We won our first match with a scoreline of 4-1 with 2 goals from Taeyeon, one from me and another from Yoona. Our 2nd match will start at noon so we have an hour break in between. Ms Lee suggested us to get something light to eat since we can only have our lunch after 1pm.

The cheerleaders group that was assigned to us were led by Tiffany as the captain, Jessica, Seohyun and 4 other new girls which were introduced to us before the start of our first match. Since we only have about an hour of break, we all decided to just have sandwiches so that we won't feel to full for our next game.

Me, Jessica, Taeny and YoonYul were seated in one table. The table behind us consist of SooSun, HyoHyun, Min and Suzy who is one of the new cheerleader. Hara, Hyomin and 3 other cheerleaders sat at the table beside us. While waiting for the food to arrive, me and Taeyeon were busy discussing about our next game.

"Did you saw their game earlier? Their style of play is defensive and they rely a lot on counter attacks since their players are really fast." Taeyeon who was sitting beside me was showing signs of worry. "Furthermore, they had a longer break than us since their game were before us."

"Are you both talking about Chungmuro University?" Hara who was seated at the next table chipped in. "I managed to watch their full match since I was on the bench. You guys only saw the first 20mins of their game because after that, you had to get ready for your match, right?"

Both me and Taeyeon nodded our heads as we asked her opinion about our opponent's style of playing.

"Like you said, their players are very fast and they actually scored all their 3 goals during their counter attacks. But I noticed that during the 2nd half, they seemed to have slowed down causing Mokpo University to score 2 goals against them." Hara explained everything.

"Thanks for your detailed observation, Hara. But I'm just wondering, how come you're watching their match and not ours?" I asked with a teasing smirk, causing Hara to giggle.

"I did watched our match too. It's just that since the games were played side by side, I stole glances at their match." She giggled again as I just nodded my head.

"You should stop giggling. If not, Jae's girlfriend will burn a hole through you." Taeyeon said as I turned to look at Jessica who was caught off-guard. I had noticed Jessica who was seated opposite me, glaring at Hara while the two of us were chatting.

"Mianhae, Jessica. Please don't misunderstand. I...." Hara's sentence was cut off my Jessica.

"Gwenchana. I knew you both were just discussing about the game. It's just a habit of mine to stare. Sorry."

It was my turn to giggle when I saw Jessica feeling embarassed of her actions. I stretched out my hand to grab her hand that was on the table and rubbed her palm softly. "It's okay, Sicababy. No need to apologise." I smiled as Jessica pouted at me.

"Yah, the two of you can stop being cheesy to each other. The food is already here." Tiffany who was seated beside Jessica handed us our food.

"Hey, Jae. I've thought of something about our next game but I'll tell you later. Right now, I'm hungry." Taeyeon said as she stuffed the food into .

We took about 30mins to finish up the food as we then walked back to our corner. Ms Lee was already there, looking at some papers when Taeyeon dragged me along to where Ms Lee was seated.

"Ms Lee, can I have some of your time before our next match?" Taeyeon asked as Ms Lee nodded and gestured to us to sit down. "About the match later, can Hara take my place in the starting line-up?"

Me and Ms Lee were confused to Taeyeon's request but Taeyeon explained herself.

"Just now, me and Hyun Jae were discussing about the Chungmuro team. We agreed that their players are very fast and rely a lot on counter attacks. We didn't manage to watch the whole game but Hara told us that their players seemed to be unable to keep their stamina up for the 2nd half. My plan is to utilise Hara's speed along with Hyoyeon's to tire them out faster."

I can see that Ms Lee was thinking hard about Taeyeon's idea.

"Taeyeon, your idea is good but I think I would rather put Hara in the 2nd half. Like you say, our opponents are not able to maintain their stamina throughout the game but there's a possibility that they realised their mistakes since they conceded 2 goals in the 2nd half for their first match. They might do something to counter the problem during the match against us. Since Hara is still a newcomer to this competition, it's a risk to play her right in the beginning." Ms Lee explained as both me and Taeyeon nodded our heads.

"What I'm going to do is to play the 2-1-1 formation and just like them, we are going on a counter-attacking style just for the 1st half. Yuri and Yoona will defend with Hyoyeon supporting Taeyeon. With Hyoyeon speed and ball control, we will try to keep as much ball possession as possible and try to score on the counter attack." Ms Lee explained further. "Hyun Jae and Hara will take over Taeyeon's and Yoona's place in the 2nd half. We will interchange the 2-1-1 formation with the 1-2-1 formation during the transition of defending to attacking style."

"Daebak.. Ms Lee, you've actually been thinking about this even before I gave you the suggestion, am I right?" Taeyeon asked.

