I looked in the mirror for I don't know how many times that morning. For whatever reason, I decided that my long orange hair wasn't so great, so I decided to chop it off. Three weeks before my first day of high school. Super smart, right? With my non existent curves and flat chest, I basically passed for a twelve year old boy.

Lovely.

Well, what's done is done. Not like I can magically grow my hair seven inches. I took another look at myself and was tremendously thankful that Karasuno's uniform for the girls included a skirt. At least now, no one will automatically assume I'm a little boy. Probably.

My hair wasn't awful per-se, but it was definitely something I should have done after my classmates saw me and knew I was a girl.

I shook my head and ran out to grab my bento before running out the door to get my bike. I shouldn't even be worried about my looks. It's not like I'm planning on dating my first year, or even my second. No, these next two years were going to be dedicated to volleyball and finally winning a match against someone who wasn't my five year old neighbor.

"What?!"

I felt my mouth drop, and I couldn't form a coherent sentence to save my life. The captain looked apologetic, and I guess it wasn't their fault that apparently every first year in the school wanted to be on the volleyball team.

"I am so sorry, I really am. With the influx of applications though, we have to give the spots to the girls who have the best skill set."

I nodded without really understanding that everything I had worked for the past three years was being flushed down the proverbial drain. Walking away from my future was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. This was what I was looking forward to for the next three years. I even bought new gym shoes! Well, new to me. From the hole forming inside the shoe, I imagine they were already pretty old.

I walked down the hallway to where I thought the girls bathroom was, but after five minutes I realized I actually had no idea where the bathroom was and I was now completely lost. Great.

I turned around and ran straight into a wall and promptly fell on my ass. Looking up, I saw that it wasn't a wall, just a very tall boy. A very cute boy… who was now glaring down at me. The frown on his face caused his blue eyes to darken and look black.

I quickly stood up and held out my hand, "I am so sorry! I should've watched where I was going, I'm Hinata Shoyou by the way!"

The smile on my face slowly started to disappear the longer he stared at me.

"Watch where you're going next time." With that, he stepped around me and walked away.

Scratch that. He's not cute. He's a dick.

I stuck my tongue out at his back and then turned to find a restroom before my bladder exploded.

Five minutes later found me standing in front of a very pretty girl who had to be a third year. There was no way she was anything but a third year. She had a very calming presence and since I was distracted, it took me a couple seconds to understand what she was saying to me.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Did she just say what I think she said?

"I was just saying that I'm the manager of the volleyball team and we could really use some more players if you're interested. Practice is in thirty minutes." She smiled and handed me a flyer for the volleyball team. The boys volleyball team.

Oh for the love of meat buns. She thinks I'm a boy. I was still in my gym outfit which was just basketball shorts and a baggy shirt, so it's not her fault for assuming that I'm a boy. Holy shit. I knew it. I knew this hairstyle made me look like a-

"WAIT! The boys team needs players?!"

She looked confused at my question and then nodded slowly.

"Oh, okay. Yeah. Great. Cool. Thanks, Kimicho."

"It's Kiyoko."

I nodded absently and turned away, walking back towards the bathroom so I could look myself in the eyes and see if I was really about to pretend to be a boy for the rest of my high school career. Would I need to dress like a boy? Pretend like I'm one even when I'm in class? Maybe no one from my year will even be on the team, I mean they had to be really low on players if she was approaching students. Maybe I could just change after class and no one would ever know?!

I was finally back in the restroom, standing in front of the mirror. Someone walked in and saw me mumbling to myself and stopped.

"Um this is the girls restroom. You can't be in here."

I looked at her in the mirror and started to laugh hysterically.

My hands started to shake as I walked into the gym. I wasn't totally convinced that this was a good idea, but honestly what did I have to lose? If they found out the worst they would do is kick me off the team. Right? I mean, it's not like they would expel me.

I felt the blood leave my face. Holy meat buns, what if they expelled me?! I was at the door and was seriously second guessing my decision when I looked up and saw the one person I never wanted to see again in my life.

"You!"

My shout startled him, and he missed the ball he had tossed up. It came back and hit him the face, which was incredibly satisfying to watch.

His eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?"

He glanced down and saw the flyer in my hands. His eyes flashed back to mine and nothing was said for about 42 seconds. But who's counting.

