Chapter 10 - An Invitation

Emily always had this way of capturing the attention of her students. Whether they liked her or not, they couldn't help but listen attentively to the discussions being presented. Today was like any other day: She was currently doing an overview of what the class had learnt the previous week before jumping straight into the main discussion of the day.

But during the explanation, she was suddenly cut off by a series of knocks on the door.

"Come in" she answered

As the door opened

On cue, three people entered the room greeting the students before turning to the teacher. "Good afternoon. Sorry for interrupting your class today Miss Chloe"

Emily watched as the three figures entered her classroom. If she recalls correctly, they each came from different departments. The one who just spoke, Mr Castile is from the maths department and the two people behind him, Ms Brown and Mr Line both come from the english and biology department respectively.

She waved her hands in dismiss and replied. "It's not an issue. What do the three of you need?" She asked.

Mr Castile took a deep breath and stepped forward to answer. "I'll cut straight to the point"

"On Friday, the school alongside Samsara high school will be hosting an event for its anniversary.

And during the festival, we usually have a volleyball match between teachers and another one between students

But due to various circumstances, 2 of our colleagues had to drop out, so-"

"You would like me to participate?" Emily cut her off.

"Yeah" he replied

It has been a while since she last touched a volleyball, let alone played it. The last time being during her final year in highschool in a tournament where their school won. So it's easy to say that she is fairly rusty.

"And who were you planning to be the second replacement?" She asked

Ms Brown stepped forward and answered. "To be frank, we've asked every free teacher and nobody is able to join us. So we were thinking of asking if anyone had a friend that would like to participate."

"Hmm…" the three teachers and students stared at Emily as she thought it through, though they weren't expecting a positive response "What positions are available?"

"Huh?" Ms Brown instinctively replied, not expecting such a question. If she were asking, this means that she was considering the offer.

"What positions are available?" She repeated

"Oh… Well, we need a setter and middle blocker" she replied

"I see…" she took a moment to consider her decision before replying "I'll participate"

A mixture of shock and relief washed over the teachers faces as Mr Castile asked: "Wait, really?"

"Hnn~" Emily confirmed. "I'll also ask a friend of mine to join so you needn't worry about finding an additional player."

The teachers and some of the students all looked at Emily with their mouths wide open. It was unusual for her to join such a competition but in addition, invite a friend?

"Is there an issue?"

"N- No." Castile stuttered. He took a deep breath and composed himself before once again, replying "Thank you very much Ms Chloe."

"It's not an issue. What time is the competition?" She asked as she removed her phone from her pocket. She opened the calendar app, and waited for someone to reply

"It's at 9 AM."

"Thank you."

Emily thanked them for coming and waved them goodbye as the three teachers left the room. She then continued on with her class as if nothing had happened.

=== [A couple hours Later] ===

Closing her laptop, Emily took in a large breath of fresh air. It was well past her normal working hours, demonstrated by the lack of teachers in the department. Unfortunately, she failed to account for Friday's event whilst scheduling her plan for the month. But thankfully, it only slightly disturbed her overall schedule.

So that is what she had spent about thirty minutes doing before moving on and working on the questions she would be giving out. It took more time than expected but she had finished her job. She picked her laptop up and gently placed it into her bag to avoid scratching it.

Closing the door behind her, she exited the room and walked leisurely down the stairs. She removed her earphones from her pockets and put on a random song as she made her way to the Cafe.

Arriving at said Cafe, she was greeted by Anna who gave her a slight wave whilst handling a customer. It seemed that neither Michael nor Nathan would be joining them today. As she walked through, she was enveloped with the scent of coffee and warm air that contrasted the colder one from outside.

It seemed that today was a busy day for Anna. When she first opened, she would rarely get any customers. She would consider herself lucky if she got into the double digits but now, the cafe is now filled with customers. Emily couldn't help but feel a sense of pride due to Anna's accomplishments.

Once Anna finished talking with her customer, she beckoned Emily over for a seat next to the counter. She complied. "Look who's late." Anna said with a shit-eating grin

"Oh shut up." She replied with a smile

"So… how have you been?" Anna asked with a cheery smile on her face. Taking a better look at her, she was wearing a yellow shirt with a chibi drawing of a character from what looked like Genshin Impact. She was also wearing a black mini-skirt that had been fastened with an off-white belt. (You'll have to imagine this as I have no clue how to draw.)

"I've been alright. Guessing by your mood, today must be going swimmingly, huh?" Emily replied.

"Hehe… You wouldn't be able to guess it…"

They soon started conversing about the random things that happened throughout their day. Talking about stuff they saw in the news or the upcoming (Not really) holidays. It was easy to get lost and lose track of time only to be reminded by the setting sun. Luckily, she had completed all her work at the school so she wasn't particularly worried.

"Oh yeah. I'm thinking about joining you guys for volleyballs" Emily randomly stated.

"Wait, really?" Her eyes lit up as she looked at Emily for confirmation. The last time the two of them had played volleyball together was during their final year in highschool. But that excitement was quickly cut short when Emily uttered "But only one one condition,"

"You bitch" Anna muttered low enough for Emily to hear but no-one else.Emily returned the shit-eating grin that Anna gave her earlier. "What's your condition?"

Emily explained what she was told earlier by Mr Castile, and invited Anna to play with her.

"So, if I'm getting this correctly, you want me to play volleyball with you so you can play volleyball with us?"

"Yeah, pretty much. So are you coming?"

"Fuck yeah I am"