A L W A Y S

One

"My mom wants to give this to your mom," he breathes, "I don't know what it is, but I don't want to carry this around all day."

Accepting the bag of heavy exotic fruit, I angrily huff my way to the lockers to put it up. My lockers are so much further than his. In fact, my lockers are on the other side of the building of my next class! 

Each time I interact with Kenji, my irritation starts to itch. It is as if seeing him is the reason why my stomach wants to turn in disgust. He, himself, -- could have put this in his locker. He could have given it to me at the end of the day. He could have done a lot of things. I mean, seriously, his locker was two feet away! What's with him?!

Ever since my mom rerouted me to this school, I've had to put up with the asshole that is Kenji Futakuchi, captain of the volleyball club. He is everything that is obnoxious and annoying to humankind. There is no one, absolutely no one, that could be any more annoying to me than Kenji. 

"Do you need help?" Ami whispers behind my ears, startling me to death.

"Fuck, Ami!" I half scream, half-whisper.

Laughing at my mini heart attack, Ami finds the minuscule things amusing. In the past three months, Ami has been my only friend. Being the new girl is hard, especially when the one person you thought was going to help you is still the asshole he has always been. 

"Did he give you another bag of shit to take home today?" Ami asks as she watches me stuff the bag into my tiny rectangle locker.

"His mom loves giving my mom fruit, I guess," still trying to make it all fit. I need to chat with Mom later because this is getting out of hand. 

"Isn't his mom over at your place like once a week?"

"Yeah, she comes over every Thursday for 'girls night' with my mom. So, fuck if I know why they're transferring fruit between Kenji and me."

Honestly, why the hell do they do this? Both our moms know that Kenji and I haven't spoken for years—not entirely by choice, but because my mom and I moved away. His mom and mine are the best of friends. They pass the information along like water flows, as if everything in this world needs to be discussed. Therefore, I know for a fact that I've told my mom how much I despise Kenji after returning here. 

"That's interesting," Ami smiles.

Putting all my might into this final thrust, I successfully closed my locker, securing a shit-ton of fruit for my mom later today. "Let's go to class," I say as I grab my bag off the ground.

--

The first period is the most dreadful because I sit next to Kenji. When I first started school, the only seat in our homeroom was next to him. It was awkward—no, it was horrific. Seeing Kenji for the first time after years of being apart made for the worse experience. I thought being away from him would help change my mind about him or even tolerate him, but nothing about him changed. He is still the asswipe that I have grown to know and despise. 

"Kenji, what is the answer to the question," our teacher asks.

Turning to look at him, I see he has passed out cold on his desk. He must have stayed late last night after school for volleyball practice. Aone, his best friend, gleams a blank stare before chopping Kenji awake. As Kenji starts to wake up, Takanobu Aone and I exchange a knowing glance, understanding the person that is Kenji. He may be a hard worker when it comes to school, but he's an even harder worker when it comes to volleyball. 

"Huh?!" Kenji yawns.

"Mr. Futakuchi, if you are going to sleep in my class, try not to snore."

Suddenly, a roar of giggles erupts, and I can see from the corner of my eye that Kenji is pouting. Captain of the volleyball team and completely dumb in the head. Kind of. As a matter of fact, Kenji is far from dumb. He's currently top of the class and plans to have a full-time job while playing professional volleyball after graduation - a nut-job.