chapter 37: No separation

Practice was hijacked today. The vice principal came into the gym, rolling an old box tv on a tall cart. He popped an old VHS into the attached VCR, as I questioned how only this dino tech was.

Then after an absurd amount of static, words popped up on the screen. The bold words were then read by a dry female narrator, and pixelated images began to roll.

"The effects of bullying."

That's when eyes started to turn to me. And it seemed as though I spent an hour holding my breath, as the video played and side eyes were given. 

They all know I'm the reason we are sitting here watching this and not practicing. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that I snitched.

Once the video was over, the vice principal just looked out to everyone saying, "I hope you all learned something." And rolled away with the old box tv.

I guess this was the principal's way of handling things. 

I don't think it will be effective though. Considering all the glares already hitting me.

Coach stood up now saying, "Z, go ahead and go next door. We'll be doing some suicides in here. One for every dirty look I saw during the video."

I ran out of there. Ready to escape before the complaints and evil eyes start up. We never even got the chance to put our court shoes on before the vice principal came. 

I ran through the cold and into the boys gym, where the boys were running drills and the coach stood talking with a man. A familiar man. I know I've seen him before. 

Who was he? And why is he talking to coach?

I casually walked over and stood behind them. They didn't seem to notice and I just slowly pulled my shoes out my bag to change them while listening in.

"Yeah, I'm happy I got to him first, other schools are already looking at him," said the man watching the court. No, not the court, he was watching Bokuto. That's it, this is the man Bokuto was talking to at the end of my game. He came to watch him practice. He must be really interested in him. And from the sound of it, so are other schools.

"I should be heading out," he man said, checking his watch.

"You should stick around," coach said, "I got one more I think you'd be interested in."

The man laughed, "Don't take this the wrong way, but the rest of your team seems pretty average."

The coach laughed, "Not a member of my team sadly, just give her some time."

"Her?" The man questioned, and suddenly I realized coach meant me.

He thinks I'm scout worthy?

Quickly I tired my court shoes and said, "What we working on coach?"

Startled he and the man turned around.

"Z, when'd you get in here?" Coach asked but went on saying, "Never mind that, get on the court." He shouted to everyone now saying, "Alright, set up a practice game. Z you're on team B today."

"Yes coach," I called out, running onto the court. 

"And Z, Bokuto."

"Yes coach?" We both called out, now standing on opposite ends of the net. I tried not to see him smiling down at me and just looked at coach. Who must be out of his mind for putting me up against Bokuto. If you want to show me off, this is not the way to do it. 

He smiled to us saying, "Don't hold back."

"Yes coach," I said again.

But Bokuto stayed grinning down at me saying more to me than him, "Wouldn't dream of it."

The man beside coach laughed, "You're putting a girl up against your number 4?"

"Yes I am," was all he said, and the game began.

Their sever, "It's over," I called out. Team B is not very vocal, so I have to step up.

The thing is though, coach put together a good team. One that can survive with or without Bokuto, so team B gets the ball to me, and already, the blockers are on me. Great. I wish I could navigate in the air like Bokuto. But, I have my own skills too, and a few of his tricks.

I went for it, swinging as if I were shooting for the back wall, only to stop at the moment of contact, just to tip the ball right over the block.

Bokuto’s secret moved, used right in his face.

His smile dropped now, but mine grew teasing, "Don't go all dark owl already."

Now his smirk came back as he warned, "Last point Baby Bird."

Akaashi on the other hand did not agree with this, "The likelihood of stopping them completely is-"

"Just go with it," Bokuto groaned. The ball got rolled to us and the game went on. Point after point, back and forth.

We stayed pretty close. I've been snuffed out a few times, but Bokuto kept getting past me, but not this time.

"Tighten up," I said to my left side. He moved in closer and together we jumped. Or at least we were supposed to jump together. He was early, the dang on giant freshman was early. So it was up to me. I jumped, taking all of Kuroo's tips. Blocking his hitting hand, arms just right, finger stretched and strong.

I got him. I can't tell by the look on his face, I had him.

"Shit," Bokuto muttered, still swinging at the ball.

It bounced off my hands and Bokuto backed up said, "Let's try that again."

And Akaashi set him up again, and I was ready, solo again. He jumped, I jumped. He swung and this time, I aimed my arms downward, giving the ball nowhere to go.

It bounced off my hands, stinging a bit. He really put the heat on that one. But I got him, the ball went down right beside him. He attempted to pop it up with his leg as he went back to the ground, but he was unsuccessful in getting it high enough for anyone to get to it.

The ball fell. And Bokuto stomped his foot and cried out, "Baby Bird!"

"Got cha," I smiled. I would love to do it again but I'm my serve.