"You better be good at receives if you're applying for the libero position in a high school team. This isn't like the elementary school daycare program you're probably used to."

I narrowed my eyes and started to count to ten. I made it to three.

"I am a wing spiker! I'll be the ace of this team and then I'll crumble up this flyer and shove it up your-"

My words cut off as someone clapped their hands behind me. I jumped and turned to find three guys staring at us.

Well, this was it. They were either going to know I was a girl and make me leave… or they wouldn't notice and I would spend the next three years in a nervous sweat, trying to live two lives.

The one on the left had gray hair and a beauty mark under his left eye. He was incredibly handsome, but also seemed a little feminine. The middle was obviously the captain and when he looked at me, I swear he saw into my soul. I shifted my gaze before he saw the nervousness on my face and looked at the third person, who had a shaved head. He was making a weird face and it wasn't until the captain hit him on the back of the head that I realized he was probably trying to be intimidating.

"Tanaka, stop trying to scare the first years."

Tanaka whined and rubbed the back of his head. The captain looked behind me and saw the other first year. The other two followed his gaze and Tanaka pointed his finger at him and exclaimed, "Hey! We saw you play last year! You were really good."

They all moved forward, forcing me to side step so they could crowd the boy and ask him questions.

The first year in question bowed low. "My name is Kageyama Tobio, and I'm a setter. Please let me join your team." He held out the flyer without raising from his bow.

The captain accepted and made introductions. "I'm Sawamura Daichi, this is my co-captain, Sugawara Koushi, and our second year spiker Tanaka Ryuunosuke. You can call me Daichi-"

"You can just call me Suga." The gray haired man held up his hand.

The bald one took a step forward and tilted his head back to look down at Kageyama. "You can call me Tanaka-senpai."

Daichi and Suga rolled their eyes.

Kageyama had risen from his bow and nodded his head slowly.

Okay, what the heck? I'm here too?

I ran around them and placed myself in front of Kageyama.

"Hi! I'm Hinata Shoyou! I would like to join your team! I'm a spiker!"

They all tilted their heads down to look at me, and at that moment I was happy that I had relieved my bladder earlier because I would have definitely peed myself if I hadn't.

Tanaka tilted his head, "You're a first year? Your voice is still a little squeaky, have you even gone through puberty yet?"

I felt my face redden and Daichi yanked him back so he could step forward. "Ignore him. We are happy to have you guys. Now why don't we-"

"Wait, you aren't actually taking him seriously, are you?"

I whipped my head around to see Kageyama walk up to stand beside me. He waved his hand in my direction.

"He's tiny, plus I'm pretty sure he's never played volleyball before."

I squeaked out a protest. Daichi raised both palms and tried to appease him, "Everyone has to star-"

I knew I shouldn't be interrupting my future captain, but I mean come on, what a dickwad!

"Excuse me, you're probably not all that great either. Maybe that's why you're such an ass… to make up for your lousy setting! And but the way, I've been practicing for three years for this moment!"

"Hey guys, you should really listen to Dai-"

Kageyama scoffed. "Three years? Thats nothing!"

"Boys-" I saw Suga step forward out of the corner of my eye and reach out to us, but it was like I couldn't control my body. I moved forward and pushed Kageyama back a step.

"Oh yeah? Let's play right now, one-on-one."

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. I don't really recall the vice principal coming into the gym. I was so focused on making Kageyama eat his words that I wasn't paying attention to anything around me. The ball hit my chest and flew backwards towards the vice principal. I saw his toupee fly off and during what felt like the worst ten seconds of my life, but was probably only two seconds in reality, I was able to make a list of every mistake I made today, that consequently led me to this point.

The wig landed on Daichi and everyone was silent. Suddenly, Tanaka stepped froward and started laughing, "Wait… that was a wig?"

I looked over at him. "You didn't know?! We all figured it out during the pep rally this morning." I held up my hand to hide my snicker. Daichi turned to us and all laughter stopped immediately.

He followed the vice principal out of the gym and I turned to Suga who was staring at me sympathetically.

"you guys have really done it now."

The events that happened my first day of high school were certainly interesting and not at all how I thought they were going to go. After Daichi came back from his talk with the vice principal, he basically told us to get lost and kicked us out of the gym. Kageyama was still being an ass-munch, but we put aside our differences and apologized. They gave us a couple days to prepare for a practice match against some other freshman.

