"Come on, Noah, You can't stay mad at us forever."

The court was filed to the brim with spectators, already chanting and cheering for their teams. Ali, Manu, and I sat somewhere in the middle of the crowd, observing what was going on. the match hadn't bgun yet, os there weren't any players in the court.

i could hardly belive i was even here and I already h ad a terrible feeling about all this. However, i chose to push it away. I wasn't special to Daniel anymore, so there was no way hed look for me in the crowd. And even if he did, the place was too full for him to find me. Those facts were the only reasons why ihadn't gone apeshit with Ali and Manu yer.

i faced Ali wo had just spoken. "I'm not mad... not anymore. You should've told me though, instead of kidnaping me ad bringing me her eaganst me will."

Manu tcksed. 'technically, we didn't kidnap you--"

"Thats okay," cut in Ali with a smile. We're just glad you're not mad. Are you comfortable though?"

Was I?

"I'm not sure," I replied genuinely. i was glad t watch the game. I kinda missed seeing Daniel and te team play. But I knew this was going to hurt like hell. And there was still the tiny chance that he'd spot me, or someone else on the team would. "Let's just get out of here immediately after the game."

Ali and Manu nodded just as a whistle sounded and a voice from the speakers announced that the game was starting. Excitemnt blossomed on Ali's face while me feet went cold with worry.

players form both teams poured out onto the court from the lockerroom. i first spotted Jace, then Tae and Hyun, followed by Asher, and then...

Daniel.

It took me a moment too catch my breath on seeing him.  It'd been a week since i last did, and considering how close we were before we fell out, that was a long time. His hair was done into a ponytail on his head, and he had a deep frown etched onto his lips. I couldn't shake the guilt that settled in after that, almost choking me till i had to catch myself and take a dep breath.

There was no way he'd spot me. I was fine.

Both teams got into formation on the court and the game began. The furman team was doing a pretty decent job in the first half, taking more possession of the game than the other team. it seemed like they'd been practicing for this for a while, studying their antics and how to counter them.

And for each goal the team scored, the crowd, including Ali and Manu, wen't wild, chanting and cheering.

In the second half, the other team might have noticed that furman was onto them, so it was much tighter. so far, furman had scored five goals and the other team had scored three. With how tight the game was, Ali predicted that Furman might end up in a draw.

Honestly, I wasn't paying much interest to the game inparticular. all my attention was fixed on daniel and how fluid his movements were. he didn't seem out of it like Asher said. In fact, he seemed more put together, more focused on winning.

And win he did. In the last minute, jace passed the ball to him and he made a clear shot into the hoop, ending the game with six goals for our team and four for the other. the crowd went berserk, chanting his name like he'd just struck gold for Furman. The rest of the team, surrounded him, changing hungs and handshakes. And in the shortest of moments, I saw a small smile form on his lips.

But then, Like it was programmed for him to do so, his eyes began to scan the crowd. and despite how crowded the arena was, his eyes found mine in record time. the smile on his face fell and shattered to a million pieces.

My blood ran cold and my breath caught in my throat. Ali, noticing that id been spotted, turned to me in a frenzy. "We need to leave. Now."

It felt like I was glued to my seat, powerless to the force that was pulling me deeper into Daniel's eyes. I could almost see the anger there, and it sent chills down my spine. I turned to Ali and got up. "Yeah, we should."

No one needed to tell me twice. the three ofus got up and began making our way to the end of the seats so we could leave, me already regretting this decision and swearing death on Ali. But just as we got to the stairs to the exit, I noticed that the crowd had gone silent. 

When I looked back to where Daniel was, I noticed that he'd left and was now heading towards me. And although there was the tiny voice telling me that i wasn't that important, the later part of me knew otherwise.

Ali, manu, and I continued making our way out of the arena. I'd completely lost sight of daniel, but I hoped to heaven that he wasn't tailing me. Just as we burst out of the arena, I heard an unmistakeable voice, and all three of us stopped dead in our tracks.

"Noah, wait."

