Amu POV
(In the morning)

It's the first thing in the morning and I find Ushijima standing there waiting for me at the school gate. He's been doing this everyday to the point I'm not longer going to say anything to shoo him away. I doubt he knows what attention he's gathering just from lingering around the front of the school. Why is this guy such an airhead??? I try to ignore him and walk straight pass him.

His eyes widen when I pass him and he blocks my way. Is this normal? He's like a kid in a huge body. My first year in high school with the constant follow of Ushijima. I question to myself whether or not it was something I did to him in the beginning of school that made him notice me. Because right now, once I'm in sight, he wouldn't let me escape his radar. Does anyone ever have a similar situation like this in their life?

"What are you doing here?" I ask him not a bit surprised why he's here. Asking him is actually a part of the daily routine.

"I can't follow you today," he bluntly says and my eyes widen hearing the words coming out of his mouth. "I have a match tomorrow and I need some early morning practice," he tells me and points at me. "My teammates aren't here yet so can you come help practice volleyball with me?" He asks me and I frown.

"I have no experience in volleyball," I tell him and cross my arms. "Also don't like it when people point at me." I straightforwardly tell him and he puts his finger down.

"Sorry I didn't mean to offend," he apologizes me and I shake my head.

"It's just the way you are," I tell him. I notice how everyone's gaze is on us and the loud whispers start to take place about me.

"Who does she think she is telling Ushijima what to do?" A girl murmurs.

"I know right, she should be lucky that Ushijima is taking the time to talk to her," another girl agrees.

"I heard she's from a poor family," a boy adds in to the gossip.

"No way how is she even in this school?" The girl says in shock.

"Scholarship," the boy answers.

"Wow she probably brainwashed him to listen to her demands," the other girl says in a snooty tone.

I take a glance at them and sigh. I hate rich people acting like they're everything and looking down on others. So annoying. I'm not going to let snobby rich kids bother me. I turn to Ushijima. "Let's go practice." I tell him, but he suddenly walks over to the group of people talking about me.

"Her name is Amu Kawasaki, she's my friend," Ushijima claims and a scary look appears on his face that makes me flinch. "Do not belittle Amu." He glares at them and they sweat bullets.

Sometimes I can't tell what's going on in his mind, but he always has own way of doing other things to help other people. He always says he wants to form a friendship, but that idiot is already acting like a friend. However there's no way I'm going to admit that to him. He'll get too happy.

"Ushijima forget them they aren't worth the time, don't you have to get some practice going before your match." I tell him and he immediately nods his head.

"You're right. I let myself get easily distracted," he says in realization. He quickly turns around and heads to the gym.

I look at them and they flinch. I awkwardly scratch the back of my neck. "Normally I would just ignore you, but I just want to say that I didn't do anything to Ushijima. However I'll say that Ushijima is completely different from what you all think." I bluntly tell them. "He says we're friends, but we're still working on our friendship so he still has a long way to go." They blink their eyes in surprise hearing my statement. "However, if you do talk bad against me, I suggest you don't talk behind my back if you want to say rude things please speak up to me." I say in an intimidating way that made them shudder in fear. I turn back around to find Ushijima patiently waiting for me.

"What did you talk to them about?" He asks me and I shrug.

"About some weirdo person I know trying to be friends with me," I jokingly answer and he tilts his head in confusion.

"There's someone who wants to make a friendship bond with you?" He asks in shock. "Who is it?" I sweat drop hearing just how dense the guy can be.

"Never mind," I reply back not bothering to explain to him that I was talking about him.

Ushijima POV
(In the gym - Early Morning Practice)

I bring the rolling cart of volleyballs to the court and toss one of the volleyballs to Amu. "Can you set this ball to me?" I tell her and her eyebrow rises as she examines the volleyball in her hand.

"You know I never set a volleyball to someone before right?" she tells me. "I don't even have much experience with volleyball. At most just a little of beach volleyball." She answers and I shrug.

"It's not a problem," I tell her. "Just toss the ball to my direction as if you're playing beach volleyball and I'll get it." I instruct her how to toss the ball and she nods her head.

"It's doesn't seem hard." She says as she spins the volleyball on her finger and stops it. "Let's give it a try." She confidently says and the tips of the corner of my lips turn up.

She tosses the volleyball above the volleyball net and I rush over to front of the net. Not a bad toss just what I expect from someone like Amu, who can easily catch on a skill. I easily smash it with my left hand and the volleyball rotates to left as it easily hit the other side of the courts. We continue practicing my spikes until there are no more volleyballs left to spike.

With a satisfied look on my face, I squeezed my hand and release it feeling the typical numbness from hitting a volleyball. I don't know why, but spiking that volleyball feels different from usual with Shirabu. I wonder why?

"That's... That's amazing," Amu says in a surprising tone. My eyes widen and I immediately turn around hearing those words out of her mouth. I see the admiration in her eyes for me and my heart skips a beat.

She never smiles like that when I give her things that are expensive like her contacts but this is the first time I'm seeing her like this. Normally she keeps monotonous face, yet now she's vibrantly expressing herself. My thoughts go back to the book I read about friendships. Step 4: Impress her. Have I achieved that this step easily? Am I a step closer to being Amu's friend all from the simple spikes that I usually do?

"Um. Ushijima are you okay?" I hear Amu ask and I come back down to reality realizing that she's waving her hand to get my attention.

"Of course," I answer and she purses her lips after hearing my response.

"Don't let it get to you that I said that," she chuckles. "But that powerful spike you did was truly astounding. How long have you been playing?" She asks me.

