Different Kind of Beautiful

Chapter 13

Just noticed this chapter wasn't published for some reason, sorry.

"Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Michishio!"

I let out a small sigh and leaned back, allowing Oikawa to push his head past me and into the house, where he promptly waved and grinned very cheekily at my parents. Iwaizumi shook his head from where he was standing on the sidewalk, eyes locked onto his phone.

"Good morning, Oikawa," my mother replied, slapping her husband in the chest as he started to glare at the boy. "You all have a good day, alright?"

"Thanks, see you later tonight," I called back as I finally managed to shove the setter back out of the doorway so we could get to school.

As we walked, I couldn't help but glance at Oikawa. He seemed to be just fine, a small smile on his lips. He wasn't chattering away to fill the air like he normally did, but something in his expression told me that he was just as content as he normally was. It was nice to be reminded that he had other modes than "flirt" and "mischivous". I had thought that it would take him longer to get over his ex. After meeting him at the park, the rest of my weekend had been spent texting him or idly listening to him over call as he blubbered about different memories or random things he already missed about the girl. Not once had he mentioned a name so I found it hard to truely listen, but I had expected to see at least some of the same behavior on the walk to school.

"Ah, practice this week is going to be hard~" Oikawa mused, stretching his arms out in front of him. Iwaizumi glanced up from his phone to shoot his friend a confused look.

"Why?" he demanded.

"I don't recall any reason why it should be harder this week than before," I added, wracking my head for any note that had been on the practice calander that we must have missed about a longer practice or added training that he could be refering to.

I glanced over to see him pout slightly, his voice coming out more like a whine than anything else. "I won't have someone to wish me good luck before practice..."

"You have a fan club that practically screams it to you every day," I shot back.

"Yeah, but they don't really mean it, Anzu-chan," the brunette argued, turning to narrow his eyes at me. "They just say it cause they think I'm hot!"

"Glad to see that you're finally admitting how ugly you are," Iwaizumi abruptly stated.

"Iwa-chan! That's not true! I am so incredibly attractive!" We were forced to stop as he stepped in front of me and grabbed my shoulders. "You think I'm attractive, right Anzu-chan?"

I made a show of very pointedly looking him up and down before adjusting my glasses. It was hard not to smirk at the eager and almost desperate look on his face as he waited to see what I would say. Sure, Oikawa was attractive objectively.  He had messy brown hair and chocolate brown eyes that had so many of our school-mates dreaming and drooling. The fact that he was an athlete only added to his appeal. What high school girl wasn't attracted to the muscles of a guy who trained hard? He had a wide and bright grin that I had seen many a girl in our class faint over. I had to say, his smaller smiles were much better. Quickly realizing that I needed to answer, I glanced away from him to see Iwaizumi staring at me with a raised brow.

"Eh, yeah," I eventually replied, pushing his hands off my shoulders. Yes, Oikawa was considered attractive, but wouldn't that make our friendship a bit weird to admit it? Then again, I had heard Matsukawa and Hanamaki openly rating their teammates the other day in practice. I could cut him some slack. "Yeah, I'd say he's attractive."

"Huh."

Iwaizumi snorted. "He's gonna have a huge ego all day because you complimented him, fyi."

"Sorry," I replied. "Should I take it back or insult him to counter it?"

"Nope!" Oikawa laughed. "You can't take it back, it's too late. Anzu-chan thinks I'm hot!"

"Oi, I said attractive, not hot," I warned him.

"Same difference."

"Insult him, I'm curious now," Iwaizumi mused, eyes locked on his phone again. I shot him an odd look as Oikawa dramatically gasped before falling onto the other boy. He was immediately shoved off.

I laughed before giving them a brief goodbye and hurried up the sidewalk to fall into step with Rinko. She grinned, but didn't say anything before her attention was immediately drawn back to her phone screen. I stared at her as we walked, wondering if there was some article or news report that must have been keeping her and Iwaizumi so wrapped up in their phones. It certainly wasn't like the spiker, and while Rinko tended to have a lot of friends and people texting her for help, she very rarely read them before school.

"What are you looking at?" I decided to ask. She immediately jumped and shoved the device in her bag, giving me the most unconvinving grin I had ever seen from her.

"Just an article."

My eyes narrowed at her almost immediately. "Rinko, I'm not that stupid."

She sighed. "Fine, don't tell anyone."

"Who am I going to tell? Oikawa?"

"Fair enough, I guess. I was texting Iwaizumi," she admitted.

"Oh." I was a bit startled by the confession, though it certainly erased the question of why Iwaizumi had been so distracted. "I didn't know you two were that close."

Rinko shrugged, throwing her hair over her shoulder as we approached the gates. "We weren't super close, but we hung out over the weekend."

"Good for you two."

There was a larger crowd than usual at the school entrance. I glanced around, a bit confused as to why everyone seemed to just be hanging around like they were waiting for something. Even Rinko seemed to be a bit confused. I let out a heavy sigh after a moment, shoulders slumping. If I was thinking correctly, it really was going to be a long week, even if Oikawa had the wrong reasoning as to why. I could easily pick out a handful of Oikawa's most aggressive admirers waiting by the gates.

I should have known that the news would somehow make it out and to the school. Biting the inside of my cheek, I started to push Rinko out of he crowd and towards the school.

"Anzu? What's going on?"

"I would warn Iwaizumi of the crowd," I replied instead. "They're going to be hounding Oikawa for details of the weekend if he doesn't ward them off right away."

"What? Why would they be going after Oikawa?" she asked, picking up the pace. I glanced around before stopping her to make sure that we weren't going to be overheard.

"His girlfriend broke up with him," I told her. "Iwaizumi wouldn't talk to him or whatever so he came to me about it. I bet girls are going to be jumping to woo him over the next week."

Rinko winced, adjusting her bag. "Yikes. I'll keep that in mind."

I nodded, glancing behind me for a moment. I could pick him out of the crowd easily. He was scratching the back of his neck, a hesitant grin on his face as he talked to the girls. Iwaizumi was making his way over to us, the expression on his face clearly showing that he had an idea of how the rest of the week would go.

"Oh, and Rinko?"

"Yeah?"

My lips twisted together for a moment as I watched him. "If you get the chance, could you wish him luck before practice?"

Rinko stared at me for a moment. "Why?"

I shrugged. "It's gonna be a long week and it means more coming from your friends, right? He's gonna need it. Hell, the whole team will need it."

"Oh, sure."

I shot the setter one last glance before making my way to class and greeting Matsukawa. With nothing else to do, I disappeared into my book and my thoughts. They were certainly a bit more cluttered with worry for the captain than I would have prefered.