Fanrielle felt her knees weaken. 'IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?! MY ULTIMATE IDOL, SAGE SKYLAR MEXENIALL REMEMBERS ME?!' she internally screamed
'Since we just interacted for a short period of time in 11th Grade, and exchanged a few sentences during fanmeetings, I never expected that he would remmeber me. Well, we did exchange---I did pester him for almost a month in social media but we never did talk like close friends unlike with the other team members. Aiya, I should stop thinking about it!'
"Fan? Fan?" Collin called and Fanrielle who was drowning in her own thoughts looked up at the tall boy.
"Yeah?" Fanrielle answered. She is slightly comfortable talking with him now than she was earlier.
"I was asking you about him." Collin said while taking a seat next to Fanrielle.
"Him? What him?" Fanrielle asked, looking confusef and Collin chuckled.
'This girl, really. She just exchanged a few words with Sage and this is what she ends up being.' Collin lamented
"That man standing a few meters away from you. That him." Collin answered while pointing his finger on the direction of Fanrielle's personal guard
"He's my guard. Father insisted on me having a guard for a month." Fanrielle said, not elaborating further on the topic.
Sensing that Fanrielle didn't want to talk about it anymore, Collin changed the topic.
"So, what country did you run off to for the almost two years?" Collin curiously asked
"Country? Ah! Uhm, I was in Country M." Fan said, praying that Collin doesn't suspect anything
"Oh, wow! I have always wanted to go there! So, you took the last semester of 11th Grade then 12th Grade there, right?"
"Yeah. What about you though? What happened to you and the team when I was at Country M?" Fanrielle asked eventhough she already knew.
"Well..."
*** FLASHBACK: 11th Grade, during the one month that Fan was unconscious in the hospital ***
The end of the season was getting near. The team had just managed to expel the bad rumors circulating around the internet with the help of their number one fan. The team was busy training hard because they know that in order to fully restore their basketball career, they need to break the records, even just one of the records of the whole season for junior basketball. The team did not know of Fanrielle's conditon because, according to Fanrielle, she doesn't want to receive any pity or comforting words.
Three weeks later, the last game of the season soon came and the whole team was eager to break the records. They were at the dug out having the last team meeting in order to boost the morale of the team.
"Huddle around, team!" Coach Marvs said and the team formed a semi-circle in front of him. Coach Marvs scanned the room and his gaze landed on Sage who is busy fiddling with his phone.
"Sage, don't make me call you!" Coach Marvs shouted
Sage looked at him and stood up, clutching his phone in his right hand. His thumb was continuously swiping his phone's surface in a downward motion.
"Sage, what are you doing? Are you playing a game?" Cobe asked while trying to look at Sage's phone
Collin, who was seating beside Sage, catched a glimpse of Sage's phone and asked him,
"Sage, are you refreshing your inbox? Why would you refresh it for so many times?"
"Not loading." Sage answered curtly
"Okay, team. I know this isn't the right time but I don't want you all to be surprised later. The things is, Fan won't be able to attend today." Coach Marvs said with a frown on his face. Having heard all of this, the players frowned and complained immediately.
"But why?"
"Noooo! I want to see our number one fan, Fan!"
"You're joking, right Coach Marvs?"
"Fan won't do that to us!"
Coach Marvs raised his hand and silenced everyone in the room. Sage was still refreshing his inbox. The players were all agitated.
"Fan's parents contacted me earlier and said that Fan apologizes for not being able to attend your last game this season. She has some urgent matters to take care of abroad. She wishes you the best of luck and that she believes that you will all achieve your goals for this season." Coach Marvs said while scanning the faces of the entire team
Collin, the team captain, stood up and faced his team members.
"Cheer up, guys! Come on, we still have to break the records for Fan! Haven't you heard what Coach Marvs said? Fan believes that we will break the records! If Fan believes it, then we shall work hard to prove to her that we really can, right? This can be our tribute to her, in order to thank her for all the hardwork that she did for the team, right?"
The X Highschool City A Branch's basketball team broke nearly all of the records in that year's junior basketball season. Their fame skyrocketed and to the point that their social media accounts gets messages every hour from countless of fans every single day. The whole team's schedule was full and even had trouble going to and from their school because fans would always be waiting for them at every entrance. Their fanmeetings that were once held in a small open space in front of their school was now held in their spacious school gymnasium and only a limited number of fans can enter. The team kept looking out for their number one fan for every fanmeeting that they held each month. 11th Grade soon came to an end but they never catched even a glimpse of their number one fan. The whole team thought that they would soon see her in the next season cheering for the whole team but they didn't. They tried pestering Coach Marvs to contact Fan but they got no answer. Fan didn't know that she left such a deep impression in the whole team. She ended up just looking at them from afar at their fanmeetings. She cannot even attend any of their games because it was always full of fans scattering about that her parents would never allow her to attend it. The only compromise that she and her parents agreed on was the fanmeetings. But she can only observe them from afar while sitting in a wheelchair and accompanied by two personal guards. The last heart surgery really took a toll on her body. The whole 12th Grade passed by with Fan focusing on strengthening her body and the whole team wondering where their number one fan is.
*** FLASHBACK ENDS ***
"Well, long story short, we broke the records during the last game of the season in 11th Grade and since then, our popularity skyrocketed." Collin answered
"Majority of the team wants to take a business course which is why we picked A University. Unexpectedly, Coach Marvs transferred here on the same day that we were admitted." Collin continued
Fanrielle nodded in reply. She looked away from Collin and muttered.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to attend your last game of the season and your fanmeetings."
"It's okay. We understand, Fan. After all, your life doesn't just revolve around us. We just missed your presence. After all, you did left a huge impact on the team, you know." Collin informed her and Fan blushed.
'I did? Gosh, capt. how to I react to that?! Having you near me and making a conversation with me makes my fangirl heart flutter!' Fan screamed
"I...I don't know what to say, Collin. I didn't expect for that to happen. I was just fangirling, you know." I said and Collin chuckled and stood up when Coach Marvs called him.
"Gotta go, Fan." Collin said with a smile.
Fanrielle smiled back and saw Sean and Cobe heading her way.
"Ayoo, Fan!" Cobe waved energetically at Fan while breaking into a small jog towards her.
"Cobe, Sean." Fanrielle greeted back. The two boys sat on either side of Fan and started conversing with her. Collin and Sage continued to help Coach Marvs with his gym class. While supervising the class activity, Collin approached Sage.
"She said she went to Country M in the last two years." Collin stated while Sage hummed in reply.
"There's something off about it but I just can't pinpoint what it is." Collin continued and Sage just hummed in reply.
"Dude, seriously? You just hummed in reply to me?! How about a simple yes or no huh? Or a thank you? You were the one who told me to ask those questions! I want to stra---" Collin was cut off by Sage
"She's lying."
Collin stared at Sage with wide eyes.
"But...But Coach Marvs also said the same thing!" he whisper-yelled and Sage just looked at him as if he was dumb.