Ymir jogs into her school's basketball court with the rest of her teammates. She's wearing her lucky sweatpants, the same ugly red as her school's color. Thankfully their uniforms are black, meaning she's spared from some revolting outfit. The only thing that would make her uniform as perfect as high school level sports clothes can be would have been if she were allowed to make her number "69", which is why she settled for "60."
The floor of the court is shiny thanks to the overhead lights. As usual, the court smells faintly of rust, sweat, cleaning supplies, and a little more strongly of BO. Ymir wrinkles her nose.
Grabbing a basketball from the rack, she gets in line behind Annie, her team's point guard.
"I heard the Scouts are pretty good this year." Ymir brings up.
"What, think we should be worried?" Annie asks without turning around to face her.
"Nah, I just think we should really rough them up a bit."
Ymir doesn't need to see Annie's face to know that she's trying to refrain from rolling her eyes, and biting her lower lip to keep herself from smiling.
"Whatever." With that, Annie starts dribbling.
Ymir does the same after Annie passes the free throw line. The team always warms up before games with layup drills. They're on the right side of the hoop, which Ymir isn't as fond of since she's left handed.
In front of her, she sees Annie make her shot, which is when her competitiveness kicks in. To her pleasure, the ball makes a quick swish sound as it falls through the net. She scoops it up and dribbles to the new line formed on the left side.
The line isn't much of a line anymore, as soon as she gets there Annie takes off. Ymir likes the pace, she enjoys spending this time getting in the zone, focusing on her breathing and frankly enjoying the exercise. It calms her.
She hears the doors from the other side of the court slam open, and the loud noises from a bunch of teenage girls alert her that the other team is finally here. After making her left handed layup she turns and sees the Scouts with their dark green uniforms, the same color as pine needles.
Ten layups later, Coach Nanaba blows the whistle. Her team gathers around in a circle. Their coach reminds them of the plays they've been practicing this week, and that they have five minutes till the game begins.
After they disperse, Ymir sits on the ground and reaches her arms forward to stretch her legs. She looks to her left to check out her opponents, not to check them out check them out, but to see if they look any good at basketball. (Okay, maybe to check them out a little too).
The Scouts are doing team drills, and Ymir nearly looks away before she notices this really tiny blonde girl. From this distance, if she didn't know better, she would have assumed it was the coach's kid or something. But from the way she moves- quick and direct, means she's clearly part of the team.
"Hey Annie, check this out!" she calls over to her.
Annie stands next to her, unamused.
"For the last time I am not checking out our rivals with you."
"No it's not that. Do you see Player 16? She's shorter than you!" Ymir laughs.
"Wow. Very funny." Annie deadpans.
"I'm serious. I'm still amazed that you're good at basketball. There's no way she can be, right? I swear she's not even five feet tall."
"She doesn't really look it, but it doesn't matter." Annie shrugs. Ymir expects her to go join the others for the pre-game cheer. Instead she's standing still like a block of ice and looks somewhat scared.
"Holy shit." Annie says, her mouth gaping slightly.
"What?"
Ymir looks back at the Scouts, expecting to see some obscene gesture, but they're just doing their warm ups. She looks back at Annie, whose face is a little redder than it was five seconds ago.
"What is it?"
"Remember how I went to that party and made out with that girl?"
"Last weekend?"
"Yeah."
"Is she-"
Annie nods.
Ymir stands up readily. "Which one is she?"
"Player 21."
Ymir's eyes wander until she spots her. "Holy shit she's hot." She smirks down at Annie. "You can finally get her number now. I know you've been upset since you didn't get it that night."
Annie doesn't say anything.
"You better not go easy on her."
Annie looks offended. "Do you really think I'd do that?"
Ymir shrugs.
Their coach blows the whistle at the two of them, since everyone else is standing in a circle. Ymir and Annie jog over to join them.
Nanaba does her usual corny speech to get them excited, which Ymir would never admit to secretly loving. When she's finished, the girls all put their arms around each other for their pre-game cheer. With a loud, "GOOOOOOO TITANS!" they move to their positions.
Ymir steps onto the center of the court for the jump ball. To her surprise, her opponent is Player 21, the girl Annie made out with. As the ref blows the whistle, Ymir winks at her. The girl doesn't react. She barely has time to think man, they really would be perfect for each other, as she jumps high into the air and hits the ball to Annie.
