BET

13

【Ｙｏｕｒ　ｋｎｅｅｓ　ａｒｅ　ｂｅｎｄｉｎｇ，　ｓｏ
Ｉｔ＇ｓ　ｔｉｍｅ　ｔｏ　ｇｅｔ　ｕｐ　ａｎｄ　ｌｅｔ　ｇｏ】

Y/N had been skipping more classes ever since Aizawa had had the talk with her. When she did go to class, he never brought it up. Y/N wondered if he was maybe marking her down as sick or something and that's why no one ever bothered giving her more detention or anything. Either way, it didn't matter. Y/N felt like she didn't even care anymore. This whole rejection had hit her harder than she cared to admit and she didn't know what to do about it. She felt just the same way as she did when she graduated high school and was suddenly exhausted and had no more energy for anything. It was the exact same feeling and Y/N was starting to hate it.

Whenever she was in school, she had to see Aizawa twice a day (unless she was coming in late, then she only had one class with him, which wasn't too bad). It didn't help that her allocated desk was at the very front of the class and that everyone was really thinking that her and Aizawa had something going on, even though that couldn't be further from the truth. And she couldn't stop watching Aizawa, when she was in his class. It felt like torture. He wasn't looking like he was doing too good - he seemed more tired again and he had a weirdly sad look about him, which Y/N wasn't sure how to interpret. He had done the right thing, he should be happy, right? But apparently he wasn't happy about anything anymore. He was even more grumpy than usual.

Not that it was Y/N's business anymore. She did her best to tell herself that she didn't care what he thought. Because she didn't... she really didn't care. But she knew exactly that no matter how many times she was telling herself that, in the end she did care. She did care about Aizawa and she even still cared about the bet. So she tried to stay as far away from his classes as possible. At some point he'd have to expel her, right? She had missed more classes than she had attended. He couldn't ignore that forever and once he noticed it and did something about it, she could go back to her hometown and continue staying in bed all day.

Y/N knew that it probably wasn't going to work that way. She knew that things wouldn't be that easy and that she was running out of time and that she really needed a new plan to make this whole thing work. She wasn't going to get Aizawa, so she might as well go and win the bet, but it was almost like she had no more energy left to even come up with a solution to her current issue. So she just spent her days either lying in bed and doing nothing or going to school and hoping that the day would pass by faster like that (which it sometimes actually did).

The worst time of the week were the weekends. There was no school that could help her pass the day more quickly and there wasn't really much to do except eating and sleeping and maybe walking around the neighbourhood for a bit. Y/N didn't think it was that bad at first, but she soon realised that she had to get out of bed and do something. She couldn't just waste away the same way she had been doing for the last year. Maybe everyone back home had been right in trying to get her out of the house and get her to do things. Maybe this was what she needed.

So Y/N was starting to go out more, to spend some time in the city, get some shopping done, spend some time at the park - she even got herself some books to read when she was sitting on one of the park benches. Getting some fresh air and some sun was doing her good, she found. She was feeling much more at peace and she could feel herself getting some more energy. She actually had more energy than she had at any point during the entire last year. She even managed to meet up with some of her friends sometimes, when they were around.

Right now she was just hanging around one of the parks with Yamaji and Akiko, Kumiko had to work. It was a nice, warm day and Y/N was glad that she was getting out and that she got to see her friends again. They had just been sitting around, talking about everything and nothing at all, drinking a few beers (not as many as they had last time) and eating some snacks. It was nice, almost the same as it was back in high school when she was hanging out with her friends (which was a rare occasion because she had wasted all her time studying and training and for what?).

"So how are things going with the bet?" Yamaji asked her all of a sudden. They hadn't brought up the bet all this time and Y/N had been grateful for it, because she really didn't want to talk about it, but it seemed that that time was going to be over for now. She sighed and shook her head.

"Not so well, I'm afraid. I tried changing tactics, but it didn't go down too well. I don't know. I'll have to come up with something else." she admitted. Akiko raised her eyebrows at her, as if she couldn't believe that Y/N was this close to giving up. Y/N could barely believe it herself, if she was honest.

"Seriously? What went wrong?" Yamaji wanted to know. Y/N took a deep breath and was about to explain it when she saw someone walking past. Someone that she would normally have been happy to see, but right now it just seemed bad, bad timing. Aizawa was right there. He hadn't seen her or her friends. Y/N was about to let him pass, but then she had an idea. Maybe not everything was lost...

"Give me a second, I've gotta talk to someone..." she said and got up, quickly walking up to Aizawa, a big grin on her face. Sure, Aizawa had told her not to flirt with him in school or around people that might tell on them, but they weren't in school and he hadn't seen her with her friends, so... technically she wasn't doing anything wrong, right? Because she still wanted him. Badly.

"Mr. Aizawa! Wait!" she called out to him. He turned around and looked at her, surprise in his eyes. He looked like he was stuck to the ground, not sure whether he was supposed to run away or not, but it was already too late, because Y/N had caught up to him and wrapped her arms around him in a big hug.

"Y/N, what... what the hell are you doing?" he asked. He seemed too surprised to call her out on the hug.

"I was just out in the park, getting some fresh air. How are you? You're looking much better than you normally do in class." she replied with a wink. Aizawa sighed and shook his head, apparently getting his normal brain function back.

"Y/N, no... don't do this to me, please. I told you not to do this, didn't I?" he said to her. Y/N smiled and looked around.

"Well, this isn't school and there's no one around that knows us. And I know that you like me. You said so yourself. So I don't see what the big problem is. I get that we could get in trouble if we do any of this in school, but... well, we're not in school right now, are we?" she answered, her fingers absentmindedly dancing over his arm and lingering there, before she looked up at him. He didn't seem too happy, but he also didn't look like he was going to be able to say no to her much longer. Y/N could almost hear his will to resist her crumbling and it made her happier than anything.

"Y/N, please. I'm trying to do the right thing here, I really am, but you're not making this easy for me. You really should move on. Forget this stupid crush you have. Find someone else. Please." he told her, his hand taking hers and moving it away from him. He wasn't very decisive when he was doing it and Y/N easily picked up on it. She had him wrapped around her fingers and they both knew it. She smiled and took his hand, interlocking their fingers and looking up at him. And she could see his resolve crumbling steadily. Everything was going perfectly according to plan, after all.