USTWVT Oneshots

Injury

Summary: An injury seems to bring you and an ex-friend back into communication.

There's always been this tense bubble between you and Cassie.

No one really knew when it started— in fact during your SHS years with Cassie, you two were attached by the hip. She was your setter and you were her favorite spiker.

But after graduation, there just was a huge difference between the two of you. Cassie went to UST, you went to DLSU. And then suddenly, you stopped interacting. Your moments on court that once were ‘wholesome’ were now the two of you clashing. To anyone close to both of you, they'd think it was because of the fact Cassie left you despite her promising to go to DLSU— but they are incredibly wrong.

You stood on the opposite side of the net, hands laid back on your head as you waited for the serve. It was the final set, whoever wins advances to the finals. Cassie was right in front of you, the two of you separated by the net. The referee whistles and Mars serves the ball high, hitting it with full force. Detdet receives it easily, and your eyes land on the playmaker— Cassie.

You know her well. Way too well. She's probably one of the most potential setters in the league for you right now and you would've loved to play beside her if not for the… let's just call it an incident. But Cassie wasn't only the best rookie in the league right now— there was also you. The strongest iron wall that no one can get through. You read everyone like a deck of cards, and it was almost insane how you played so well.

When the ball lands on Cassie's fingertips, you watch where the ball spins, not even a fraction of a second later, you already know where it was going. “Carballo sets the ball to Laure— and once again, L/n slams it down on the ground! You can't get through that wall unless L/n makes a mistake!”

You land on the ground, the referee announces, 23-24. The crowd is hyped up, shouting “Animo La Salle!”, and you look at the tired Cassie who had a frown on her face as she stared at you. The statement you made a year ago echoes through her head, “I'll make sure none of your plays go in when I am in the front.” And you took it literally.

“Just one more point, Carballo. Tingnan natin kung tama ang pipiliin mo.” You smirk as you pass by her, Cassie clenches her jaw in response.

Your school is chanting nothing but the word “Isa na lang!”, drowning the loud cheers of the Thomasian giving hope to their athletes. It doesn't matter anymore, you and Cassie don't share the same dreams. The referee blows the whistle and Angel serves, sending it right to Gula, her receive was off but Cassie quickly positions herself underneath the ball.

You yell through the crowd, “Thea, dito ka!” and she rushes to your side. Cassie sets the ball high up in the air, sending it to none other than Regina Jurado. You both run towards the spiker. “One, two, three!” You count and the two of you jump at the same time.

Regina slams the ball as hard as she can crosswise, the two of you had your arms straight— expecting her to try and hit pass it. But suddenly, her ball bounces off a hand that has a familiar green bracelet, and Regina looks at the arm you had just moved to the side to block her. Iba talaga read block neto.

She watches as the ball rebounds off your arm, Regina tries to save the falling ball from the ground using her legs but she barely has enough time to reach it. The sound of the ball rolls off the floor, and there is a moment of silence before the crowd cheers, and the drums start beating again. But they weren't chanting ‘Go Uste!’, they were chanting ‘Animo La Salle!’

Everyone around you is cheering, while you stand there watching Cassie defeatedly sit on the ground. Her eyes that were once filled with hope were now just replaced by her tired ones. You've waited for that look since the moment she left you at the 7/11 outside your school.