Glistening

He waved at me

Namid and I went to the hallway where Naomi and Rylee were already waiting for us and we joined them and went to Amelia's room. As soon as she came out I introduced Namid to all of them and by their reaction it seemed like they liked her so we went to the cafeteria to get our lunch, we stopped by the snack shop to get some cokes for ourselves and then got our lunches.

We sat on an empty table towards the corner. I cleared my throat to talk when Rylee said "Did you go to practice today Len?" and I replied saying "Yes, we practiced by ourselves todays." I paused then asked again "Why did you skipped?" and she smirked saying "I was sleepy lol"

I cleared my throat again and said "Guys, I need to tell you something", everyone looked towards me curiously "I-I, today i... walked to school with Zion" I looked at their reactions and they were dazed, guess they weren't expecting this.

"W-what in the world? With Zion? How?" Amelia leaned towards me.

"See, I knew it was more than a crush. It's a sign from god Len" Rylee said and raised her hands as if she was praying.

"Shut up Rylee, don't feed her delusions haha" Naomi laughed.

"But how did that happened really?" Amelia asked again curiously.

Namid was just sitting there clueless so Rylee briefly explained the situation to her.

I took a deep breath in and said "So, today I went to the convenience store to buy a pencil and met him there, talked to him and decided to walk to school together" I smiled at them.

"So, do you still have a crush on him or you have moved on?" Amelia asked and I didn't really understand what she meant by that so I asked "What do you mean moved on?" when Namid interrupted us saying "You know when someone has a crush, after talking to them they end up moving on from their crush. Am I right Amelia?"

I laughed for a second and said "No, I haven't moved on, but you know, he looks so good up close!" I blushed imagining his face again.

Naomi said, "Can't disagree with that" and everyone nodded.

"I'll be rooting for you Darlene" said Namid with a sweet smile and everyone nodded in agreement.

We started eating our lunch and talked about what happened in class when Ron approached us.

"Hey Lelen, do you wanna practice with afternoon for the tournament?"

"I can, what about you Len?" Rylee asked and Ron looked at me. 'If we practice with them, surely Zion will be there right? Then why not?' I nodded in agreement to practice with them and Ron said "Great!" and went back.

"What's Lelen?" asked Namid and Naomi explained saying "That's Rylee's and Len's names combined. Most of the people in the badminton club call them like that because they are together all the time lol."

"Oh that's what it was" She laughed and we finished our remaining food and went back to our classes. On our way, I asked Namid to keep the thing about Zion a secret and she promised not to tell anyone.

Classes resumed. We were having a surprise test when it's just the first week of the semester and we're already having exams. Great! I think I'll bomb this time.

I somehow managed to go through the exam and the classes were finally over. I said bye to Namid and waited outside Rylee's classroom, we went to the snack shop to get something to eat before practicing and met Yale outside the shop.

"Aren't you two going to practice?" Yale asked tilting his head acting dumb.

"We are, after we eat something of course" Rylee replied immediately and said "I'll buy something for us you can talk to him Len" and went inside.

"So who else is practicing with us-" Rylee almost immediately came outside running and said "Hey I need to say something really important to Yale, Len please buy something for us" she grabbed Yale's hand and started running.

I don't know what the matter was so I decided to buy something for us, I entered the shop and immediately understood why she ran away. Zion was sitting there holding a can of cold coffee. His hair was now tied into a high bun. I tried not to stare at him and asked the lady in the counter for chips and 2 cokes.

I picked up the chips and drinks and about to leave, so I decided to take a quick peek at him, I turned my head slowly towards him and our eyes met. He saw me and waved at me, I was so flustered that I just stood there not doing anything and he stood up from the chair and started walking towards me.

"Are you on your way to practice?" Zion asked, his voice is different now. It was deep in the morning but now it's a gentle sweet voice.

"Y-yes, we're practicing with Ron today, will you be joining us?" I stuttered like an idiot.

"Yes I'll be there, we can have a match together as well" he smiled making be blush and continued saying "Shall we go then?" I nodded and followed him to the practice room.

Rylee was already there waiting for me, she saw me and winked as if she did something really sly, I sighed and went to her to give her the chips and drinks.

"I know I'm the best" she shrugged.

"Yeah lol" I laughed, opened my packet of chips and sat in the bench near me, Rylee did the same. We were having our sweet time eating because there is no coach to get angry at us for starting late.

As we were crunching the chips the others already started their warm ups, I leaned back towards the wall behind the bench and searched for Zion, he was right beside Yale and Ron. One thing I couldn't figure out is Zion, Yale and Ron seems really close but how come I never noticed Zion before?

As I was trying to think of a reason why he went unnoticed by me for two whole years, I heard Rylee's voice, "You're staring like a creep, stop being so obvious." And my face flushed. I took a deep breath and a sip from the coke.

"So how long have you known Zion for?" I asked Rylee not making eye contact with her. She replied quickly "From the first semester" and turned her face towards me to continue.

"How is it possible that I never noticed him?" I asked her and she replied "You're just ignorant. He was always there" and I couldn't really disagree with her.

I quickly finished my chips and rushed to warm up, Rylee followed me as well. We lined up for the matches. Ron and I was paired up even though I wished it to be Zion. Rylee was paired up with Zion to balance the power and we started practicing. I was determined to play well today since I messed up last time.

The rest of the practice wasn't particularly interesting. We all were trying our best for the tournament. Soon practice ended and we were heading home when I realised that all of us are heading in the same direction. Though I don't know where Zion lives, I ran into him twice in my neighbourhood so I'm sure he lives somewhere near. Yale and Ron lives two blocks away from my house and Rylee is my neighbour of course.

Ron, Rylee and I was walking in front while Yale and Zion were in the back arguing whether burgers are better or pizzas. We stopped by a café to have a bite and we ended up ordering burgers. We chatted about how boring classes are and teased Ron for being a junior. After we finished our food and on our way to home again when I got a call from dad saying 'they have to go to the hospital to visit grandmother because her health is deteriorating and I can also sleepover at Rylee's place or invite her over' after saying that they quickly hung up the call.

Though I feel sad to be not able to visit grandma, I had no choice but to stay behind because it takes half a day to get there even by car and I can't possibly miss my tournament, so I asked Rylee "Rylee, wanna stay at my place tonight?" and everyone turned their heads towards me in confusion.

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