The classroom was quiet on that Tuesday morning.
The only things that could be heard were the teacher's voice, the fan, and the annoying tapping of someone's pen against the desk.
The tapping got on Taiji's nerves, she bit her tongue to calm herself down and turned her head towards the source of the noise.
Kuroo Tetsurou
The annoying rooster-head looked up from his desk and gave her a grin, his hazel eyes capturing Taiji. She rolled her eyes and turned away from him, deciding that she wouldn't like to get involved with that bedhead
They've been in the same class since they were first years, and even though they've been classmates for so long, Taiji never befriended him.
He likes to annoy her for no reason, constantly taking her stuff without asking, throwing notes at Taiji in the middle of class, and giving her snarky remarks, Often known as a king of provocation by the students in their class.
Most of the girls in our school would swoon at his feet, he really is cute, but he's not Taiji's type.
A piece of paper knocked at Taiji's fingers, obviously thrown by the one and only. She shot a frustrated look at Kuroo, he motioned her to open the note.
"Like what you see?"
Grossed out, Taiji quickly wrote a "no" on the paper and threw it back to him before turning back to face the teacher, only to find her raising her eyebrow at the both of them
"Kuroo-kun, Taeko-chan, please stand outside the classroom," the teacher stated, "I've told you to not pass notes in class."
Defeated, Kuroo and Taiji stood from their seats and headed out the door. The stupid rooster head seemed happy about the situation.
"Sooo Taeko-san, why were you staring at me in class ?" Kuroo inquired, "Have you finally come around to being my friend?"
She scoffed at his dumb question, how conceited was this boy?
"In your dreams, Kuroo-san," Taiji stated, looking away from him, "And I wasn't staring."
Kuroo smiled at her statement as if he had something to say, but he quickly turned away from Taiji and stared out the window across from them.
"You play volleyball right?" Kuroo asked.
Surprised, Taiji looked up to him with wide eyes, she never spoke to him about it despite being the captain of the team.
"I do," She smiled, "What about you?"
He turned his head towards Taiji and smiled, "I play too, I'm the captain for the boy's team."
The female captain stared at him with even wider eyes, this rooster head was the captain?!
"Don't look so surprised Taeko-san," Kuroo teased, "why do you think I'm so popular with the ladies?"
" I just never thought that someone with a case of terrible bedhead would be a captain," She retorted.
Kuroo immediately became self-conscious about it and tried to comb his hair, but inevitably failed. Taiji chuckled at his actions as he continued to run his fingers through his hair.
" What about you though?" Kuroo asked, "Who's the captain of your team?"
She gave him a sly grin and pointed at herself, "you're looking right at her."
Kuroo smiled, "I'm not surprised ."
The two spent the rest of the period talking about volleyball, the new first years, and the upcoming tournaments.
The bell soon rang and they were allowed to go back into class, the two quickly apologized to the teacher before returning to their seats.
The time quickly passed and lunch quickly came and Taiji waited for her teammates to come to her classroom to eat lunch.
"Heyy, Tai!" Yuko, who was a third-year, and her best friend, called out as she came in,
" TAI SENPAI " yelled one of the second years, Akari,
A first-year, Harumi, stepped in and meekly waved at Taiji. A few more teammates came in and greeted her.
They ate their lunches as they chatted. The girls were quite shocked to hear about the incident that happened during class.
"Kuroo Tetsurou?" Akari inquired, "I thought you didn't like him?"
"I didn't," Taiji sighed as she stretched her arms above herself, "but I guess he's not that bad,"
Taiji's teammates stared at her wide-eyed, "NOT THAT BAD?!"
Taiji winced at their yelling, which also happened to scare her classmates who were enjoying their lunch. She quickly flashed an apologetic smile before scolding them for being loud.
They quickly shut their mouth as someone stepped into the class, their faces became pale as they realized who it was.
"Who's not that bad?"
Taiji quickly smiled at Kuroo as he and his teammates stepped into the classroom, She recognized a few, but one face stood out.
"Shibayama?"
Everyone stared at them with confusion written on their face, Shibayama perked up once he heard her voice, and his eyes lit up once his eyes landed on Taiji.
"Tai Senpai !" He called out in surprise while rushing towards her.
Shibayama quickly greeted her with a hug before explaining. Taiji laughed when she found out that he was now part of Nekoma's team, but she felt proud of him when he told Taiji he was now playing as a libero. Taiji also explained that Shibayama was a close friend from middle school to their confused teammates.
After talking to Shibayama, Kuroo quickly pulled the poor first year aside and stepped into his place.
"Getting friendly with my players now, Taeko-san?" Kuroo teased,
At that moment, Yaku cleared his throat,
"actually..." He faltered
Kuroo stared at Yaku with an expectant look, but Kuroo noticed the same guilty look on Kai, Yamamoto, and Kenma's faces.
" You ALL were her friends before me?" Kuroo wailed, "BEFORE ME?"
Most of the second and third years gave Kuroo an apologetic smile while patting his back, while Kenma ignored his best friend and continued to play one of his games.
"It's okay Kuroo-san," A tall, silver-haired first year comforted" I don't know her either!"
Everyone sighed at the kid's statement. Yaku kicked the tall boy's leg while scolding him, the poor boy didn't even know what he did wrong.
The bell soon rang and their teammates hurried off to their classes while Kuroo took his seat next to me.
"That was–" Kuroo trailed, trying to find the words, "Interesting"
"I guess it was" Taiji laughed,
Kuroo tilted his head, seemingly wanting to ask something.
"Is something bothering you?" She asked,
Kuroo hesitated for a moment, Taiji could see it in his eyes, but he eventually signed and gave in to her question,
"It's dumb," he assured, "It's not even that big of a deal–"
"Kuroo-san–"
"I'm sure I shouldn't waste my time asking you this–"
"Kuroo-sa–"
"I bet you won't even need to tell m—"
"KUROO-SAN!" She yelled, the poor boy was startled and stopped rambling.
"I was rambling," The rooster head noted, "Wasn't I?"
I nodded my head and chuckled at him, why was he so nervous?
" I noticed that almost all of your friends call you by a nickname," Kuroo stated,
"Tai," She confirmed, "Yea, what about it?"
"Can I call you that too?" He asked shyly,
She tilted my head and looked at him, Was that what the poor bedhead was nervous about?
"I mean if you think that I'm your frien–" Kuroo rambled again
"Of course," Taiji laughed, "But only if I can call you Kuroo,"
"It's a deal then."