Fight me // nct yuta

Chapter 15

Hansuke's pov:

Holy crap.

I feel the salty sweat drip from my knitted brows, slowly sloping down my face. My legs are not tired yet, but my breathes are getting quicker, a signal that I need to calm down. No, I can't calm down, I need to beat him.

At the sound of the first whistle, all of the students immediately took off, itching to be the first to finish running laps. I was cocky, and quickly pushed to the front of the pack. However, I should have taken into account just how long we would be running, because now I'm in second. God dammit, how could I get so caught up at the start that I didn't think to save my energy?

My breathes grow deeper, legs pushing forward, but I'm still a few feet behind. We're finishing off the final lap, nearing the end of the track. I need to beat him. I need to beat him! How far is he? 2 feet ahead? Maybe 3? Come on Hansuke, push yourself! I can feel my chest heaving, large amounts of air being expelled. I push my legs harder, the finish line only a few meters away now. I glare at the person in front of me, my anger being my force to move forward. I start to inch closer to him, little by little I approach, making my way next to him. I take a slight glance, noticing he does the same. Now we're toe to toe, both wanting to finish first. I finally inch forward a bit, just slightly ahead of him. The finish line is within a few feet, and I start to feel a sense of victory. Then, the blonde head of hair I had finally surpassed suddenly launches forward into a sprint and claiming first.

What just happened? I had just passed him for only a few seconds when he got back into first. Was he holding back the whole time? We both bend over, hands resting on our knees in a squat-like position, both panting heavily as the rest of the group crosses the finish line.

"Good hustle everyone. Now let's work on some drills." Coach Choi motions for everyone to follow him onto the field. Yuta and Sicheng have already set up some orange cones, which I assume is for passing drills.

"Nice job Jisung, I didn't know you were so fast!" I turn to my left in the direction of the voice, chest still heaving from the running. Kun is patting Jisung on the back as he says this, Jisung nods and thanks him in return. I can feel the scowl making its way to my brow as my gaze lingers on them for a little longer.

"Ya know it's good to aim for the top, but sometimes you need to know when to conserve your energy too." My head snaps in the direction of the voice, Jaehyun's gives me his gummy smile and pats my back as well before walking towards Coach Choi.

Damn, he's right. The laps we did were just a warm up, so of course I should've conserved my energy. I can't let myself get worked up over Jisung. I need to concentrate on the tryouts more than anything.

The sound of a whistle breaks my thoughts. All talking stops and everyone's full attention is on the coach, waiting for further instructions.

Coach Choi looks at his clipboard as he walks closer to the large group of boys, "Okay everyone. There seems to be large number of students trying out this year so here's what we're gonna do. Tryouts normally last 2 or 3 days depending on the skill I see out here in the field. However, since we started a little late in the year I have decided that today will be the only day for tryouts."

Everyone begins to feel anxious after the coach says this, because this means that you only get one day to prove why you should be the one standing on the field, one day to show off your skill and hope you can make it. I can hear the others on the field, the mumbling growing more uneasy by the second. Coach Choi picks up on this as he silences everyone with his whistle.