Dreading her body, she went to school heavy hearted the next day. She didn’t know how she was going to reacting she were to come face to face with Minho. How was she going to deal with the other guys. She didn’t have a good night, she couldn’t keep her mind off the team. She was still confused.

Before she could even comprehend, she came face to face with Sana once again. She told herself she wasn’t going to deal with her. She wasn’t going to cause anymore troubles. She stood out of the way and went to her locker. It didn’t seem like luck was on her side as she came face to face with Sana when she closed her locker door. “You need something?”

“I told you so, they don’t care about you half as much. Just look at Mino oppa, he didn’t even hesitate to protect me from people like you.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I am just trying to help you. Just leave this school, you will feel better.” Roo sighed, shook her head and walk away from her. “I warned you!”

As she turned at the end of the hall, she bumped on to a familiar cologne, her heart jumped. It’s too early to meet any of them. she wasn’t prepared.

“Roo…”

“What, Joohyuk? Don’t waste your breath, I won’t change my mind”

“I wasn’t going to mention anything about that. It’s just that I heard Sana. Please just ignore her, please…don’t leave just yet. I am sure this problem is going to get solved in no time. Please, I am going to help you.” Joohyuk shot out his words like a machine gun.

“We’ll see. I don’t want to talk about it now. I will see you in the library after school? Hopefully?” she laughed under her breath, “what am I even thinking, let’s just forget about it”

He stopped her by the shoulder, “I went yesterday, Roo. I went, but you didn’t.” she was taken aback, she didn’t expect anyone to follow her order. “I waited but you didn’t come, so I went back home. So, I will see you today. After school. Okay?” Roo numbly nodded her head and left. “Roo” she looked up once again, “Don’t give up just yet, ok?” she didn’t reply and just left to class.

It wasn’t too surprising that Bogum was not there yet. Is he going to go back to when he was before? Stop studying to rebel her? She hopes not. She didn’t want to deal with anymore s.

She shook off her thoughts and went back to reading her books.

“Miss Karls Roo, I need to talk to you” Mr Park came in to the class room to get Roo.

“What do you need to talk about?” She followed him out.

“You’ll know when we reach there” Roo quietly followed him to wherever he is bringing her.

“Why are we here?”

“Let’s talk inside”

They were here at the principal office. Well, because of the lockdown, it had become quite a big fuss since yesterday as their fangirls haven’t been able to watch them. They didn’t know anything and started hating on Roo. As usual, she didn’t bother, but why the principal.

When walked in to the room, her heart was filled with disappointment. She felt like laughing at herself. She felt as if she got betrayed.

Infront of her stood her 10 basketballers. The younger ones didn’t dare meet her eyes while the older ones seem to be quite angry still. So, that was why Bogum was still not in class yet. She didn’t expect them to bring this matter up to the principal. She scanned through all their faces and let out a sarcastic laughed at herself with her head fell low.

JooHyuk could see how sad she is. He could almost sense that she felt betrayed by him. It was only half an hour ago when they spoke to each other and him asking her not to give up. What is this right now? Him standing at a different side. They met eyes, and he didn’t dare to meet it. Roo felt ing silly.

That morning, the basketballers had gathered at the school outdoor court sitting on the audience seat doing nothing and making a mess. Principal walked pass and questioned them about their conduct and they just had to rebel. They ‘complained’ to him about the lockdown and how unhappy they were. Thus, they ended up here.

“Good Morning Karls, I heard you’re the new coach to our basketball team.”

“Yeah, I am.”

“I supposed you know the reason you’re here. Well, there is a reason I am still keeping this team. Who allowed you to lock the basketball court and stop them from playing basketball?” Roo didn’t like his tone, in fact, Roo didn’t like how he was talking to her. She glanced at Mr Park, did he not mention anything to the principal before?

“I understand having a CCA outside curriculum is important but don’t you think their results are more important right now?”

“I personally think that as long as they don’t cause troubles for me is the most important thing right now. I demand you to open up the court right now” *That’s what Minho meant by basketball club will never close down?*

“I am sorry I can’t do that” they shot her looks of disapprove especially Minho who seems like he could fight her right at the moment.

“Why not?”

“because that was our agreement. Between me and Mr Park. Between me and the 10 of them. And basketball is never going to get them far, they need at least a decent result to bring them to somewhere. I am not demanding for something too unreasonable, I was just asking for an average GPA. 3.0 grade point average is the least one should get to move on to the next level. How is that too much to ask for?” She was getting angry at the principal’s attitude, he wasn’t caring for them, he was just trying to stay out of trouble, he just didn’t want them to cause any inconvenience for him.

