Individual

Chapter 15

Noah held up his hands. “No, no, no. Don’t get me—or him—wrong. I’m talking to you of my own accord, but that’s because I’m helping him.”

“Helping him for what?” Kay said. “And you haven’t confirmed whether he was a reserve.”

Noah scratched the back of his neck. “Well… he was on the bench quite a bit.”

“More like quite a lot,” Kay said. “I thought you should’ve been captain.”

“Hey, he—sorry, what did you say?”

“I mean, you’re the best player in year thirteen. And I’ve seen you gathering the team and forming strategies…” she said.

Noah looked shocked at what she’d just said, and muttered to himself, “Julian would be so sad if he heard you say this…” He placed a hand over his heart.

“What?” Now it was Kay’s turn to be confused.

“Ah! Uh—nothing,” said Noah. “Anyway, Julian really likes you, if you haven’t caught on. And I hope you’ll give him some attention because he’s a nice kid, but please don’t break his heart or anything tragic.”

“Say that again.” The words had flown in and out of her head, without giving Kay time to process them. “He likes what?”

“You. He likes you. Jeez, you really are that oblivious.” Noah scratched the back of his head. “This will be harder than I thought.”

Kay would’ve repeated the question, but she knew how annoying it was if she were on the receiving end, and decided to shut up. She couldn’t believe her ears.

Noah kept talking. “By the way, he’s been crying to me everyday because you haven’t been replying his texts. Could you at least be kind enough to answer him?”

“He sent me a text?” Kay fumbled in her pocket, as Noah emphasised that Julian had sent her multiple messages, not one. When she turned her empty pocket inside out, Kay facepalmed. “I left my phone at home.”

“Seriously?” asked Noah, looking as if he were going to slap his own forehead.

“I don’t use it that often…” said Kay sheepishly. “And sometimes I forget it exists and that I should bring it out.”

Noah’s jaw dropped. “Are you for real? How old are you, seventy? No, even grandmas are quite tech-savvy these days…”

“All right, all right, I’ll check his texts first thing when I reach home today, okay?” Kay said, desperate for Noah to stop talking about her lack of technological ability.

“Yes, you do that. Thank you!” Noah said, hopping away. “And please treat Julian nicely!”

Kay rubbed her temples as she walked back to class. Julian liked her? She had gotten a few confessions before, but not from that kind of boy. A rich, athletic and kind of good looking, popular boy. All right, maybe she did once. Or twice. She couldn’t remember, but it didn’t matter, because primary and secondary school boys didn’t count.

But if she put a little more thought into it, she realised that she couldn’t give Julian high hopes, because she definitely didn’t like him. Kay was interested in someone else, although she wouldn’t admit it to herself just yet.

~

“Did you see my phone?”

Andrew swivelled around in his chair and answered in a deadpan voice, “No.”

Kay huffed and flipped over her bed sheet once more, sighing constantly as she couldn’t find her phone. She succeeded in annoying her brother, who got up from his chair impatiently and walked downstairs to the living room. Kay narrowed her eyes at his retreating figure and kept up the search. She needed to clarify things with Julian, because if there was one thing she knew for sure, was that she had no such feelings for him. There was a possibility that his friend was playing around with her, and that Julian didn’t actually like her like that, but she still thought she’d at least reply his messages.