(Requested)

Modern High School AU!

on a side note, barius the baker is lowkey one of my favorite characters i'm-

bruh he HAS to have so much muscle from kneading bread all day long

jesus christ did you see him taking down those monsters with his rolling pin

i'm using american football for this oneshot, sorry to all my international readers ^^"

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"Oh, there he is." Claudia pointed to a brown haired guy walking past our lunch table, his posture high and practically screaming snobbish. "He's the one I was telling you about the other day, the transfer kid." Katolis High was a part of the five major schools in our district, and we usually didn't get kids like him -- the egotistical and irritable sorts.

"I heard he's from Neolandia High." My nose scrunched up at the mere mention of the school. I didn't particularly like the students that went there. They seemed too aggressive and ambitious, a good example being the football games I went to -- they nearly tore off Callum's right leg in the bout. As I got a closer look at him, I noticed something peculiar.

"But why is he here? Isn't his dad the principal? Dr. Ahling?" Claudia hummed in response, narrowing her eyes and taking another bite of her sandwich.

"I think so. He really looks like his dad." Pressing my lips into a thin line, I continued to eat my meal as I thought about the weird transfer kid. Soren eventually joined our table, sitting down with a groan and a huff, stretching his back as he breathed deeply.

"Man, football practice yesterday was tough. That Ahling kid has some issues." I paused, setting my sandwich down.

"You mean that transfer kid?" Sorren nodded, taking out a baguette from his backpack.

"Yeah. He's strong, but he has anger problems. Used to be the quarterback of the Neo team. They train their kids tough -- their varsity team is real hard to beat," he sighed, munching on the long loaf of bread.

"So you mean he's now part of our team?"

"Yeah, I guess. Coach Harrow didn't seem really pleased when introducing him, though," Soren replied, chuckling a little bit, his mouth stuffed with the glutinous foodstuff. I ran my tongue across the edges of my teeth, a bad habit of mine when I really wanted to focus.

I think I've seen him before at one of the games.

"Was his number 7 or something?" I said suddenly, looking up from my previously immobile posture.

"Something along those lines," Soren responded quickly, finishing off his baguette and then taking out a large Tupperware container filled with spinach-based pasta. He opened the top and started to eat that too.

"Do you only run on carbs or something?" Claudia gawked, staring at her brother in confusion, "How much do you love football to be playing that much each day?" Soren merely smiled back, flexing his arm.

"Grind never stops." The ravenette beside me just laughed, clutching her stomach at the ridiculous sight of Soren kissing his bicep. I began to chuckle slightly as well when he resumed wolfing down his bow tie pasta again.

"I'm also carb-loading for a game tonight, so you guys better come and see me wreck the kids from Duren," he mumbled, pointing to Claudia and I with suspicious glances. We exchanged glances and gave him firm nods, affirming the decision to come and support him.

"Of course, I wouldn't want to miss the beat down."

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My bag fell to the floor with a thump as I plopped down in my seat, looking at the board as I got out my supplies. English wasn't so bad, since Harrow was our teacher, but I noticed a new presence in the classroom. Right next to me, the Ahling kid was sitting at a desk, almost glaring at the whiteboard. Maybe he just had a resting bitch face, I wasn't one to judge. Turning back to face the front again, the class started with a short vocabulary review from the book we were reading.

While the class talked to each other, I had noticed the transfer student seemed awfully quiet, just blankly staring at his paper with his eyebrows furrowed. I raised an eyebrow, seeing the same sheet in my hands. The words weren't all that hard, so why did it seem like he had such a rough time understanding? I quietly shifted over a few inches so I was closer to his desk and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, want to review with me?" He whipped his head up, his eyes squinted into little slits.

"I'm doing fine," he deadpanned, then returned his attention towards the slip of paper. Taken aback, I moved my desk back to its original spot and got up, warily eyeing him. Walking towards Callum, I saw that his gaze was also focused upon the strange boy.

