Stormy Summer

A Stormy Practice

Are his spikes always so strong?

My eyes widened slightly and I had to suppress a gasp as Bokuto-san hit the ball right through a block of three, completely shattering it. From over here it almost looked like, had it been me blocking, my arms would've shattered right away. Rose must've thought the same thing, as, from the corner of my eye, I could see her wince slightly.

It wasn't a practice game. They just practiced spiking and blocking, so after his spike, Bokuto-san went to the back of the line again, impatiently waiting for his next turn. He was fidgeting in his spot as his next turn drew nearer.

My gaze turned back to Akaashi-kun.

'So he's a Setter, huh?' I thought to myself.

I didn't know that much about Volleyball, however, back home, we had learned about Volleyball on several different occasions in PE class. So at least I knew the basics of it.

"Why are the kneepads of owl-kun so long?" Rose asked, suddenly, surprising me.

"'Owl-kun'?" I asked, raising a brow as I turned my gaze to her.

At the same time as I spoke, Anna also rose her head, now suddenly interested in what we were talking about "Owl?" she asked. Oh. Yes, of course. Anna loves owls. Of course, she would react at the mention of owls.

Rose turned to look at her. "Earlier," she started, before turning back to me, "the one you were talking to," she elaborated, and as my gaze went back down to the players to look at Bokuto-san, just to realize that she was right. About both things. I hadn't noticed it before, but his kneepads nearly covered all of his tighs. Maybe it's comfier that way? Or he just gets cold easily? Though, somehow I find that to be unlikely. And he did indeed look like an owl. It's a surprise that I hadn't thought of it. Or Anna. Though, she was on her phone the entirety of our conversation.

I turned my gaze back to her, as Anna suddenly found her voice again "Sal was talking to an owl?" she asked, raising a brow "When?" she added, as though she believed it to be true. Though, what do I know? Maybe she does.

At this, Charlie turned her gaze away from the court. She had been fidgeting uncomfortably this whole time, probably imagining the agonizing pain of getting hit by any of these volleyballs. Now that I looked at her, she did look a little pale in the face, though as she noticed my gaze on her, she quickly looked down.

Rose sighed, almost groaning in exasperation. It's too early. Still. "No. She didn't talk to an actual owl, Anna... The person she was talking to just looked like an owl," Rose tried to explain calmly.

"Did he have feathers?" Now I was close to strangling her. Rose just sighed. Rose sat between us, so there was no way I'd be able to strangle Anna without attracting too much attention, so I just sighed, calming down.

I pointed at Bokuto-san down in front of the net, preparing to spike again "That's the owl," she turned her gaze toward him and as he slightly turned in our direction, Anna was able to see his hair in all its glory. She stared at him for a few seconds, as Rose and I watched her reaction. She suddenly started giggling.

"He does look like an owl!" thankfully, Anna always had a problem with speaking loudly, so the boys down on the court couldn't hear it, though that didn't stop us from shushing her. Even Charlie told her to be quieter, probably fearing the wrath of these strong hits.

I would've bothered to tell Anna that the owl's name is Bokuto-san, however, I had a feeling that she would just forget his name anyway, so I didn't even try. Instead, I turned my gaze to Rose and then Charlie, before telling them, that his name is Bokuto.

"And also... Maybe they're comfier?" it sounded more like a question, than an answer and Rose looked at me confused, looking from Bokuto-san to me a few times before she understood what I meant and nodded.

"Probably, they do look more comfortable than the other ones. And the Akaashi's son isn't wearing any at all," she said as she looked at Akaashi-kun "So maybe they're usually not really comfortable?" she added, again, resulting in me looking down at the court. This time, though, I looked at Akaashi-Kun's knees. Now realizing that there weren't any kneepads. Though, considering that he's just setting right now... He doesn't need them. Maybe they bother him... Are kneepads even essential? I just nodded to Rose, though it may be that she didn't see it since she was still watching the practice continue on.

After a while of watching the practice, Charlie turned to us, looking innocent "Hey... Do you want to go outside for a bit?" she asked. Rose sighed and looked at Charlie, disapprovingly. Charlie turned to Anna and me, silently asking if we mind going with her. If the two of us were going, then Rose would tag along anyway.

I sighed but nodded. Anna agreed, too. She wasn't even really watching the practice anyway, as she was rather reading on her phone. Rose groaned, now looking at us in a mix of disappointment and exasperation. She's always disapproved of Charlie's smoking habits and continuously tries to stop her from smoking, by refusing to tag along. Charlie wouldn't smoke if she had to go alone.

But Rose also wouldn't want to stay in here on her own. I felt bad for pushing Rose to come with us. And as for Charlie's smoking habits... I didn't know her for as long as Rose did, so it's not my place to tell her to stop... She's old enough to decide that on her own. Not that she would listen to me, anyway. And she's not forcing us to take a smoke too, in fact, I have a feeling that she would try and stop us from smoking ourselves, given the chance. She just doesn't want to stand outside, all on her own.

So, reluctantly, Rose got up and followed us outside and downstairs. We went slightly behind the gym so we wouldn't be seen by any of the teachers or students that may arrive any minute, for smoking on school grounds is prohibited. We even made sure not to stand near any windows. Since we didn't want the students or teachers of the volleyball club to notice. Especially the teacher and the coach.

Soon, we made our way back to the front of the gym, to maybe catch the last few minutes of their morning practice. As I rounded the corner, I bumped into someone's back, yelping slightly as I wanted to step back and got pushed again, by Rose bumping into me.

I took a step back and rubbed my nose as I looked up to see a grinning Bokuto-san, seemingly not minding the fact that I just bumped into him. Twice. "Sorry, Bokuto-san," I mumbled, slightly looking away from his eyes. He may have been grinning, but his eyes still made me nervous somehow, they were remarkably intense. And his height just added onto that. I was never comfortable with standing next to or in front of people much taller than me. It made me nervous.

"It's fine!" he grinned, "Where were you guys anyway? You suddenly left during the middle of practice!" Bokuto-san asked to which we just froze, searching for a good excuse. We couldn't just tell him that we smoked behind the gym. Or that Charlie did, anyway. But Akaashi-kun interrupted Bokuto-san, saying that we should head inside now, as most of the teachers must've arrived by now.

In the blink of an eye, Bokuto-san seemed to have forgotten about our disappearance and grabbed my arm as he dragged me after him.