Love Yourself First | BTS FF

12 - basketball game

<Third person POV>

A squeak, the satisfying squeak of sneakers rubbing against the smooth spotless indoor PE court. A symbol of exercise at school, is all that's audible as everyone holds their breath. Time seems to hang still as the ball leaves his hand; everyone eye balling the angle and distance between the ball and the hoop. Whoosh...contact has been made between web and ball. He made it.

A conjoined breath of relief exhales the eager audience as cheers fill the gym. Sweaty players run to a kneeling Yoongi, patting him on the back, congratulating him. Smiling and laughing.

It's the season for basketball, and the school's up against its ultimate rival for the final game, and Y/N doesn't know what the hell she's doing here.

"Why did you bring me here again?" Y/N sighs. Seulgi, munching on popcorn, turns to Y/N with a full mouth. "Wah? Dis not fun?" Y/N turns back to the court, her eyes mindlessly wander to Taehyung. He wears a bandana around his forehead. Seulgi mirrors Y/N upon catching where her friend's attention suddenly is.

"Hey," Seulgi begins, with a hand on Y/N's back. "It's been months since what happened, you can't still be hung up on him."

"Sure she can!" Yeri joins in. "Just look at Lisa, it's been like a year since Jungkook dumped her and she's still hell-bent on getting him back." The girls' eyes shift to the bottom of the bleachers. Lisa is watching Jungkook with glistening eyes. Every time he runs near her even a little bit she extends a longing hand up and waves at him a little too quickly. At the opposite end of the row of seats, Ji-hyun is blatantly staring daggers at her.

"Hell, it's been 2 years since Jimin and I had our thing and I'm still not over that Jibooty." Seulgi and Y/N cringe-laugh at Yeri's crude comment.

Irene sighs. "God I love them and hate them at the same time." She leans back in her seat, watching the 7 boys.

Over the course of Y/N's new friendship with these girls, she learned that they were all victims of these devilish handsome boys. They've been able to connect because of this. She's also grateful that they seem to be the only group of people in this school who don't discriminate against her because of her appearance.

"Do you want some?" Seulgi holds her caramel popcorn in front of Y/N. "No I'm okay." She replies. Seulgi titlts her head in slight annoyance. "Are you still on that ridiculous diet? Ugh I really don't understand why you're making yourself go through this. I haven't been on a diet in years." Y/N waves her hand lazily at Seulgi as to dismiss her. Her weight loss journey is not something she likes to casually talk about, at least not before she succeeds more drastically.

Y/N continues to watch the game, or rather continues to discreetly watch Taehyung. The coach just called in a huddle and Taehyung, unlike his team members who are hustling to their coach, runs to the front of the bleachers. The crowd gets quieter all of a sudden, with all their attention on him involuntarily. He ran up to a girl who's holding an opened bottle of water with both hands, holding it towards him ever so carefully, like it's a trophy. Y/N can't see who it is because she's sitting directly to the front of her and all she can see is the back of her head.

"You're doing great out there!" The girl gleams at him. Taehyung snatches the water bottle from her hand and brings it to his lips. As he's taking huge gulps of the water, his eyes look through the crowd and land on Y/N. She immediately shifts her position and looks to her chatting friends instead. He caught me staring.

Y/N hopes he didn't catch that, but he did, and he's still looking at her.

*click* *click* Y/N hears to the right of her. "Oh it's the school photographer! Guys they're shooting in our direction let's pose!" Yeri shifts everyone's positions with her announcement. The surrounding girls instinctively straighten their postures, tilt their heads down, and manage sweet smiles. Fake smiles. Yeri disrupts the others, blocking their faces with her hands, causing a ruckus in Y/N's group. *click*