Lock it first, and then your kick will travel longer and smoother.

"Dude, I know right. My balls keep going in a flimsy trajectory lately, maybe it's my cleats? Or even my -"

"Hey, Yerin?" A voice calls out to me from behind. I twirl around and meet eyes with a member on the opposing team. Looking at the number imprinted on his jersey, I quickly make out that this is the guy I've been quite impressed with since the game started - the wingback.

"That's me. And you are?"

"My name's Taeyong. I saw you play out there, and just wanted to -"

"Bro, we got to get back to our lockers. Save it til after we win, kay?" Jimin adds in, but Taeyong remains unfazed.

He chuckles, confidently, before saying, "You can go on ahead, bro. I believe I'm just talking to her right now - are you in a rush, Yerin?"

"Uh," I panic and look at Jimin. I want to save him from the embarassment, but this is literally just a conversation with someone. It didn't have to be that dramatic. "I'll catch up to you guys soon, okay?"

"Whatever," Jimin rolls his eyes and travels back alone.

"They always protective over you like that?" Taeyong bri