.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

3. KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

To make a girl fall for you, you need to first start it right – approach her with an open attitude and with as much charm as you've got. Keep her engaged, be a little flirty, but don't be too upfront. Make quality conversations and avoid small talk.

For example: Ask about something unique related to her job or hobbies, and that will help you to keep the conversation low-key and let it evolve naturally.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

     "So, are you going to try out the third step today?" Iwaizumi takes a large bite out of his onigiri, his breakfast. The third-years are walking to school in the normal morning routine, yet this time, something seems to be on the brunette's mind.

     "How can I suddenly approach her? She hasn't known of my existence till now," Oikawa grumbles.

     "Geez, man, this one's really got you in a loop," Iwaizumi rolls his eyes, mouth full of his breakfast.

     Oikawa doesn't reply, instead focusing on the walk to their campus.

     The bright morning sun slowly peaks over the mountains, sending yellow rays to the houses, trees, and electrical posts below it. The concrete pathway the teenagers walk on lit up ahead of them, the shade of the looming trees giving some coverage from the blindness of the rays.

     The slight breeze of the spring weather causes Oikawa to cough every now and then due to the prickly cold air filling his lungs.

     "Are you coming down with a cold?" Iwaizumi questions after Oikawa coughs, wiping his hands with the napkin that once cradled his onigiri. "We don't need that right now, the inter-high prelims are coming up soon."

     "I'll be fine, it's just the weather change," Oikawa brushes him away with his hand.

     "Alright," Iwaizumi shakes his head in disapproval.

     The boys edge closer to the crossroad, and the brunette pushes the button on the traffic light to make it aware of their need to get across the street.

     The high school looms over the neighborhood, only a block away from the boys. Half of the building glows due to the sun shining at it, while the other half is still covered in darkness. The digital stop sign on the other side of the street blinks to a walking white person, indicating to the teenagers it's safe to walk across.

     As Oikawa and Iwaizumi step onto the street, they walk past the few cars filled with adults going to work, or parents needing to drop their kids off. Their large shadows follow the boy's every move as they make their way to the concrete on the side of the road.

     They reach the brick walls of the school, heading to the main entrance to the campus. The pathway slowly gets filled with a few students also heading to school. Many girls start walking in groups, and boys start jumping on their friends and tackling them before the day officially starts.

     "Hey, guys!" Yahaba calls from behind the pair walking together, both turning around at the familiar voice of their volleyball friend.

     "What are you doing here early Yahaba?" Iwaizumi asks.

     "Oh c'mon, it just happened, it's not the first time," the male gets offended. Iwaizumi just tells him "sure" and nothing else.

     "So, are you finally going to do it Oikawa?" Yahaba smirks at the captain.

     Oikawa doesn't answer, ignoring him.

     "What's up with him?" Yahaba looks at his other friend.

     "He's too busy trying to find a way to talk to her," Iwaizumi answers.

     "You can't plan it, just go up and say hi! You do it all the time with the other girls."

     "He admits it's not that simple."

     "But it's not that different?"

     "Don't ask or look at me," Iwaizumi shrugs.

     The group continues to bicker, trying to think of ways to help their captain out, yet nothing comes to mind.

     "I heard we're doing group projects in one of the classes you have her with," Kunimi appears.

     "Woah! How long were you here?" Yahaba gets startled.

     "Long enough."

     "Hey, there you go, maybe you'll get grouped up with L/N!" Kindaichi also appears next to Kunimi, being there long enough to know what is happening.

     "Don't just say her name out loud like that!" Oikawa shushes Kindaichi.

     "She's not here, don't get scared," Iwaizumi tells him.

     The group reaches the entrance of the school, crowding into the small lockers to change their shoes.

     Matsukawa, who also joins the group, grabs a school paper from the bin and scans through it.

     "Anything in there about the choir?" Iwaizumi asks him.

     "Nope, only some date for a coffee house," he points to a line on the last page of the school paper.

     "It's in June, huh, just like the prelims. How come there's no day?"

     "I think they're still trying to figure that out, they rarely have these coffee houses. I heard they only had one or two last year," Kindaichi speaks up.

     "Weird, thought there would be more considering how many would probably sign up," Iwaizumi shrugs.

     "Maybe L/N will be in it," Kunimi suggests. "It's only late April though so, I don't know.

     "Gosh, this first semester is kicking my ass," Kindaichi sighs deeply.

     "Not easy being a first-year huh?" Hanakami snickers slightly.

     "I can't wait for summer break," Kindaichi exclaims.

     "Just because our summer break is from mid-July to the end of August, it doesn't mean we still don't have practices pretty much every day," Watari informs, causing Kindachi to sigh even louder.

     The bell rings loudly, and the boys separate to walk to their classes.

     "Look, you got a chance if you're paired up with L/N for this project we're doing for Anatomy," Iwaizumi mentions, leading the two of them to their homeroom.

     Oikawa nods his head, getting himself prepared to spark up a conversation today with his crush. He was up a bit last night, scrolling through the website again, and kept repeating the words of the third step in his mind. Keep the conversation going.

     Entering the room, Oikawa quickly spots the h/c-haired girl sitting in her chair, talking to another girl behind her. She's located on the other side of the classroom, near the windows. Iwaizumi annoyingly pushes his friend to their seat across the classroom from where she is.

     "Alright, class, settle down," A tall male teacher stands up from his chair behind in corner desk. Walking to the front of the board, he gathers papers in his hands. "As you guys know, we have a big project coming up in this class. I'm going to put you in groups-"

     The majority of the class groans when he announces the news.

