Y/n POV
I shivered as I could still feel and smell the disgusting smell that we got covered with when we went to Miyakojima. I remember scrubbing and washing my body so many times that my skin turned a bit irritated from the scrubbing because I wanted to get rid of that nasty odor.
"You still feel like you smell?" Langa asks interrupting my thoughts as his face leaned down closer to mine which made me feel flustered at the sudden closeness between us.
"Oh yeah, it's like that smell is forever stuck on me," I said letting out a small pout on my lips. The pastel blue-haired boy leaned down closer to the side of my neck and heard him sniff, making me blink a lot in shock and confusion.
"You don't smell bad, you smell good like always," He said with a cute smile that made me rub my neck in a shy manner, but before I can say anything I noticed a familiar redhead skating towards us.
"Reki's here," I say with a wide smile, making Langa step back and look at the redhead.
"Morning" Langa said with a smile as Reki skated towards us. The two males slapped each other's hands and did their usual fist bump.
"Good morning Reki!" I saw, smiling as well, feeling happy that Reki's here.
"Morning you two! So what do you guys want to do today?" Reki said with a wide smile on his face as he slightly ruffled the top of my hair making me let out a small giggle as this is something he would usually do to me.
"How about the Big Wood course?" Langa suggested and I nodded in agreement.
"I'm down," I say as I smoothed/fixed my hair.
"Alright then, sounds good!" Reki said as the three of us began skating off to another destination.
The three of us skated peacefully, enjoying the fresh air and each other's company, and passing by a few neighborhood buildings. Reki skated in front of us at a narrow alleyway as he jumped on a railing, skating perfectly on it, and landed well which made me smile.
"Whoa! That was so cool Reki!" I said in amazement, which made the redhead smile.
Seeing Reki do that trick made Langa yearn to do more. He skated fast away from me, I thought he was going to skate on the railing as Reki did, but I was wrong. Langa skated past the railing and shited his body to the left going up a ramp as he flew high up in the air, and skated against the high wall, his hand touching a red star that was spray-painted high up.
"Whoa! Pretty cool!" Reki said in awe as I skated towards the redhead, and glanced behind him to see some three middle school boys who were also amazed by Langa.
"You can jump that high on a skateboard?" One of them says which made Reki and I let out a smile of pride, but I glanced at Reki, looking at his expression and I couldn't help but feel a tugging feeling in the bit of my stomach.
*•*•*Later on that night*•*•*
The crowd gasped in awe as Langa skated perfectly on the ramp of 'S'. Reki, Miya, Shadow and I looked at Langa skate as well with the crowd.
"Wow! Look at Snow go!" Someone yells out as I took a long sip of my water standing between Miya and Reki, all of us leaning on a wall.
"Isn't that awesome?" Reki said with a wide closed-eyed smile, before opening his amber eyes and look down at me. "You know, you should continue up there with Langa, Y/n, it's been almost what 20 minutes of having a break"
"I already did some of my fair share of skating up there with Langa and on my own, but I wanted to hang with you guys, is that so bad?" I said with a teasing smile, felt a little taken back at what he said but shook it off. I closed the lid of my bottle of water and held it firmly as I watched Langa skate on the big ramp.
"Yeah kitten, the crowd wants to see you back up there again and Reki why are you so proud of it?" Miya asked as he moves a bit forward, glancing at the redead.
"Let me tell you, people aren't taking notice of you, it's your buddy and Y/n" Shadow chimed in with distaste making me slightly grip on my bottle of water.
"I know that! And what do you mean by 'buddy'?" Reki asked with a frown, not understanding which made Miya let out a laugh.
"'Buddy?' That cracks me up!" Miya teases with a grin.
"And people call you 'the one that's not Langa or Y/n'" Shadow says letting out a laugh which made me glance down on the floor coldly.
"Shut up," Reki says with a deeper frown which made me feel a tug in me.
"Please stop teasing him you two, I don't find it funny at all," I said giving them a side-glance glare, ignoring the shocked looks on their faces as I was dead serious.
The crowd began to grow wild, mainly from the female skaters as the one and only Cherry appeared. His fangirls screamed out for him and complimented him, but knowing that if Cherry is around, Joe must be as well. We all watched Cherry and Joe have their usual argument which somehow lifted my spirits up as I was less serious now.
"Those two are at it as always..." Reki said and I hummed in agreement. Once Cherry and Joe finished their usual arguments, they walked towards us and leaned on the wall with us.
"We have even more up in the gallery," Cherry says who stood next to Joe.
"We got all the celebrities from 'S' here, after all," Joe said with a grin.
"You're gonna say so yourself?" Miya said retort as Joe brushed off the little insult.
