Chapter 99: ⁹⁹: boyfriend

Athena’s POV

"Please, everyone, form groups of two and practice serving the ball. It is essential that you choose someone of a similar strength level so that you can both learn properly and neither of you gets dragged down by the weaker one."

The coach’s words immediately sent everyone into motion as the students began looking around, trying to find someone they wanted to team up with.

I glanced behind me, where Louis was standing. Unfortunately, he was looking directly at me. Our eyes met for a brief second.

I quickly turned back around, refusing to give that man even the slightest impression that I was paying attention to him.

I then scooted closer to Rose, who had just picked up a basketball. "Wasn’t Louis in combat sports? Why did he suddenly change his classes?" I whispered near her ear, making sure no one else could hear me.

Rose looked at me with an expression that practically screamed, Are you seriously asking me that? "Because he was sick of his boring combat sports classes," she replied sarcastically.

Then she raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn’t you, out of everyone here, know why he changed to this class?"

"Why would I know?" I immediately shot back. "I have nothing to do with it. Now, let’s go and practice."

I deliberately ended the conversation before it could head in a direction I didn’t want. Unfortunately, Rose wasn’t the only person I needed to worry about.

"Athena, will you be my partner?"

Hearing his voice from behind me made me close my eyes in irritation...Great, just great! As if our classmates didn’t already have enough reasons to gossip about us.

I decided to ignore him and simply start practicing with Rose. If I didn’t respond, perhaps he would eventually get the message. But within seconds, Louis had moved in front of me.

"You didn’t answer me, Athena," he said. He held out a basketball toward me with his right hand, waiting for my response.

I stared at the ball for a moment before lifting my eyes to meet his. With a quiet sigh, I shook my head. "I already have a partner, Mr. Dreven."

I stepped to the side, intending to walk past him. He moved with me. I tried the other direction. He blocked me again. I stared at him in disbelief. Was he seriously doing this?

"I’m new here," he said, his tone almost innocent. "Why don’t you help me?" He then turned toward Rose, a slight smile appearing on his face. "I’m sure your previous partner won’t mind."

I looked at Rose. She was staring at the two of us with her mouth hanging open. Her ridiculous expression made me want to smack her on the head.

Seriously? Why was she looking at us like she was watching some kind of romantic drama unfold?

I gave her a pointed look, silently urging her to close her mouth which she didn’t.

Defeated I turned my attention back to Louis and gave him the most polite smile I could manage.

"Sorry, Mr. Dreven, but I can’t help you. Didn’t you hear what the coach said? We have to choose partners who are at our own level so that one person doesn’t end up dragging the other down."

I pointed toward the coach, who was standing in the corner and instructing some of the other newcomers. "You can join those students. That way, the coach can teach you himself."

Louis glanced toward the coach before looking back at me.

I maintained my polite smile, "Now, please excuse me." I moved past him, taking Rose’s hand and dragging her along with me before he could find another excuse to stop me.

"Close your mouth, Rose. You are not helping the situation," I muttered as I made her stand on the other side of the net. ℯℯ𝑙.

Rose finally seemed to realize that she had been staring at us for far too long and quickly composed herself.

We continued practicing, and thankfully, Louis didn’t bother me again.

Soon, our class came to an end, and everyone began gathering their belongings. I picked up my water bottle and took a quick sip before glancing around the court.

Louis was nowhere to be seen. I frowned slightly. Where had he gone? The class had only just ended. Not that I was complaining.In fact, I felt relieved. At least I wouldn’t have to deal with him for the time being.

"What are you looking around for? Louis?"

I nearly choked on my water. I turned toward Rose, who was looking at me with an unbearably teasing expression.

I rolled my eyes. "I am not! Don’t make things up out of nothing!"

I passed the water bottle to her, hoping that would finally distract her, only that It didn’t.

She took a sip before pulling me closer so she could lower her voice. "You tell me, Athena. Why do you behave as though you don’t want anything to do with Louis? I mean, look at him! He is handsome, rich, and a royal!"

She began pointing toward the people around us without the slightest concern about whether anyone might notice. "Everyone pretends to be upright and mighty, but in reality, they’re all jealous of you!"

She then pointed dramatically at herself. "Look at me. I even get treated like royalty by all of them in their gossip simply because I’m your friend."

I couldn’t help but laugh at her ridiculous reasoning. As we started walking out of the court, I pulled her arm closer so she wouldn’t wander off while talking.

"I don’t care if he is handsome, rich, or a royal. I just don’t like him, and that’s it." I looked at her with a small smile, certain that I had finally made my point clear.

Instead, Rose’s eyes widened. She leaned closer to me and lowered her voice to an exaggerated whisper. "Are you attracted to girls instead of boys?!"

She said it as though she had just uncovered my biggest secret. I stared at her for a second before shaking my head at her dramatic reaction.

"There is nothing like that! If I were interested in girls, I would have made you my girlfriend by now."

Rose immediately gave me an offended glare. "Then if you are interested in boys, why don’t you choose Louis?" she demanded. "He is the best in the entire empire. Where would you ever find someone better than him?"

I couldn’t help but sigh. Rose had somehow turned a simple conversation into an interrogation.

I unlinked my arm from hers as we reached the locker room and turned to face her properly.

This time, I gave her a serious look. "I am not choosing him because I already have someone better than him in my life."

Rose’s teasing expression disappeared for a moment. She stared at me as if she had just been handed a mystery she desperately needed to solve.