Chapter 1: Estatic Shock

I walked fast, I didn't like being out alone, middle of the day or not. School had just let out not even an hour ago, I had been stuck finishing a test so unlucky for me, I missed my bus. I hated walking home.

I turned the corner to cut through the middle of the campus, it was a much shorter walk that way. I was close to the swimming pool, I could smell the chlorine, it made me cringe.

"Hey!" shouted a voice behind me. "Miyako, wait up."

I turned around and faced Makoto, mildly out of breath and only a foot away from me by then.

"Hey," I greeted him.

"What are you doing still hanging around here?" he asked.

We started walking side by side, "I had to finish a test."

"Oh," he said. "How do you think you did?"

"I don't have a clue," I answered. "What are you doing?"

"We have practice today, I had to get towels."

"Are you guys any good?" I asked, not really thinking that what I said could have been rude. Oops.

He only looked moderately took off guard from my question, lucky for me Makoto was so mild mannered nothing really bugged him, nothing that I had ever said anyways. "We do alright," he assured me. "If you want you can hang around and keep Kou company and watch."

"I'd hate to be in the way," I said. That a girl, make sure he can't tell the you're dying to hang out with him.

"You could never be in the way, I love having you around." he told me, burying his soft green eyes into my brown ones.

"As long as you're sure," I smiled, cool as ice, except for, ya know, my cheek area.

I did have homework but I normally do it in the morning while eating breakfast. Besides, I have had a miniature crush on Makoto since forever. Just a small one, coexisting with others, small but seemingly undying. It wasn't a good thing to have a crush as far as I was concerned but it sure was pleasant in his presence.

We walked through the gate to the pool area. The other three were swimming, I only knew Haru, the other two were acquaintances at most.

Makoto took his shirt off and I swear I didn't stare. He had already been wearing his bathing suit to get the towels, so he just walked up and dived in. I found my way over to Kou, she and I were not total strangers, I knew her well enough not to be shy at all.

"Hey," I said but she promptly shh-ed me. Now I would be shy. At least until she talked to me. She was scribbling fiercely into a notebook, looking from it, to the swimmers and back at the notebook. When she was done jotting done whatever she turned back to me and smiled.

"I'm sorry Miyako, what were you saying?"

"Hello," I said again.

"Oh, hi!" she jumped. "Why are you here?"

"I dunno," I answered honestly, "To hang or to help. Whatever you need I suppose."

She smiled a great big smile and tapped her pen against her lip as she skimmed the area around us. She pointed to the area were Makoto set the towels, which held other supplies such as water bottles and kick boards. "If your bored then you could make sure the boys always have water on hand, or a dry towel for breaks and things like that."

Shoot. I was hoping for the former. Whatever though, I did what she asked without argument. "How do you do this everyday?" I asked after the hours passed, it seemed like a shitty job to me.

"I have a blast doing my job, plus these boys need me," she said and blew her whistle. The four finished the lap they were on and dried off with the towels I left at the end of their individual lanes.

A blonde boy, just a tad bit bigger than me was the first over to us. He was panting heavily but his grin didn't waver, not even a flinch. "Hi!" he waved at me, "I'm Nagisa," he held his hand down for me to shake, so I did.

"I'm Miyako."

"What are you doing here?" he asked, not missing a beat.

"Helping."

Makoto was next to appear. "Sorry Miyako, I didn't mean to trap you here with volunteer work," he apologized.

"It's fine," I said, "better than going home and doing nothing."

The other two boys were there, we were standing in a circle, 5 pairs of eyes on the new stranger lady.

"Thanks for helping," Haru said.

"It was no problem."

Kou talked to them about their times and future plans, swimming things that I didn't quite understand and I patiently waited until she was done. When she was me, Makoto and his three buddies started walking home. They chatted and I stayed out of the conversation, mainly because what they were talking about didn't concern me and I'd be lost in it.

We dropped off two of the boys along the way and it was me, Haru and Makoto. My house was coming up fast. "Was this something you'd want me to do everyday?" I asked.

It took both boys off guard, they paused and looked at me then at each other.

"I mean fetch stuff for you and help out," I explained further, "do you want me to do it everyday?"

"You mean join the club as an assistant?" Makoto asked. "Do you want to?"

"I want to if you want me to."

"Haru?" Makoto asked.

"It wouldn't bother me."

"Alright, this is great Miyako!" Makoto said as he wrapped me in a hug. I stood, baffled and warm, I couldn't quite hug him back because his arms were restricting mine. He hugged me for maybe two seconds before he loosened and moved his hands to my shoulders and held me in his eye sight. "I'm so excited!"

I tried not to look wide-eyed when he let go, though I'm sure I failed. I looked away, embarrassed and losing my cool. "Right," I muttered under my breath, but neither of them seemed to notice.

"Bye," I said as I walked away from them and up the steps to my front door.

"Goodbye," Makoto responded as he waved, "we'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah," I said then walked into my house. I took one last glance at them as they begun walking away and closed the door.

I ate diner and talked to my family about the new game plans. They were nothing but supportive as always. When I was done I went upstairs, showered, went to bed, and nuzzled my blushing face into my pillow.