We left the school grounds, and that's how I found out I was unlucky enough to actually live near Kageyama. We're supposed to meet at the gym at 5am, and while normally that wouldn't sound appealing, it meant that I would be practicing volleyball. In the school's gym. With people who actually played volleyball. I was so excited, I basically ran home after I split from Kageyama. I ran straight to my room, calling out to my mom and letting her know I was home.

I stopped in front of the mirror and looked at myself and my excitement started to fade. Sure, I looked like a boy now, but what happened when I started to develop? Hair was easy, I could just keep cutting it, and right now they think I have delicate features and a high pitched voice because I was a late bloomer. Eventually though my chest would grow… I plopped down on my bed as another thought came to me. What if my chest never grew? Was I destined to have the body of a little boy forever? It would work out for me while in school, but what about when I graduated? Or wanted to date? I put my head in my hands, with my elbows resting on my knees.

I was so conflicted; I mean, on one hand, it would be great if I was one of those girls who didn't have a lot of curves, because that meant it would be easier to pretend I was a boy. On the other… No girl wanted to go through life with people always mistaking her for a boy.

I groaned and fell back so I was laying flat on my bed.

I just needed to focus on the here and now. At this moment I needed to play volleyball, so that's all I'm going to think about. I rolled over and grabbed my phone to set an alarm.

Nothing else would matter, as long as I made it to nationals.

The days following the toupee incident passed by in a blur. I met up with Kageyama, Suga, and Tanaka in the mornings, went to class, had mini heart attacks every time I saw someone with black hair, avoided anyone from the volleyball team while school was in session, and then the minute classes let out, I was changing into my gym clothes and practicing until the sun was down.

Aside from being drenched in a nervous sweat every minute of my life, it wasn't so bad. Kageyama still made me mad and I told him that I was going to continue playing after high school and beat him.

We played the match and won against the other two first years. The one with blonde hair and glasses looked like such a tool, he made Kageyama seem nice. And while his friend was kind of cute, if he was hanging out with Tsukishima, who looked like he kicked puppies for fun, then he was probably a jackass too.

We played a practice match against a powerhouse school and won, but I think we only beat them because their captain was gone for most of the game. Our libero was going to be back from suspension soon, and everyone still thought I was a boy.

Everything was perfect.

Until it wasn't.

It had been few week since school started and the team was getting along great. I even started to form a friendship (kind of) with Kageyama. I think we bonded mostly over our dislike of Tsukishima. But he started tossing to me and stopped insulting me as much, so I wasn't going to complain. We all cleaned up the gym and then I sat outside to wait for everyone to change in the locker room. I told them that I rode my bike with my little sister after school so I preferred to stay in my gym clothes. They thought I was a little weird but never said anything.

"Oi, Hinata. Daichi said he would buy everyone meat buns today from that new restaurant!" I looked up and saw Tanaka run over to me and pull me to my feet.

"C'mon, we're all going to change since we can't go in our sweaty gym clothes."

"Uh.." He stopped to look at me when he realized I wasn't following him up the stairs to the locker room.

He opened his mouth but was cut off by Kiyoko. "Hello, Tanaka, Hinata."

Tanaka looked like he had been struck by lightning. "You just said my name…" His eyes got super big and Kiyoko immediately stepped back.

"Do you mind if I speak with Hinata for a moment?"

He narrowed his eyes at Hinata, like she had betrayed him in the worst way. He slowly walked backwards and then turned and ran up the stairs.

Being alone with Kiyoko made me nervous, because she kept staring at me, like she knew I was lying to everyone.

"How are you today?"

"Fine."

"You don't have to go into the locker room. The bathroom is just inside the entrance."

I froze and looked up at her. She stared at me and I realized that she knew. She knew I was a girl. My volleyball career was ending before it was even beginning. Again.

I quickly shook my head, "I have no idea what you're talking about!" I quickly ran up the stairs and into the locker room. There was no way she could truly know, right? She's a third year so our classes are no where near each other!

I opened the door and the first thing I saw was Daichi. In nothing but boxer briefs. I screamed and slapped my hand over my eyes. I heard someone burst out laughing and then Daichi's voice. "All of you guys can shove it, I know I gained a little weight, but it's not that bad."

