shot clock || na jaemin (the court series #1)

quarter four: minute six

"we have the biggest and flashiest signs in this entire damn gymnasium and you really wanna tell me that sooyoung's not gonna notice us?" renjun asks, looking at the bright and conspicuous board with a stern eye. haechan snorts, taking another sip of his coca cola. it was his third one in the past hour; the student council kids running the concession stands basically loved him at this point. jisoo notices this, glaring at haecchan when she sees him downing his soda.

"what? american soda has like crack cocaine in it or something! it's so good!" haechan exclaims, setting it down as jisoo stared him down. they were supposed to be surprising sooyoung at her game, even having convinced james to let them drive the party (funeral) van on renjun's international license to the school separately so they could properly surprise her. they had already nearly hit three high school kids on their phones, one toddler with zero sense of direction, and a pta mom who told them that she was going to speak to the principal about them. 

"good luck with that, wonderbread," renjun had snorted under his breath. jisoo, who was holding the gps after losing rock paper scissors, had turned and glared at him but couldn't find it in herself to actually get mad. technically, he wasn't wrong. the lady even kinda resembled a loaf of bread.

all in all, it was another day, another shitshow. jisoo wasn't getting paid nearly enough money to deal with these idiots. 

"has the game started yet?" jeno asks, sitting down next to jisoo after his trip to the washroom. on his way there, he had gotten hit on at least twice, which jisoo definitely did not need to know about, only to have been rescued by a tall, handsome boy who spoke korean. he never introduced himself, but he seemed familiar for some reason that jeno couldn't put his finger on. haechan looks at him with the most sarcastic expression possible. 

"yes. it has. that's why the court is empty and no one is even warming up yet," he deadpans, finishing off the third coke. he gets up to throw it out the can, ignoring the hopeful looks of the concession stand kids, knowing his fate if jisoo saw him with yet another coke in hand. 

"would it kill you to be nice to him for once?" jaemin asks, flipping the sign right side up, instead of upside down like he had been holding it for a solid ten minutes. haechan taps his finger on his chin, contemplating the question.

"yes," renjun and haechan answer at the same time. haechan snickers at jaemin's middle finger directed at him, poised beautifully at the side of his leg so that jisoo wouldn't see. jisoo sees of course, and is about to comment on it when the girls start filing out of the tunnel onto the court, sooyoung bringing up the rear next to a girl wearing a rash guard underneath her jersey and shorts. jisung shivers.

"those two, sooyoung and that other girl, are the real players on this team," jeno says, picking out the stats of the players as they start grabbing basketballs off the racks. it's obvious, just by the way the two of them move; they trust each other and they play like a real team.

they pass the ball back and forth, laughing as they practice free-throws. they even have the leisure to play a quick game of horse against the freshmen, only quitting when one of the juniors taps them both on the back of the head, looking at them with a comical yet serious expression to knock it off. 

"you're gonna make a good captain next year," jennifer grimaces, clutching the back of her head. by now, the rival team has arrived, starting to settle in and warm-up as well. andrea, the only one of the veterans with the balls to slap her captain and the mvp of the basketball team, shakes her head, jogging over to leanna, who seems to be having a panic attack - again.

three years on the team and she still got cold feet every single time before the game actually started. once it did, she was a whole different species of superhuman but until then, she projected herself to be little more than a baby deer.