Lesson 2. "Giving up is not an option for those who succeed." - Unknown
"No can do, sorry."
"But, Kurogawa-sensei…"
"No means no, Uzutani." Rio clenched her fists tightly and lowered her gaze. Chewing her bottom lip, with bags under her eyes she looked like she was about to burst out crying and indeed, she felt like it whenever she thought about what happened last Friday. That was also the reason behind the sleepless nights and the weekend wasted on feeling ashamed and thinking too much. "I may be sharp with Aomine because of his ignorance, laziness, and boldness but still, if he doesn't carry out that one condition I gave him, he will be obliged to repeat and leave the basketball team. As for myself, I frankly don't care but I promised his coach I will do everything to help him out."
"But why me?", asked she querulously. The teacher looked at her lowered face, actually feeling sorry for her, but he did not plan on doing anything about the situation. Rio was the only one who could help that little asshole except for him and the mathematician was washing his hands off of it.
"Because you're the best, Uzutani, that's why I won't substitute you." Kurogawa Hiro sent her a reassuring smile, but she did not react. She was still standing there with her gaze dropped and fists clenched, chewing her bottom lip. His mood seemed to exacerbate when a sudden thought occurred in his mind. "Did something happen on Friday?"
The teacher observed as her eyes snapped wide-open, her pale skin becoming red and her fists clenching even tighter on the material of her skirt.
"N-no, n-nothing h-happened, K-Kuro-g-gawa-sensei."
"Are you sure?"
"Y-yes!" she tried to make her voice sound enthusiastic as she smiled widely, finally facing the teacher's face. The fact that Aomine actually kissed her was embarrassing enough when they were the only people in the world who knew about that. If someone else had known, she would probably kill herself. "I-I'm just worried that I might not be up to do it properly. I mean, tutoring him is very hard."
"I know, I know, he's an idiot!" Rio gasped looking confused because of the teacher's words and his angry mimic that changed again into his normal, stoic one only seconds after he lost his temper. "But I do believe that you'll make him pass semester test with flying colors. Besides, I've always thought that you were that kind of person who never gives up..."
That's when I see the point in doing something. Besides, I'm not sure if I can stand his presence after what happened on Friday, thought she while clenching fingers on the hem of her blazer, feeling her cheeks getting warm again, but never voiced what was on her mind out loud. Instead, she just agreed against her own will.
"H-hai. I'll do my best. Thank you for your attention."
Rio bowed and left the staff room, making her way to school's gym. It was eight in the morning and her first lesson happened to be Physical Education which – combined with the unsorted business with Mr. Kurogawa – made her feel sick. Uzutani really hated that lesson because it was all about the teamwork and relationships, which she lacked. Whenever it came to exercising in pairs, she had always been that one student who had to work out alone. Whenever it was about choosing teams, she had always been the last, rejected one.
She looked through the window of a corridor that was connecting the gym with the school building, letting out a little sigh. Since that Friday night, the weather had not changed at all. The sky was overcast and the temperature low but not enough to freeze a drizzling rain. It only deepened her bad mood. Little tears formed in the corners of her enormous dark brown eyes but she wiped them away quickly, heading for the girls' locker room.
Honestly, she had never understood why the girls' P.E. uniform had to include black, tight shorts, which much more resembled French knickers than any kind of pants, however, she seemed to be the only one girl in the whole school whom it bothered. Wearing them, Rio felt too exposed, like she was half-naked. At least loose white T-shirt was covering everything it should.
The door opened and the group of chit-chatting girls from her class went in, not even looking at her.
It had been like that since the first day of school. Rio was standing out but not in the way she – or anybody else – would like to. Firstly, she did not have an ultra-new phone, tablet, laptop nor name-brand shoes, her books were cast-off. Her uniform, bought from one of the alums, was a little bit too big for her, making her look raggedly. She was allowed to study in an elite private school like Tōō Academy only because of the scholarship she had gotten for her grades and it was the second reason she was not well thought of. She was too smart and always had the best grades – enough of a reason to be jealous.
But, what's more, the fact that she was taller than most of the females in the whole school and there were also boys - well, forget boys, there were male teachers - who happened to be shorter than her, wasn't helping at all. Not to mention her untypical, not-Japanese-at-all look with her hair orange and her big, round eyes which could be called Asian only in the terms of their dark brown color.
All in all, she could put all the blame for standing out and being an outcast on her genes and thank her parents, if only she had ever had an opportunity.
Rio tied her shoes and locked the locker. She exited the room, heading to the gym.
She stopped in her mid-track, suddenly realizing something. Something that made her heart skip a beat in a nervous way. She became pale right before all the blood in her body rushed to her face, making her look like a neon tomato. She felt like being sick and all of it was because it was Monday. And Mondays, the girls shared the gym with the boys. And sharing the gym with boys meant sharing it with the person she wanted not to see ever again.
With Aomine Daiki.
"Uzutani, faster!"
She was breathing sharply, pumping her legs furiously on the gym's wooden floor. Her body was covered with sweat, her small face red from the exertion, muscles burning with fire. She was ready to give up but still pressed forward like her life depended on it.
"Come on, Uzutani, just one more lap!" Kenda-sensei shouted, his eyes wandering between the stopwatch and the slender figure of orange-head, whose braided hair was swinging in the rhythm of her sharp, determined moves. She was on the verge, but she still pushed harder and harder, her dark brown eyes set on the goal. She was a perfectionist.
"Keep going, Uzutani! You're almost there!"
"She can be pretty cool, huh?"