Suga's soft voice reached my ears, "You don't look bad Daichi, maybe Hinata is just shy."

I nodded enthusiastically. Maybe if they thought I was shy they would leave me alone.

"Oi, Dumbass. Get over here and change."

I lowered my hand slightly, being careful to avoid looking at any other bodies in the room. My eyes found Kageyama, who was thankfully completely dressed. I rushed over to him and opened the locker next to his. I shoved my face in and then let out a deep breath. I let myself relax for about five seconds until I remembered why I was here. Daichi was taking us all to get food. So we needed to change. I needed to change. No one was leaving until I was out of my uniform.

I started hyperventilating and felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped and turned my head to see Kageyama, looking at me like I had three eyes and no nose.

"You're being weirder than normal. What's wrong with you?"

I opened my mouth and lowered my eyes because I didn't want him to see the panic I was feeling. That was when I realized I was in deeper shit than I originally thought. Because Kageyama was shirtless, and his shorts were low on his hips. There was so much skin right in front of me that I felt myself stop breathing. Oh god, what do I do? I definitely should have thought all of this through a lot better.

Suga's voice rang out, "Can I speak with Hinata for a moment please?" I looked around and saw that everyone was now dressed, except for Kageyama and I. He stepped away from me and shucked off his shorts, reaching for his school clothes. I quickly turned around and hid my face back in the locker.

After a minute I heard his footsteps as he walked towards the door and then it shut and all I could hear was my heavy breathing.

Suga cleared his throat and I slowly turned around. He was sitting on the bench and patted the spot next to him. Once I was seated, he turned to me and made sure I was making eye contact before he spoke.

"Hinata. I know why you're acting weird."

Oh, gosh. Oh, no. This was it. I'm being kicked off the team.

"I went through the same thing and I know it's hard."

Wait, what? Suga was… a girl? I stared at him (her?) and I think the confusion showed through on my face.

"Hinata, I know you're gay."

WHAT?

"You… I'm… huh?" At this point I had no idea what was going on.

"I see the way you look at Kageyama and it's why you've been avoiding the locker room and why you were so flustered when you saw Daichi, right?" He smiled gently and took my hand. "It's okay. I'm gay too. I won't say anything if you're not out yet, but just now I'm here if you need to talk."

Oh. oh. Everything made a lot of sense now. Suga wasn't a girl, he was gay. And he thought I was gay. Because he still thinks I'm a boy. Okay, I can work with this.

"What did you do? To avoid changing around the others… and stuff?"

"Well, I usually just said I was staying for extra practice and then left after everyone else. But it's hard to hide something like this from people you're close to. Daichi was my best friend and in our second year he found out. He was supportive though, and I think if you tell your friends they'll be supportive too." He squeezed my hand and stood up. "But that's your decision. I'll give you a couple minutes to get dressed."

He left and I sat there for a few seconds before remembering that they were waiting for me right outside. I dressed in record time and practically ran out the door and into Tanaka, who was leaning against the ceiling.

He made his way over to me and put his arm around my shoulders, "Hey Hinata, how did you get Kiyoko to talk to you?"

He leaned in close, as if he was trying to scare me.

I raised my eyebrow at him, "You know, Tanaka-senpai, I could help you get her attention if you want?"

His hand came up to clutch his chest. I wasn't sure what made him more happy. The fact that I called him "Tanaka-senpai" or the possibility of talking with Kiyoko.

He looked at me suspiciously. "What kind of advice would you have for your amazing senpai, hmm?"

"Well… Kiyoko is pretty reserved. You always go straight to her whenever she sees you and I think it intimidates her. She doesn't really have any room to think when you're around, so maybe give her some space? For the next couple days, don't crowd her or flirt, just let her be. It'll give her room to see you and be able to concentrate on her feelings."

He looked stricken. "Not talk to Kiyoko?!"

I patted his arm. "Trust me."

We all headed down the stairs. I lingered behind so no one would make conversation with me and I could hear myself think. Suga was in front, walking next to Daichi. He bumped their shoulders and then turned and found my eyes. He smiled at me and turned back around.

The team thinking I'm gay is a lot better than them finding out I'm a girl. I mean, it wouldn't be that big of a deal if the team thought that.

Right?