I woke up early, excited for sports day.
The teachers told us that for the whole day, the school could play around. This meant that we didn't have classes.
Instead of sitting in a chair and listening to useless things, I could sit under a tree and nap.
Once I got to the school, I saw tons of children around my age running around the field already. Avesh and the others were among them, playing soccer.
When they saw me, the four forced me to join them. So, here I was playing a five on five with other kids in our grade.
--
Avesh passed me the ball.
I got control and walked a meter or two forwards. A person from the other team stepped in front of me and tried swiping at my legs, hoping to get the ball away. However, I dribbled and turned right. Sprinting forwards with the ball at my feet, I dragged back.
With the ball behind me, I turned around. I then crossed the ball to Josh, who was further ahead.
He got control and did a beautiful touch. Josh then sprinted forward and passed a through ball to Ivan, who tried to tap the ball in. But the goalkeeper for the opposing team easily got hold of it.
""Nice try.""
Everyone comforted Ivan.
We then got back into our positions and waited for their keeper to put the ball in play.
The keeper drew back his arm and threw the ball towards their striker. With a nice touch, the striker started sprinting.
However, Danny and I were on defense.
Double-teaming him, we got the ball from him before he got any closer to our keeper, Avesh. With control of the ball, Danny saw an opening. He winded his leg back; crossing the ball to Ivan.
The ball was high, so Ivan, not being able to gain control with his legs, jumped up. The ball hit his chest and fell to his feet. He looked behind him and saw a defender sprinting to him.
He crossed the ball over to his right with his feet and did a step over. The defender got lost and missed the ball. Ivan saw this and started bolting forwards.
I sprinted forwards, past Ivan. Giving me a through ball, I used my momentum to launch it at the goal.
The ball spun in the air, aiming for the bottom left corner. Unluckily, the goalkeeper dived for it. But he didn't catch it. The ball bounced off his hand and rolled to Josh, who was already there. He tapped the ball in, giving us the lead.
"Let's go! 1-0."
Josh, excited and happy with his goal, exclaimed.
After a quick celebration, the other team kicked the ball into play. Their sticker got control of the ball and was about to run with it when the bell rang.
We stopped playing and walked towards the teacher, yelling for everyone to gather.
The hundreds of students all over gathered on the field and waited for the teacher to speak.
"As you guys know, today's sports day. This only happens once a year. So, make sure you enjoy yourselves. However, there are rules. Any fighting, bullying, or anything of the sort is not tolerated at all. If anything like that happens, we will shut the festivities off. Other than that, you're free to have fun. We will later have a water balloon fight. So, if you want to rent some water guns, it'll be a dollar."
After she explained the rules, multiple seniors walked out of the cafeteria with buckets filled with water guns. Many went up to rent, but our group and the students we were facing off against walked back to our spot to continue the game.
The game lasted twenty more minutes, with the score being 3-2. Unfortunately, we lost.
In a sour mood, the five of us left that area and went towards a bag filled with balls. We took out a football and started throwing it to each other.
"So, how's it going with Alessia?"
I caught the ball and threw it to Avesh before answering Ivan's question.
"I don't know. She likes me, but I don't like her back like that. I also don't want to hurt her feelings. I'm probably just gonna hold off meeting with her often and let her feelings just disappear."
"Why don't you just tell her? Aren't you leading her on by not saying anything?"
Deep in thought about what Avesh said, I missed the ball thrown at me.
Was I leading her on? If I was, I had to tell her I didn't like her. 'I'm going to ask her to talk today. I can't just say it over text. Especially since she asked me out yesterday.'
"Yeah, I'm gonna tell her I don't like her today."
"Why don't you just hit and dip?"
The four of us looked at Josh and sighed. This guy was a dick to most girls he dated. 'Even I, who killed someone, wouldn't do that to someone.'
"That's a no I guess."
I picked up the ball and we started playing catch again. This time, we talked about the others' relationships.
Avesh and Samantha started dating. Ivan and Daniela had already hooked up. Danny was single and wasn't too close to Sofia. Josh, like Ivan, had hooked up with Sara. And I was single and not ready to mingle.
Those were all our relationship status'.
The day went by fast. It was incredibly enjoyable. I honestly missed the times when I could just not worry about anything and goof around.
By the time school ended, everyone's hair was wet. The water fight lasted a good thirty minutes.
I skipped selling chocolates for the day and focus on more pressing matters. Making sure Alessia knew I didn't like her.
When I got home, I changed and immediately grabbed my phone to call her.
The phone rang, and the familiar voice picked up.
[Hello?]
"Alessia. Can we meet at the park near your house? I wanna tell you something."
[S-sure. Call me when you're near.]
I hung up the phone and made my way there as quickly as I could.
The trip there lasted twenty minutes. And while on that train ride, I thought about many things I could say that would hurt her less.
'Who would've thought a grown man can't tell a girl he doesn't like her?'
I walked over to the swings and sat down before dialing her number.
[I'll be there in a minute. See you soon.]
'She sounded excited. I hope this will go well.'
Would letting a teenage girl, who liked you, know you didn't like them back, end well? I would find out soon enough.