"Actually I was the one who asked Hara to keep a look out at Chungmuro's style of playing. Furthermore, their coach also saw us playing during our 2nd half, after they ended their match. So they had probably analysed all of your skills which is why I need to change some of our line-ups. If they didn't change their line-up, we should have no problem countering their attacks." Ms Lee said as we heard the announcement that our match will start in 10mins time.

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As I watched the girls running around the court, I kept biting my lips with my eyes fixed on the game. Just like what Hara told us earlier, our opponents were really fast especially during their counter attacks. Luckily, Hyoyeon was always able to track back to help Yuri and Yoona with the defence. Taeyeon was not someone who's good with speed so she would usually linger in the opponents half and wait for passes.

So far, everything was going on smoothly until the opponent replaced 3 of their players at the 10mins mark. The game became faster than before as I saw Hyoyeon becoming more tired to keep up with the speed.

"Ms Lee, I think Hyo needs a rest." I suggested as Ms Lee nodded her head.

"Hara, get ready. You're going in to replace Hyoyeon." Ms Lee gave instruction to Hara who seemed shocked.

The moment Hyoyeon left the court, I quickly handed her a bottle of water as she took a seat beside me on the bench.

"Hey Hyo, you okay? You did great out there." I said as I patted her back.

"The new players are really fast. That's all I can say." Hyoyeon replied as she took a sip of the water.

I guessed Ms Lee was also taken aback with the speed that the opponents were displaying as I saw her shook her head a few times. She took a seat beside me and just like me, her focus was fixed on the game.

"I didn't expect them to be this fast." I said as I turned to face Ms Lee.

"That's because the 3 players that just came in didn't play during the first game. Fresh legs with more speed than the others. I didn't expect that they will change their line-up so early into the match." Ms Lee said as she sighed. "I only hoped the girls can keep the scoreline at 0-0 before the break."

Just after Ms Lee said that, the referee blew her whistle. Both of us looked to the court and to our dismay, we had conceeded a penalty. Hyoyeon said that Hara had tripped an opponent while trying to track back to help the defense. I looked at the clock and saw that the game will end in a minute. With the ball at the back of the net, the 1st half of the game ended with us trailing by a goal.

I watched as the girls walked out from the court with a dejected expression. I stood up and passed them a bottle of water each.

"Come on, girls. The game is not over yet. Don't give up so easily." I said as I saw Jessica and the cheerleaders walked up to us.

"Everyone, hwaiting. We still have the 2nd half to overturn the results so for now, watch us cheer you on." Tiffany said as she leaned in to peck Taeyeon on her cheeks.

The cheerleaders performed for 5mins with a lot of passion and it seemed that everyone felt a little better with the performance.

"Girls, even though we're trailing by a goal, you did a good job out there. I understand that the opponents are very fast and most of you seemed to have tire yourself out but don't lose hope." Ms Lee said and was about to continue talking when Hara lifted up her hand.

"Ms Lee, I would like to apologise to everyone for my mistake earlier. Mianhae." Hara looked down to the floor with a guilty expression.

"No need to apologise, Hara. No one is blaming you. It's part and parcel of a match. Furthermore, this is your first game. You'll improve. Trust me." Taeyeon said as she patted Hara's back.

As the girls took their rest, Ms Lee called me and Taeyeon aside to ask our opinions for the 2nd half.

"Ms Lee, I think we should stick with Hara at the moment. Let Jae replace me since she's got the speed." Taeyeon suggested. "We need all our fast players for the 2nd half. We'll monitor whoever is tired and replaced them with Hyo as the game progresses."

Ms Lee agreed to Taeyeon's suggestion as I went to get ready to change into my boots. Jessica came up to sit down beside me.

"Hwaiting, Jaegi. Be careful okay. I don't want you to hurt yourself." Jessica said as she frowned a little.

"I will. Don't worry okay." I replied as I used my thumb to remove the frown from her forehead. "Don't frown. Smile and cheer us on, okay." I smiled as Jessica nodded her head while smiling at me.

Once the whistle was blown, I walked with the rest of the girls to the court. Walking beside Hara, I told her to take over Taeyeon's position while I would play behind her in a 2-1-1 formation. Hara was not confident because of the mistake that she made earlier but I told her not to worry so much and just try her best.

"Just try to be a nuisance to them as much as you can. Don't have to worry about defence. I'll cover as much space as I can." I smiled at her as I patted her head.

5mins into the game, the ball was in Yuri's possession. She played a one-two with Yoona before passing the ball to me near the centre court. I looked up and saw one player guarding Hara with another player running after Yuri who had ran forward. Their pivot player was still at our side of the court which meant that they only have one free player remaining. I ran towards her as I saw her getting ready to stop me in my tracks. She must have been nervous to see me running towards her at top speed as she tried to intimidate me by spreading her arms out. I kicked the ball in between her legs and turned my body to go around her.