And this is where I mess it up. Too much power, not enough focus. The ball went flying to the wall. Clear across the court.

"Ooo, my bad," I apologized to my team. 

But they just said, "You're good.""Shake it off.""You'll get it next time."But before our game could go on, the man on the side called out, "Okay, I think I've seen enough. Girl, what's your name?"

"Zara Mac," I called back.

"Where you from?"

"Ohio," I said, trying to sound as American as possible so no one thought I was saying good morning. 

He smiled, "Fellow mid-wester. Michigan."

"Play you some corn hole later?" I laughed in English, not even knowing how to translate corn hole into Japanese, without it seeming like a literal hole in a piece of corn. 

He laughed now saying, "I'll take you up on that when you visit my campus. What's your number Mac?"

"Four," I answered.

The man laughed again saying, “Must be the magic number around here. Well, number fours. Be looking out for a call from UNC.”

“UNC?” I questioned, “University of North Carolina?”

“That’s the one.”

“With the best volleyball program in the states?”

“Yep,” The man said proudly, as he made his way out, “I’ll be calling the female coach tonight. Telling her all about you, the girl strong enough to block the bullet.”

“The bullet?” Bokuto asked, looking to me as the man left. 

Coach smiled now, saying, “Alright. I think that’s a good note to end practice on. Go home and eat a good meal.”

“Yes coach,” we all said. “Bokuto, lock up,”  "Yes coach. Alright. Let's get this place cleaned up!" He called out, already pulling the padding off the net pole. 

I went over to the pole to help him. I began untying the net as he reached for the top to unhook it.

"Sooooo," I started, "UNC?"

A smile spread to his face, "Maybe… Maybe for you too?"

"Maybe," I shrugged. I hadn't even begun thinking about college. Just trying to survive the year. Aunt Bri said she'd pay for me to go anywhere. Anywhere in the world. But the world feels so big. It's hard to narrow that down. 

The net dropped and he lifted the pole from the floor saying, “Well I hope you weren’t planning on getting rid of me once we’re in college.”

“Only had me for a week and already worried about losing me?”

He cracked a smile, “You’re right, after I win nationals there’s no way you’ll want to leave me.”

“Let’s not worry about that now. What do you wanna do when we get home?” 

“Probably go to your place, Mrs. Ito is cooking tonight. My mom is working late. Though…” He paused before smirking, “My mom isn’t home so we could probably have some fun.”

"So to the Ito house," I laughed following him to the closet as he carried the pole.

With a laugh he said, "Seems like it. But I'ma grab a shower first."

He set the pole down in the closet and handed a dust mop over to one of the underclassmen, non-verbally telling him he's on sweeping duty tonight. And night it was. The sun was starting to leave us too soon now that fall is settling in. And these nighttime rides home are starting to chill more deeply. A hot shower would be nice to combat the chill.

"Hey Bokuto," Akaashi called out stepping to the door of the closet. Though he stopped suddenly, flinching slightly and turned to the wood floors, "Sorry." He started to turn away.

Bokuto barked, "We're not doing anything!"

"Sure, I believe that after last time I walked in on you two in a closet."

"Go home Akaashi," Bokuto now pouted.

"Great," Akaashi said before turning out to the gym, "Captain said we can go home!"

He walked away with Bokuto grumbling behind him, "Gym better be clean too."

Which it was. So everyone left, us two being the last as usual. Bokuto locked up and we took our ride home. The chill wind turning to ice on my knuckles. Note to self, ask Aunt Bri to buy me some gloves. 

We once home Bokuto put the bikes away and kissed me gently saying, "See you in a sec."

I nodded and hurried inside. "Hey Mrs. Ito, Mr. Ito."

"No Bokuto? I thought he was coming for dinner?" Mrs. Ito said with a sad look on her face.

"He's just taking a shower. I'm about to take one too."

I went to my room and grabbed a pair of legging, sport bra that wasn't damp with sweat, and a hoodie. I left my bedroom open and went into the bathroom, closing that door behind me. I cut the hot water on first. Letting it warm up as I removed my clothes. 

The hot water stung as it hit my chilled skin, but it melted into a soothing warmth that shot through my whole body. 

I stood there, enjoying the hot water and forgetting to bathe. But I know I have already been in here for a while, so I quickly rubbed soap on my body with a load. Rinsed off and got out of the shower. I put lotion on before tugging on my leggings and hoodie. 

The bathroom was still steaming when I opened the door and went to my room. Where Bokuto was already plopped down in his big bag chair on his phone. "You took forever, Baby Bird." He groaned.

"The water felt good," I admitted.

"Mrs. Ito said dinner will be in like an hour."

