Kendall zipped through the parking lot, desperately looking for a spot to park, so that she could get out and see Daniel.

She couldn't understand why she was so excited. She told herself it was because she was keen to see his ego crushed when the other team won.

That was a lie of course.

At last, she found a space and leaping from the car, jogged up to the venue entrance.

She entered the gigantic hall, trying to appear calm and collected, and scoured the room for the cheeky brunette boy she spent so much time with these days.

There was practically no one in the hall and for a moment she was concerned she'd arrived too early. It didn't look as though they'd even warmed up yet. Then she spotted him on the bleachers with his team. The moment he noticed her, he began a slow jog towards her.

He wore that gorgeous smile that was reflected in her own eyes as he arrived at where she was standing.

"You came," he said, breathless.

"I did. Am I early?" she asked, confused.

He nodded. "Yeah, but I told you to come now because I wanted you here early."

Her eyebrow lifted. "Why?"

He smirked down at her. "Well, you're pretty much a genius at everything. Thought maybe you could watch me warm up and give me a few pointers."

"You better be joking," she deadpanned.

He laughed and folded his arms across his basketball jersey. "Yeah I am. There's nothing you could teach me about this sport; there's barely anything left for coach to teach me."

"Modest too," she said, giggling.

He grinned smugly and winked. "You'll see."

He waved to her and began jogging back towards his team, who were starting their warm up. She went and leaned against the wall behind the hoop, so she could watch.

After five minutes of warm up drills, they each grabbed a ball and began doing their own rituals. Most of them were just dribbling and shooting every now and then.

Daniel dribbled the ball up the court towards the hoop in front of Kendall, pretending not to have noticed her. As he went for a lay-up his eyes darted to Kendall, as though he'd just spotted her. The ball bounced off of the hoop's ring.

"Nice hands," Kendall said, giggling.

Daniel picked up his ball and smirked. "Nice legs."

Her breath caught in her throat and her cheeks turned bright red.

Kendall was left stunned for the third time that Friday, as he jogged back towards the rest of the team.

***

The game had been going surprisingly well for Daniel; his team was in the lead and he had scored 90% of the baskets.

Kendall fixated on the game, with Kai seated next to her. He had tried talking to her multiple times but she was far too interested in watching Daniel to engage in any kind of conversation.

Half time came around and Kendall released a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. She had no idea she would enjoy herself this much.

Kai bumped her shoulder and she looked over to see him wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself," he said.

"Yeah, I am," she nodded.

"You seem to always enjoy yourself when you're around Daniel," he said suggestively.

"I'm just a happy person, Kai," Kendall scoffed.

"It's okay, he's the same when he's around you."

She looked at Kai inquisitively.

"Just don't tell him I told you that," he added.

"That's probably because it's not true," she said dismissively and looked away.

"It is absolutely, completely true. Is it so hard to believe that you make someone happy just by being around them? You're a really good person, Kendall. I'm sure there are plenty of people whose mood improves just from your presence. Your family perhaps? I bet they adore you and cherish your very existence." Kai stated this as though it was definitely the case.

Kendall laughed inwardly. Firstly, from hearing one of the school's most notorious bad boys using the word 'perhaps', and secondly from the assumption that her parents valued her presence even slightly. She was absolutely certain that her mother would not even bat an eye if she dropped dead. And her father hadn't even stuck around even to hold his new baby.

She didn't tell Kai that.

She never told anyone.