Vivica looked down at her phone, the notification was glaring at her. Her shoulders slumped, her hand was shaking and stomach felt like it was full of cement. She knew who her partner was, it was Keith. Another year of suffering his anger, his boredom and his attitude.
Flint was looking at his phone, "I haven't met the other first years Joker." he said sighing "I hope they are somewhat cool." He looked up at Vivica and noticed her reaction "Hey, what's going on?" Flint put his phone down on the counter next to her and looked at her then it hit him. "So he did this to you." he said referring to her shoulder.
Vivica clenched her fists and wiped a tear away. "Shut up!" She shouted out louder than she intended to. "You don't know anything!" her tears were falling freely now. She couldn't stop them and it was making her feel worse. She covered her face with her hands sobbing. Suddenly she felt something drape over her. She looked up to see what it was then felt the soft plush feel of a blanket. It was an old blanket with frayed edges. She looked around and found Flint closing up a duffle bag.
"What are you doing? you dork" she said, wiping her tears with the sleeve of the sweater she was wearing.
Flint didn't look her in the eyes as he shrugged. "You looked cold." was all he said as he walked back to the island, towards Vivica. He grabbed his phone and unlocked it. He opened the notification and a look of confusion fell on his face. "Uhm, y you might want to check your assignment." He looked up at her. "There might be a glitch or something." He ran a hand through his hair trying to keep it out of his face.
Vivica looked at him confused. "What do you mean?" confused herself. "Why would that affect me?" Flint's lips became tight as he scrolled on his phone for a moment. Then he turned it towards her. His cracked screen showed the school's insignia with the words. "Team assignment" underneath it then below that there was the usual welcome line, but what caught her eye was the last line on the screen.
"You have been chosen for an experimental team assignment. Your partner is 2nd Year Queen Vivica Roseblood." Vivica's heart began to race, could it really be true? Flint pulled his phone back and stared at it. "Who is the second year queen?" He asked innocently, worry filled his eyes.
Vivica looked at him incredulously. She shook her head and opened her assignment message. There had to be a mistake with his message. There was no way that she could be so lucky to be stuck with this weirdo who didn't recognize her, who healed her and fed her no questions asked. The message finally loaded and her heart raced. There it was, she was also chosen to be part of the experimental team, and her partner was 1st year Joker Flint Tetsuo.
"Hey, what year did you say you were in?" Vivica asked with a small smile on her lips as she stared at her phone. Her hair hid her face.
"Uh I'm a First year," Flint looked to the side away from her "First year Joker, actually." he said rubbing the back of his neck. Vivica burst out laughing. Flint looked at her confused, "Hey, what's so funny?" Vivica just kept laughing. Flint frowned and his eyebrows knit together in anger. "Oh yeah, then what position are you?" Vivica laughed and showed her phone to Flint. Flint's eyes widened in surprise. Then he started to laugh as well.
"You dork, weren't you at the ceremony?" Vivica said in between chuckles.
Flint waved a hand in front of his face and shook his head "Well yeah, but I wasn't paying attention." He said then sighed, he pushed the hair back from his face "Then Jack… Uhm… well I had to get out of there."
"Wait, that was you? And he is your brother?" she said, connecting some dots. She began to laugh again "Wow, are you sure you two are related?" Flint looked away and opened his mouth to answer, but just then both their phones dinged.
Vivica's stomach dropped. What if it really was just a glitch? She wondered to herself. Flint opened the notification first. "Huh, looks like its a message from the coach." he quickly read through the message. "Uhm looks like its from a prof. Faoláin? He wants to meet us on the training field at 9 in the morning." He said looking up at Vivica.
Vivica sighed "Dang that guy? I heard that him and his wife can be intense." She got up and stretched. "Wonder who his wife is the coach of? I hear they do a lot of team ups." Flint shrugged "They better be cool." he said then looked at the time. "Shit, it's almost 1." he looked up at Vivica. "We have to meet him at 9."
Vivica looked down and away. She looked at her phone and frowned. There was a text notification from Kieth.
"Hey girl, gon b out al nite, mb al dy tmrw." it read. Vivica sighed in relief. She couldn't believe her good luck right now.
Flint looked at her and thought for a moment. "Did you want to stay over?" he asked her. "We have to go meet the coach together anyway," he shrugged. He mainly wanted to make sure she was safe and wouldn't get hurt again by Keith."I'll sleep down here," he offered to make her feel at ease.
Vivica looked at him a little confused, "But I don't have my uniform." she said. Flint's face fell, "Wait, we need our uniforms?" He covered his eyes with the palms of his hands. "Shoot! Mine is ruined!!"
"What did you do to it?" she asked "How did you ruin your uniform already?" Flint sighed and looked down.
"It's shredded." he said, pulling at the skin on his face. Vivica thought for a moment then looked at her phone again.
"Tell you what, we meet before we meet with the coach. I'll find a way to get you a new uniform." she told him, looking him up and down. "It probably won't fit you though." she said, noticing that he was a few inches shorter than herself. Flint looked at her confused.
"What are you planning?" He looked at her confused and suspicious. Vivica grabbed her bag of clothes and shrugged.
"Trust me, partner." she said heading towards the door, "I'll see you tomorrow dweeb." she said as she headed out the door. Flint sighed and waved her off.
"Alright I'll see you off, red fox." he called after her. Vivica waved and headed to her assigned dorm. She was sure Keith wouldn't miss one set of clothes, the only issue would be that Keith was taller than Flint by almost a foot it seemed. He helped her so now she wanted to help him back.