(a/n: it seems like a lot of y'all are mad about my waffles over pancake debate from the last chapter. all i have to say is,don't hate the player,hate the game🙄✌🏾)
-
"Friday is the homecoming game against Montrose. who are you taking to homecoming?"
bakari asked as he typed on his computer.

the three boys were sitting in the twenty four hour library,trying to finish up some missing work before the marking period ended.

keith shrugged.
"nobody. you know i'm into that whole homecoming thing."

"is it because you don't have anybody to take,or because you don't wanna pop out with anybody?"
calvin mumbled.

"both."
he replied.

kari shook his head.
"i don't understand why you refuse to show emotion. if this is about michael-"

"don't say his name!"
keith whispered sternly as he looked up from his computer.

bakari rolled his eyes before going back to his work.
not bothering with trying to talk to him.

"you can't be mad at Michael forever. i mean for god sakes,he's your brother-"

"i'll be mad at him however long i want. id like to forget about him,i have his number blocked and his face out of my memory. if  you don't mind id like to keep it that way. i do t wanna see that son of a bitch in my peripheral ever again-"

"alright,calm down Hades,this isn't heaven and hell,you don't need to plot his death as we speak."
bakari mumbled.

keith shook his head,writing on his paper as he tried to forget about the situation.

"anyways,back to me. homecoming,i think i'm gonna take this girl that's in my class. Desi,she's nice."
calvin spoke.

"we talked on our way to the cafe yesterday and i think we have a lot in common."
he smiled.

"go for it. how could she say no?"
kari asked with a shrug.

"what about you?"
"you going to homecoming?"
keith asked bakari.

"nope. i'm too busy planning my birthday."
he emphasized.

"why are you saying it as if we forgot? we just talked about our plans last week."
keith clarified.

kari nodded.
"just making sure."

"anyways."
he rolled his eyes.
"what do you wanna do? out to eat,the club,-"

"the club. that new one by those fancy apartments on Salvatore. i have a friend that just got a job there,he can give us the hookup."
he shrugged.

"alright,so unless you don't want one of your best friends at your twenty first birthday party,we gotta do this Sunday."
keith explained.

"no, we can do it Saturday. homecoming ends at ten,calvin can meet us there at eleven,bring desi. and keith,you can bring beautiful,"
kari smiled goofily.

"i'm not bringing her to a club. she doesn't even drink-"

"okay so? she doesn't have to drink,have her sit and you two can talk. it's the little things keith,the little things."
he whispered.

he rolled his eyes.
"she's probably busy anyway. Derek is coming home Sunday so she probably has some sort of surprise planned for him."

"you won't know until you talk to her. Why do you think her and derek have such a good bond huh?"

"because he's good looking and everybody just love's derek."

keith said in a jealous tone.

"no. because he knows what words to use. he's a smooth criminal ,he can talk to her for hours on end and she'll never get bored."
kari explained.

"i'm not about to compete with him. that's beautiful's relationship,i'm not interested in taking his spot-"

"or are you? and you're just not saying anything. everyone knows you're shit at expressing how you feel,so it would be no surprise if you were hiding those feelings about kilani."
calvin whispered.

"come on keithy."
kari said.
"do something about it,stand your ground."

keith shook his head at the nickname.
"i don't have any ground to stand on. shit,i'm floating."

bakari rolled his eyes with a groan.
"tell me keith. you've got this fine,good looking,smart girl standing right in front of you snd you're telling me you're not interested in the slightest?"
he asked.

keith sighed as he closed his book,putting it in his bag before throwing it on his shoulders.

"i cant talk about this right now,i have to go get beautiful from work. she's expecting me."
he stated before walking away.

"come on keith! you can't hide how you feel for ever!-"

"shhhh!"
the librarian said to kari as she sat back in his seat.

"i'm sorry."

keith chuckled as he opened the door of the library,exiting the building before getting into his car and driving to kilani's job.

after ten minutes of driving,keith finally arrived at craig's shop,getting out of his car before entering the shop.

we he walked in,there were a few people sitting down at the tables eating ice cream,and Craig and remedy were at the counter talking.

"hola!"
Craig said with a smile making remedy laugh.

"como estas hoy keith ¿Alguna solicitud de helado que pueda cumplir hoy?"
he said.

"man,shut the fuck up."
keith said making them both laugh.

"where's beautiful?"
he asked as he went behind the counter,grabbing a cup before scooping some random ice cream flavor.

"she's in the bathroom changing. you going to the game?"
he asked as he grabbed remedy's hand,laying a kiss on it.

"what game?"
he asked,scooping his ice cream.

"the soccer game. beautiful's playing today at 6,we're gonna go support."
he replied.

"i thought she just had practice? she never told me about a game."
he shrugged.

"oh well,if you do go,save us a good seat. i have to close up the shop early so we might be a few minutes late."
he told him.

beautiful apologized as she walked out the restroom in her red and white uniform with the number twelve on the back.

"sorry,i was changing,i meant to text you. come on,i have to be there two hours before the game starts."
she said as she walked towards the door.

"call us when you get there!"
remedy yelled as keith let the door close,before rushing to his car.

keith watched as kilani hopped into the car,keith doing the same before beginning their drive to the field.

keith turned the soft music down slightly as he glanced over at her.

"hey,why didn't you tell me you had a game today? i thought it was just practice."
he asked.

"oh!"
she asked shocked.
"i don't know. i didn't think it really mattered."
she shrugged.

"but,i invited you to my game. why not let me come to yours?"
he asked.

