Kiss Don't Tell

My butt felt numb from sitting on the school gym's wooden bleachers for almost an hour. The school marching band was playing so loud with excitement, blocking out the chatters of fellow students who were also at the gym. Involuntarily, my legs kept shaking on their own as I fiddle with the strap of my school sling bag while my eyes shifted their trace from the gym's entrance down to my wristwatch then back to the entrance. Where is he? I furiously asked myself inside my head. Today was the Inter High basketball game with our school, Newville High, against Cornwall High. I didn't want to come here but my close friend insisted on being here. Basketball was never my thing. I prefer online video games, or watching streamers play online video games, than watching some egotistical guys in jersey shorts sweating as they fight over some stupid ball to shoot on some stupid hoops to get some points. I was the one who was forced yet I was the one who first showed up. Oh, the irony. And to make matter worse, we've been here for a while and the game hasn't even started yet. The marching band had already been playing 3 sets of songs on a loop just to distract the crowd from too much waiting. "Oh my gosh!" I heard the girl sitting in front of me whisper something to the person sitting beside her, before pointing her finger to somewhere on the other side of the bleachers. I normally wouldn't care about whatever gossip they were having, but since I was getting impatient with my friend, my eyes involuntarily glanced at the spot she was pointing. As I realized who they were so giggly about, my eyes roll in annoyance. Of course, it would be him. Colby f*****g Brenner. The ice prince himself. A conceited creature who thinks highly of himself just because he's achieved so much over the past few years. Girls treat him like a gem. Boys think of him like someone only born to make their lives miserable. According to them, no one can be that smart and attractive at the same time. I bit my lower lip and tighten the clutch on the strap of my bag. I almost felt like heaving a subtle gasp of affection but luckily, I managed to keep it in. I couldn't help it. Seeing Colby brush his hand through his thick brown hair while he drinks from his bottle of water was sending me goosebumps and gave me weird feelings. Don't get me wrong. I'm not like these crazy fangirls giggling with each other in front of me. But I am a girl after all. Reacting this way when seeing such a beautiful creature is normal, but it doesn't mean I'd end up doodling his name and matching it up with my name on my notebook all the time. "Hey!" I felt a tap on the back of my shoulder. I was so focused on staring at Colby that I hadn't realized my friend was already sitting next to me. I guess the loud banging of drums, lyre, and trumpets from the marching band also made it harder to hear my friend coming. I glanced at him for a while, then took one last glimpse at Colby but unfortunately, he was no longer there. I tried to search for him, only to see him near the entrance talking to one of the teachers. The girls in front of me stood and then I realized they were just going to transfer seats. I heard one of them say they were going to sit where Colby initially was. "What did I miss?" my friend, Jack, asked as he settled himself on the bleacher. The music was still so festively that Jack had to lean in near my ear to say that to me. "Literally nothing," I whispered back, also leaning in. A couple more minutes later and the game still hasn't started. I checked my wristwatch only to see the time was already 3:00 in the afternoon. Jack showed me his new pulls from Genshin... well, he was more of flexing it, but I was feeling too impatient to even react. "Students, everyone, welcome to the 8th Annual Inter High Basketball," a loud microphone was heard. The sound from the band slowly disappeared and we see Principal Simmons walking towards the center of the gym with Newville High's mascot. As expected from Principal Simmons, he gave a little speech and then gave the floor to the announcer (I don't know what they call these folks but they're the ones narrating the game). Newville High basketball team was introduced and they entered the gym as egotistical as ever. Then the team from Cornwall appeared. They looked even more arrogant than the ones from our team. As soon as the game started, I noticed Colby went back to his spot on the bleacher. I also noticed the two girls from earlier already seated behind him. "Do you think we'll win this year?" Jack asked me as he clapped along with the crowd. I shrugged. "Don't we win every year?" I said nonchalantly. "Yeah but... you know... we can't be lucky every time, right?" I shrugged again. Right. But I didn't care so I don't know what or how to respond to this kind of situation that would be relevant to the topic. The game went on and on and I'm not going to lie, the way player number 14 made a buzzer-beating three-pointer shot in the last quarter game pushed me on the edge of my seat. Maybe it was that sense of pride that made me care about the game. And when our team won, Jack and I and the other crowds from Newville stood up, clapped our hands, and cheered. "That was nerve-wracking!" Jack exhaled as we exit the gym. "I thought we were going to lose. We were behind and then Dixon made that three-pointer shot and boom! VICTORY!" "Yeah, that was nice," I replied, trying to make my voice sound interested while Jack continued to enthusiastically reiterated the entire game. I kept my eye on my phone pretending to listen to Jack as we walked towards the school gate when all of a sudden somebody bumped into me. "Hey!" I scowled as my phone hit the ground. Jack quickly picked it up and showed me the cracked screen. "Sorry," the guy who bumped into me said, without bothering to stop or turn around. This pissed me off. "You broke my phone!" I scowled again. He stopped and it was at this moment I realized who it was. My mouth remained shut and I felt this sudden lump inside my throat when he turned around. "I said I'm sorry," he repeated. He walked back towards us and grabbed my phone. I saw Jack flinched. "It's just a cracked screen. You can still use this," he added after sighing and rolling his eyes. "Y-yeah. You're right. It's no big deal. Heh," Jack uttered. "Okay," Colby took out his wallet from his back pocket and pulled out some cash. My eyes widened in disbelief as he started counting it. "Here. This should be more than enough to buy you a new one," he arrogantly said, handing me the money. "Are you serious?" I rhetorically asked. "What do you want? I said sorry, you got mad. I gave you money, you're still mad," he said sounding annoyed. "I don't need this," I scorned, grabbing his hand and placing the money on his palm. "Have a good day." xx