Annie dribbles to the hoop and Ymir sprints down there as well. This girl several inches taller than Annie cuts her off, so she passes the ball to Ymir. She catches it eagerly, she's close enough to shoot and she moves her hands up but-
WHAT THE FUCK! She's no longer holding the ball- when she processes what happened, that tiny ass blonde girl is already halfway down the court- Player 16. Thankfully Annie is already onto her, so Ymir takes her position as a post, blocking the same girl who stopped Annie earlier.
Unfortunately, Player 21 makes herself open and receives the ball from a perfect pass, successfully scoring a three pointer.
Unbelievable, Ymir thinks, considering it's only been forty-two seconds into the game. Player 21 winks back at her, and Ymir scowls, hoping Annie doesn't end up dating that girl after all.
Thirty seconds later, Ymir is dribbling down the court with a careful eye on Player 16, vowing to herself that she will not lose the ball to her again. The girl attempts to block her (honestly a bold move) so Ymir tries to keep her away and presses her right arm against her, standing in place but bouncing the ball with her left hand. Player 16 reaches for it which is when Ymir shoves into her and starts running, only to hear a loud thud and the ref's whistle.
"Foul!"
Ymir whirls around to see Player 16 getting off of the ground. Okay, she knows she didn't push her that hard. The mischievous glint in her eyes confirms that she fell down on purpose. Ymir cannot believe the ref called a foul for that.
Huffing, Ymir takes her place back on defense, making sure Player 21 won't score again.
The first quarter ends with a score of 0-3.
The second quarter begins favorably. Annie scores a layup within the first minute and Ymir thinks it's time to shake things up. She successfully steals the ball from the other team and passes it to Annie, who passes it back to her when Player 21 heads her way. Ymir is dribbling closer to the basket when her hair is yanked back with great force and her leg spasms from a hard kick to her calf.
Luckily the ref blows the whistle. Ymir turns around to glare at the person with the audacity to do that and her mouth gapes a little once she sees Player 16 standing in front of her. The girl is smiling (really?) as if she knows something Ymir doesn't. She shoots Ymir a gleeful look as she prances off to the side so Ymir can get ready for her free throw.
It is here Ymir makes a big mistake.
She bounces the ball once. She tries to look straight up except unfortunately Player 16 (who Ymir refuses to admit is cute) is right there distracting her. Player 16 blows her a kiss. Ymir swallows, waiting for someone to say that's against the rules, but the gym is silent- all eyes on her.
Inhaling quickly, she focuses on the backboard, bends down slightly, and rises up flipping her left hand forward as the ball leaves her hands. She makes her first shot, but misses the second.
The ball bounces of the backboard and some girl on the Scouts catches the rebound and makes her way to the other side of the court.
During halftime, Nanaba has them huddle around.
"I know this has been a hard game." she says, since the scores of both teams are fairly low. "But it's not over yet." Their coach uncaps her dry-erase marker and demonstrates the new plays on her clip-board.
Ymir's main job is to keep Player 21 off of Annie's tail, which while simple, proves to be difficult. Ymir cannot shake off Player 16, who has been sticking to her like glue. Not only does she steal the ball from her again, this girl also gets her fouled out before the third quarter ends.
Which is why Ymir is sitting on the bench, wearing her (not so) lucky sweatpants again, pissed off and slouching with her arms crossed, watching the game hopelessly. She's rooting for the Titans, except they're getting slaughtered, they've managed to get ten points in but the Scouts have reached twenty.
She's surprised that the sight of Player 16 scoring (yet again) doesn't make her angry. The girl is (somehow) a lot better at the game than one would think by looking at how short she is. She's aggressive and fast and wears her hair in this cute little ponytail and- shit.
God Ymir, you really are one useless lesbian, she realizes, begrudgingly. It's not as if it matters anyway, by this time next week she probably won't remember her as anything but that one asshole who fouled me out.
The final score is 22-34. Ymir congratulates Annie on her goals as she gulps some water down. Annie smiles faintly in response, wiping water and sweat from her chin and breathing heavily. Ymir pats her on the back before exiting the gym, after seeing Player 21 (now wearing a red scarf) walk over to Annie.
She enters the locker room to get her backpack. She sits down and pulls out her phone, checking it absentmindedly. There aren't any new notifications aside from college spam- she knew she shouldn't have put her signed up for that when she took the PSAT.
