Chapter 4 - The past

Emily woke up early. Well, she usually does wake up early but today she woke up earlier than usual. Opening her closet, she removed a pair of old dumbbells that hasn't been used for a while. Dusting it off, it read "2.5 Kilos". She then opened YouTube and started searching for basic exercises to do. Once she found a satisfactory video, Emily started doing exactly what the video told her to do.

In high school, Emily was often found working out or if not, she was either in the library studying. She, as you would guess, wasn't the talkative type. Emily barely had any friends as no one tried to speak to her and vice-versa. But one day, during PE, the pupils decided to have a volleyball match and Emily started in the match. Of course, nobody expected much from the resident nerd even if she were paired with one of the best volleyball players in the school, Anna Lucia. But due to her long stature, Emily was picked as a middle blocker. Emily was the first one to serve during the friendly match against the other team and she started the match with a powerful jump serve. Being paired with Anna made the team unstoppable and they won the match. From there, the friendship between the two of them grew and they became an unstoppable duo.

Emily remembered the past with a smile as she continued her training. After an hour, she set them down and stretched for 10 minutes before taking a cold shower. Afterwards, she prepared for school and went on her way.

=== [We all hate school so I'm not gonna bore you with the multiple lectures that happened throughout Emily's day. (If you love school, I hate you <3.)] ===

The day quickly passed by as Emily went through her classes. It was as if nothing had happened. Like any other day, she went to the physics department, greeted the other teachers and started planning the class for tomorrow.

By the time she finished, there was no one in the department. Out of habit, she pulled out her phone and tried calling Alan only to realise that she didn't have that privilege anymore.

Pausing herself for a moment, she took a deep breath and calmed down. She placed her phone back into her pocket and headed out.

===[]===

Anna woke up at her regular time, went out for a jog and ate some cereal as breakfast. This had been her regular routine for the last 6 years but with the exception of her not being a police officer anymore and now owning her own cafe.

It was already 10 o'clock and it was around this time that her little coffee shop was open. She turned the sign to allow customers in and manned the desk as she was the only employee of the establishment. When she was younger, she always dreamt of opening up a shop. It didn't matter what shop it was, but she always wanted to make her own business.

She joined the police force early on as, after high school, her parents had practically abandoned her. They provided her with food and the basic necessities while she grew up but never gave her any love. But even with a loveless home, she managed to get a lot of friends in school due to her outgoing and cheery personality.

At home though, it was a different story. She would hardly talk and would always run away to a shady broken-down studio and sleep there instead. It was there that she learnt how to play the drums and trumpet as those were the only instruments that weren't broken.

Having to run away from home every day and climb the fencing surrounding the studio had made her quite strong and that was the reason she was good at volleyball. It was also a way of taking out her anger without hurting anyone. One day, during PE class, she had been paired up with one of her few classmates that wouldn't talk to her. The girl was always silent in class, never one to draw attention to herself unless it was about the scores. That girl was a genius. She would frequently take one of the highest marks in the school with her ranking around the top 3.

Anna wasn't a dumb as she did pass all her papers but that was low in comparison to her. Assuming that Emily was a huge nerd, she was a bit disappointed that she had been grouped in a team with her. She wasn't expecting much of a performance from the young girl.

"Good luck" Anna smiled at the teammate serving. Emily only gave a slight nod backwards.

In an unfortunate turn of event, Emily had been the first one to serve and she knew that the first serve usually set the morale for the team. (Safe to say, Anna took volleyball very seriously.)

But she was stunned as Emily lept into a gorgeous form and smacked the ball as hard as she could onto the other side of the court. It was, as she had put it-

"That was fucking amazing!" only to be yelled at for her crude language.

Anna made an effort to talk to Emily a bit more from that day forth. She also started pestering her to join the volleyball team, which she did.

At first, Anna was the only person initiating conversations but suddenly, one day, Emily came up to her and started talking to her. On a Saturday evening, Anna was hungry. Knowing that her parents probably wouldn't give her any food, she snuck out and went to a tiny shop that sold snacks.

Unfortunately for her, she had forgotten to bring any money to where she was going. She exited the store with a sombre face and sat on the ground near the parking area. She looked at the floor and played with rocks on the floor whilst tears threatened to fall out.

"Oh, Anna. What are you doing here?"

Anna's teary eyes shot up and looked at the person in front of her only to see a tall female figure with ruby red eyes staring at her.

"Ah- nothing. You almost gave me a scare there"

"Are you alright?" Emily asked, concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine. Why are you asking?"

"You're crying…"

Anna cupped her cheeks only to notice that they were in fact wet.

"I- I'm sorry. I'm sorry you have to see me like this"

Without wasting a beat, Emily's arms wrapped around her friend and brought her closer. She gently caressed Anna's back trying to calm her down, only to fail as more tears fell from her now disheveled face.

"I'm here, don't worry. Everything's gonna be alright" a soft whisper entered Anna's ears.

"Do you want me to bring you home?"

Anna shook her head in the crooks of Emily's neck.

"How about mine?"

A silence passed through the air as the girl tried to grasp back her breath.

"Hn~" Soft. Very unlike her. She was always smiling, telling jokes, and being a loud, annoying piece of shit. But right then, that facade had disappeared.

"Alright. Lemme go buy something then we can go." Emily proposed.

"Okay"

From then on, Anna would often visit Emily's house and sleep over. It was to the point that she stayed at Emily's more than her own house.