The Boy From The Bridge - Jakehoon

Chapter 36: The Debut 3/7

It was an overcast Friday afternoon in which  Jake's game was to be played. Sunghoon was keen to see Jake in action. His friend had often spoken about his love for the sport and seemed confident in his ability. The game was scheduled for half an hour after the end of the School Day, and, despite the copious amounts of time Heeseung, Jay and he had, they still managed to arrive late enough not get a good spot on the bleachers.

Sunghoon lead his two friends to try and find a good position in the standing crowd of spectators when he stumbled upon a familiar dog, Artemis. As soon as she noticed him she jumped up on him, demanding affection. She had developed a friendly relationship with Sunghoon over the past month - this was demonstrated by his scratching of her nose in order to placate her.

"Woah, down!" a stunned Jungkook clamoured. He was taken aback that his dog had jumped up at someone before realising the friendly nature of her move, "Oh, Sunghoon - you came to watch too?"

"I did" Sunghoon was continuing to pet Artemis. Jungkook smiled, it looked suspicious to Sunghoon, as if he was reticent to the fact that Sunghoon hadn't come to support his school, but to watch Jake.

Heeseung was familiar with Jungkook and introduced Jay to him. Whilst still petting the large dog people began to associate her with Sunghoon. Gasps from girls carried in the breeze, "Oh my god, that dog is so cute." "Oh wow, is that Sunghoon's dog?" "Should we ask him if we could pet it?". Sunghoon smiled as he stroked her before noticing two pairs of eyes fix on him.

"I didn't know you had a dog?" it was Sunoo. He was walking with Yun, both carried cups of what he presumed was coffee.

"It's Jaeyun's actually. What are you two doing here? I wouldn't think either of you would be particularly interested in sports"

"Oh we're not" Sunoo continued, "Yun's just here to check out the boys..."

"And you are too fag" A male voice called from somewhere in the crowd.

"Ignore them" Yun said to her friend, placing a hand on his arm to comfort him. Sighing, Sunoo knelt down by Artemis to get the dog's attention and begun to pet her. His frustrations at being subject to abuse were clearly evident from  his expression.

"You alright kid?" It was Jungkook who spoke.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Sunoo muttered.

"Oh, Jungkook - this is Sunoo - you met on the phone the other day" Sunghoon said, remembering their earlier meeting.

"We did?" They both said in unison, taking a second look again at one another. Sunghoon saw Jungkook smile at Sunoo and say, "Sunoo - it's a pleasure to meet you". Jungkook had admired and respected Sunoo's ability to delve into other people's lives that he had demonstrated previously.

Sunoo response was a fair bit more tongue in cheek, "I envy you - I've never gotten to meet me".

____________

Jake sat with Sungmin on the touchline as the game kicked off. Minki, their erstwhile teammate had being thrust straight into the Starting Eleven. As was to be expected the First Team were playing their traditional 4-4-2 formation. Minki was in the middle of midfield but was clearly not used to playing in that setup. He had evidently being unable to establish himself in that position in the Second Team and had only flourished when they had shifted to a  4-2-3-1.

Their opponents for the day were from a nearby school. Jake had learned in the build up to this game that there existed a local rivalry between the two schools. The opposition team was robust, strong and quick. Playing in an aggressive 4-5-1 formation they swamped the midfield and were able to out-muscle and out-number Jake's team.