“I don’t care what agreements you have; you are a student here that means you listen to me. I don’t care if you are their coach or what but in here, you are my student. Take down the Lockdown.”

“I am not going to do that. Do you know how many street basketballers from this school goes to boys home after they graduate? Some didn’t even get to grad. You don’t know how many kids’ life you are ruining. Let me tell you what I see, I see a system in this school, that is designed for them to fail.” The others were listening attentively to her. She was challenging the principal. “I know all of you like stats, so let me give you some. Richmond high only graduates 50% of it’s students, enough to let you stay in the position you are in right now. Of those who graduate, only 6% go to college, which tells me, when I walk down these halls and look in the classrooms, maybe only one student is going to go to college. Out of the 10 boys here, maybe none.”

“Are you challenging me right now”

“ Isnt it your job to keep them in track? To lead them to the right way? Well Principal, may you allow me to continue.” She didn’t give a dam to the principal, “you might ask, “If they aint going to college, where will they go? Well, that’s a great question and the answer for Richmond Graduates is this, probably to prison. In this school, 45% of the undergrads get arrested. Look around you, one of you is going to get arrested, growing up here in Richmond you’re 80% more likely to go to prison than college, those are the numbers, those are the stats.” Roo could see the principal’s change in expression, seems like he was getting too impatient already. She was going to finish what she said. “I would love for all of you in this room to go home and look at your life’s tonight, look at your parents lives, and ask yourself do I want better. If the answer is yes, I will see you here tomorrow. And I promise you, I’ll do everything in my power to get you to college, and to a better life. And if youre answer is no, well, then there’s just so much I could say.”

“I don’t care whatever stats or promise you are trying to say here. I just need you to open up the gate”

“And if no is my only answer?”

“Then I will have to kick you out of this school” this caught some of their attention. Did we go too far? They thought that telling principal would make it easier for them to make Roo open the door, they didn’t expect the worse. They thought about her words, and they realised one thing, that she was sincere in helping them.

“What reason do you have to kick me out?”

“For being a nuisance in the school”

Roo couldn’t believe what she’s hearing, she let out a sarcastic chuckle. “Being a nuisance. If helping schoolmates are called nuisance, then you don’t have to kick me out. I will quit school by myself.” She snatched the agreements that she saw on Mr Park’s hand and tore it infront of all of them before slamming it on the principal’s table and walked out of the room angrily.

“I thought you said you will never give up on us?” She recognised the voice coming from Joohyuk behind her.

“I didn’t give up on you guys, but rather, you guys gave up on me. Quit being a hypocrite. This isn’t what you told me just half an hour ago.” She turned away and walked in an opposite direction. She felt betrayed she felt her heart shattered. She will never ever get to prove herself to her ex-teammates anymore, her chances of being able to get herself associate to basketball are slimmer, her brother would force her to go for operation, most of all, she thought she made friends finally, but she was wrong…

“YAH!” Joohyuk caught up with her and stopped her.

“even if I am not your coach, I have a name and I am pretty sure I am not ‘yah’” She glowered at him.

“Roo, I wasn’t expecting this to happen also. Whatever I said in the morning, I am being sincere. Will you give us one last chance?” He asked softly.

Roo smirked, she didn’t even expect them to be appreciative towards her effort, she just expected them to at least understand her. “for what? You guys don’t want it right” she smiled bitterly, “I care, initially just because I am your coach. I thought I am enough to care more as a friend than just a coach to you guys. I guess not. One chance? That’s funny. I have given you all too many chances. Do you even remember rule no.2? I bet you don’t. because I caught all of you playing street basketball so many times that you must’ve thought that you hide well from me. I closed one eye on that. Whatever, its not important now anyway.”

She didn’t know that the rest was behind her. They thought they went too far, they never expect you to quit nor getting kicked out. They just want to play basketball. They didn’t understand why was results so important. They were still kids, they forget the fact that Roo was the same age as them, she’s still a young girl too.

“Roo” Her hair stood at the low deep voice of the captain. “are you really going to leave? Do you really have to leave?”

“Since you guys didn’t want me as your coach, might as well, right? Since I was just here for basketball in the first place anyway. If I lose this position, then there’s no point for me to be here anymore. Since you didn’t even want me here.” Her last sentence was directed at Mino.  

“Don’t you think you are too childish? Just because of this you want to quit school?” The rest nudged Mino for speaking without thinking. He didn’t mean it that way but he was never good with words. He didn’t want her to leave either, but he has his ego. He was too prideful to feel guilty for what he did the day before.

