After lunch, I returned to classes with Shunsuke. I didn't have the last period with him, but that was ok. I didn't much appreciate the teasing I knew would ensue because of the whole jealousy topic at lunch, which I wasn't. I was not jealous of him.
Why would I be? I was a Hollow. He was a human. That didn't give us much of a future even if I wanted it, which I didn't. I hardly had known him, so why would anyone even think about such things? I mean, sure, I didn't have many friends and maybe I was just grasping onto someone who was going to have to learn to like me, but what did I know?
Sighing, I looked down to my notebook, which was covered with angry scribbles. I hadn't copied down a single thing the teacher had said. Groaning to myself, I dropped my head onto the desk, receiving a few quizzical stares from my fellow peers.
As the bell rang, I gathered up my things and headed to the front of the school building, where I would meet up with Shunsuke. Hideki came up to me as I exited the room. "I saw that you looked a little lost in thought. Did you get the notes, or do you need mine?" he asked.
How thoughtful, I thought. I smiled up at him, "If I could get them from you tomorrow morning before class, that would be nice," I answered, shoving my notebook in my locker.
"That would be fine. I'll see ya later then," he said, and with a wave of his hand, he disappeared into the sea of students moving to exit the school.
I mingled with the sea of kids and made my way outside where I found Shunsuke waiting beneath a tree. He was leaning up against the tree impatiently, his arms crossed over his chest. No wonder all the girls liked him.
"Sorry," I told him. "For making you wait."
"Hope you don't mind, but I have to stay for soccer practice" he said running a hand through his hair. He looked as though he was afraid I was going to say no. Or, maybe he didn't want me to follow him there in case I embarrassed him in front of his friends.
I shrugged. "I don't care what you do."
"Alright thanks" he said headed to the locker rooms to change, waving a hand over his shoulder before disappearing back inside the school. Hideki showed up and walked with him. He was probably in the soccer team as well.
I needed to stay and watch over him. Not like I could really leave the premises with all the demons out for him as well as myself. I was slightly curious what soccer was, so I went and jumped into the nearest tree and moved to the roof, and saw a bunch of kids on the grass kicking around a ball. There was girls on one side and boys on the other. So, they didn't play together.
I dropped down onto the ground and stayed under a tree, where I watched them curiously. I picked up on the rules rather quickly. It was similar to a game played back in the Shadow World. I saw that Hideki and Shunsuke had emerged from the locker rooms and were kicking around the ball on the boys' side.
After about an hour of watching, one of the girls kicked the ball and shanked it in my direction, where I jumped up and kicked it back. They all kind of just stopped and stared at me. I stood up straight, running a hand through my hair. What had I done wrong?
One girl, who was nearest to me, came up to me, "You're that new girl, right?" she asked.
I nodded, "Ya, I'm Kayden."
"Have you played soccer before?" she asked me.
I was about to say the name of the game from back home, but I remembered Shunsuke had told me I had to act human. "Something like that," I answered. I wasn't lying.
"Do you want to try out for our team?" she asked me. "One of our plays injured herself last week. And we've been in need of a substitute."
I glanced over at Shunsuke, who was on a water break. He was watching me curiously. I could show off to him that I was good at sports. I turned back to the girl. "Sure. Sounds like fun." This way, I could do sports, something I liked, while I watched over Shunsuke.
"Great, come on," she beamed up at me as she grabbed my arm and pulled me after her. She introduced herself as Briana. She introduced me to the rest of the team before telling me to take up position as a Striker, as she called it.
I wasn't really sure what to do, so I just went after the ball. Apparently, it was what I was supposed to do because no one said anything as I stole the ball away from some girl and went in, kicking the ball in the air in front of me before I jumped up and kicked it into the goal net.
I turned around where Briana stuck her hand out. I frowned, not sure what she was doing. She frowned at me. "High five?" she said timidly, slowly lowering her hand. When I looked at her curiously, she dropped her hand, and patted me on the shoulder. "Good moves."
The other girls came up and said the same thing, welcoming me to the team. They decided to make me do drills, but I wasn't so good at controlling the ball and when they made me practice kicking the goals, the girls were trying to stop me anyway they could, which ended up with me being bruised around the shins. It didn't help that I was wearing any padding or the right clothes.
After practice, I was sore and in need of a shower. I met up with Shunsuke, who was carrying his duffel bag around his shoulder. "So, you're a soccer player now?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Apparently so."