Two words. But they were enough to stop Ali, Manu, and I in our tracks. My heart pounded way, eyes wide with expectation and my heart plummeted to my toes. swallowing h ard, i spun on my heel and came face to face with Daniel. The same Daniel who didn't want anything to do with me.

Daniel had on a straight face, clad in his basketball uniform. He had his arms crossed and his spine so straight that I felt intimidated. In my head, I already knew where this was going to go, and I might have been nervous, but I didn't want him to say anything which would do more harm than had already been done.

"It's okay Daniel," I blurted out dryly. Inhaling as deep as I could. "I shouldn't be here and you don't want to see me. and that's okay. I'll just leave before I cause any more problems."

As if he hadn't heard what I said, he turned his gaze to Ali and Manu. "I need to talk to Noah. Alone."

In response to him, they mouthed an apology and hurried away. Once they were gone, the full weight of Daniel's glare turned to me. I resisted the urge to shudder partly because of the silence that followed and because he never took his eyes off of me.

It was almost like he had me where he wanted me.

But then he broke the silence. "We haven't had the chance to talk."

"We have. And we've established that you want nothing to do with me," I responded.

To my surprise, Daniel's lips turned upwards and he cracked into a small chuckle. "Would you blame me?"

"No," I said. "Which is why I was trying to leave before you'd spot me. Believe me, i didn't want to be here. Ali tricked m--"

"I shouldn't have said those things yesterday." Daiel interrupted my rambling, an unreadable expression on his face. Was he apologizing?

"Oh no, I deserved them. It's okay." I sighed, practically aching to leave from there. why did eh look so gorgeous all of a sudden? Probably because I hadn't seen him in a while.

"No, you didn't. That was a dick move and I'm sorry." Daniel had let his hair down, so his eyes were a bit hooded by his loose curls. I badly wanted my hands in them.

Bad mind. Bad!

I couldn't help but laugh a little. "I wish I could just apologise too, so we'd be even. But it's not that simple, is it?"

After a short pause, Daniel took a step towards me, something familiar but unknown burning in his eyes. "It's not that simple," He said in a low tone. "I fell for you, hard. I wanted nothing as much as I wanted to be with you. And I trusted you. So it hurt like hell when I found out everything was fake."

At the sound of him saying my feelings for him were fake, something in me snapped, and words came tumbling out. "I fell for you too, Daniel. I signed that contract because i was in a tight spot, and you were a stranger. a rude stranger, at that. I thought it wouldn't hurt.

But then I got to spend more time with you and know you. You were nothing like Chanelle said you were. And the more I got to know you, the harder I fell." My throat was beginning to thicken now, emotion welling up in my eyes. "I knew that we couldn't get anywhere because you weren't mine. Chanelle made that abundantly clear.

And it was selfish of me, but I wanted more time with you. As much time as I could get, actually. I was going to come clean, But Chanelle beat me to it. And God knows what she said to you--"

Daniel took another step towards me, his gaze darkening with each beat. then he took another step so we were just centimeters from each other. If I just reached forward, I'd touch him. 

I balled my hands into fists. "I'm sorry, Daniel." I uttered. "I'm sorry I hurt you." lifting my eyes to his, it almost shocked me how close he'd gotten.

"I don't forgive you," he said and I felt my heart crack. This was actually it. Daniel was here, telling me to go fuck myself. I took a step back to breathe, only for Daniel's hand to shoot out and wrap around my waist. almost instinctively, I froze in place, just starting at him.

"But," he continued with a small smile. "I'll forgive you if you let us start over." in one second, i was trying to figure out what he meant by 'starting over' and in the next, daniel pulled me in and planted a soft kiss on my lips.

My eyes went shut and my hand went to the back of his neck, up to his hair, and back to his shoulder. It felt like I was burning, and no matter how much the sparks were, I simply couldn't get enough. In the moments our kiss lasted, it felt like I couldn't get enough. But just when i was going to deepen the kiss, daniel pulled away with a wide smile and sparkling eyes.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Daniel Brighton. It's nice to meet you, Freshman."