[KH/FF] Treachery of Fate: Imperfect Imposter

Chapter 23

WHOOSH.

BASH.

THUD.

Bounce... Bounce... Bounce...

"Time out!" Jecht blew his whistle, running over.

Right now, you were at blitzball practice. It suddenly came to a halt when in preforming a technique, you tripped over your own shoelace. So shocked within the small problem, you fell, and while in midair of it, the ball Tidus had kicked towards you smacked you in the stomach. A breath of air escaped your lips in response, and you were thrown away with your back hitting the wall of the waterless pool which was only a few feet away from your original point.

It was Tuesday afterschool. The day had gone by in a blur, and you were too out of it to even pay attention. You remembered though, key events like Auron yelling at you for falling asleep during his lecture, and that you needed to meet up with your group for computer tech sometime before next week to work on a short animated film that was to be due.

You were numb to say the least, but throughout the day, you were soon tired and worn out from the constant smiling and chatting you forced out despite the mist of sorrow that hung over you. Blitzball practice was an added brutal formality that closed up your day for school, and when remembering you even had it after Vincent's mention of it, you wanted to scream—it was why you weren't there yesterday when...

"Yo!" Jecht waved a hand in front of your face. "You okay kid?"

"I'm...fine," you nodded slowly, absentmindedly touching your stomach that was paining from taking a blitz kick Tidus did through a pass. "Just a little...scratch probably."

He sighed, shaking his head as he stood," We only got ten minutes left, and with her outta her mind, we won't get this right. You guys can go—same time tomorrow."

As the team shuffled out of the pool, you sat there, staring at the ground, huffing from the last unsuccessful play. A hand reached out to you and you snapped your head up to look at them, finding a shirtless Vaan smiling down at you. Returning the gesture, you took his hand and pulled yourself up, walking with him slowly towards the exit.

"So what happened yesterday?" Vaan asked. "You didn't show up when the team went out after school."

"I had a lot of homework," you lied, sighing. "Then...there was...this thing...with a few of my friends and..."

"High school drama," he nodded, damp blonde hair sprinkling a few sweat beats. "I getcha on that—there's no need to continue."

"High school drama," you murmured after him. "...Sure, let's call it that."

"Sorry about that Amaya!" Tidus called, jogging up next to you. "I kinda forgot I wasn't shooting for a goal..."

"It's alright," you waved him off with a smile. "It's my own fault for not paying attention."

"So, are you up for ice-cream then?" he grinned, kicking the door of the building open. "Me and a few of the guys are gonna go—you should come with!"

"Can't," you shook your head. "I already have things planned."

Vaan frowned," C'mon Amaya! What's more important that spending some quality time with your teammates?"

"...A lot of things," you murmured, not noticing the looks they were giving one another when hearing you. Plastering a smile on your face, you entered the girls' side of the locker room, waving back at them. "Bye guys!"

After changing back into your uniform, you shuffled out of the locker room with your feet making noises against the ground—especially the scratching ones against the pavement once you were outside. They sky was still gray like the day before, but this time there was no drizzling, just a gloomy atmosphere.