"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥?" 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 grandfather. You had been telling him about yesterday's game and other things that had occurred during the week, but the one thing he had latched onto was the mention of the dance.
"Um, Yeah?" You said as you ate some of your salad before turning to your schoolwork.
"Your mother was in charge of that when she was in school," he noted, and at this, you finally perked up. "She was so busy making sure everything was running smoothly, your father had to beg for a dance with her." He laughed at the thought before turning to you. "Have you been asked yet?" You shook your head.
"Nope," you sad proudly. "I've already planned what movies I'm going to watch that night—"
"Absolutely not," your grandfather said, and you cringed, remembering that you hadn't intended to tell him about the dance until you either had a guaranteed date or after it was over, and now you remembered the reason why.

"I won't allow my granddaughter to miss out on such a once-in-a-lifetime moment. If you don't have a date, sign up to be on the decoration committee or something but you're going to that dance. "

"How do I sign up for the decoration committee for the Winter Formal?" You asked, rolling your eyes as you were met with the rude receptionist from the front office. She rolled her eyes as she took out a piece of paper and put it in front of you.
"Fill that out and leave it in the mailbox beside the student government meeting room." You picked up the paper and looked over it.

Name... grade... schedule... interests...qualifications...

Pretty basic stuff but whatever.

"Where's the student government meeting room?" You asked the receptionist only to be met with a vague, ' dunno' and you were quick to leave the office.

"Decoration committee?" Chigiri read the paper you took out after your studying session. You had some time to kill now that you were done, and you finally decided to fill it out.
"Yeah," you sighed, somewhat embarrassed. You were sure he knew as well as you did that decoration was far from anything you were interested in. "I wasn't planning on going until Isagi asked me, but he doesn't seem like he's going to, but my grandfather said I'd have to go anyway, so this is the next best thing." A sudden thought came to mind, and you smirked at the striker. "I bet you've gotten plenty of requests, pretty boy," you mocked, using the name some of the opposing teams had called him but you turned back down to your paper before you could see his face explode in red.

"I've gotten a few," he said, struggling to sound casual. "But I've all turned them down so far."
"And whys that?" You asked.
"I've never been interested in those types of things," he shrugged. "And there's only one person I'd ask if I had to, but I'm hardly good enough for her."
"You should totally shoot your shot," you said encouragingly. "I'll be rooting for you, and the worse thing she can say is no." Chigiri lowered his head, staring at you longingly.

If only it were that easy.

"It's gonna rain today," you said as you got a notification from your phone about the weather.
"As if that'll stop Ego," Chigiri scoffed.
"And it's gonna be cold," you warned, but the redhead merely sighed, already exhausted at the thought.
"We'll warm up." You groaned as you leaned back in your chair.
"But when the whole team gets sick, and nobody can play, he's gonna get mad...Done!"

You smiled as you finished your decoration committee application before checking the clock.

Five minutes before the bell.

You turned to Chigiri.

"Wanna walk to the Student Government room with me to turn this in?"

Those who went off campus to get food were beginning to return, so the halls were somewhat littered with students, but it hadn't grown crowded yet.
"So, are we meeting in the library tomorrow?" Chigiri asked hopefully.
"Sorry, I need to help Bachira with his Japanese classwork," you said. "I don't know how he ended up in advanced classes, but he seems to be struggling in there." Chigiri's frowned at your words. He clenched his fists as he watched you place your paper in the mailbox right as the bell rang.
"But I should be free the day after, alright?"
"Sure."