"Let me teach something to the young, overconfidence is poison, but confidence becomes power," Joe said which his words hit me as they made me think of someone...But he is right about what he said. We all continued to watch Langa skate perfectly and he managed to skate up higher on his board in such a short time.
"Wow! Has he gained even more air, like Y/n has?" Reki says in surprise as I was surprised as well.
"He's up there, higher than any of us now" Miya states making me glance at him as his eyes were really trained on Langa.
"He must've developed it from snowboarding if he can catch that much air, he'll be advantageous in all sorts of situations in 'S', and he's got guts, no matter the circumstance he doesn't back down. His body doesn't curl up, he has a strong core, too, that's a body that's undergone a substantial amount of training"Cherry explains as Langa continued to skate and please the crowd.
"Come to think of it, he said he's been snowboarding since he was two. But Y/n..why aren't you up there again? You and Langa are pretty much the same, with your skills from surfing since you were five you would be caught up to what Langa is doing," Reki in realization as he looks down at me.
"I'm just feeling tired that's all, so I'm setting out early" I said with a small smile, looking away from him as I started to feel a small headache coming in.
"Well no doubt, many prominent sports athletes are blessed with great backbones. I'm sure Langa had been honing his talents from an early age under an excellent instructor, such as Y/n as well. Her mom was one of the most well known surfers out there" Cherry said a little gently in the end. Everyone here knew about my parents already.
"If he came over to competitive skating, I'm sure he can aim to be on the Japanese national team, even you too, Y/n" Miya says beside me.
"The Japanese national team seems far fetched to me" I say a bit sheepishly.
"That's nonsense Y/n, all this in a matter of months? Just how good will you and Langa become? Anything but far fetched to me" Cherry says, sounding surprised.
"Are they really that..." I hear Reki mumble sadly making my heart clench and frown. The crowd 'ooed' out when we saw Langa do an Indy Grab move.
"That kid's showing his stuff now! Y/n no doubt you should be getting up there now too! What's the hold-up Little Sirenita?" Shadow said who was also surprised as well as the majority here. I took a deep breath in and out, I literally just said I was tired.
"I'll be right back," I said solemnly, as I heard Miya call out my name. I just need to take a little breather, the pounding headache was already forming that I went to go where my backpack was located to grab some stupid pain relief pills as I started to feel a bit woozy. "Nationals...as if, that's to much for me to handle.."
I grabbed a pill and downed it with my water bottle to help alleviate the headache I was feeling.
"Snow is really amazing!" I heard some guy say not to far away from me.
"Man, where's Little Sirenita?! She and Snow are such a good duo!" I couldn't help but roll my eyes at what they said as I heard someone walk beside me while I was still crouching down.
It was Reki, who grabbed a Cola and crouched down as well to sip on his drink, beside me.
"But who's that redhead, who's always with them?" I hear someone say making me furrow my furrow my brows in why they asked.
"No idea, do you know?" The other guy asks.
"Oh, that guy's some lowlife that just hangs out with him, no need to remember that guy" The one who asked about Reki said. By just hearing those words, I could feel my body shaking as I gripped my bottle and let out a shaky breath.
"Y/n..." Reki says softly as I slowly stood up.
I look down at him to see a dull expression on his face which made me clench my fists and let out a dry chuckle as I charged towards the two males, who were alone and the majority of the crowd were at Langas location.
"Hey! How are you to say that? To my best friend?! You have NO right at all to call him a low life, he's anything but that! He's so much better than you can ever imagine, he may not be at the top like Langa or I yet, but he will. I know and have so much fucking faith in him that he will, sooner or later surpass us. I know that for a fact. So I don't want to ever fucking hear you guys call my Reki, a lowlife, ever- I swear on my parents grave-"
"Y/N! STOP, let it go" Reki calls out to me as he grabbed a hold of my arm and started taking me away from the two guys who looked like they were going to shit their pants.
"Reki? Are you seriously going to let them, it's utter bull-"
"Y/n, please just let it go...don't tell the others about this...just forget it," Reki tells me with a sad look on his face that made me want to lash out more. He grabs a hold of my shoulder, looking into my eyes.
"But Reki, that's not fair still-"
"Y/N! PLEASE" He yelled at me, shaking my shoulders making me grit my teeth and look down at our feet.
"F-fine, but if I hear someone saying shit about you, I'm not going to hold back. I know you haven't been good easily, and every time I try to mention this you brush it off or suddenly busy yourself. Look I don't want to pester you about it but you should know that you can always count on me, I've always been with you since the day we became friends, you can always tell me anything, you are not alone in this" I said with a frown as I was still agitated.
