In my eyes, Yana was the type of person who seemed to bring light wherever she went. I could easily sense it when she wasn’t around, and being in such a situation had given me a heavy and incomplete feeling. I wonder when I started to feel this way towards her.
Maybe it was that day, during the Championship Game between our school’s basketball team and the boys from Winston Academy.
That day, Yana was assigned as a student assistant so she wasn’t sitting with the rest of us in the gym. Our school was chosen to host the game so the higher-ups wanted to make sure the event would go smoothly. Most of the sections in our year were also excused from the classes so we could show support for the team.
Personally, I would definitely choose free time over the trap of a boring subject, but this time I couldn’t say which one was less dragging. I told myself I shouldn’t complain much, even if I haven’t been a fan of basketball and the people involved in it. I could watch one, yes, but I just couldn’t get myself too invested in it; unlike my classmates who, as usual, were clearly enjoying the shoots, the points, and the boys.
The noise, the commotion, and even my attempt to analyze the rules of basketball wasn’t helping one bit to tame my rising irritation. We had been there even before the game started and yet I couldn’t get a glimpse of Yana.
She’s supposed to be making rounds, right? I asked myself as I scanned the crowd from time to time. I couldn’t understand why it was unsettling for me to not know where she was.
I was burying my face with my hands when I felt a chill on top of my head. I instinctively reached for the heaviness but it was a hand that I touched. I looked up and there she was, to my surprise.
In a split of a second, everything felt right.
“Looking for me?” Yana was grinning as she handed me the ice-cold can of fruit soda she placed on top of my head earlier. “Here’s to chill you up a bit, dear seatmate. You’re creasing your forehead again. Like this.” And she mimicked my earlier frustrated expression with unexpected accuracy.
“Where have you been?” I asked, feeling the need for answers right away.
“So you’ve been really looking for me.” She sounded amused and sat down beside me in the bleachers.
Maybe she got the impression that I was feeling lonely by myself, sitting a couple of meters away from where our classmates were. In a way, she was right. I was indeed feeling lonely, but not because I was alone. I was lonely because she wasn't around.
Of course I didn’t tell her that. And that her mere presence was enough to calm me down. I didn’t know what to say so I bought time by opening the can of soda.
“I was watching you from up there,” she said, pointing at the technician’s room at the uppermost part of the gym, at the side of the court where I was seated.
So that’s why I couldn’t see her. She was behind me all the time!
“And here I thought you’re supposed to be at the grounds, Ms. Assistant,” I teased her and took a sip from the can to hide my embarrassment.
“Hm, I could pretty much see all of you from up there. Even your restlessness, Miss. You do get bored easily, don’t you,” she retorted, making fun of me. And with that, she rose from her seat as if answering to a silent call she could only hear.
“Well, back to work. Don’t miss me too much, Rin,” she said before swiftly gliding in between rows. But instead of going back to the balcony, she descended to the court grounds—probably to prove a point to me.
It hadn’t been long since the 2nd half of the game started when someone from Winston got injured. He seemed to be an ace player and there was quite a commotion on the court between the coaches.
I didn’t really get the details but I saw Yana near the scene. She was looking worried but her actions didn’t show panic. When the commotion was over, she went inside the medics’ area, probably to check the player’s condition. I didn’t get to see her again after that.
Our team won, by the way, and I should be proud of it. But all I wanted was to go back to the classroom to find peace in my seat. People were still talking about the incident and some sympathetic boys were saying we only won because the other team’s player got injured. I didn’t pay attention to them anymore and just thought of Yana who was left behind.
The rest of the subjects passed by slowly and Yana hadn’t come back yet either. I had never felt so drained and eager to go home. I thought I would wait for her, or I could look for her to bring her bag. I wondered where Yana might have been and what she had been doing.
I wondered if I would still get to see her that afternoon.
I wondered if she’d be able to come home with me.
I was about to approach our adviser but she went ahead as if reading my mind. She asked the class who would like to bring Yana’s things to her in the faculty room, and of course I volunteered at a blink of an eye.
I was smiling all the way to the Admin building but I instantly wiped it out when I saw people walking in my direction. They were the players from Winston’s—and they just got out of the clinic which was right beside the faculty room. There was the injured player in a wheelchair and he was surrounded by his teammates. They got all their things and were approaching when I overheard them talking in a failed whisper.
“The student assistant is really cute, right?”
“Yeah… Totally girlfriend material.”
They were still talking when the one in the wheelchair spoke with a tone of superiority. “Hey. I know Yana, okay. Please be good to her.”
But instead of calming down his fawning team, the boys erupted more and asked him about Yana.
They were already a couple of meters away from me so I didn’t get to hear more of their conversation. I was about to enter the faculty room, anyway. I was about to see Yana. And it was all that mattered.