I looked at him like a stranger

[1]

I looked at him like a stranger, an average boy with blonde hair and green eyes, I've never seen him before but he was walking inside the gym with Rosalyne, our manager.
I was about to set a ball to Terrence, but my mind was too focused on that boy so the ball bounced on my head, making my teammate laugh at me, so embarrassing..
Luckily, the others were too focused on the coach, so they didn't see me.

Right after, Rosalyne called everyone to greet our newest member,
"good morning Rosalyne!" Liberty yelled
"good morning everyone, as you can see, today we have a new member with us. Please be kind to him and make him feel like home with us!" the manager implied,
"go ahead, introduce yourself, they don't bite"
Rosalyne whispered, encouraging the boy,
"nice to meet you, my name is Micheal, I play as a libero and I hope I'll help you win matches lying ahead!" the blondie said nervously but with confidence.
Then everyone introduced themselves;
"I'm Anthony and I'm the coach"
"Robert, right side hitter, welcome!"
"James, outside hitter, the pleasure is ours!"
"Terrence, opposite hitter, nice to meet you!"
everyone was very energetic while saying their role, but not everyone is that energetic
"my name is Justin, I don't have an official role yet" he said nervously,
"I'm Jack and I'm the middle blocker."
"I'm Adam, I used to be the setter" he said scratching his neck; and then there's me, trying to get everyone's attention,
"omfg, we finally have a libero! nice to meet you, I'm Ajax and I'm the setter of the team!" I said shaking Micheal's hands with a bright smile on my face, he was clearly uncomfortable since he didn't know me, but it was just the start,
"hey cut it off Ajax! You're making him uncomfortable!" Terrence yelled at me.

Time passed and it was already afternoon, everyone finished training, but since I'm always in my own land, I didn't see them so I continued to train even if everyone has already left since I was training balance and steadiness while facing the wall.
My state of concentration was suddenly interrupted by someone hitting me in the head with a ball and calling my name, making me fall to the floor,
"Ajax! are you even on this planet?! how many times do I have to call you daily??" it was Terrence, but since he was used to it, he regained himself easily,
"huh? it's already over? shucks" I said sadly
"uh huh, luckily for you Michael was the one to tell me you were still here, otherwise I'd left you here" the redheaded guy said
'Micheal? as in the new libero? I guess I made quite the impression' I thought
"okay c'mon, it's getting late. Here, take my hand." Terrence said offering me a hand to stand up,
"I'll wait for you outside the changing rooms" he added,
"alrighty" I replied.

As I entered the changing rooms, the first thing I saw was the new libero struggling with something,
"oh hey, Michael right? you seem to be struggling a bit, is something bothering you?" I asked,
"uhh.. yeah I'm Michael, it's nothing to worry about, thanks anyway" the blondie replied,
"if you say so" I said quietly.
While I already finished changing myself, the blondie was still there, struggling.
"ugh, are you sure you don't want my help? you've been struggling since I got in 5 minutes ago" I asked him but I received no reply.
"ugh" I approached him and tried to help,
'just a tie' "allow me", I grabbed the tie off his hands and in a matter of seconds I already finished tying it "there you go sweetheart",
the blondie was completely still, I guess he was shocked or flustered, he slowly became red as he covered his face thanking me,
"thank you" he said looking down,
"no problem" I said smiling while heading towards my locker to pick my backpack.

"I'll get going, see you tomorrow-" I didn't get to finish my sentence because as soon as I opened the door Terrence apologied to me,
"I'm sorry dude! I got an urgent call and I must go there asap!" Terrence yelled and left in a hurry, lefting me speechless, ". . .okay?" I said pretty confused.
'ugh I don't want to go alone, with whom am I supposed to hang out now?' I thought while scratching my head,
"you seem down, did you have plans?" the blondie asked,
"ah? I guess so, we walk home from school every day and then we stop at a park nearby" I said while looking at the redheaded boy disappearing in the distance.
Silence suddenly rose and it was pretty awkward but then one of them broke the ice,
"you must be close friends if you hang out every day" Micheal said
"I mean yeah, we've known each other since childhood, he's like a brother to me, he's my best friend" I replied,
"now that I'm thinking about it, where are you heading toward?" I asked
"oh, nothing special, I'm just going home, I live nearby the grocery store" he answered
"yoo! I also live nearby there, I could accompany you home! what do you think?" I excitedly said,
"I mean why not, after all we're still going the same way" the blondie replied,
"then, what are we waiting for? let's go!" I yelled,
"keep it down, people still work at this time of the day" Micheal said
"ah? opsie.." I replied.

Then, the two of us started to walk towards the school gate. We talked about ourselves, mostly about our hobby's and passions, and we were having a good time together, even if we had met earlier that morning.