In for the win

Chapter 5

AMARA

I'm freezing my butt off coming home. It's really cold in winter here at BHU. Even if I'm covered with 3 layers and my scarf, I still feel like my north face jacket isn't doing anything to keep me warm. A mist of steam escapes from my mouth with each exhalation I take. I go to the car park and unlock my jeep. It was a gift, from my grandparents. I swear it's the best gift ever. I climb in and close the door behind me. I check my mirrors before backtracking and drive away. These three tutoring hours have been the most demanding I have ever endured. I know he was trying his best, but Ethan isn't really bright in History. I don't even know how he got his scholarship, but I'm sure it's not thanks to school stuff. I bet his daddy paid everything like half the student-athlete party. I don't find that really fair. I had to work my ass off to get a scholarship, and some people like him just get away with it I guess.

Ten minutes later I arrive at Bayview Street. I park my car in front of the building and walk in. I have approximately 15 minutes to get ready and head out to practice. I've been waiting for those volleyball hours since midday, it was really going to get my mind off things. As I enter our apartment, I meet Jade coming out. "See you at practice. I'm heading out to the shop beforehand. Do you need anything?" She asks. "Uhm, can you buy me that face cream I use, you know the one I really like?" "The one with the blue printout?" "Yep that's the one". She nods and skips down the stairs. Then I suddenly remember. "Buy some Orange juice too!" I shout from the hall. She pops her head from the staircase and shoots me a thumbs up. Good I won't have to drink bad juice anymore.

Bag in hand, I make my way to the sports arena. Half of the team is already paired up with their warm-up buddy, and I can see Hannah waiting up for me gestating me to hurry the fuck up. I look around the room, and to my greatest surprise, The Himbrey isn't here. Hannah seems to think what I'm thinking because she stops what she was doing to do a little joy dance. I tie my shoelaces, put on my kneecaps, tighten my ponytail, and run towards her. "Never late you are" she says, smashing the ball onto my forearms. "I'm sorry the blizzard made me late". False. Truth was, I couldn't find my shoes before going, so I lost five minutes finding them. I bounce the ball on the tip of my fingers, and smash it towards Hannah. We go on peppering for about ten minutes, when Coach Carter makes us stop and run for a bit. When we finish, we all go to our spots and start training. I'm a libero, which means I'm basically on the floor all the time. Hannah's a right side hitter, she's huge, so you wouldn't like being defence on the other side. Jade and Monica are setters, Sam, Candace are middle hitters, Margot is an outside hitter. Mikayla, Jess and Sasha are substitutes, but they all play super well. Margot is our captain, but she's leaving in two month, so she'll have to decide whom to give the captain role. Today's training went by at a flying speed, and before we knew it, we were enjoying a well-deserved shower. Mikey was really happy with us, and congratulated us for a good play. To my greatest pleasure, Aubrey didn't show up, so I wasn't so tense as usual. When she's watching, I feel like she's judging me, just like my parents used to do. So I freak the hell out and mess up. My teammates feel it and try to ease me up.

*HOUSEWIVES OF BHU*

amara: I'm at the sushi place. Thinking about       take away. who's down?
jade: oohh. bring me some. Number #15 for me
hannah: normal makis for me, and noodles. btw I'm coming over.
candace : same than Jade please
monica : spending the night at Timmy's wished I could *sad face
amara : perfecto. But you're all paying me this isn't charity *winky face

I'm trying to balance 4 bags of Japanese food, and if I were to be a waitress, I'd absolutely nail it. I open the door to the apartment with my foot "Thanks for the help assholes" I shout between my teeth. Candace comes rushing to me and unburdens me of the bags. "Yum. Smells good." A few minutes later, we're all around the counter, devouring delicious sushi and noodles, gossiping away. "How's tutoring with BHU's most wanted" Candace teases, a noodle dripping out of her mouth. "Oh shut up" I chuckle banging her fingers with my chopsticks. "He isn't such a star in History than he claims to be in hockey"I shoot back "I bet he's a star in bed though" Hannah chuckles, joining in the conversation. "You're all sick. It isn't like that. I'm not attracted to him in that way, and I'm sure it's the same for him. Plus I don't plan in being in a relationship too remember?" "You and your stupid rule" Candace chortles rolling her eyes at me mockingly. "Hi I'm Amara. I don't want to fuck guys till graduation because I don't want the complications of dating"she says trying to imitate me. All the girls burst out laughing. She's using a high-pitch voice which in no way sounds like my voice. "Come on, I'm in no way like that" I blurt out. "Sure Mom." I shoot a shocked face and hit Jade's arm with one of my chopstick. "Not cool". We laugh. I love them. We get along super well and I couldn't possibly wish for better roomies than them.

My no-dating rule till graduation was well know from my team. They often joked about it, but I couldn't care less. I established it for my own personal well-being. It couldn't be that hard. No committing till I graduate. Not. Complicated. I had a tight schedule, and boyfriends were only going to slow me down. I've had some one-night-stands, but nothing ever serious. One blowjob here and there wasn't going to affect my schoolwork wasn't it? No it wasn't. I've only had two boyfriends in my life before, and I can say that it's enough. I dated Brad in high-school but he cheated on me, so I couldn't really stay with him any longer. Then I dated Michael for a year and a half. He was really sweet and cared a lot for me. At a point it was even too much. I felt like I couldn't breathe. He was everywhere. He was invading my personal life, and one day I couldn't take it anymore, so I broke up with him. Since then, nothing. Not that it bothered me. Quite the contrary. It's easier to fool around with people you don't care about, than fooling around with people you do care about. Sure I had had the opportunity to go on dates with guys from BrookHills, but I never really took a particular interest in them.

—

It was about 10pm when Hannah left. Jade and Candace joined me on the sofa, and we fought for remote control power. Jade won so she put on Pretty Little Liars. She's been obsessed with this series since she was little and made us watch every single episode of every season. Trust me, if I ever had to answer a trivia on it being threatened to death, I'd be safe. I know everything. But after a while it starts  getting boring. We look at each other with Candace and simultaneously frown. She start talking to me, but  can't even finish her sentence, because she's thrown a pillow to the head. Jade is staring at her with a death stare. Candace humorously puts her hands together, mimicking a prayer. God forbid we ever interrupted Aria Montgomery from asking her teacher/sneaky link a question.