When the opponent sensed that she had failed to block me, she acidentally tugged my jersey causing me to fall down. Immediately the whistle was blown as a freekick was given to us at the edge of the semicircle. Yuri came up to me as both of us waited in front of the ball. Two opponents stood a few metres from us as a blockage with another one guarding Hara who was running around at a corner of the semicircle. Their goalkeeper with another player were standing guard near their goalpost.

The moment the referee blew her whistle, Yuri ran towards the ball but went over it as I surged forward and kicked the ball hard towards the top left corner of the goalpost. The ball hit the inner post and went in. Due to the speed of the ball, their goalkeeper could only manage to stand rooted to her position.

"Nice shot." Yuri gave me a high-five as Hara and Yoona ran up to me and gave me a hug.

I saw the other players along with the cheerleaders clapping hard with excitement as I saw Jessica doing a heart-shaped with her arms, placing her fingers on the top of her head. I did the same gesture to her while Taeyeon and Hyoyeon pretended to faint before breaking out into laughter. 3mins later, the opponent coach called for a time-out as we ran to our own side of the bench.

"How's everyone coping?" Ms Lee asked as bottles of water was handed over to us and we only managed to  just nod our heads. "The score now is 1-1 and we have about 10mins more to play. I know some of you are exhausted especially Yoona and Yuri who had been playing all the way. But the other team is also losing their stamina so continue to do your best. Yoona, Yuri. Do you want to rest?"

Both of them shook their heads and said that they could still continue.

"I guess all those morning jogs that both of you always do together are benefitting  you since you are able to maintain your stamina well." Taeyeon said as she patted Yuri's back.

"I guess you should start joining them since your stamina is the worse among us." Hyoyeon commented with a straight face, causing us to laugh as Taeyeon just meronged at her.

Even though Yuri and Yoona said that they could still continue, I guessed they were already at their limit as I signalled to Ms Lee for a time-out with 4mins left to play.

"Ms Lee, I think you should pull Yuri and Yoona out." I said the moment we were gathered around. YoonYul couple tried to protest but I intercepted them. "We still have a game later. I don't want both of you to drain yourself out now."

Ms Lee agreed with my suggestion and told Taeyeon and Hyoyeon to replace YoonYul.

"Hey, Taeng. Do you want to win this match or settle with a draw?" I asked as both of us re-entered the court.

"A win of course. It's less burdensome for the next match." She replied with a dorky grin as I showed a thumbs up.

Hyoyeon took over the defender position together with me. Taeyeon will be the pivot with Hara playing behind her. The ball possession was now with the opponent as two of their players surged forward. They seem to have gathered their very last bits of stamina as one of them fired a shot towards our goalpost. 

But Sooyoung managed to palm the ball out as it landed in front of Hyoyeon. I shouted for the ball as this is our chance to counter attack as the two players were still on our side of the court. Taeyeon was trying her best to get away from her marker as the player who was with Hara ran forward to block me. Seeing that Hara was free in the center court, I passed the ball to her just when the opponent was about to reach me.

With the confusion, the opponent turned back her attention to Hara who was already approaching their semicircle while I just ran forward freely. Just then I saw Hara closed her eyes and kicked the ball hard. The ball spinned towards the bottom corner of the goalpost but the goalkeeper managed to stretch and palm the ball outwards. Lucky for me, the ball went towards me as I lobbed it over the goalkeeper who was already sprawled on the floor.

"Goaaaallll!!!!" I could hear Tiffany's loud voice from the bench as Taeyeon, Hara, Hyoyeon and even Sooyoung ran towards me and gave me a group hug. Just at the same time, we heard the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the game.

All of us took turns to shake the hands of our opponents including the referess and her assistants before walking towards our bench where the rest of the team were waiting for us.

"Good job, girls." Ms Lee commented as she patted each of our backs. "Everyone did a great job out there. We have a longer break this time round as our next match will be in 2hrs time. Grab a proper meal and use the remaining time to recuperate. I'll see you girls back here at 2.45pm, okay."

Everyone nodded their heads as they watched Ms Lee walked to the opponents coach to shake her hand and had a short conversation.

"Hara, gomawo." I said as I saw a confused expresison on her face. "Thanks to your effort, I managed to score a goal for the team. Just `be more confident and don't close your eyes when taking a shot. There will always be a next time so himnae."

Hara nodded her head and said her thanks to me for my advice as I felt someone familiar hugging me from the back, causing my heart to skip a beat.

"You were awesome, Jaegi." Jessica said as I placed my hands on top of her arms that was around my waist.

"That's because you cheered me on. I can see your smile from miles away." I said as I turned around and hugged her.

"Yah, yah, yah!!! Enough of the PDA. I'm dying of hunger already." Sooyoung said as she smacked my head lightly while walking past me.

