When you arrived to school the next morning, Rini was talking to Oikawa, a flirtatious glimmer in her actions. She saw you and rolled her eyes, paying attention to the brunette.

This continued to happen for weeks after, you attempting to talk to her but she ignored you completely, some of her new friends commenting an insult or simply saying your new nickname whenever you passed by.

During this time period, your dad had been caught having an affair, your parents deciding to quit with their marriage and get a divorce.

Everything seemed to be falling apart around you, but one simple hour of the day never failed to bring a smile to your face.

Every day, you and Kageyama spent lunch together, a gentle conversation between you both as he messed around with his volleyball and you munched down on your bento box, you always offering him a bit of your food.

"Do you want a chocolate bar?" You smiled, reaching out your arm to him.

"No thanks." He said, setting the ball to himself.

"Are you not going to eat?" You mumbled, the chocolate bar already open and being chewed happily in your mouth.

"I will, but after I've practiced."

"Oh okay." You smiled, finishing the chocolate. "Do you want some milk?"

"What?"

"Milk." You repeated, holding out a carton to him. He hesitated.

"Yes please." He said quickly and took it from your hand and sat down on the floor next to you, sipping calmly from the straw. During this time he also grabbed his lunch from his bag, eating that as well.

"I'm going to try for the track team again after school." You blurted out to make conversation.

"Didn't you say that they made fun of you last time?" He glanced to you.

"Yeah but.. maybe if I go, Rini will be my friend again."

"That sounds a bit desperate?" He mumbled carelessly.

"Does it?" You looked down at your feet, nudging a pebble with your shoe.

"Mhm." He nodded. "They'll probably be nasty again."

"I- maybe they won't because I'm trying again!" You grinned. "Plus I'll apologise."

"For what?"

"For.." you thought about it for a few seconds. "For embarrassing Rini. And I left without telling her."

"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "That's a stupid reason to apologise."

"What? Why?"

"It's stupid."

"Please do elaborate." You rolled your eyes.

"Well... I don't know.. it's just really dumb?" He shrugged, drinking his milk again. "You didn't embarrass anyone because you tried your best, didn't you?"

"Yeah but I looked like an idiot." You sighed. "And that probably would've been bad for Rini's reputation."

"Repu- what?" He was shocked with the reasons coming out of your mouth. "That's stupid."

"Stop saying everything is stupid."

"But it is stupid." He huffed.

____________-=💛=-____________

Later in the afternoon, you changed into your sportswear again and showed up at the track field, nervously fiddling with your fingers as you waited for the other girls to turn up.

When you saw them walking towards the field as a group you bit the inside of your cheek, fighting the urge to run home instead of on the track.

"Haha! Look who it is, Rini!" A girl with a short pixie cut began laughing and pointing at you, nudging your old best friend. "Chubs!"

"What do you want." Rini bit, her snappy tone making you jump.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry Rini!" You squeezed your eyes shut in fear. "I want to be friends with you again."

She began chuckling, her laughter triggering her friends to laugh along as well.

She took a step forward and peered at you through her squinted eyes.

"I don't want anything to do with you, fat bitch." She whispered with a growl, loud enough for you and her friends to hear. This triggered tears in your eyes and you couldn't help but stutter out random words and letters in an attempt to fix whatever you'd done wrong.

"B-but I- I thought, I thought we were best friends?" You stammered with your shivering limbs.

"Well you thought wrong. Now move." She snapped, glaring down at you.

"B-but.."

"I SAID MOVE!" She screamed in your face, pushing her palms forward and shoving you to the ground, you falling backwards harshly. "You were never my best friend.. you were never my friend." Venom leaked from her words as she began unscrewing the lid on her water bottle. "You're just a waste of space, like, no wonder your parents are divorcing, it's so at least one of them doesn't have to look at your disgusting face and body any longer." She tilted the bottle as she spoke, ice cold water drenching you entirely as she tipped the whole thing over your head, the water blending with your heavy tears. During the fall, your glasses had stumbled onto the floor and the short haired girl stomped on them maliciously, the lens and frame shattering.

