COASTAL CRUSH | BWWM

❈ 11 , first game

𝐊𝐀𝐈𝐀 

I wait for Summer to wrap up her morning swim practice. She insisted I come with her, so I woke up at 5 in the morning. I'm still drowsy and practically fighting to keep myself awake. Her strides through the water are the only noise in the room. I'm not paying much attention. I'm only thinking about test scores. They come out today.

Today, I won't lose. I'll come out first.

These tests are scored on a scale of 2000. They combine all our scores from recent tests and rank them. Every single student in our grade is ranked, but only the top 10 are displayed on our school board. It's right at the front desk, everyone sees it the moment they come into school.

"Kaia, are you listening?" Summer says, crawling out of the pool. "Uh– yeah. That sounds good." I snap my head towards Summer, her voice slices me out of my thoughts.

Summer steps out of the pool dripping wet. She rolls her eyes at me. "I asked If I should cut all your hair off." Summer walks over to the bench I'm sitting on and grabs her towel, drying herself off.

"Get out of your head." She slides on her Crocs and starts walking over to the locker rooms. I follow after her, propping myself on the counter as she brushes her hair infront of the mirror.

"I can't. It's like I need to be first. Like. What if I'm losing it? What if I don't even make it in the top 10?"

"You're going to do great. So, you took second place. That isn't bad. You're acting like it's the end of the world that someone managed to score 7 points higher than you."

Because it is. My world of academic perfection is crumbling.

"Enough with this test and scores.. There's a game tonight! You should be happy." Summer smiles, brushing through the knots in her hair.

"Oh.. yeah. Ryder actually asked me to come."

"He did?" Summers eyes widen in shock, she turns away from the mirror to look at me for a moment. "It's not a big deal. I was gonna come anyways."

I was a bit shocked when he texted me and asked me to come. He personally invited me. In class we had talked a couple times about how he made the team, but I've never seen him play.

"You keep saying that. I'm going to shower." Summer leaves me in the bathroom to stir in my thoughts.

◂ ❚ ⊱ꕥ⊰ ❚ ▸

First period passes by and we get to second. We were instructed to go straight to the beach instead of class. Lately I've been looking forward to the class. I'm not sure if it's because we go to the beach everyday or because of Ryder. But it dosen't matter anyway.

I walk to the beach and make it there. Mr.Brown and some of the class is already there. I spot Ryder, sitting in the sand. Just in time, he turns his head around to notice me and flashes me an inviting smile.

I wave and smile while walking over to sit beside on the sand. "Kaia..!" He exclaims.

I sit down next to him. "You seem excited today." I giggle. His happiness makes a smile tug at my lips.

"Of course. You're still coming to my game, right?" His smile never fades, the sun shines on his brown eyes, making them sparkle. His hair tousles in the breeze. He looks perfect right now. He' looking down at me with the prettiest smile.

"I wouldn't miss it." I reply back.

How could I? With the way he is right now I feel like missing his first game would crush him.