"So… wanna play the game until then?" I sat in my chair beside him but kept my distance. I should be more cautious of my word choice. Last time I asked him to play, we ending up all over each other in a supply closet.

The smirk on his face told me he was thinking of that moment too, but instead he said, "What game?"

"Whatever you want," I shrugged, now getting up. To grab my TV remote and the two ps5 remotes uncle Kaoru got, I tossed the remote on his lap saying, "Your choice," as the TV loaded.

He looked at the remote on his lap, like he was afraid to touch it. "Is this a-"

Then the sound came from the TV and he looked up, "You have a ps5?!"

"Yeah," I laughed, "Well I didn't until you told me what happened with your dad. So I asked for Uncle Kaoru's old system. And of course he just went out and bought the newest system brand new."

"So he got this for me?" Bokuto asked, seeming stunned, "Did you-"

"I didn't tell him about your dad," I assured him, "I told him it had gotten stolen though, so this stays here. But when you run off to North Carolina, feel free to take it with you."

"If I go you're coming with me," he smiled, finally clicking a button on the controller. 

We ended playing some racing game that took me a few tries to get the hang of, but once I did.

"You're not gonna catch me," Bokuto laughed in confidence, he's won every round but each round I've gotten closer and closer to him.

"I'm on your tail."

"Yeah, if my tail was a mile long."

He's exaggerating, but not by much. He's in my sight. But unless something major happens, I'm losing this round. 

"Dinner's ready," Mrs. Ito shouted from the kitchen. 

"Coming," Bokuto called back. He was close to finishing this last lap, total victory. I had to do something. 

I reached over, attempting to smack the controller out of his hand.

"Baby Bird," he laughed now, simply standing up to get out of my reach, eyes still on the screen, "You're not winning this."

I stood up too saying, "It's not over yet."

"Oh look, the finish line."

"If you beat me I'm not going to college with you," I spat out hopelessly, trying anything at this point and I guess anything worked.

He stood up, set the controller on the dresser and walked out the door calling out, "What's for dinner?"

He didn't cross the finish line. He just stayed there letting me pass him. I guess there are more important things than winning. 

I crossed the finish line, for the first time coming in first and set my controller beside his on the dresser, letting the computers work their way around Bokuto’s car. 

I left my room, going straight to the table where Bokuto already sat and where my plate was already placed.

"Thank you for the food," I nodded, before digging in.

"How was practice today?" She asked us.

"Great, Baby Bird might go to the same college as me in America!" 

"Well wouldn’t that be fun," she smiled, "Alright you two enjoy your dinner." She went and sat beside her husband with her own plate. 

"How long are you planning on not telling her?" I asked Bokuto. 

He seemed to almost choke on his food, "I forgot she didn't know."

"Does your mom know?"

"Forgot to tell her too."

"Bokuto! So the only people who know are my family?"

Hw shrugged saying, "Not like it makes a difference. Mrs. Ito loves me and my mom loves you."

"What if I'm just, cute neighbor girl worthy and not, date my only son worthy?" I questioned as I finished off my meal. 

"I doubt that's the case," he laughed taking my plate to the sink, "I still got some time, you don't you put on a movie?"

"Tired of losing to me," I bragged in a lie. 

"I beat you way more than you beat me, and you’re going to NCU with me so, I think I get the win here," he smiled before he said, "Now go pick a movie, I'll wash these for Mrs. Ito."

"Fine," I said as I stood to go to my bedroom. 

I grabbed the controller from my dresser and flopped down on my bed cutting on the TV. I opened to Netflix, closed my eyes and clicker around. Ups and downs, left to right until after a few moments I clicked okay and a movie started to play.

Bokuto walked into my room and flicked off the lights. "What's going on in there," the rare voice of Mr. Ito sounded.

"We're watching a movie, Mr. Ito," Bokuto said, looking back into the living room of this small one story house.

"Oh okay," he grumbled, allowing Bokuto to enter my dark room.

He climbed onto my bed, moving in close to me asking, "So what we watching?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly.

"What do you mean, you don't know," he asked.

I snuggled in closer to Bokuto, lifting his arm and placing it around me. "I closed my eyes and picked."

Bokuto took a deep breath, settled into to pillows with my head on his chest and pouted, "It better be good."

It started off good. A little gross, but good. Until people started turning into food.

"No," Bokuto cried out, "he won't." Then when the old man pulled out his knife, Bokuto started backing into the pillows. He hid his face in my hair saying, "Oh no," as the old man cut into flesh. 

I was grossed out as well, but couldn't help but laugh at Bokuto's reaction. But we made it to the end of the movie, with Bokuto holding me tight, still freaked out from watching people eat people.

