Hurricane - Ushijima Wakatoshi

Chapter Five

When Ari opened her eyes, she was terrified that everything had been a dream. It had taken her so long to agree to be manager, but she felt a weight lift from her chest when she agreed. She felt lighter, more free. That feeling was the way she knew it was real. She wouldn't have woken up with that feeling if it had been a dream.

She and Washijo agreed that she would start going to practices on Monday, at the beginning of the week, especially being that she wouldn't be able to go to the Friday practice, since her cast was being changed on Friday... Which would now be tomorrow. Ari had actually started telling herself that she probably imagined it all, she hadn't really just agreed to manage the team, she wasn't the manager. She was convincing herself it really was a dream, that is, until Mei flung herself into Ari's room, and began to squeal excitedly

"You're doing it! You're seriously standing up to the devil woman!"

"I'm doing it," Ari said in disbelief

"You're doing it!" Mei cheered

"Oh shit, I did that." Ari said, fear creeping into her tone.

"Well don't get cold feet now you wimpy breeze," Mei shoved Ari lightly and laughed, she was looking forward to having Ari back... The real Ari. Then Mei had a sudden revelation, and a look of terror washed over her face.

"Mei?"

"The Captain is gonna murder me... I just skipped two practices back to back- You can be the best man at my funeral, I want a viking ceremony, just set me adrift and fire the flaming arrow- ooh or maybe make me one of those unsolved murders."

"Mei, she probably won't kill you, it's more likely you'll just be running laps for the next six centuries."

"Not funny Arianna." Mei sulked.

"It's gonna be alright! Your captain shouldn't be too mad, it's not like you've been skipping practice a lot or anything."

What Ari said was meant to be comforting, but the look on Mei's face spoke for itself, "Why in the hell have you been skipping practice so much?"

"It's... I don't want to go to a practice where no one can keep up with me, I just want to play with you!"

"Mei..."

"So your little rebellious streak better keep going Arianna Soto! Because the next thing you're gonna do is play on the girl's team!" Mei was a master of subject changes, and Ari didn't want to upset her best friend, so for now she opted to drop the issue.

Playing... that sounded perfect. Ari looked at her alarm clock. They had to get moving.

"Let's get ready for class so you don't get a reputation for skipping practice and classes." Ari began to smile slightly, until Mei threw a pillow straight into her face. "Hey!!!"

"I gotta get ready!" Mei called over her shoulder as she moved to run to her room, Ari leaned forward, in an attempt to grab her, but ended up falling out of her bed, and Mei snorted in laughter as she evaded Ari.

"I hate you!"

"Love you too Ari!!" Mei shouted from her room.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It seemed that the day flew by, but Ari was still relieved that it was time for lunch. She scanned the lunchroom for Mei's unique dusty pink hair, and once she spotted it, she plopped down next to her best friend without any kind of thought to who else may be surrounding her.

"I'm so glad this stupid cast is getting swapped out tomorrow. Maybe I'll finally get cleared for a walking boot and be able to ditch these crutches."

"Well hi to you too, Soto." Ari turned her head, and next to her was the gray haired first year, Semi. Ari slowly scanned the rest of her immediate vicinity, realizing that Mei was sitting with all four of the first year volleyball boys.