“I am too childish for here, I am too childish for the 10 of you, so why not. Like you said, it’s either me or the club. You can have the club right now, Song Minho, I will not be in your way anymore.” She wasn’t just disappointed, she was angry with him.

“Hey, Mino didn’t mean it that way.” JongSuk voiced. They didn’t even know what happened the day before. She decided that they had no say in this.

Roo stuck out her hands to Kim Woobin, stretched out to pass him the key to the basketball gym. He stood there, dazed, not moving an inch as he stared into her eyes. Seeing that, Roo grabbed his hand and opened his palm to lay the key on his palm before walking away from them. “Play all you want”

Packing her bag, she walked out of the class even when the subject tutor was trying to stop her. She slung her bag loosely, bowed curtly to the tutor and strolled out. There stood her classmate/ex-student, Park Bogum. She ignored his presence and walked past him.

He could clearly see her disappointed face yet she was trying to hide her emotions behind her mask again. His gaze followed her. She was clenching her teeth so tightly that he could see her jaw trembling.

Roo didn’t clear her things in the basketball room and she decided to do that the following day. She had so much in her mind that she didn’t even know where her legs are bringing her to, she didn’t even notice the footstep trailing behind her.

*Ring Ring Ring Ring* “YAH AGASSHI PLEASE MOVE AWAY!”

Roo felt a force forcefully pulling her back. Returning to her senses, she realised that she was almost knocked over by the bicycle, if it wasn’t for her saviour. She was breathing heavily as she glanced at her saviour. She got speechless when she saw the person in front of her, as if he had stolen her voice. She was still disappointed at them, looking at them reminds her of her ex-teammates who had affected her so much.

She stabled herself, dusting off the dust on her shirt, adjusting her attire and bag before walking off without saying anything.

“Are you still angry?” Bogum bit his lip and asked while trailing behind her. *ignored*

“There is training tomorrow. Will you come?” *ignored*

“Karls Roo!” *ignored*

Bogum let out a heavy breath and ran infront of Roo to block her.

She stopped on track and gave Bogum a sceptical look.

“Are you okay?” He checked.

“Okay is an understatement. I am elated, I am overjoyed” She said with a straight face, her words made Bogum confused. “that I don’t have to face all of you anymore. That I am finally off from all of you” She stared straight into his eyes.

“What do you mean by that?” He asked, veins popping out his neck upon hearing that. Why would Roo say such things.

“I am more disappointed than angry.” She looked at her feet, not knowing what to feel. She felt bad, she felt silly, she’s feeling all the negative emotions that she shouldn’t be feeling. She knew she is starting to get attached to them, she is not going to admit it. She can’t get attached to them. Not when she doesn’t know where her future holds.

Bogum felt bad for disappointing her with their actions while she felt that she wanted to tell at least 1 person in the team how she feels. She feels that she should tell him yet at the same time, she felt as if something is blocking her vocal cord.

As if Bogum saw through her, he placed his palm on her shoulder, comforting her, “It’s okay Roo, you can tell me anything and everything. I will listen to you. At the very least, let me know how you feel. Let me know…how can I make you stay…”

She looks up from the concrete floor path and met his eyes, and she saw the sincerity in this eyes that made her feel the warmth that she has been longing from her teammates. She could almost see the wall in front of her crumple, while he could see the hurt flashing in her eyes.

“Sometimes, it’s okay not to be okay. Sometimes, you just need someone by your side. Sometimes, by letting your heart out, you might be able to remove the heaviness in your heart. Roo…there is just so much I can say but none will take away the disappointment that you’ve felt, but this is the least I can do at the moment, which is listen to you.”

Roo bit her lip, “looking at all of you just now reminds me of the way my ex-teammates look at me. You will never understand how it feels, how it feels to be treated that way. I felt betrayed all over again. It hurts, it really does.” Taking his words, she mustered up her courage and squeezed the words out of , her nose soured. “I admit I just want to run away, runaway from all of these… At least when I could still play basketball, I could still shut them up. But I have nothing to do so now.” She scoffed. “ever since that incident happened, they were happier than anyone would. Even the coach that I trusted the most, gave up on me. Do you know how it feels to get treated that way?” She calmed herself, “Do you know how I got the idea of going to Richmond?”

“How?” Both of them had strolled to a nearby bench and sat down. Bogum was listening to her attentively. Genuinely interested and concerned.

“Coming from a team that only cares about results, a team that only cares about winning and not anything else. I came across a group of boys that showed me how much they are willing to fight for their passion. It amazed me. Enlightened me of how a teenage basketball player should behave. How much their passion cost that they are willing to fight on court. What makes them fight? What could a basketball game possibly cause? I asked myself but had no answer to all my questions. I wanted to find out. Do you know who they are?”

“could it be....” Bogum Eyes lit up.

“Yes, Team Richmond, and why do you think I didn’t stop you all from playing street basketball even when I set it as one of the rule” She smiled softly, “because I know how much all of you enjoyed doing what you all did before. And you guys aren’t causing any trouble. I knew my appearance had caused too much changes, that was the least I could let you all keep. I did consider about how much stress you guys would face, and how unhappy you all would’ve felt. I thought of how my presence shouldn’t affect all of you in a negative way. I thought doing all these was enough but I guess not. I was just being silly.” She paused, collecting her thought.

“You never did explain yourself in any occasion. You never explain why street basketball wasn’t allowed. We knew your intention at the later part, we knew it was for our own good, but we understood it late”

“Fights, injuries, gaining unwanted enemies. You know these are what street basketball could bring you. there were no rules on the street. Who could protect all of you then? No one. What’s the point of all these though? It really doesn’t matter anymore”

“What makes you want to quit then? You said you won’t give up on us”

“I never give up on you guys like I’ve said, but rather, you guys gave up on me.” She defensively said, “I thought we were cool, we were adults to settle this on our own. I never thought I would feel so betrayed just because you guys approached the principal. And would rather approach the principal than just doing what was agreed on the first day. I thought it would be okay but I guess not. I probably did care too much.” She paused for a second before she continues, “I care that’s why I am concerned about all of your studies. I don’t want to see you guys ending up on the street. Just because all of you didn’t do well on your studies, just because you all lived too recklessly. I don’t want to see all of you in that state next time.”

“We are not you Roo, we are not smart, we can’t change overnight.” He reasoned, trying not to sound too aggressive.

“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out: it’s the pebble in your shoe. Not being smart is not an excuse not to do well. I wouldn’t lockdown the gym if I see the effort but no, I don’t see any. Because I want to keep that promise we had, I am the bad guy. I am not born smart, I work my off for these results. I know it won’t happen overnight, but working for the past month would’ve at least showed some result. I just didn’t want to throw you guys to that head of a principal who cares more about making his job easier than all of your progress. I was sincere, I could see the potential, but I felt dumb doing all these.”

Roo heard a deep sigh coming from Bogum.

“Is this really the end? Are you really going to leave us?”

“Isn’t that what all of you want? I leave and you can play all you want.”

“Roo, haven’t you realised that thanks to you, we are all able to do well in basketball. Thanks to you, we at least have that little discipline in us. We were never late for training anymore. We can speak without cursing in every sentence. I am doing well in school and am confident that I will be able to pass this year, thanks to you. thanks to you, I can graduate. Roo, haven’t you realised, that you’ve so much impact in our lives? Ever since you came, I can see everyone changing, everyone is becoming a better person even if it’s just a tiny bit. We all grew closer and finally know the meaning of teammates, friends and family. I finally found someone that genuinely cares for me. I found back the reason why I started basketball, and I know what I want to achieve in the future. I found a goal to live. All because of you. are you really going to leave now that you finally carved a path? Are you going to throw me on the path, aren’t you going to help me move forward?”

Roo was listening to him, so focused that she didn’t realise her eyes were on him the whole time. She didn’t know he was so expressive. She didn’t know he had so much to say. She didn’t know…she had affected him so much.

“Roo, please give us one last chance, I promise, I will do my best. Please stay.” He pleaded. Giving Roo the puppy eyes that she struggled hard to say no.

“it’s only you who feel that way.”

“And I am not enough to make you stay?”

Roo paused. *Not only you, everyone is enough to make me stay…but I don’t have the courage to stay. I don’t know what’s holding me back either* She thought. “Bogum… its not that. Its  just…”

She didn’t continue, “Its just?” he questioned. “Are you scared?” As if he saw through her, he saw the hesitance in her eyes. He held his hope up hoping she will stay, he knows that there is a part in her that wants to stay. “Sometimes, putting your pride down, you will notice so much more.”

“What will happen if I go back? Nothing Bogum, nothing. If I go back, if I continue to be your coach, you guys are still going to be oblivious to all those rules I set. What is the point then? You will still open the gym despite everything that I have said. All of them will still hate me. And there will certainly be a border between all of us now, there will be hard feelings. The principal will not change his mindset. I don’t think I will be nicer, I don’t think I can be nicer, I don’t think I will compromise to anything, I don’t think I will change my style of coaching, even if so, will you still want me back?”