Souta - one of the boys, who were exercising close to Aomine - was openly eyeballing her long, slim legs, exposed by the uniform's shorts. He frowned, looking at him out of the corner of his eye and passed a medicine ball to Sakurai using an overhead press. The latter caught the heavy orb with ease, already used to its weight and Aomine's strength. After all, they were both on the basketball team.
"Dude, it's Uzutani you're talking about. Not cool at all."
Souta's friend, Hare, was laying on the floor face down, arms extended forward on the floor. Souta was standing above him, feet on both sides of his back. He grabbed Hare's elbows and pulled back up his whole upper body, holding him like that for a few seconds.
And for some reason he couldn't pin down, Aomine felt a sudden urge to hear the sound of his bones being broken. He caught the ball Sakurai had thrown and almost immediately passed it back.
"I think she's kind of cute."
Hare gasped when Souta released him.
"You better get your eyes checked, then."
Once again, he caught the ball and threw it back automatically, this time putting a little bit too much of a power in the activity, causing Sakurai to stumble when he got the claret leather orb back in his hands. The latter opened up his mouth, probably to apologize for something that wasn't his fault like he always did, but was interrupted by the enthusiastic voice of their P.E. teacher.
"Nice work, Uzutani! Very good time!"
Kenda-sensei looked at the stopwatch and noted something down on the clipboard, smiling to himself. Uzutani, however, wasn't even half as ecstatic as him, feeling unwell. She leaned forth, her palms shored up on her trembling knees as she closed her eyes shut and tried to catch her breath. Rio covered up her lips with the back of her right hand.
Something stirred inside of her flat abdomen.
The world seemed to be spinning, wave after wave of nausea and dizziness attacking her thin body. She felt like throwing up out of fatigue and she knew that the best thing she could do was to leave the gym incontinently but mustering up any strength to move her sore limbs was beyond her reach.
"Huh? Uzutani? Are you alright?" She heard her sensei's voice coming from afar. Rio wanted to at least shake her head as an answer to his question but found herself unable to do even that. Fighting desperately to keep her breakfast down, she slowly realized that the humiliation - and vomiting in the middle of the gym and in front of the whole class at that was inscribing perfectly in its definition - was the price she had to pay for her perfectionism, for pushing her limits to the extremes.
But giving up had never been a phrase in her dictionary.
Suddenly, the ground vanished from under her feet as she felt a pair of strong arms lifting her up effortlessly, the side of her body crushed against a hard chest of whoever had decided to help her. With her eyes closed, she felt a sudden yet continuous waft of the air as they started moving towards the door, his warmth and - paradoxically - a rhythmical swaying of her body in his arms, making her feel better.
Still, not well enough to put down her hands she was covering her mouth with, she tried to take a deep breath through her nose.
Just when she felt her stomach tightening again, she was put down in front of the restroom's door. Somehow she managed to stumble into the small room and kneeled in front of the toilet, the heaves getting stronger now that she had been released from the warm, lulling embrace.
After she was done, she rinsed her mouth thoroughly and washed her face with cold water, feeling much better. Of course, her muscles still were sore, her legs shaking from all the effort she had put into running, but her stomach finally settled down, her breath and heartbeat back to normal again. Even her face had regained its usual, peach color.
She splashed water on her face one more time, the cold feeling so good on her smooth but still burning skin. Just as she was about to fill her joined hands again, the door suddenly opened, scaring the daylights out of her. She totally forgot that there was someone waiting for her in the corridor - the very same male who had brought her there, saving her from the amused and disgusted looks of her classmates.
It was only after she saw his face that she regretted he had done anything to help her out.
Honestly, she wished she had thrown up in the middle of the gym, having a feeling that it would be actually a lot less embarrassing and nerve-racking than standing in the small restroom, face to face with Aomine.
"You okay?"
Hearing his hoarse voice she leaned against the wall, trying to increase the distance between them, the memory of Friday night still vivid in front of her eyes. The boy lifted his eyebrow at her behavior but did nothing besides that.
But her heart was still beating nervously in her ribcage and her cheeks became red again.
After a long while of silence, during which they had been staring into each other's eyes - the navy blue ones just calm, yet somehow unpredictable, the onyx orbs resembling the ones of the roe deer trapped in the lights of a car coming straight at her - he sighed, starting to feel somehow uncomfortable in his own skin.
"I'll tell him we're not going back."
"W-Wha-..."
"The teacher. I'll tell him you're not feeling well, so we're not going back." He repeated.
Aomine was watching her tensed expression with the feeling close to confusion stirring up inside of him at the look she was giving him, even though he found pushing her buttons kind of amusing. She was easy to mess around with since she was taking everything too seriously - just like that running-test-thing - and right then, he knew Rio was afraid that he may be planning on doing something like the last time.
She pursued her pale lips, observing him intensely as if searching for a chance to slip past him and run away. They continued their staring contest for a few more seconds and broke the contact eventually when they heard someone's steps closing on them.
The feeling of relief, however, lasted only for a dozen of seconds, the awkward atmosphere creeping up on them again when the person on the corridor went past them and continued his journey down the hall. Still, it was only Rio who was actually bothered by the fact, her soul shaking with fear of what might have happened.
I'm just reading too much into this, she tried to calm herself down but when his gaze had locked with her eyes again, she looked away hugging her hands to her chest, her back pushing onto the tiled wall like if she wanted to become one with it only to become invisible for his eyes. She budged uncontrollably when he shifted his weight onto the other leg and closed her eyelids shut, waiting for him to go at her, all of the muscles in her body knotted.
But nothing really happened.
"Go to the locker room, take a shower and see the nurse."
"Huh?"
She opened up her eyes only to see him leave the restroom, with his hands shoved into his shorts' pockets.
"Just go and rest."
And with that, he was gone.
