“By the way, you can call us by our real names,” Owl says brightly. “I’m Aspen and that’s Winter.”
Just then, Nessy the Ninja wanders over to our area. Whenever we’re at a game, they try to come over and say hi to usand take a picture with us. This year, Nessy wanders around with a handler.
“Oh my gods! Hi, Nessy,” Aspen says brightly. “Can we take a picture with you? Come on, Winter, we have to. We can add it to the group chat and make Glasses super jealous.”
Winter chuckles as they both stand up and walk over to the walkway area. I hear the handler snort under her breath.
“Normally, Nessy stops and takes pictures with kids but I guess we can stop for you guys too.”
“Angela,” Nessy hisses out in warning.
Oh, something is going on with them. Maybe Angela is having some sort of weird power trip while she parades around with Nessy the mascot? I have no idea but I don’t particularly like her attitude.
Aspen and Winter get on either side of Nessy. I’ve noticed that Aspen, Winter, Kent, and Glasses have been sitting in voice chat a lot lately over on Rin’s Discord server. Are they dating? Are they just friends? Is something going on? Jesus, why the fuck do I care?
I watch as Angela takes a few blurry photos. I let out an annoyed noise as I stand back up and take the phone from her.
“I’m not sure what your deal is but your attitude sucks ass,” I tell her. “Let me take the picture since she’s purposely doing a bad job.”
I take a few pictures before handing the phone over to Aspen. I glare at Angela before putting an arm around Nessy and taking a selfie with them.
“You want me to report Angela for being a jerk to people?”
“Nah, it’s okay. I’ll talk to her after this,” Nessy says back.
Aspen makes a strangled noise, his eyes wide as he stares at Nessy. I know Nessy isn’t supposed to talk and this is probably why. I pat them on the back and go back to my seat.
Nessy gestures for Angela to clear the walkway and before I know it, they’re bounding away, doing their signature cartwheels as they go.
“Holy shit,” I hear Aspen say behind me. “Did you hear that? We know that voice.”
“I cannot believe Kent didn’t realize this sooner. What a dumbass.”
Aspen snorts. “The way you say dumbass is adorable.”
“Shut it,” Winter says back with a laugh.
I turn back to the court. Warmups wrap up and before we know it, they’re announcing the starting line up. We always cheer and whistle for Maki but I’ve come to know some of the others on the team, namely Sullivan. I’m even wearing his jersey, number thirteen with ‘Swiss’ written across the back.
“Our ref for the evening is Charz Omally. Our head ref is Shiloh Cornwell!”
My stomach warms as I watch Shiloh wave from his post. He’s on a heightened stand right next to the top of the net. He looks so good in the dark blue polo and black slacks. He’s directly across from us and I swear we make eye contact before he looks back down at the court.
The ref on the ground goes through everyone’s positions, taking a note of it on his little pad of paper and just like that, the game is starting off with our team serving.
I get engrossed in the game, cheering whenever we score and sinking in my seat when the other team does. Sullivan comes in as a pinch server and I find myself on my feet, whistling for him.
Sullivan looks up with a grin, pointing to our section before he does his famous float serve, a serve that makes the ball go all wibbly wobbly as it travels over the net. He’s got one of the meanest float serves in the league.
During the game, the other team’s captain keeps being a complete and utter donkey. He keeps going up to Shiloh andarguing random rules with him. I stare as Shiloh stands his ground, telling the guy to get back out there and play.
“Jesus,” I say under my breath, my eyes wide as Shiloh starts to raise his voice at the guy. I can just barely make out what they’re saying. Something about the captain needing to go through the proper protocol if he wants to challenge a play. When he keeps yelling up at Shiloh, Shiloh pulls out a yellow card.
“That’s kinda hot,” Rin murmurs next to me. I hear a hum of agreement from Rodney, Winter, and Aspen. I feel the back of my neck heat up.
“Fuck off,” I say, making them all chuckle.
After the yellow card, the captain seems to get his shit together and calm down. The game continues on. Kent gets to play during the third set and Rin says he’s not surprised. They wanted to try mixing things up against his particular team. Something about them getting used to one strategy before pulling the rug out and trying something new. The guys behind us cheer extra loud for him. It’s kinda cute.
