In between- Spoke x oc!Fem

XIX

The sharp beeping of my alarm clock jolted me awake, the sound so obnoxiously loud that I nearly flung myself out of bed. I groaned, burying my face in the pillow as I slapped my phone screen to silence the alarm. It was 6:30 a.m., and another school day was waiting for me.

I blinked against the bright light of my phone screen, feeling the weight of sleep still clinging to my eyelids. As I rolled over, I realized something strange—my phone was propped up on its side, and when I picked it up, I saw Spoke's face filling the screen.

"Oh shit," I whispered. We'd fallen asleep on FaceTime.

Spoke was still out cold, his head barely visible under his blanket, but I could hear the faint sound of his breathing. I smiled to myself, stifling a giggle. I didn't want to wake him up, so I tapped the screen lightly to end the call, feeling a little flutter in my chest. It was kind of sweet, waking up like that. Weird, but sweet.

I yawned, stretching as I kicked the covers off and headed to the bathroom. My hair was a mess—pillow creases smushed into my cheek, and my hair sticking out in all directions. I splashed cold water on my face, hoping it would snap me out of the sleepy haze I was in.

By the time I was ready, I grabbed my phone and saw the notifications that had piled up overnight—Twitch alerts, Twitter mentions, and the usual "good morning" texts from Jumper and Ro. I smiled as I saw a message from Spoke, sent just a few minutes ago:

Spoken there:

You awake yet?

Lol

I quickly typed back:

Avs????????:

Yeah, I think I just woke up like 5 minutes after you haha.

Sorry about falling asleep on the call.

He responded almost instantly.

Spoken there:

"Same!!

don't worry about it!

We gotta stop doing that though, I woke up with the worst neck cramp.

Avs????????:

Lmao, agreed.

Catch you later?

Spoken there:

Ofc, have a good day at school :)

I smiled, locking my phone and heading downstairs for breakfast.

School was... school.

First period was a blur of notes, lectures, and my teacher going over some history I'd already read about online. The highlight of my morning was seeing some of my friends from the volleyball team in the hallway. They always brought the energy, hyping me up even when I was half-asleep.

"Yo, Avery! You ready for practice today?" That was Claire, our team captain, her grin as wide as ever.

I nodded, smiling back at her. "Yeah, ready to kill it."

"You better be! We've got a match next week, and we need you to be on top form, middle star!"

I laughed, feeling a little more awake now. Volleyball was one of the few things that could instantly lift my mood, no matter how tired or stressed I was. Being the middle star came with a lot of pressure, but it also gave me a sense of pride. I loved the feeling of spiking the ball over the net, seeing the other team scramble to keep up. The adrenaline, the teamwork—it was everything.