     "Oh, would you rather do it yourself? Have fun with that," the teacher laughs at his student's reaction. "So here's how we're going to do this, I'm going to pass around this bucket with a bunch of colors in it. There's only going to be two of the same color, meaning you will have partners for this project."

     The professor steps down from the front of the class, handing the first column of students the bucket. Oikawa sees the bucket handed to a student a few chairs ahead of him.

     Not wanting to wait, he taps his foot on the floor, eyeing the bucket inching closer and closer. The student passes the bucket behind him and Tooru quickly clutches it, taking a deep breath, and digging his hand inside.

     "Hurry up, man," Iwaizumi sighs dramatically, seeing Oikawa not pulling his hand out until he finds the "one".

     "Wait a minute!" Oikawa grumbles.

     He makes his decision, and clutches onto a piece of the paper, taking it out. He hands it to his friend, who sticks his hand in the bucket, and quickly takes it out.

     "Honestly, whoever I'm grouped with better get their side of the work done," Iwaizumi shrugs. "What color did you get?"

     "Brown," Oikawa answers.

     "I got teal," Iwaizumi holds up his paper. "At least I know for sure you're not my partner."

     "That's mean, Iwa," Oikawa gets offended.

     Minutes later, the bucket finally reaches the last column, L/N having it in her hands.

     Oikawa is on the edge of his seat, squinting a bit at the color she's going to pull out.

     "Will you stop staring? It makes you look crazy," Iwaizumi punches his shoulder.

     "Ow!" Oikawa winces, his gaze broken. "What was that for?"

     "'Cause you look like a creep," Iwa admits.

     Tooru glances back to L/N, who's showing her friend the card in her hand. The light of the sun from the window shines down on the girl. She tilts her hand so the color of the card appears vividly for Oikawa to see.

     "Well, what did she get?" Iwaizumi nudges Oikawa, who's breathless.

     "Switch cards with me," Oikawa insists, holding up the brown paper in his hand.

     "What? Why?!" Iwaizumi is caught off guard.

     "Alright, everyone, hold up your cards so I can make sure there are no groups of three.

     "Please!" Oikawa begs.

     "Fine, geez," Iwaizumi and Oikawa switch cards quickly, fumbling before the brunette holds up his card excitedly.

     "Alright, looks good, you may get together with your partner to discuss what you're going to do. I'll hand out the papers with the details of the project to you right now," The professor takes the stack of papers from his desk and starts handing them out to the students.

     "Why'd you want to switch colors?" Iwaizumi asks, grabbing the papers the teacher is distributing from Oikawa.

     "Because L/N had teal," He answers.

     "Really?! Huh, if you told me that sooner I might not have given it to you," Iwa jokes.

     "Jerk," Oikawa glares at him from the corner of his eye.

     Tooru beams at the sight of his teal square cut-out on the corner of his desk.

     "Hey!" A voice speaks up from in front of him.

     He hadn't realized that most of the students shifted to other desks, talking to their new partners. Even Iwaizumi is gone since he now hears another voice behind him. Oikawa looks up, meeting eyes with the one who has been stealing his heart recently.

     "H-Hi," He's caught off guard, not knowing what to say.

     "I, uh, saw your color earlier," L/N holds up the paper slip. "You're that guy I keep running into, huh?"

     "Heh... yeah that's me," Tooru chuckles.

     "Oikawa, right? My friend you met after the show yesterday talks about you every now and then," L/N guesses.

     Keep the conversation going... don't act overly confident... be optimistic.

     "Oikawa Tooru, you're L/N F/N, right? I remember from the newspaper," the brunette speaks up.

     "Yup, that's me," L/N smiles, sending a funny feeling in Oikawa's chest.

     "When you hit me with that door, you were coming out of the principal's office, right?" Oikawa remembers.

     "Oh! Yeah, sorry about that again. I was just getting an award for the talent show, nothing serious," L/N waves her hand.

     "That's good. You sounded amazing by the way, at the concert," Oikawa compliments.

     "Ah, thanks!" She smiles again, Oikawa feeling happy seeing the girl smiling. His face brightens. "Anyways, this lovely project. What do we have to do?"

     "Oh uh," Oikawa snaps out of his gaze, scanning through the paper. "Looks like we have to draw out a life-size human body."

     "We are required to draw out the digestive, respiratory, and cardiovascular of a human," L/N reads aloud a line from the paper.

     "This is a big project," Oikawa mentions.

     "Luckily, it's due near the end of May. We have time," L/N spots the due date.

     "End of May? Great," Oikawa realizes the end of that month is when the team will be hardcore training the most.

     "Bad time?" L/N wonders.

     "Yeah," Oikawa admits.

     "You know, I don't know much about you, yet you're all any of the girls talk about," L/N tells him, setting the paper down.

     "Huh?" Oikawa is caught off guard.

     The annoying sound of the bell rings, and everyone stands up to rush out of the room. L/N stands up, and Oikawa follows.

     "Hey!" Oikawa calls out as she turns away. L/N turns around, making way for a few students to merge with the wave of students in the hallway.

     "Yeah?"

     "We can walk together to class... if you'd like?" Tooru suggests, his heart beating louder in his chest.

     L/N looks stunned but smiles and nods her head.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

A/N: *sigh* I wish real life was like my story tbh. A lot of this is kinda based on my school life, but obviously (and sadly) no Oikawa. There will be slow updates but ty for reading!