Ymir hears some of her teammates walk in, complaining about the outcome, praising Annie for how well she did, and decides that's her cue to leave. She should probably just head home anyway.
Stepping out into the hallway, she is taken off guard by a certain girl in a baggie green basketball shorts and a sweatshirt that's an even deeper shade. Even her headband matches. Figures.
"Sorry for fouling you out." Player 16 says with a hint of shyness. She looks completely sincere with those huge bright blue eyes, and her flushed cheeks add a hint of innocence.
Ymir shrugs. "It's no big deal, it's not like it was personal."
"Well actually…" the blonde begins, averting her eyes momentarily. "I was hoping I could get your number."
Ymir sucks in her breath, she wasn't even expecting an apology, but this…
"'Mir." she manages to mumble.
"What was that?"
"My name's Ymir." she says louder, reaching for her phone.
"Oh! Right! I'm Christa." Christa smiles, as they exchange phones.
Ymir feels shy and giddy and relieved all at once, slowly tapping in her name and number. She grins once she gets her cell back.
"So," Ymir says casually as they head to the parking lot. "I guess you like it rough, huh?"
"Maybe." Christa answers playfully.
They leave the building and are greeted with a sharp cold wind.
"Where'd you park?" Ymir asks.
"My mom's supposed to pick me up."
"Did she not come to the game?"
Christa shakes her head. Ymir's eyes soften.
"Mine neither. I can wait with you till she gets here if you want."
"No, but thanks. I should just go back with everyone else on the bus."
Ymir shuffles on her feet. She's got goose bumps from the chilly air and she's not ready to say goodbye yet.
"I could give you a ride." Ymir offers. She laughs shakily. "If you want, I mean."
"Are you sure?" Christa asks, surprised.
Ymir nods. Christa smiles.
"I'd like that, thank you so much."
"No problem." Ymir smiles back.
She leads the way to her car, a black Suzuki, and hears Christa leave a voicemail for her mom.
Christa lives less than twenty minutes away from the school, meaning Ymir has only that much time to flirt (which might be risky because there is that chance Christa just wants to be friends), crack a joke (does she seem more like that terrible puns or bad pick-up lines type), bear through an awkward silence, or make small talk.
Thankfully the small talk is enjoyable, or maybe it's just due to the company. Christa moved into town just this year, and has been playing basketball since she was seven.
"Believe it or not, when I was younger, I used to be one of the tallest girls on the team."
"No way." Ymir laughs.
"I'm serious! Then around fifth grade, everyone else started growing and I stayed put. I've been a point guard ever since." Christa explains dramatically.
"Oh no, how terrible." Ymir replies sarcastically, smiling.
"It is! Oh! It's the right turn up here."
Ymir drives into the right lane and can't shake off the nervousness growing inside her. It's too late to flirt and who knows if Christa would ever want to see her again.
"So," Ymir begins with a dry mouth and racing heart. "Do you like arts and crafts?" She parks outside Christa's house.
"Sure," she answers. "Why?"
"Looks like you and I are cut out for each other." She waits for her response. One second, two seconds, three seconds. Shit that was bad.
"Oh," Christa says, sounding disappointed. She unbuckles her seatbelt, before making eye contact. "I thought you were going to make a scissoring joke."
Ymir smiles sheepishly, mind flooding with relief. "Yeah, that probably would have been better."
"Much better." Christa agrees. She turns her body to face Ymir. She then leans over and kisses her gently, tasting like salt. Ymir nearly forgets how to breathe.
Christa grabs her hair kissing her harder, and it turns out she's really good with her tongue. Ymir can feel herself melting away into the kiss, suspended in the moment. She tries to hold back a moan, but ultimately makes a weird squealing sound as Christa yanks her ponytail really hard for the second time.
"Again?" Ymir asks, half amused and half pained.
Christa covers her face with her hands.
"I'm sorry! This time it was an accident, I swear!"
"It's fine, I guess I'll just have to get used to that." Ymir laughs.
"I should probably go in now." Christa says.
"Yeah, do you wanna go out for a movie or something this weekend?"
Christa beams.
"I'd like that. Thanks for the ride!" she says excitedly, closing the door and walking to her house with a bounce in her step.
Ymir sits and waits to make sure she gets inside, and doesn't drive off for another good two minutes, grinning and enjoying this feeling.
I can't wait to tell Annie, she thinks on her way home, and the idea of a basketball double date briefly crosses her mind.