"Ever since, I was little." I simply answer.

"To have devotion.... You must really enjoy playing volleyball," she says with a small grin and my heart races seeing the smile on her face. Why is my heart speeding fast? Am I getting close to being Amu's friend? Can we be friends? I clear my throat. "Do you want me to train you?" I ask her and her eyes widen.

"Are you sure?" She worryingly asks and I shake my head.

"It's fine." I confidently answer.

"Should I call you coach then?" She questions.

"Hmmm....." I think about being called coach by Amu. Normally I would be fine with, but I suddenly feel something unsettling.

She chuckles, "maybe instead friends.". She grins. "just kidding". My heart races hearing her call us friends, but those feelings quickly sink hearing that she was just joking about being friends.

Ring Ring

"Hmmm.. There's a lot of volleyballs over on the other side," Amu mumbles.

"You can leave if you want and go to class," I tell her and she shakes her head.

"I'm not going to leave the mess to you. I'm a part of it too," she firmly says and starts putting the volleyballs away.

I take out the net and the volleyball poles. Why is it so hard? I come into the equipment room and watch Amu put the volleyball cart away. I wish the bell didn't ring yet. She does like the idea of me coaching her. My goal is to have her be an ace, maybe I can reach that before being friends with her. I suddenly notice that one of the poles was pushed back after Amu put the volleyball cart in and was falling down straight for her.

My eyes widen. "Amu!" I rush over to Amu side and block the pole from hitting her. I felt a slight pain on my shoulder and a small scratch on my cheek. "Are you alright?!" I ask her and her eyes widen.

"I'm fine," Amu says and puts her hand on my cheek. "It's seems like you have a cut though. Did you hurt your shoulder because of me too?" She asks me.

"It's fine. At least you didn't get hurt," I reassure her.

"No it's my fault that I didn't properly put everything away that you got hurt," she tells me. "She quickly grabs a bandaid from her pocket and puts it on my face.

"Why do you have a bandaid?" I ask her.

"I have little siblings that hurt themselves too." She says and pats me on the head. "You're similar to them too. You're like my little brother and sister," she says with a small smile and my heart skips a beat.

The second bell rings and Amu immediately stands up. "I got to go Ushijima, bye." She sprints off. I touch the cheek she touch earlier. Can I believe that we'll ever be friends? I thought we were getting there, but I'm back at point zero. I don't understand how friendship works.

Tendou POV
(After school Practice)

"Woot! Another block in!" I loudly shout as the ball lands on my opponent side annoying the hell off Semi. "Sorry Semi, but your tosses are pretty predictable, my guess blocking can easily figure it out!" I proudly say.

"Such confidence!" Goshiki says in amazement.

"Don't admire that you idiot," Shirabu frowns.

"Don't listen to him Goshiki," I put my arm around his shoulder. "Listen to your third years, second years are still inexperienced." I say with a smirk and I see a vein pop on Shirabu's head.

I notice Wakatoshi from the corner of my eye walk to Shirabu. "Shirabu, I think I'm doing something wrong," he says and my ears perk up hearing Wakatoshi say he's doing something wrong. Very unusual indeed!

"What are you talking about all your spikes were perfect today." Shirabu says in shock.

"No I did much better with Amu from earlier this morning," he answers back.

"Isn't Amu the plain girl that can run fast and caught Wakatoshi's interest?" I interrupt the conversation between the two pulling Goshiki with me.

"So rude!" Semi shouts as he and Ohira come into the conversation.

"Amu isn't plain," Ushijima corrects.

"Why did she catch you attention?" I question him. "You hang out with her a lot don't you?" I ask in complete interest on where this topic is going.

"I'm trying to create a friendship with Amu," he straightforwardly answers.

"... Creating .... Pfft. Who creates friendships?" I let out a laugh. "What did you do to create this friendship???"

"I followed her around everywhere she went and always told her to be my friend," he bluntly answers with no shame.

"Is that true?" Ohira asks and Goshiki nods his head.

"It's true he waits for Amu every morning at the gate and he comes to my class to check on Amu everyday during lunch," Goshiki claims and we all sweat drop hearing his words.

"Ushijima what you're doing is technically being a stalker," Semi points out, but he easily ignores him.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong in spike," He says and we all sweat drop seeing our naive captain not even knowing that actions he's doing is technically leading up to being a complete stalker.

"There's obviously something wrong in your head and not your spike," Shirabu says and I snicker hearing his comment.

"I think Wakatoshi is love sick for Amu" I say aloud and everyone's eyes widen except for Ushijima who keeps his usual face much to my disappointment.

"I'm not sick," Ushijima says. "I'm not coughing or having a running fever."

"Oi! What is everyone doing huddling together!?" Our coach shouts out to all of us.

"We're talking about Wakatoshi trying to create a friendship with Amu," I tell him with a thumbs up.

"Wait you're still trying to make friends with that girl. What does she think of all this?" He asks crossing his arms.

"She says that we aren't friends yet and she sees me more like her siblings," Wakatoshi says with a straight-lace face that made me burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha you're totally friend zoned-- " I say aloud and Semi covers my mouth.

"It not even friend zone it's much worse," Semi concludes.

The thoughts of the team and coach <lower than friendzone.... Stranger zone>

Coach sighs. "Anyways we have a game tomorrow. Get some practice." He tells us.

"Right." We shout back.

At that moment, brilliant thought sparked. Lets bring Amu to the game. I want to see Wakatoshi's reaction when he sees her there watching her. He might get so nervous that he might slip up. I grin to myself. I want to see an nervous Wakatoshi.