Chapter 11 - Introductions

[Author Note: Hey. I will no longer be following a schedule and will instead be posting whenever I'm done with a chapter. So expect pretty spontaneous updates. There are only 2-3 chapters remaining anyways so yeah. Anyways, Hope you enjoy <3. Leave a comment if you did!]

Emily leaned her back onto the Cafe's window as waited for her friend to finish preparing. She scrolled through her YouTube feed while occasionally bobbing her head along to whatever music she was listening to.

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long as Anna finally emerged through the door. Taking a good look at her, she was wearing a somewhat short-blue skirt with a one-shoulder white top. Seeing her like this, Emily felt a warm feeling through her chest that she quickly pushed down "Yo!"

"Looking good." Emily complimented.

A pale-pink blush spread through Anna's face as she flustered her words out. "Th- Same could be said to you."

Emily was wearing her normal black gym leggings which had a white strip on both sides. She also wore a plain-white shirt alongside it. "Thanks."

Noticing the lack of sportswear Anna had on, Emily asked "So you're changing there?"

"Yup," she replied with a pop.

The teachers, fortunately, had a place to change their clothes so Emily simply shrugged her shoulders and replied "Aight." before the both of them started walking to Silver Creek. It was still quite early in the morning so they both came to an unspoken agreement to walk at a leisurely pace.

"Watchu listening too?" Anna asked as she caught sight of the earbuds poking out of Emily's ears.

Emily removed her left earbud and passed it along to Anna "Wanna listen?" She asked

"Duh~" She said as she snatched the earbuds from her friend's hand and plopped them into her ears. "OOoo. Is that Conan?"

"Yeah. I'm just listening through my playlist." Emily replied

"You should definitely send it to me later" Anna suggested.

They both made their way to the school talking to each other as so. Arriving at their destination, Emily took a look at her watch and realised that she had arrived quite early. About 30 minutes earlier than the suggested time. There were already a handful of students walking through the corridors and pitch.

"Follow me." Emily ordered.

"I've been doing that for like the past 20 minutes," Anna replied jokingly.

"You'll be doing that for a couple more minutes."

Emily first went to put her attendance in the office where she was stared at awkwardly by some of the students. The educators weren't much better as they couldn't believe their eyes. "So, does she have permission?"

"Ye-Yeah. Umm could you please put your signature here?" The discipline master replied.

"Sure" Anna replied and quickly put her signature down.

"Thank you" He replied back

"Thank you to you-" Anna added before turning to Emily who was to her right. "Anyways where to next?"

"We should probably head to the gymnasium"

"Then, lead the way."

Leading her to the gymnasium, there were a couple of teachers organising the event. Thankfully, Emily hadn't been asked to help. Looking around, she spotted two of the three teachers that had come and visited her earlier this week. She made her way towards them.

They had noticed her and waved slightly before noticing that she was already going to them. They then noticed the slightly shorter girl next to her and were slightly surprised. This was not someone they expected Emily to be friends with, though to be honest, they didn't know what to expect.

"Good morning Miss Chloe." Mr Castile stepped forward and greeted her.

"Good morning. " Emily replied.

Anna stepped forward and gave her hand out for a handshake. "Good morning. My name is Anna Lucia" She said with a cheery voice.

The 2 teachers present were taken aback but Castile quickly recomposed himself and shook her hands. "I'm Castile."

"So, I'll be joining you guys in volleyball today?"

"Yeah."

Ms Brown also joined in the conversation while Emily slowly phased out of it as she felt out of her depth. Anna was always more extroverted than she ever was. And it was quite obvious with how they were at school. Whilst Anna had a bunch of friends and was amicable with most of her class, Emily talked to more teachers than she had with students.

So it was to no one's surprise that she managed to go into a full-blown conversation with the people she had just met. But Emily had to cut it short as she noticed the lack of another player. "Where is Mr Line?" she asked

"He must be running late" Castile replied. He removed his phone from his pockets and said "I'll give him a call. You guys should go get dressed as the other team will be arriving in a few."

Anna and Miss Brown both nodded in agreement. "Alright. where's the changing room?" Anna asked

"I'll take you there" Brown responded. Although she would've been more comfortable with Emily, Anna realised that she didn't have to change so she took the up offer. "Sure. Oh- yeah. Here is your earbud." She said as she threw the earbud back at Emily.

She easily caught it and both Anna and Miss Brown made their way to the changing room

Realising that she was currently alone, Emily placed the earpiece into her ears and continued listening to the song while rhythmically tapping her fingers on her thigh, like she were playing the piano.

=== [Funky perspective change woohoo] ===

Anna and Brown walked to the changing room together. An awkward silence permeated through the air, probably due to the lack of knowledge between each other. Anna decided that the silence was unbearable so she decided to start a conversation. But it seems that Brown too had the same Idea

"S-"

"I-"

"Sorry, go ahead." Brown was the first to apologise but was quickly followed by Anna. "No no. You should go ahead."

"Alright…. How long have you and Miss Chloe been friends?"

"Oh?" she blurted confused. Clearly not expected such a question. But she quickly corrected herself and replied. "We've been friends since high school"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Though we did lose contact until recently"

"Oh?"

"How is she at work?" Anna asked curiously.

"I don't work in the same department as her…" Brown took a small breath before continuing "But from what I've heard, she's very… untalkative."

"Hmm?" she probed her to continue

"Like, she's very apprehensive about revealing personal stuff. I don't think anyone even knew she had a friend." Anna let out a small chuckle as she replied

"That seems like her." The two of them continued talking to each other as they made their way towards the changing room.

Meanwhile, Emily was still next to the benches all alone. Since she was bored, she decided to pick up a volleyball and try practicing a bit. Holding it with her palms, a wave of memories passed through as she recalled the matches she would have in high school

She threw the ball into the air using the tips of her fingers and hit it towards the wall… only, she didnt hit it properly so the ball went towards the right instead of straight on. Seems like she'll have to relearn how to play volleyball