Dear Frenemy | BrightWin | 2gether AU

19 - A New Player

Wat's POV

"We're big fans of yours. Please accept this on behalf of our group" said a girl shyly, holding out a gift bag full of chocolates.

Tine shook his head.

"We can't accept this, but thank you for your support" he said graciously, with a smile.

The girl blushed prettily and ran back to her friends. They crowded around her and they all threw backward glances at us, giggling.

I sighed.

This was more than a month after the Campus Beats fiasco.

Following the release of our rebuttal video, the wasps had started an online campaign in our support, demanding that the Campus Beats video be taken down.

The campaign spread to neighbouring colleges and universities across the country.

It made both our videos go viral.

There was a fierce debate online over creative freedom and artistic license versus invasion of privacy and misrepresentation of facts.

Social media buzzed with activity. Wasps and Campus Beats fans clashed.

All it served to do was to increase Campus Beats' viewership. They thrived on the controversy and milked it fully.

Producer Air released a short Insta story with a half-hearted, non-apologetic "if I hurt any sentiments" video.

She probably got a raise for kicking up a storm.

And Tine and I now had a fan following we didn't want. Everywhere we went, we were recognized and people came to talk to us.

We never got any peace. I hadn't been out on a date with Tine for weeks.

And I missed being able to touch him whenever I wanted to.

Tine looked at my expression.

"It will all blow over soon, don't worry. It's just a matter of time" said Tine, soothingly.

I nodded miserably.

We were at our first championship game.

We had just defeated our opponents in the qualifier. Our next game was two days later.

"Teepakorn, Guntithanon, you played well today. Keep the momentum going. Stay focussed and let's take it one game at a time" said Bright, patting my shoulder.

Tine and I nodded.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my good friend Bright. Tell me, how does it feel to be second-best? I don't know since I've never experienced it" spoke someone in a deep, drawling voice.

"I hope you've taken plenty of pictures with the trophy because you're not taking it back this year" said Bright, rounding on the new guy.

We turned to look at him.

I recognized him from the videos that Bright had made us watch of last year's games. He was a fantastic player.

"Teepakorn, you were good on the court today. I like your style" said Earth, the captain of the Westend Institute of Engineering.

It was a college known for its strong sports program and their intake was based more on extra-curriculars than academics.

They were also known to be troublemakers on and off the court. They played rough.

And I didn't like the way he was looking at my Tine.

"Thank you. I look forward to beating you" smirked Tine.