𝐝𝐚𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐚

one

thursday, february 16th
4:33 pm
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The sound of sneakers squeaking and people cheering in the stands fill up the gym. It's the playoffs for Somerset High varsity volleyball, and everyone has been on the edge of their seats.

The Somerset Lions are inarguably the best sports team in everything they do. Volleyball is their strongest suit. Everybody wants to get into Somerset for sports and extracurriculars, hundreds of people apply and try out for the school.

The school itself is an amazing school, most of the kids who go there are sent off into Ivy League schools, the teachers are helpful and professional, and almost everyone is in honors and AP classes. The school is huge and is right in the middle of Manhattan.

At least, that's what it looks like to people who don't go there.

A sophomore named Mark spikes the ball into the opposing teams court, and they fail to recieve. Set point, the crowd jumps and yells in joy and all of the boys on the court high five each other.

The sunlight peeks in through the huge windows covering the gym, illuminating it with a warm and comforting aroma. Everyone has this sense of unity together, cheering for their schools. It brings happiness and environment to the crowd in the stands.

There stands a girl to the side of the crowd. She watches the game intently, watching the ball bounce back and forth, a mostly expressionless look on her face.

She's always like that.

She takes in the environment around her, the crispy, soon to be setting sun sparkling down onto her skin as she leans against the railing. She moves her black hair out of her face and takes a breath of the distinct gym.

She keeps an eye out for a certain someone. A certain number 5. The best player on the team, with naturally brown hair and faded blonde tips that he dyed last summer. His hair flops around as he chugs the water on the bench. She acts like she isn't paying much attention to him, so that she doesn't attract any attention to herself.

Sebastian is his name. Sebastian Khang. It's not that she has a crush on him, this is very well known information throughout the entire school. Sebastian is known as the best player on the volleyball team, or as that one hot junior that every girl talks about and fancies. She admits that he's quite attractive, but she doesn't have time to chase after people like that. Or to chase after anybody, for that fact.

She looks at him once more, watching him in his dark blue with gold lined uniform. He watches the referee talk, and turns over to his teammate to the side. They exchange dirty looks at the referee, and he rolls his eyes. As he talks to the person next to him, he looks up at the stands and waves to some of the crowd.

Then, his gaze meets hers.

Her eyebrows lift up a bit, and her grip on the railing tightens. The young man doesn't look away from her, and she doesn't either. His eyes widen and he seems to stop talking, and expressionessly, she looks away to the other team. He also looks away, and focuses back on the libero. A new set starts.

What the hell was that? she thinks to herself. She scratches the inner corner of her eye for a second before continuing to watch the game.

She can feel his eyes on him for the rest of the game, and as he spikes the final match point and they cheer, she claps a measly few claps and makes her way downstairs, back into the halls.

The hallways are mostly empty except for a few freshmen. The sun shines through the window panes which makes her beam with delight. She walks over to her locker and puts in the combination. The locker door swings open with a click, and she begins to put books into her bag.

She looks into the small mirror of her locker door. She puts on her dark blue blazer and buttons only one clip, and straightens it in the mirror. She brushes through her hair with her fingers and grabs her bag, shutting the locker door along with it.

She leans against the locker as she opens her phone to check the time. Shit, I have to get going if I don't want to miss the train. She thinks to herself. She grabs her bag and holds it by her hand.

"Hey, wait up." She hears this familiar voice say.

She turns around curiously, surprised to find it being nobody she would expect. In the slightest.

All sweaty and out of breath, stands Sebastian right in front of her. She feels her chest tighten as she takes a step back. Her head cocks to the side and she lifts her brows slightly, indicating for him to continue what he was saying.

"Um," he pauses. "...Where are you going?" he chokes out, and wipes his palms against his shorts.

Now she lifts her brow even more. "I'm heading home?" she says. "To my house?"

"Oh. why?"

She shakes her head in confusion. "Uh, excuse me?" her eyebrows furrow in confusion.

His eyes widen, and he closes them, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that." he says in shame and looks down at her again. She nods, going back to her expressionless face.

"I have to catch the train, I'll be...on my way now." she said, looking at him from the corner of her eye as she turns away. She starts to grab her bag, and struggles to pick it up off the ground. From behind her, Sebastian picks up the bag with his hand.

"Want me to carry this for you, beautiful?" he gives her a warm smile, which makes her heart skip a beat. She remains unfazed on the outside. "I'm fine, thanks." she grabs the bag from his hand, and starts to make her way down the hall.

About 15 seconds later, he runs after her and is now walking next to her. But now, he has a navy blue jacket with a gold lion on his right breast and his name in gold on his left. He also has a backpack on his back. "Which train do you take?" he said, out of breath.

She turned her head and looked up at him. "Why?"

"I also have a train to catch."