𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 - 𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘰 𝘬𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘰

7: rumours

If Rini had realized that rumours would spread about her and Kuroo, she would have never agreed to leave school grounds with him. She was mortified to find out that many of her peers now believed the two were now an item, and some even went as far as to say they were trying to conceal their relationship for the sake of his popularity. On the walk to school Rini's brain was a mess of uncertainty. For one thing, what could she even say in her defence? If she denied it, people would just think she was covering up for the sake of her and Kuroo's reputations.

This was stupid.

She hated herself for the fact that she hadn't seen this coming. It was so embarrassing, especially since she and Kuroo were in completely opposing social groups. Kuroo was obviously an athlete, and he was popular because he was good-looking. Rini was a journalist and she was popular because she worked to earn the respect of her peers.

Ironically, and painfully so, she'd even stated on more then one occasion that the popular jock was the last type of guy she'd consider dating.

So now not only did her fellow students think she'd sold out for Kuroo, she was also left with a huge confusing mess of feelings.

She couldn't even begin to know where she really stood with Kuroo. Did she consider him a friend? Did he consider her a friend?

She couldn't honestly say that the thought of dating Kuroo was unappealing to her. That fact alone was enough to send her spiralling.

Home room went silent as Rini entered. Kuroo was at his desk, glowing partly from the rays of sun on his face and partly from the fact that half of the class' attention was on him. The remaining half of the attention was set on Rini as she walked over to her desk.

She felt frigid as she sat down, and she busied herself with some notes for an upcoming article. She did whatever she could to look completely nonchalant, trying to get the class' attention off of her.

As soon as lunch period rolled around, Rini found Kuroo in the hall and pulled him into the first empty class she could find.

"Damn, you've been waiting for this all day, haven't you?" Kuroo crooned, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Do you realize what kind of rumours have been going around?" Rini scowled up at him, startled for the umpteenth time at just how much taller then her he was. She had to tilt her head almost all the way back in order to look him in the eye, as he stood a good head and shoulders over her. She wondered how small she appeared to him. Even just thinking of that made her feel subordinate and frustrated.

"You mean the ones about you and I?" Kuroo motioned with his index finger to each of them. He snickered lightly and shoved his fingers over his dark hair. Rini stared at his lips as he laughed, wondering how he could be so casual about this.

She averted her gaze to her shoes as soon as he caught her eye. "Somebody saw us leave school together and now people are saying we're a couple." She straightened and spoke firmly. She wouldn't let Kuroo make a joke out of this.

Suddenly he had his palm on the wall behind her and she'd taken a step back. He smirked only inches from her face, bending low enough to look into her eyes. "Imagine what they'll say about you pulling me into an empty, dark classroom." He murmured.

His closeness of his voice made her dizzy. Before she let her face become flushed, she pushed past him so she could collect her thoughts. "Whatever, I'm not going to let people think we're together."

"Okay." He stepped towards her and looked down at her with a quirk of his lips. She paced around him again, even more flustered and becoming angry.

She turned around and almost bumped into him as she did. "You're going to deny the rumours, right?" She pointed up at him.

"What rumours are we talking about again?" He gently took her wrist and grazed his thumb over her palm.

"Stop making a joke out of this," She warned, pointing again with her free hand.

He took a soft grip of her other wrist as well, placing her palms against each other and enfolding her much smaller hands in his own. "I'm trying to calm you down." He said. "Geez your hands are cold," he observed, rubbing his palms softly over her skin to cause friction.

"Stick to the point and please stop holding my hands!" Rini was only becoming more and more flustered. His hands were so warm and his fingers were willowy and beautiful. She inhaled and tried to clear her thoughts. "I'd never date a guy like you and the fact that the entire school seems to think that I am puts my reputation in jeopardy."

Kuroo lowered her hands and released his grip. She thought for a split second she could see something change in his eyes, but then it was gone. "Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it." He said.

"Just stay away from me, okay?" Rini balled her hands into fists before she pushed them deep into her uniform jacket pockets. She felt that her cheeks were flushed and she wondered if they had been this whole time.

Kuroo worked his jaw in thought for a moment. "Damn, why didn't you just say that in the first place?" He asked with a laugh. Rini thought she could hear the hurt hidden in his voice, so far hidden he probably thought it was impossible to detect. She wished she'd chosen her words better, but it was too late.

She swallowed. "So we're agreed then?"

"What if I need help on another project?" Kuroo's eyes had softened to the point of giving her severe butterflies.

She sighed, taking his wrist before searching the teacher's desk at the head of the classroom for a sharpie. She found one and used the small shaft of light coming through the window panel of the classroom door to write her number on Kuroo's forearm. "Text me only if you get desperate." She closed the sharpie and put it back where she'd found it. "I'll see you around." She turned to leave before he could say anything else.

♥

𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆

𝘩𝘪...𝘴𝘰 𝘪'𝘮 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘪 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘮𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘭.

𝘪 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 ✨𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘦✨ 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 (𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘴) 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵. 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘪𝘭𝘺.

𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒗𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒅𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅! 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓!