"I just... I DON'T GET IT. I DON'T GET IT AT ALL!"
"ME NEITHER. THIS IS HARD! WHY DO WE NEED TO HAVE EXAMS?"
I stare at the floor, wide eyed as I sit in the circle of Tsukishima's volleyball teammates. Apparently, they're going to a training camp soon, but they need to pass the exams that take place the day before they leave, which is in two days. Tsukishima insisted that this would be a good time to introduce me to the people he mentioned before. So I sit here in the gym, Tsukishima's volleyball jacket across my lap since I'm wearing my uniform skirt, staring at the boys who are panicking about their test.
"They can be a little scary right?" The guy who sits beside me leans over and asks. I don't look up at him, but I nod. I memorized his voice, Asahi is who it is. "That's what I thought too when I first met Nishinoya and Tanaka, but they're really nice and caring." I look up at him, and am shocked to see his features. He looks scary.
"Y-You were scared of them?" I ask and a low chuckle escapes his lips.
"I don't look like I'd be scared of many things, right? But I'm actually really shy. Lots of things make me nervous. Especially our captain." He smiles."A lot of people call me names, some in a nice way, some not? I get called a delinquent, goatee, a samurai, a gangster, old man, super senior..." He trails off.
"How... um. How do you deal with it?" I ask, and he turns his head to look at me.
"I get tense and really sad." He laughs, and a small chuckle comes from my lips. "Then I remember that none of it is true. My teammates cheer me up mostly. I heard you...um, forgive me for saying this, but that you go through something similar? But a lot worse..? If you ever want to talk, I can give you my number."
"O-Oh! That's okay, I don't want to bother. You're a third year right? You must be busy already." I decline and he shakes his head.
"Nonsense! Here-" He rips a small part of his notebook paper off, scribbling something down before handing it to me. "Whenever you're comfortable, you can text me."
"Thank you, Asahi-Senpai." I smile, putting the paper carefully into my bag.
Tsukishima was right. These are really good people.
"How are you doing?" Tsukishima takes his headphones off, looking at me. "You're not going to have a panic attack being around everyone right?"
"I'm okay." I give him a small smile. "At first I wanted to cry. But I'm fine now."
"Good. Oh, Yamaguchi brought something for you." He says and leans back, tapping on his friend's shoulder.
"Hm? Oh!" Yamaguchi extends out a bag to me, and I grab it, not looking at him. "Tsukki said we'd be hanging out today so I bought snacks. I don't know what you like though, so I bought a bunch of things for you to choose from." A soft chuckle passes his lips.
"Oh... are you sure?" I ask, looking into the bag.
"Yeah! Take what you want."
I look around in the bag, opting for an orange.
"Oh? Is that what you want? There's onigiri, chocolate, candy... you can take more things!" Yamaguchi says but I shake my head, passing the bag back.
"I like oranges this time of the year. They're nice, and this one is still cold. Thank you." I say quietly, beginning to peel it.
"Come to think of it, Debu. I don't think I've seen you eat before. I've stayed at your house pretty late a few times but you still didn't eat." Tsukishima says and I look up at him.
"I guess I just wasn't hungry." I shrug and he frowns.
"Okay."
"HAHA KAGEYAMA. I GOT A HIGHER SCORE THAN YOU!" I hear Hinata, and look up to see him doing a little dance, while the boy beside him is fuming.
"Haha... guys I haven't even finished grading your practice tests." The gray haired boy, Suga, says nervously.
"Noya and I both got 27%" Tanaka's voice comes.
"I'm surrounded by a bunch of fucking idiots." Tsukishima mumbles. I look up at him, shocked. He meets my gaze and frowns. "What?"
"You talk to your team like that too?" I ask "I thought you just called me names...."
"Why do you look like that?" He asks, looking puzzled.
"S-Sorry...I just-" I don't know what to say. A small smile comes onto my face. "That makes me happy."
"Huh? Why? That's weird..."
"Well, it means that you're not just mean to me. You're mean to everyone. So like, technically you treat me normally. That makes me happy." I say, and he looks at me like I'm crazy.
"Wow... it is not hard to please you." He mumbles, turning back to his work.
"Yuna-Chan! How far are you into your work?" I look forward and suddenly Hinata is barely a foot away.
"U-Um, I'm done." I respond, clutching my bag to me.
"What?!" His eyes widen. Kageyama quickly comes over to me as well and they both bow their heads to me.
"Please teach us the material!" They yell in unison.
"Hey! Leave her alone! Do your own work!" The captains voice comes.
"Then we'll fail our exams and not go to the training camp!" Hinata says worriedly then turns back to me. "Yucchan, please help us. We have the chance to play against super powerful schools in Tokyo! If we don't pass then we'll miss the bus!"
"I. Need. To. Play. Volleyball." Kageyama says and I lean away from him.
"You're scaring her, fuck off. If you two weren't idiots, you wouldn't look so desperate right now." Tsukishima says and I look at him. "You can say no." He tells me.
"I-It's Okay." I say, though my hands are shaky. "Hinata was the first person to befriend me. I'll help." I look at him and he gives me a bright smile.
"Really? You're the best!" He grins, and the two boys get comfortable in front of me.
For the next hour, I spend my time teaching the two boys. I tried my best to be patient...I really did. But these boys are really something else. I had to explain it using volleyball.
"This one is really simple. Think of 10c as 10 players, and C amount of teams. So 10 c + 5 is less then or equal to 45. Take away 5 on both sides. Then just divide by 10 on both sides. What do you get?"
"There's 4 volleyball teams!" They both shout, and I nod.
"Okay so now, on this little graph, which way do the teams need to walk to get to their gym?" I tilt my head, and Kageyama stares angrily at the graph, while Hinata chews on the back of his pen. They whisper to each other, both nodding before looking at me.
"They need to walk left from position four." Hinata says.
"And they're walking in a closed circle" Kageyama says and I nod, smiling.
"Good job. Those questions are easy, right?" I ask as they quickly scribble down the rest of the work.
"Right! Yucchan, I feel smart! I feel like I understand!" Hinata throws his hands in the air.
"My brain hurts." Kageyama groans.
"Are you guys done? Let me grade them." Suga comes over, taking the boy's papers.
"Ooh! They're all right! Yuna-San, you must be a good teacher. Is that what you want to do when you're older? Maybe we can work together." He laughs, giving a soft smile.
"O-Oh, yes." I smile, looking up at him, my cheeks flushed. It is most certainly not what I would like to do, I don't want to be in a place I got bullied all my life. But it's Suga, how am I supposed to say no?
"We're going home." Tsukishima says, standing up quickly.
"I think we should all go home. It's late now. Let's do this tomorrow too, it's the last chance we'll have before exams." Daichi stands.
"Okay, thank you Yuna-Chan!" Hinata waves excitedly at me.
"Thanks" Kageyama nods in my direction.
"No problem" I say shyly, standing.
I grab my bag, Tsukishima's jacket, and throw away my orange peels. We say bye to everyone else before walking out.
"Thanks for letting me use this." I say quietly, folding his jacket up and handing it to him.
"Well, you can't have people seeing your... yeah." He says and then his face scrunches up. He smells the jacket and sighs. "It smells like you now."
"I'm sorry! I-I'll wash it!" I grab it from his hands but he snatches it back.
"It doesn't smell bad. It just smells girly. Stop overreacting." He scoffs and I look at him, shocked.
"It doesn't smell bad?" I ask and he frowns.
"What? You never smell bad." He says and it's my turn to frown.
"People at school say I smell." I look away from him. "I take 3 showers every day because of it."
"What? That's a waste of water. You've never smelt bad." He says and then I feel him grab my hand. "You take three showers daily but your skin is so soft. You must take really good care of yourself." He mumbles and I feel my cheeks heat up.
"O-Oh..." Is all I say. He lets go of my hand only once we reach my doorstep.
"Your parents must be home, judging by the two cars in the driveway. Tell them I said hi." He stuffs his hands into his pocket.
"Okay, I'll tell my mother." I mumble. He hasn't met my father yet.
"So... the training camp. It's for a week. School goes on break for two weeks, so when I come back let's do something together." He says and I look up at him. "Text me while I'm away. But don't be too needy." He frowns.
"Okay." I smile.
I don't know what needy is considered. But maybe I'll text him every other day?
"Goodnight then, Debu."
"Goodnight." I say quietly.
"Oh, almost forgot." I look up at him when he says this, and then immediately his lips are on mine. My eyes shut closed and I smile into the kiss. He pulls away all too quickly and I pout. "Alright. Now seriously goodnight."
"Goodnight." I smile, and he stares at me for a minute before kissing me again.
That night, we said goodnight to each other at least ten times...