Rising Shards

Marms and I decided to do something together before the prom shopping event, but figuring out exactly what we could do was tougher than I expected. I don't know what fried my brain there, I was keyed up after the meet, probably a bit foggy after the bus nap, and then working through the embarrassment of my mom being all questioning...maybe all that jammed me up.

"We could game a bit," Marmalade suggested. "Or watch something?"

"Either works for me," I said.

Just heading back to our room for a bit was the initial plan, whether we got distracted along the way was another thing. Right as we got to the girls' dorms, a potential distraction arrived. Ko Matora sprinting toward us, bent over like she was gonna headbutt me.

"The hell?" I said as Ko zipped around us, hiding behind me.

"Can I borrow you for like five seconds?" Ko whispered. "Thanks."

Marmalade shuffled a little closer to me, not knowing what she was hiding Ko from but guessing that me alone wouldn't completely block her from view. Ko put a hand on each of our lower backs, I guess that worked better for hiding or something?

"Talk casually or something!" Ko hissed.

"So, uh, you...see the leaks about Tyrant Rangers: Next Beyond?" Marmalade said.

"Wait, were there actually leaks on it?" I asked.

Whatever Ko was doing was almost forgotten by this news, I was obsessed with Tyrant Rangers and any news on the next game was huge for me.

"Yeah, it's..." Marmalade stopped for just a second, seeing who Ko was hiding from. "I downloaded it before it got pulled. Maybe fake, but it seems genuine to me. I could...show you the trailer later...or now, I guess?"

The source of Ko's hiding revealed itself, that Echela girl, Roxana. She was looking around, probably for Ko, passing by us. Once she was out of sight, Ko finally let go of her weird lower back clamping.

"Phew," Ko said.

"Why are you avoiding her? Isn't she way into you?" I asked.

Ko scratched her head. "Yeah, we have a lot of unfinished business between us. Things were going pretty good, all things considered, but you know. She's really hard to get out of orbit of."

"I don't really know," I said.

"That doesn't really explain why you went all hide and seek with her," Marmalade said.

"It's...complicated," Ko said. "I like her, but I still just broke up with Lillia...I know Roxie wants to dive right in, but I can't yet. But I feel like I'm gonna. Today I'm avoiding her because I made a stupid bet that if I got less than twelve points I'd give her a kiss, and..."

"We were at the meet, you got less than twelve points," I said. "Dumbass bet to take, not gonna lie."

"Yeah, well, some people make you stupid," Ko said. "I better go, thanks for being a good wall, you two."

"Yeah, sure," I said as Ko darted off.

Ko apparently broke up with Lillia because she was afraid she'd get into drama not being able to stay out of this Roxana girl's orbit. I didn't know Roxana enough to get why being around her was such an issue for Ko. Could they just like not hold back making out with each other? I couldn't imagine having someone like that, someone you couldn't resist, someone to ruin relationships over that you still had too much drama with to be with long term. But with Ko's pot stirring even just in friendships, maybe the drama is what she was really into. It did make me wonder if I'd ever have anyone I'd get stupid over. I guess Nikki, but as soon as it turned out she was dating someone else that wrecked the crush, it didn't make me want to keep chasing her. I hoped if I got stupid over anyone, it'd be the fun kind, and not the 'ruin my reputation with everyone else' kind.

"I was expecting her to ask to hang out too," I said.

"I'm...glad she didn't," Marms said. "Ko's alright, but..."

"She's a lot, yeah," I said.

"I was going to say I want to hoard all my Kalei time to myself, but I guess that's also true," Marmalade said.

"Heh..." I wasn't sure what to say to that, or how to process the strange churning in my gut that it gave me. I told myself it was just indigestion. "It must be exhausting being her."

"Says the girl juggling school, beam chasers, and some side business," Marmalade said, elbowing me. "Some Downside business, eh?"

"Oh, come on," I laughed. "That's way different. There's an idea, though, you want to do a quick round of Downside before the shopping thing?"

"No," Marmalade answered bluntly. "What would we even do? Plus, I'm worn out after the meet. Like I'm not super exhausted, but I don't wanna push it physically."

"True, true," I said.

We ended up back at my room. It was just us, and unless Zates popped up that wasn't changing for a bit.

I yawned as I stretched, "So you're gonna show me that Tyrant Rangers leak, yeah?"

"Absolutely," Marmalade said. She stopped before she reached her bed. "Hey, first though...can I say something maybe weird?"

"I say something weird pretty much every time we talk, so sure," I said.

Marmalade turned around, then rushed for me. It was like that feeling I had just a bit earlier with Ko running at us, was she gonna tackle me? Instead, she went a different way, wrapping her arms around me like we'd been apart for years.

"You...were really cool on the court," Marmalade said.

"Thanks...?" I said. I was so surprised that it took me a second to hug her back. Had we hugged before? Her hair smelled really nice, and felt really smooth as it went all the way down to the middle of her back.

She gave me that grin again. "Thanks for indulging me."

"I...what was the weird part?" I asked.

"Ah...well, when we were playing, I was watching you, and I thought to myself, 'she's so cool, I want to hug her for being so cool,' so I decided I was going to give you a hug afterwards. Then spent the whole bus ride wondering if that was weird. So, sorry if it was weird."

"I...don't think it was weird..." I said. It was weird in the sense that I was off guard again. My stomach had that churning feeling again, like I ate something that was on fire, but like...a happy fire. I scratched the back of my head. "Ow...huh?"

That hurt way more than it should have. I pulled my hand forward, and Marmalade jolted, as my left arm alone was in Downside mode.

"This is a new one, maybe..." I said.

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