You scrambled from the floor and sprinted away, the echo of her friends laughing hysterically urging you to run faster.

You ran as quickly as you could through the corridors, swinging a door open as you entered the school, the wooden material slamming into someone on the other side.

You peered up from your feet, apologising profusely. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"L/N?" Kageyama spoke. "You really need to stop hitting me with doors- are you okay?" He peeked around the door and saw your drenched figure, stopping half way through his sentence.

"I- no." You sobbed, more tears spilling from your eyes.

"W-why? What happened?" He became extremely concerned and nervous, really because he didn't know how to comfort you.

You managed to stutter out the entire situation to him, uncontrollable tears overwhelming your eyelids.

"L/N." He sighed sympathetically. "C-can I give you a hug?"

You bit your lip and nodded, him awkwardly bringing his arms around you but eventually melted into it, him resting his chin on your wet hair but he didn't mind.

"I told you not to go." He scrunched his nose in frustration, not at you, but at the bitches that did this to you.

"They called me a fat bitch. And ugly." You whimpered into his chest and closed your eyes. He clenched his jaw and squeezed you tighter.

"I-I think you're really pretty." He mumbled into your hair.

"You don't have to lie, Kageyama." You breathed out. "It's okay."

"I'm not lying."

This made you pull away and look up at him, your vision blurred since your glasses were destroyed, but you still had a grateful shimmer in your E/C eyes.

"Thank you." You smiled softly, him nodding with a red honey glow on his nose and ears.

"Where are your glasses?" He tilted his head.

"A girl stomped on them."

"Bitch." He growled.

"Don't swear!" You gasped and playfully slapped his arm.

____________-=💛=-___________

When you got home you told your dad about what happened, him immediately getting in contact with the school and declared you were moving to a different middle school at the end of the term. This meant you unfortunately had to say goodbye to Kageyama but your dad was very serious about his decision.

Even though he cheated on your mum, you didn't hold it against him. She was controlling and basically insane, him falling for another woman who worked in the same job as him. He realised what he did was wrong and eventually told your mother, her going mad and throwing plates and glass cups at him. She packed her belonging and stormed out of the house, catching a train to Tokyo to live with her best friend, leaving you behind.

A few months later your dad decided he wanted to move in with his new girlfriend, but she despised the idea of living with you and being a step mother.

As your dad is wealthy from his high paying job as a solicitor, he offered for you to live in a private hostel nearby his girlfriends house. You reluctantly agreed because you knew he'd be happy for once if he was able to live with his new partner.

So, at the start of your second year in middle school you moved and the landlord of the hostel was a previous social worker, a 62 year old woman named Mio Angelio. She offers private hostel rooms to families in similar situations who can't take care of their teenagers and she provides them with a home. So you got your own room but had to share the kitchen and bathrooms with three others.

Your dad pays monthly for your rent and sends you money weekly for anything you need, so he still cared. But you still felt abandoned and that he was only doing it out of guilt.

All through your second and third years of middle school you focused on losing weight and getting healthier, you deciding to join the track team of your new middle school.

You had a lot of help from another girl that lived in the hostel, a 17 year old called Amaya Nozomi who was a very focused health guru with a passion for sports. When you asked for help, she agreed immediately and you both became really close, her becoming determined to make you feel confident in your body.

Puberty was also in your favour, your curves developing nicely and you building an athletic figure in a short time from Amaya's miracle training routine and diet, but you didn't grow much in height, barely being around 5ft.

Your dream like glow up finally happened, the timing perfect from your final year of middle school, which you spent with the track team, studying for exams, and uncovering a newfound confidence.

Even though your life was getting back on track, you still felt like something was missing. Or someone was missing.

_____________-=💛=-___________