"i told you, i'm benched most games. my parents don't even come to see my games. they don't live close but if they did,i doubt they would come anyway."

she shrugged.

"then i'll come."
he stated,making her look at him in disbelief.

"come to what-"

"your game. i don't have anything else to do,so why not?"
he told her.

"really?"
she asked,as the smile on her face grew,making him nod.

"thank you."

-

"it is officially half time,the game will resume in twenty minutes. during this time,fee free to stretch out your legs, use the bathroom and visit our concession stand on the west side of the field."
the announcer stated as people got up.

keith sighed,standing up as he watched the coach huddle together the team,telling them what they needed to do.

keith watched as they broke off before their coach told them to get a drink.

"the game is almost over and she still hasn't put her in."
remedy commented as her and Craig appeared next to keith.

keith shook his head.
"she's wasting her time. she has her coming to every game and she's not even letting her play,this is bullshit."

Craig agreed.
"she does this every game too. and the thing is,beautiful isn't a bad player-"

"damn right she isn't. i've watched her play,she's good,damn good. she just needs a little more confidence."
keith shrugged.

"but how can she gain it when she's not even giving her a chance?"
remedy asked,as they watched beautiful congratulate her teammates from the bench.

keith scratched behind his neck.
"i'm gonna go talk to her."
he said,waking down the bleachers.

"to who? beautiful?"
Craig asked as keith shook his head.

"the coach."

keith marched down the bleachers in a hurry before tapping the coach on the shoulder.

the middle aged,brunette turned around confusedly,waving off the athlete she was talking to before they walked away.

"may i help you-"

"can i talk to you? ms-"

"ms. dee. do i know you?"
she asked as she folded her arms.

"no,but you're gonna."
he replied.

"why won't you put beautiful in?"
keith asked as he copied her movements with his arms.

she tilted her head.
"beautiful?-"

"kilani. the one you always have on the bench."
she said,pointing at beautiful.

"oh"
she sighed.
"she's an average player. she's not horrible but most times,there's just no purpose for her in the game-"

"so why have her on the team if you're not gonna let her play?-"

"i don't force these girls to play. they tryout on their own-"

"oh my bad"
he rolled his eyes.
"i meant,why would you let her on the team if you're not gonna let her play?"

she shrugged.
"sports are good on any record. some are more prominent than others,kilani just happens to be in the others category."

"but she can play! you're not even giving her a chance-"

"calm down keith."
remedy assured him as her hand landed on his shoulder.

"are you her family member,is that what this is about?-"

"no. we're not related."
he replied making her nod.
"so you're her boyfriend-"

"no! i'm not."

he clarified.
"I'm her friend,and I'm upset."

"well to be fair,kilani doesn't seem too upset about it, therefore why should you be?"
she asked.

he scoffed.
"kilani's not gonna tell you if she is upset,that's why i'm standing here talking to you."

"kilani's form needs work. she a dedicated athlete but i need to see more-"

"how can you see anything when you're not giving her even the slightest chance to prove herself? listen to me,you see that score?"

he said pointing at the score which showed that they were indeed losing.

"your team, average players and all,is losing. and judging from the other team,they're not gonna win any time soon. i'm not saying she's gonna blow this game out of the water and win this thing for her whole team but the least you could do is allow her to showcase the hard work that she has put in,because i'll be damned if i watch one more person crush her confidence anymore than everybody fucking else already has!-"

"keith! that's enough."
Craig stopped him as he stepped up.

she hummed,glancing at the three of them,especially keith before grabbing her clipboard glancing down at it.

"Braxton! get out there!

-

"i'll see you later! call me when you get to the house!"
remedy waved to beautiful as they got into their rides.

beautiful sighed as she let the window down while keith drove away from the field.

"i saw you out there. you did incredible."
he told her,glancing at her from the road.

"i was only in for a few minutes but i think i did okay-"

"you did great."
he clarified again making beautiful's face heat up before looking away.

"thanks. it's so weird though. she never lets me play,first i'm glued to the bench, then all of a sudden i'm being called onto the field? it's like she had a change of heart or something."
she smiled.

"oh yeah, definitely a change of heart."
he mumbled.

"you hungry? i was gonna get some food before i dropped you off,i was thinking canes-"

"yes."
she stated quickly making them both laugh.

"you gotta stop eating like this,every time i see you,you never turn down food."
he laughed.

"what do you mean? this is an us problem,don't blame me."
she mumbled.

"right. an us problem, my favorite problem."

-

"i can hear you crunching through the speaker."
keith commented making beautiful laugh.

he smiled.
"your laugh is nice,it reminds me of my moms."
he said,unlocking his door.

"yours is bad."
she said in a timid tone making him gasp in disbelief.

"what do you mean? my laugh is great-"

"no."
she giggled.

"whatever."
he kissed his teeth.
"anyway, i gotta go. i'll call you later?"

"yeah. call me whenever,bye keith."
she said softly before the line went out.

"bye."

keith pushed the door in as he noticed kari and calvin sitting on the couch,watching tv.

"oh look who it is!"
kari exaggerated.
"finally!"

keith closed the door as he slipped off his shoes,leaning against the door.

"what's wrong with you?"
Calvin asked as keith stared off at the ceiling.

"hello?"
kari said snapping his fingers as keith let out a sigh.

"mother fucker are you deaf or something?"
he asked confused as they both got up,walking towards him.

keith shook his head.

"then what's wrong?"
calvin asked.

keith broke his gaze off from the ceiling,looking at the two in front of him before saying,

"i think i like beautiful."

-