I was caught off guard when the boy in front of me let out a small chuckle as his hand caressed my cheek.
"I know....Y/n...I know, just need a little time for myself" He said with a small smile and adoration in his amber eyes making me, hold back my tears at the situation as I couldn't help but engulf him in a tight hug. I clutched onto him as he held me tighter, not wanting to let go. You idiot...
*•*•The next day*•*•*•
I held on to the strap of my backpack as I let out a yawn, still feeling tired from the lack of sleep last night. The many thoughts and events that happened yesterday were messing with me a lot. In some way...I feel guilty, maybe I am at fault, that I seem to do better at skating quickly at skating like Langa...but the nagging pressure of being told how great I am, or what people expect me to do as one of the rising top skaters is a pain. The feeling of Deja Vu from this was highly similar to surfing...But Reki, I don't know what's really going on in that head of his but I know it's affecting himself and his self-esteem.
"You look tired, did you get any sleep at all? And it seems like Reki's a little late than usual huh?" Langa says as he checked the time and I hummed in agreement.
"Ah yeah, I was just watching some movies last night...Um, hey Langa? Have you noticed anything about Reki recently?" I asked him now looking at him, fumbling on the sleeve of my shirt. The pastel blue-haired boy tilted his head in confusion.
"No, at least I don't think so, why? Is there something wrong with him?" Langa questions now in concern as I tried my best not to frown. So you don't see it, do you...
"It's nothing...Hey Reki's here!" I say now letting out a smile making Langa turn around and started smiling as he lifted up his hand to Reki but my smile dropped when Reki's expression seemed way lost.
"Morning... Reki!" Langa calls out, but Reki skated past us, it's like he didn't see us. With Langa calling out his name, this seemed to make Reki snap out of his daze
"Ah, sorry" Reki apologized as he stopped his skateboard as Langa and I went up to him.
"Something on your mind?" Langa asks.
"No, not really," Reki said which made Langa look at him in confusion.
"I know..." Langa says which made Reki and I look at him in surprise. So he does know.." You were building a new deck! That's why you stayed up late, right?"
Oh...nevermind.
"Ah you're right!" Reki said faking up excitement as he messed with Langa's hair. He then looks at me as he ruffled my hair and started stretching and pinching my cheeks. "Come on Y/n, smile more~"
I mustered up a small smile which was enough for him to get through the day. But during school, when the boys had a soccer game for p.e, I noticed the same look on Reki had yesterday. He had that look for almost the whole day. And after school, Reki seemed more distant than usual that he didn't waste any time in not waiting for Langa and me. Langa and I both ran shortly behind Reki who was already close to leaving the school's gates.
"Reki! Why'd you start leaving without us?" Langa says as we caught up to the redhead.
"Sorry you two, I spaced out a bit," Reki said mustering up a smile but I knew he was faking it which made me frown.
"Well now that we're all together, we should get going," I say with a closed-eyed smile as I grabbed a hold of Reki's and Langa's arm, linking them with mine as I made them start walking.
"S-so what time do you guys want to meet up tonight?" Langa said a little bit flustered from the interaction I did.
"Hmm well we usually meet around 9 or 10, " I pondered out loudly.
"Wait what?" Reki asked in confusion as he snapped out of his thoughts.
"There's a, 'S' race tonight, remember?" I say, looking at Reki who seemed too tense about mentioning 'S'.
"Oh...I have an errand to run tonight, so I can't go" Reki said solemnly, the tone of his voice sounded so dejected that, which made me sigh.
"Even at night?" Langa questioned.
"You and Y/n can go by yourselves, I doubt you'll both need me anyway," He whispered the last part lowly but I heard what he said.
I moved my arm from Langa's as I slightly jumped up to wrap my arms around Reki's shoulder, pulling him down on my level as we still talked. This seemed to catch the redhead off guard.
"That's a bummer, we're going to miss you very much. Take all the time you need okay? We can talk just us too when you want to or when we have the chance" I whispered into his ear before pulling away from him as I walked ahead of them.
I love you Reki, I really do, the signs of depression and anxiety are clear as day to me. I just wonder when others around you will notice. I can see right through you, I just hope you know that I really am here for you, forever and always...
*•*•*•*•*•
(Unedited)
Reki I love you! Man I don't know what to expect anymore, I'm just waiting for that comeback of his, I know sooner or later we will see it and we're all going to be proud of him <3 He deserves so much love and everything! Y'all Y/n feels for him, remember they're much closer so whatever he's feeling can affect her as well.
Thanks for reading everyone, will post the next chapters in a few days or sooner! Stay tuned for more!