3-Point (FreenBecky)

Homecoming

"Sam?"

Sam stood behind the changing room door, wearing the team's jersey along with the matching black shoes. Sweat running down her forehead, looked like she was done stretching minutes before Song came there. She moved to the side when her eyes fell to the injured players behind Song.

"What happened?" Sam asked Song as the med team went inside the changing room, leaving them alone in the doorway.

"She got a hamstring strain," Song explained, eyes could never leave Sam's. "less stretching out, prolly" she ended.

Sam nodded slowly, looking at the clock on the wall. "What quarter is it now?"

"3," Song answered.

"Better going into the court now, then" Sam said, walking briskly into the hallway.

"Wait, Sam!" Song followed Sam from behind, unable to catch up with her speed.

~

"No, don't let her play, Sir! She didn't even go to the training this week, what if she makes it worse?!" Lux yelled to Mike as soon as Sam approached the team while time out.

"Yeah!" Tee exclaimed, nodding quickly after she heard Lux's opinion. "Please reconsider it, Sir!" she said, throwing a menacing gaze to Sam, who was ignorantly sitting down on the bench, looking to another team's benches.

Mike looked down to Sam, then to the team, sighing heavily. "Go to the court and give your best!" Mike shouted, indirectly telling the team that he would not let Sam play. Sam who heard Mike said it could only smirked. Let's see then, Sam thought inside her head while answering Lux and Tee's judging look. She then laid her back onto the bench and crossed her legs, waiting for the game to start.

Song definitely was there, listening to the discussion the team made while time out. Rather than giving her own opinion to the team about letting Sam to play, she let the chance slip this time. She knew exactly how heated the situation was and definitely not a perfect time for her to support Sam, since she also considered Lux, who had feelings for her.

"I am sorry that I couldn't help, Sam.." Song said, looking up to Sam, who was enjoying the game.

Sam turned her eyes to her senior, smiling. "No worries," she paused, "sooner or later, they will lose the game after all" she stated.

Song blinked, "Wh-why did you say that?" she asked.

"Just look at how poor their shooting accuracy is," just after Sam said the words, the things happened exactly like she said.

Song smiled softly, looking down to her knees. "I am happy that you come back, Sam," Song said, playing with the hem of her navy blue skirt. "I thought you would never come back," she added.

Sam locked her gaze to the court while listening to Song, "Why?" she asked.

Song shyly turned her head away, "W-we were worried about you," she said, stuttering.

"Lie" Sam snapped, her lips turned up a bit.

"Why?!" Song frowned.

"Only got missed calls from you only, by the way" Sam looked at Song, smiled. "Means you lied, indeed" she said.

Song blushed, cheeks reddened. She did not expect that Sam would say that to her. She opened and closed her mouth frequently, and did not know how to answer. It seemed like her brain had erased all the vocabulary in her mind.

Sam who realized that her senior got shy because of her then put her hand on Song's shoulder, gave a little squeezed. "Thank you for searching for me while I am away, P'Song" Sam gently smiled.

"..."

Song froze on her spot, her brain had completely frozen. I did hear it.. right? She dumbfoundedly stared at Sam with empty eyes. Never once did she think that her secret admiring acts could get appreciated by her one and only crush, Samanun.

PRITTTT

Their little sweet conversation got disturbed by the sound of a long whistle. Sam and Song's attention now directed to the court, where she saw Tee make a foul to opposition team players. It looked like she was intentionally giving her elbow to the person, who right now was rolling on the floor, hugging her stomach.

Not long after the referee called Tee and gave her the fourth personal foul, the third quarter was ended and the team got their break time. The team including Tee walked out from the court, heading to the benches direction.

"Told you not to get emotional, Tee! Look what you caused after this" Mike threw his rage to Tee, who was sitting on the bench, drinking her water.

"We have no one left with this big score gap.. I did not know how I chose you in the first place" Mike said, kept on complaining. He indeed was right, the current score was 84 - 60, with Mahidol leaving Bangkok behind.

Another coach came to Mike's side, whispering something in his ear, which he heaved a big sigh later. He looked as if he had lost his hope and this was his most hopeless look that Song ever saw these years..

"Sam, please get ready" Mike let out the words, making Tee stand up from her seat.

"What?!" Tee said, walking to Mike, "I am going to play the last quarter!" she said.

Rather than responding to Tee's complaint, Mike came closer to Sam, who had just stood up from her seat, doing a little stretching here and there. "Your only task is to give us the points. Don't get emotional with opposition players, though they are quite tricky to handle" he explained, to which Sam answered with a single nod.

Mike turned her body to face the team, "Once you got the ball, pass it to Sam. Got it?" he instructed.

Lux was about to stand up but Mind beat her to it, "Got it, Sir" she said while holding Lux's shoulder, preventing her from going nowhere.

"What?!" Lux angrily yanked Mind's hands.

"This is the last quarter, remember that we could not earn the point much. Let's just believe our junior, Lux. We do know how talented she is" Mind reminded her. "Other than that, please mind your actions, Lux. You are our captain" she finished her words with sincerity.

Lux, who was red with anger soon relaxed after she heard Mind's explanation. Instead of complaining more, she exhaled and threw Sam an angry look. "Let's see if you could do it, then" she said, soon answered by Sam's smirk.

"Let's see," she said shortly.

~

Earlier that day..

"Thank you!" Becca said after receiving the cola cup she bought from the counter. She went outside the building minutes before the third quarter ended. She forgot to bring her water bottle from her house and felt quite thirsty as the game went, so she went out to grab one.

After taking the drink, she headed back to the building to get back to her seat. While walking in the hallway, out of nowhere, a tall woman with a hoodie accidentally bumped her shoulder, causing some of her food to spill to the floor.

"Ouch!" Becca cried, feeling hurt by the crash.

"..."

The woman did not say a word and left Becca just like that. She looked as if she was in a rush.

"Geez, people these days do not have manners!" Becca rolled her eyes and continued her walk to the building.

To be continued