Ace of Hearts

Chapter Two

I was grateful to be back on my crutches—never thought I'd say that... But I was pretty pissed off about Kuroo mentioning my panties, and he knew I was pissed.

"Oh, come on, Kisa! I was only joking!" Kuroo begged as I shot him a murderous glare. He put his hands up in defense. "Look! I'll forget about it right now!" He smacked his cheeks hard and shook his head. "See? Gone!"

"What are you forgetting now?" Lev questioned. He walked over to us as the guys were taking a water break. He rested his elbow on my head and squirted water into his mouth. Though I was fairly tall for a girl (nearly 5'10"), my brother towered over me, and he loved to rub that fact in my face constantly ("You may be older but I'm bigger and taller, Kisa-chan").

I shook my younger twin's arm off my head. "The fact that Kuroo is just a big pervert!" I snapped, catching the attention of some of the other players.

Fukunaga walked over. "Oh God, what did he do this time?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I sighed dramatically, shooting him another look.

"I didn't do anything! I swear!" Kuroo pleaded with his team.

Kenma walked over, eyeing the two of us. "Kuroo, you're always guilty in these situations," he said quietly.

My anger was subsiding, slowly being replaced with the satisfaction that came from the guys being on my side. I shot Kuroo another look and mouthed a fat, HA!

"Psh. Whatever... Anyway, some of you guys already know Kisa, but you should introduce yourself to the team since you're going to be helping out while you're recovering," Kuroo declared.

I put up a peace sign in greeting to the team as they all circled up. "Hey, I'm Lev's twin sister, Kisa. I'm a second-year here at Nekoma, and I'm a wing spiker for the girls' volleyball team!" I looked around at the team. I knew all of the second years from class, but the third years and first years I really didn't know. "I'll be helping out as a manager for you guys while I recover from my ACL injury."

"So, you're Lev's twin? Why are you a year above him?" one of the first years asked.

I grinned. "I tested into a higher year back in middle school."

The first year snorted. "So, you're twin got all the brains, huh?" he snickered at Lev.

"Pft—Well, that's because I got all the looks!" Lev returned, puffing out his chest a little bit. I only rolled my eyes in return.

"Yeah sure, keep telling yourself that, Lev..."

For the rest of practice, I really just sat on the bleachers and watched. The boys mostly ran drills, so there wasn't anything for me to do other than swat any balls that came flying my way. The coach did come up and thank me for helping out with the team; he gave me a little advice and reassurance about my injury as well. Apparently, there would be more paperwork stuff for me to do during the next practice if I wanted to help out. Of course, I agreed because anything was better than sitting on the bleachers for an hour doing nothing. Honestly, the whole sitting and just watching a bunch of guys play my favorite activity in the world kind of just put a damper on my whole mood. Why did I ever agree to this? I thought to myself. Stupidest idea ever...

The little cloud of disappointment and frustration that came to me during practice just seemed to follow me for the rest of the day. I didn't pay attention during class. I zoned out during breaks. It wasn't until lunchtime when I was sitting with Chiyo in the courtyard that I finally snapped out of it—or rather she snapped me out of it.