You walked into your medical science class to see Nagi sitting by himself with his face in his phone. He was so engrossed in his game, it took you walking over to him and covering his eyes with your hands to make him finally realize your presence.
"Guess who," You joked, and Nagi pouted.
"Hey, don't cover my eyes, then I won't be able to see your pretty face," he whined, and you laughed as you moved to sit beside him.
"Where's Reo?" You asked once the bell rang and the striker still wasn't in his seat.
"Skipping school," Nagi said. "He said he doesn't feel good, but he sounded fine."
"He's probably avoiding his fan girls," you guessed, motioning to the girls that were always talking about him. One of them shot you a glare when you met their gaze, and you were quick to glare back at them before turning back to Nagi. "I mean, he can take anyone to the dance that he wants." You lowered your voice to mock his, and Nagi laughed, eyes never leaving your form. "Even if we do some work in here, without Reo we'll probably still fall behind." You sighed. There was still a week and a half left to finish the paper, but due to personal interest, you wanted to finish it and do it right.
"We could meet up at Reo's house again," Nagi said hopefully.
"No, I'm probably going to be busy this weekend," you said, and he frowned.
"Doing what?"
"Dress shopping," you said with sarcastic enthusiasm. "I was hoping Isagi would ask me to the dance, but even if he doesn't, I'm still being forced to go, so I decided to sign up for the decoration committee "
"I'll go with you," Nagi offered, and you laughed.
"No way you'd rather go to a dance when you can stay home and sleep," you said, finally taking out your work. Nagi did the same, to your surprise, and began working without you having to ask.

"Hey, new girl." You were at your locker when you heard someone who was no doubt referring to you, but you didn't acknowledge them as you grabbed your stuff for practice and walked past them. When you turned, you saw it was four girls, all glaring at you.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" One of them grabbed your shoulder, but you quickly yanked away.
"First of all, don't touch me," you said, dusting off your sleeve. "Second of all, I've been here too long to be called new girl, and even if I haven't, that's still not my name."
"That doesn't matter." The one that had first called you spoke. You recognized her from your PE class. Her name was Mai, if you remembered correctly. You watched as she dug in her bag before looking over the other girls. Some of the girls were in the group that would fawn over Reo in your medical science class, and others you vaguely remembered seeing in the stands and trying to run up and talk to the players before and after and sometimes even during the game. Mai finally pulled out an envelope and held it out to you.
"Give this to Reo." You stared at the envelope blankly before looking up at her.
"Why can't you give it to him yourself?" You asked, only for one of her friends to let out a huff of frustration.
"That's none of your business," she said as Mai tried to shove it into your hands, but you, in turn, stepped back. "You have all these cronies, but I have to be the one to do this?" You questioned, growing irritated.

At this rate, these girls were going to make you late.

"Because I heard Nagi say that you've been to his house. You can put in a good word for me or something." That's when it clicked. This was some sort of love letter. She wanted you, someone she'd never met, to hook her up with Reo.
"Yeah, no." You tried to walk around her again, but one of her friends stopped you.

"You think I don't know what you're doing?" She asked, and you raised a brow, truly intrigued as you crossed your arms over your chest.

"And what is that?"
"I've seen you flirting with Reo and Nagi and the other members of the soccer team," another said. "Always spending time with one of them. You're probably just their whore aren't you?" You looked her up and down.

They've been eye fucking Reo all class and have the nerve to say anything about you?

"Get out of my way," you demanded, and Mai's face suddenly spread into a wide grin as she stepped aside. You looked around at her and the other girls, but as you walked by, you felt hands on your back, shoving you and making you fall to your knees, catching yourself with your hands as the girls laughed.
"Oh, I wonder if Reo fucked you like that," she said. "Or maybe Nagi?" The rest of them laughed as you stood up slowly, dusting yourself off and adjusting your skirt, back still facing them.
"What? Gonna go tell Reo—" In the middle of her sentence, you swung around, fist connecting with Mai's jaw with force strong enough to make her head swing to the side as she stumbled back.

"You bitch!" You weren't able to move as another came, punching you dead in the eye. You were the one to stumble back this time, allowing another to grab your hair, throwing you into a locker as Mai punched you in the stomach.

"You just fucked up big time."

You sat on your knees, coughing and wheezing as you tried to get up.
"How pathetic," Mai said, throwing the letter down at your feet. "I expect that letter to be delivered to Reo." You tried to get up, only for her to kick you again, and she and her friends laughed as they walked away.

You grabbed the letter, shoving it into your bag as you grabbed your things and headed for the exit.

Fuck this school, fuck Reo and all his fucking fan girls.

You walked in the cold rain across the street, opening the door to see a note on the shoe rack.

Taking care of your spoiled self is hard work. Just got called for a last-minute business trip. I'll be home soon, and we can go shopping for the formal.

love you

—Grandpa

Tears filled your eyes as you rushed to the bathroom, looking in the mirror at your bruised and bloodied face and rapidly swelling eye.

Fuck this