Luhan squints in the bright sun light as he emerges from the locker rooms, Yixing patting him on the back roughly as he jogs past him, towards the field.

His entire class had been held back for extra remedial, a certain three troublemakers missing from roll call. Of course, Luhan has acknowledged it’s totally like them to purposely ‘forget’ about it.

He’s just counting his lucky stars that Jongin is even putting in effort for their project… and Luhan doesn’t have a choice now, but to cancel with Sehun for Jongin. The only upside is that he has a legit alibi for ditching him.

Lay is the only one in the football team who’s in the same class as Luhan, so everyone else is already done warming up when Luhan and Yixing reach the field.

“About time!” Sehun shouts from centre field, waving. Luhan waves back with a grin, bending down to stretch the muscles in his legs.

He watches diligently as the ball flies right across the field, but is quickly deflected by one of Tao’s legendary flying kicks.

He’d heard that Tao used to train in one of the shaolin temples back home in China, and when he’d transferred over, Kris saw his potential and wooed him for their (newly) opened position of defender.

The ball shoots in a totally different direction, but is quickly caught by Jongdae, their ace left midfielder, and passed to Sehun.

Sehun is their centre midfielder – the one that’s always in the spot light. He’s very good at what he does, and he and Luhan sometimes play interchangeably in matches.

But of course, Luhan has always been faster than Sehun. He’s smaller in body structure, and is therefore more nimble than the midfielder. That’s why Luhan is the striker, and not Sehun.

Luhan always takes pride in his speed.

It’s the only thing he’s better than Sehun at.

Luhan still remembers when Sehun dragged him for the football try-outs, the second day of their high school career. Luhan had actually been thinking about joining choir, or maybe that cool Rubik’s Cube club some people had set up, but Sehun had taken one look at the varsity jackets their seniors had been wearing, and decided to try out for the team.

And of course, Luhan had to go with him. He has never been able to say no to Sehun.

“Alright! Take twenty,” Their coach shouts through a loudspeaker, from up on the bleaches. Chanyeol cheers from the far corner of the field, and jogs to the water cooler from the white goal posts.

Luhan finishes his stretching, and retrieves Sehun’s water bottle from its normal hiding place under the shade of the bench. The other players are slowly making their way to the benches, and they’re all sweating heavily with flushed cheeks.

“Were those two hours that bad?” Luhan teases rhetorically when Sehun jogs to him, passing him his water bottle.

Sehun greedily gulps down the drink, and smiles when he’s finished, wiping a trail of water with his arm. “Thanks, Lu.”

Luhan smiles in return.

This is the Sehun that he loves, the one that’s his best friend. The one that doesn’t drink until he’s sick, the one that doesn’t use girls like second hand trash, the one that still treats him like his best friend.

“Hey, about later, after practice, I have-” Luhan begins, only to be interrupted.

“Calculus was ,” Yixing complains to Joonmyun with a low grumble as he lays himself on the grass. “I don’t get any of that bull-crap, and the board doesn’t want me to drop another subject.”

Lay normally sleeps in class. He dozes off when he’s bored, or just doesn’t feel like doing anything. Luhan’s teachers try to get him to concentrate, but it just doesn’t work, and sometimes he even sleeps standing up.

Luhan thinks Yixing will become a dancer in the future, or maybe a football player. He takes the initiative, and breaks formation sometimes during games to save the ball – which is probably why he’s such a good player, too.

It’s no surprise that Lay is a lot better on the field than in a classroom.

“Hey, Sehun,” Joonmyun calls out from his place on the bench, running a hand through his hair. “You going for the party tonight?”

This catches Sehun’s attention. He loves parties. Most of the time, that only means free drinks, free food and free girls.

Sehun joins Joonmyun, Yixing, Tao and Chanyeol on the grass, and motions Luhan to sit next to him. Luhan doesn’t really feel welcomed, and especially since they’re most likely about to talk about the party Luhan’s not going to.

Luhan has never liked parties. Or more accurately, he doesn’t like what he could find at one.

“Actually, I think coach wanted to talk to you about something, Lu,” Tao says, shooting him a cat like smile. “You know how he’s pissed about you and Xing missing so much for Calc.”

“It’s alright,” Yixing says, punching Tao on the arm. “I mean, it’s not like you’ll attend the party anyways, right?”

Luhan admits they’re correct with a shrug, even though it stings just a little, being reminded that they don't want him there, and starts to climb the bleachers towards their coach, overhearing a part about Tequila and some girl’s navel that he doesn’t wish he’d heard.

“Oh, Luhan,” their coach greets pleasantly as he approaches, using his clipboard as a fan. He’s quite young, in his early thirties, with a slowly receding hair line and blonde hair. His voice is harsh from shouting.

“Coach,” Luhan nods in reply, “Tao told me you needed to see me?”

“Yes.” The mood seems to shift suddenly, as Coach Kim stops fanning himself and turns his whole torso to face Luhan solemnly. “It’s about your grades, Luhan. They’re not doing so well, and the school is concerned.” He leans in. “You know what I’m like, alright. I wouldn’t let the admin into football stuff if I had a choice…”

Luhan nods, swallowing. It seems to echo in his ears.

He’d known it was coming, but he didn’t want to believe it.

“I’m sorry, Luhan.” The coach is giving him sympathy eyes now. “But the director has made his decision. If you don’t pull up your marks, especially in Calculus, I will be forced to ban you from this coming football season.”

The next season is the last one for the year, the one he also needs for scholarships. It’s also the most important one for their school, because even with their all-star team, they’ve always only made it second.

But without a striker used to their team tactics…

All of a sudden, Luhan feels a little faint.

A/N: I updated! WOOT!

I know you guys were craving some Hunhan, so here you go. Alot of people are voting for Kai, though.

What do you think about Yixing's character? And how the team treats Luhan?

My... strong dislike for Math kinda shines through, yeah?

Please check this out: Ephemeral Reflections (Hunhan, Baekyeol)

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I'm sorry if this chapter was TT.TT