Both me and Jessica meronged at Sooyoung at the same time before breaking out into giggles as we followed the girls towards the cafetaria.

********************************

We were seated at the same tables just like earlier as we chatted and enjoyed our lunch. There were a variety of food spread on each table as I smiled when I saw SooSun's table.

"Yah, Soo. Did you just come back from war?" I asked as the rest of the girls turned to look at Sooyoung's table that was practically filled with food from one end to the other and obviously more than the others.

"I wjsjfeje hatdd jnsnfu now." Sooyoung replied with a mouthful of food as Sunny slapped her arms softly.

"Don't talk when your mouth is full, Shikshin." Sunny said as she took a piece of tissue to wipe Sooyoung's mouth gently.

"I said, I worked hard just now. Did you see how many saves I made earlier? That game was tough." Sooyoung said as she smirked with arrogance before she continued to eat her bibimbap.

"Everyone played well earlier and worked as a team. I hope we will continue to work together and do our best in every match from now on." Taeyeon said as everyone cheered her speech. 

She was about to continue talking when someone suddenly called out my name. I turned towards the direction of the voice and saw Ailee waving at us. The moment she reached our table, she bowed and greeted everyone.

"Hey, Ailee. How come we didn't see you the whole day?" Yuri asked.

"That's because my team was placed in Hall 4. I think you guys played in Hall 3, right?" She asked as we all nodded our heads.

"For this tournament, teams from Group A to Group D will compete in Hall 3 while teams from Group E to Group H will compete in Hall 4. The mens teams are split between Hall 1 and Hall 2." Tiffany explained to everyone as she introduced Ailee to the rest of the cheerleaders.

"So how did your team do so far?" Taeyeon asked with a grin.

"We drew our first match but won the 2nd match. I guess the 3rd match will be a deciding factor as to whether we could make it to the top 16. How about you guys?" Ailee asked.

"We've won both our matches so far. But it wasn't easy." Hyoyeon replied as everyone nodded their head in agreement.

"As the defending champion, I guess there's a lot of pressure on all of you to do well." Ailee remarked. "But I think, all of you have the skills to go far so hwaiting."

" Hey Ailee, instead of just standing, why don't you join us for lunch? You can take a seat with Hara and the other girls. They have an empty seat over there." I said as I smiled at Ailee who seemed to hesitate for a while before shaking her head.

"I need to get back to my teammates soon. My match will be starting in 30mins time. What time is yours? Maybe I can go and watch it later." Ailee said as I told her that our next game will be at 3pm.

Saying goodbye to everyone, Ailee left after wishing us good luck for our next match.

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Ailee's POV

I was disappointed when I realised that my team will not be playing in the same hall as Jae's team. I was really hoping to be able to see her play. I only managed to get a glimpse of her during the early assembly where everyone was gathered to hear the speech by the chairperson of the tournament. When instruction was given for individual team, I saw Jae with the rest of her team.

They were wearing a black and pink jersey and thanks to the tall Sooyoung, I managed to notice them from a distance. I smiled to myself when I saw Jae sitting at the bench while taking out her futsal shoes from her duffel bag. But my smile faded when I saw Jessica walking and sat down beside her. I saw how Jessica just quietly stare at Jae while she wore her shoes and how Jae pinched her cheeks when she looked up.

I should feel happy for them right? The looks that they gave each other was so lovely. As a friend, shouldn't I be happy for them? But why does it hurt inside? My heart kept telling me that there's something in Jae that I was attracted to while my head kept saying that I can't be falling for Jae. How can I fall for her when I don't really know her? We are just friends. Maybe good friends but I'm not sure if we are even considered as close. All of this is confusing me.

When I saw them again at the cafetaria, I got excited and accidentally shouted for Jae. When she turned to look at me, I waved excitedly until I saw Jessica's expression. The slight frown on her expression seem to make me feel that she could see through me. I pretended to be my normal self and greeted everyone when I walked to their table. Tiffany even introduced me to the rest of the cheerleading team. All of them seem like a bunch of friendly people.

Hearing Jae's question asking me to join them for lunch, I was hesitant to answer her. Even though my heart told me to say yes, my head kept reminding me that I should distance myself from Jae. In the end, I decided to decline her offer by saying that I've to get back to my team since our game would be starting in 30mins time. I was actually telling her the truth. Well, maybe not the whole truth.

Actually, my next game will start at the same time as them which means that my break time is similar too. I could have join them for lunch if I had wanted too but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. I've been confused with the internal fights between my heart and my head that I was afraid if I would end up doing something that I might regret.

One thing that I'm sure of after that short meeting with them is that I don't want to lose the friendship that I have with all of them.

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Author's Note:

Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating it. Sorry if my greetings came late. To all my readers, are you all ready to leave 2014 behind? :P