Boys with brown eyes

Chapter 11

I had made a deal with Hitoka that I would only come to watch the evening practices happening after school. She tried to argue against it but gave up after understanding how I felt. I wasn't part of the team. Sure, we were friends, but if every friend of every player would be there to watch, it wouldn't be any time for actual practice.

My body was grateful to me for my choice now that I could sleep over one hour longer, and it felt great. I couldn't let the boys grow tired of me either. We had a whole year of hanging out and me coming to cheer them on, so missing out on morning training wasn't a big deal.

Mom had gone to work when I woke up this morning, and since my sister was already at school, my breakfast had to be made by me. It consisted of a ham and cheese toast. My specialty.

I always ate my food first so that I could divide the time I had left into other things. This morning was a little stressful, so I decided to throw my uniform on, put on mascara and do my brows before running out the door with my school bag. Thankfully, Mom left the car at home so I could drive.

I still had five minutes until the bell rang but hurried inside to be safe. Most of my classmates were already there, and even the volleyball boys had arrived before me. I bid them good morning and sat down by my desk. It always impressed me how they could go through the whole school day after practice. I would have fallen dead asleep.

To make it worse, our first lesson was math. I hate math. And the reason I hated math; I suck.

There is just something with the way the numbers are placed. I can't seem to make any sense of what they ask of me, and when they are placed in the middle of a sentence, they get even more confusing.

I really struggled through the first hour, and it didn't go unnoticed by the captain sitting across the room. As the bell rang, he was fast to rush over to me.

"Are you okay?" His broad figure blocked the sunlight coming through the window to shine in my face. "No. I don't understand anything." I guess my answer wasn't what he had expected, as he chuckled and sat down on the chair in front of my desk.

"Your bad at math?" My grunts became louder at the thought of numbers.

"No, I suck at math." The air I aggressively blew out on my nose and onto my desk blew up to hit me on my chin. I wanted to go home, and it was only first period.

"Do you want some help?" Looking up at him from below, I could see he was sincere.

"You want to help me?"

"Of course. I'm not great, but I can teach you what I know." Without thinking, I launched my body over my desk and threw my arms around his neck. "You're the best, Daichi!" His body went stiff, but I didn't acknowledge it as I was so happy that he wanted to help me out.

When I retract my arms, I notice our noses almost touching. I was lying on the desk, so it took some time for me to register our closeness before I backed away.

"You're a hundred percent sure?" Daichi soon regained his composure before replying.

"Hundred percent. Does it work after practice?" He stood on his feet, ready to go back to his seat, as the bell went off. "Sure."

"Great."

"Right."

For some reason, it became a little clammy in the room. He walked back to his seat, and I sat back down on mine. But I couldn't help to think of the warmth I felt whenever I touched him. I had a habit of touching people I cared about, and Mom used to say it was my language of affection. But I had never done it without the other person liking it. Or so I think.

My eyes wandered over to him. He was focused on the lecture our teacher gave, but I was already too lost in thought to care. His hair looked brighter under the sun, and his skin a little darker. Or softer, like caramel. I giggled a little at my thought. Daichi as a caramel. It fit him.

But then my mind wandered to other things. What if he didn't like me touching him? And yet I do it all the time. It's not like I do it on purpose every time, but that didn't really matter if he didn't like it. But Daichi is a mature guy; he would tell me if he didn't, right?