"Hey Bokuto," I laughed, "if you're stuck in a room with me for a month, promise you won't eat me."

"If we're alone in that room, I can't make any promises." He smirked as he said it, in a way that took me a while to understand what he meant. 

I shook my head laughing as I realized he was not talking about cannibalism. 

"Bad Birdy," I muttered under my breath. 

"Yep," he chuckled as he tilted my head up to him, bringing my lips to his in the dark room, lit only by the TV glow and the lamp light that seeped in from the open door. 

The open door was easy to forget as he began to move closer, pushing me back on my bed, his body on top of mine now as our lips moved together. 

It's official, Bad Birdy is a trigger word for him. And it's official, he overpowers all of my will power and logical sense. He seems dangerous in that way. He makes me fear that nothing will separate us. But just as his hand touched the bare skin of my waist, beneath my hoodie, something came that could separate us.

The gasp of an old lady. "Oh my," she gasped causing Bokuto to jump off of me sitting back on his knees and causing me to scooch back to until I almost fell off the bed. 

"Mrs. Ito," I gasped, almost slipping to the floor in the dark room.

She looked away, with blush of embarrassment on her face, "Your mother called Bokuto. Home in 10 minutes okay?"

He gave a thumbs up saying, "Okay."

And with that, Mrs. Ito closed the door, leaving us alone in the TV glowing darkness.

I watched the closed door, as though i expected something else. But nothing and after a few seconds of nothing, I laughed. And Bokuto laughed. 

I looked up to him on the opposite side of my bed, his eyes seeming to glow as he chuckled, "She's probably calling my mom right now."

"As long as she's not calling my mom," I laughed, "I'd be a goner for sure."

"She'd talk to your aunt before calling your mom, her English isn't that great," he said as he moved closer to me. 

As he came in closer, I put my arm out, pushing him back, "No, I looked to the door, "She just-"

"She closed the door Baby Bird, I think that's a go ahead," he laughed, pushing my hand down and closing the gap between us. 

Once his lips hit mine, he seemed to have full control of me. He pulled me to him until I was on his lap, my knees on either side of him as he still pulled closer as if I could be any closer. 

Still he tried as his finger, brushed the small of my back, tickling the rarely touched skin causing my hips to shift as I sat on top of him. Causing Bokuto to groan, "Fuck," with his lips only moving an inch from mine.

"What?" I asked, backing up some, fearing that I've done something wrong.

"Nothing," he breathed, pushing himself onto me until I was on my back on the bed, legs wrapped around his waist as my fingers tangled in his soft hair. 

My body felt hot all over, I wanted to pull this hoodie off  but didn't want to pull away long enough to do it. I have less than 10 minutes with him left. 

And right when I thought nothing was pulling me from him until then. I felt something push against me, hard pressure pushing at the space between my legs. I planned to ignore it, Bokuto seemed to but then the pressure sent a shock up my spine, causing me to push back wiggling from under him."What was that?" I asked, stupidity. I know what that wasn't. 

"Sorry," he said, still smirking as he adjusted the front of his sweatpants, "Was trying to hold that back."

"You failed," I chuckled, trying join im on the lightness he brings to everything.

"Well I think I know that Baby Bird," he laughed. We both laughed, but his voice turned more serious as he asked, "Is it a problem?"

"No," I answered, because it shouldn't be. Right? His body's just responding, it's not like he's trying to use it right now. 

"Good," he said bring his lips back to mine. Soft and gentle this time. With an easy break when Mrs. Ito came knocking on the door, "Bokuto, time to go home."

"Coming," he called out, but regretted it the moment he did. 

His head dropped, as Mrs. Ito gasped loudly from outside the door, "Oh my!"

With a grunt he stood up walking to the door, he opened it looking down at Mrs. Ito saying, "Not like that. Mrs. Ito, we kissed, that's all."

"That better be all boy," Mr. Ito voice called out.

I hid my burning face in one of my pillows. "Of course Mr. Ito," Bokuto laughed, "Goodnight everyone. Goodnight Baby Bird."

"Goodnight," I waved with my face still in the pillow.

I heard him leave the house and the moment the door was closed Mrs. Ito asked, "So, is he your boyfriend now? My old heart can't handle all this swinging mess."

"Swinging?" My head popped up, "Oh my cheese and crackers, yes Mrs. Ito, Bokuto and I are dating. Is that okay?"

"That’s fine dear," she said waving her hand, "He's a good boy. Just make sure he stays that way."

"Don't think you'll have to worry about that," I mumbled. Because I'm pretty sure Bokuto is the one tainting me.

(A/N) Sorry, I've been participating in Nanowrimo, natural novel writing month, and I've been working heavily on my novel. But I got this chapter to you now. 😁