Suga and I arrived on time. Everyone was sitting down. Suga gave me a kiss on the forehead. "Good luck, Sugar." I laughed, making me de-stress a bit. I told him not to call me Sugar again, but he just winked at me before he went to sit with the volleyball team.

The volleyball teams. Both of them. They were rooting for me. I could tell by their bright faces and encouraging smiles. They had seen me work and they believed in me. I felt like tearing up.

I had to sit in the front with the rest of the contestants. On my way, Ishida gave me a thumbs up and Kaneko gave me a confident smile. She was part of the photography club, so she was allowed to sit by my side.

More people than I thought had participated, which made me uneasy. I breathed in. The noise of the room quickly died when the organizers began to talk.

"Welcome, Karasuno High School, to the first photography event," said a woman. "We are very excited about this contest, since we're very happy to discover that young people enjoy the noble art of photography. Your projects were submitted three days ago and after long hours discussing, we finally found the winner of this edition."

Wow, straight to the point. I liked these people.

The woman passed the microphone to her partner on the table.

"Good morning, Karasuno," said the headmaster of the other school. "I won't add much more. Just say that the winner will receive an invitation to our prestigious photography school. Nevertheless, your work will be exposed and other schools and agencies will be able to see it."

"Well" I whispered to Kaneko," if I don't win, I'll still have a shot, as small as it may be."

"You are going to win," she whispered back, and looked at the front again.

"It was a very difficult choice, since all the projects are excellent and we are so glad to see such a good level among yourselves. We've had trouble deciding between two girls in particular: misses y/n and Yamada. Both were excellent, congratulations."

I swear my heart stopped beating for a second. Yamada looked happy, but I could see the murderous glare directed at me under that smile. I wondered for the first time what this meant for her. Was this her only chance like me? Probably not, I didn't know her parents, but I didn't imagine them denying her anything.

"So, without further ado, the winner of this first edition in Karasuno High School is..."

I held my breath and grabbed Kaneko's hand.

"Yamada Ayame," announced the man.

What happened next occurred like in slow motion.

My first thought was Ayame? That's her name? Haha it's ugly.

Then, slowly, I understood what her full name being stated meant. Kaneko squeezed my hand and looked at me. She spoke soothing words, but I couldn't hear them. My vision was blurred by tears, I felt a hole in my stomach and I had a lump in my throat.

My second thought: End of story. That was it. My career was over. Sure, agencies could see my photos, but that didn't mean anything. And, anyway, my parents would never let me do something risky like that. My only chance was by winning an invitation to the school. It was an ambitious and impossible goal. Of course I'd lost.

Yamada stood up to receive whatever diploma she needed. She looked delighted, red cheeks as she spoke with the people on the desk. She had the nerve to flash me a smug grin. I told you you'd lose, she seemed to be saying.

"Hard work has its reward and here is yours," said the man. "Miss Yamada, we would love to see you in our school."

"NO!" I bursted out.

Everyone looked at where I was sitting and started muttering, but I wasn't embarrassed. Something was off. Hard work, reward... It triggered something in my brain. Kaneko whispered "what are you doing? Are you insane?" This time it was me who gave her the confident smile.

"Excuse you, miss," said the woman who had introduced the event. "You can't do that, it's very disrespectful."

"Let it be," said the headmaster. "I want to know what this is about. Care to explain yourself, miss?"

"My project was stolen by Yamada," I declared.

More murmurs. More teachers trying to silence the room again.

"That can't be right," said the headmaster, patiently. "We have received your project."

"That is correct," I said. "Because luckily, I had a copy. But she stole the original and I can prove it."

Kaneko snorted and whispered: "you luckily had a copy?"

"If you'll accompany me, I will take you to the original one. It's in Yamada's photography locker."

"How do you know that? If you've seen it in there, that doesn't make you any better than miss Yamada."

It does because I didn't steal anything, I thought angrily. "If I were her and I'd done that, that's where I would keep it," I simply said.

The woman was outraged, but the headmaster seemed to enjoy the mishap and followed me to the lockers. My photography teacher came along, because she had the keys. I knew I had lied and I didn't like to do that, but I was not going to let that snake steal my chance.

I took the headmaster to the lockers and kindly asked my teacher to open Yamada's. I pretended to look for it and finally opened the small pencil case.

"Oh, here it is," I showed it to him. "It has my initials drawn with a pen, see? But we should see the files in it."

"Most certainly," he just said.

We went back to the event room in complete silence. I was nervous about walking by his side and everything was extremely awkward, but I didn't dare say anything.

The headmaster went to the table, picked up a camera and then introduced the memory card. I could almost hear the crowd gasping. After taking a good look at it, he spoke.

"There has indeed been a theft. Miss Yamada is disqualified for such miserable behaviour. We don't want that in our school, we want honest people. And miss y/n here wasn't even going to tell anybody, miss Yamada."

My heart pounded and my vision blurred again, but these were happy tears. Everybody started clapping and cheering. No one likes a cheater.

I was congratulated by everyone on the desk and I was given a letter with my invitation. After that, I was asked to dedicate some words. I didn't really want to, but I figured I should do it.

"I'm not sure what I should say," I began. "I am deeply grateful about this, it has always been my dream. I'd also like to thank both the male and female volleyball teams for making my project possible, not to mention the huge support they've been. And, of course, my buddies Ishida and Kaneko. All this wouldn't have been possible without them. I'd also like to mention our photography teacher. Thank you all for this amazing opportunity. I hope this can continue for many years and that it fulfils lots of dreams."

Long round of applause.

"That was quite a speech for not knowing what to say," joked the headmaster. "We thank you all for being here today. This event is now over. See you next year."

More applause.

When we got out, I managed to reunite both teams and my other two friends. It was all a happy celebration.

"Told you, airhead," teased Ishida.

"If you say you won because Yamada got disqualified, I'm calling the school to tell them you don't want to go," said Kaneko. "They said it was a difficult choice. They didn't have to, but they did."

I was so moved I couldn't even talk, so I just hugged them.

"Congratulations once more, y/n." This was Yui. "So happy the team could help."

"You'll win the tournament, just like I won mine," I assured her.

Finally, Suga managed to come to me with the brightest smile I'd ever seen and didn't think twice before taking me into his arms and kissing me. Everyone cheered and I felt my cheeks burning.

"Isn't it so cool, Kageyama?" was saying Hinata. "She's gonna be a famous photographer and she took pictures of us!! Can you believe it?"

"Yeah, I guess it is cool," Kageyama said. Deep down, I knew he was just as excited as Hinata.

"I'm glad I was able to help," said Yamaguchi.

"You have no idea how much," I smiled at him.

"Good job, y/n," said Daichi.

"Thanks, captain. Hey, where's Shimizu?"

"Over here," said a female voice.

Little by little, everyone calmed down and gradually left.

"Hey, girls!" I said, before they went. "You better win that tournament next weekend!"

"You bet!"

"You too, boys, I guess," I said, feigning indifference.

They just laughed. "We won't lose!"

It was one of the best days of my life.

Happiness and celebration!! Vote and comment :D