"He's not very friendly, is he?" I sighed, sitting down next to the brunette. He shook his head, his irises still directed on Ahling.

"His name's Kasef, and I've seen him on the football team when they were practicing. The volleyball girls went outside to see their practice and apparently he didn't even look at them. I overheard them talking about how he was cute but a meathead." Stifling a laugh, I clapped my hand over my mouth and cleared my throat, struggling to keep a straight face. I beckoned for him to continue.

"Soren also told me that he didn't really like him. He said Kasef's too strict and demanding. Like a tyrant or something." Pursing my lips, I kept that in mind as we shifted gears to actually do the assignment. All I could do was keep a vacant space in the back of my mind, waiting for the game tonight to see what he was actually like.

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"Go! Go! Let's go Crusaders!" The cheerleaders at the front of the bleachers were chanting with pom-poms in their hands, doing the synchronized pattern they'd practiced for a while now. Smiling, I waved at Soren as he emerged from the den underneath the stands, spotting me in the crowd and winking.

"You seem really hyped this game," Callum commented, taking a slice of pizza from the box we'd brought to the game. I nodded, also nabbing a triangle of cheesy goodness.

"I get to see our first game of the season against Duren, what can I say? You also seem excited, considering you brought Rayla here," I responded, referring to the pretty girl sitting next to the brunette. Callum grinned, wrapping his arm around her.

"To be fair, she wanted to come to this game. Her choice, not mine." I rolled my eyes and turned back to the field, watching the Duren players come out of their huddle on the opposite side of the field. Noticing a small girl come out with them, she held a clipboard in her hands, giving them a pep talk before sending them on their way.

"Oh, that's Aanya, isn't it? I know her. We used to be friends before she moved schools in seventh grade," I piped up, recognizing her straight away. "She used to be the manager of the boy's volleyball team, too. With her, they didn't even need the coach."

"Claudia is a pretty great manager too, though." Callum's argument was valid, but somehow I felt uneasy. The blackette was a strong force, and since this was a home game, we had an advantage, but I felt like the newest addition to our team made it weaker. Kasef had been playing quarterback all his life, and now he was just a right guard. The stable right guard had been subbed out, and it made me worried.

Enough with the thinking, let's just see how it plays out.

I leaned back a bit, chewing on my pizza. The referee blew his whistle and the game started. The Duren players had almost immediately taken the offensive play, getting a considerable amount of distance for the end of their first down. As the game continued, I could see that the Crusaders were getting more and more discouraged after losing point after point.

Soren had a discontent look on his face as he trudged to his position, with Harrow practically fuming from the sidelines. My eyes lingered to the fated seventh player, and locked onto him. His face was the same as when I'd seen him before -- stone cold and completely shut down. But there was something in his eyes that seemed to burn, that showed a small sign of fighting spirit.

Harrow suddenly called for a timeout, where our team huddled around the coach and waited for his advice. The teacher didn't say anything, but instead gestured for Kasef to come to the front. Everybody seemed visibly confused as I glanced around, whispers and murmurs spreading among the crowd. The referee's whistle blew as the ninety seconds was over, and the players had to regain their positions again.

What did he say?

Another shrill tweet pierced the air and the Crusaders crashed into the Duren team like bulls. They didn't give them any time to play offensive, and eventually we took the ball and kept it in play, scoring one point. That point led to another, and another, then consecutive wins until the Dutchmen called one of their time outs. The home team's side of the crowd went wild as the guys huddled up.

"Crusaders!" the cheerleading team yelled, rubbing their pom-poms together, creating a rumbling noise.

"Fight!" the crowd roared, with Callum, Rayla, and I shouting at the top of our lungs. The rest of the game continued smoothly, with the dance team coming into half-time to showcase the routine they learned. It ended with an astonishing victory, the Crusaders scoring just as time ran out.

I jumped up, whooping as everybody there went crazy, our football team cheering and howling in success. I noticed that Kasef was getting a bit more love than before, and grinned, going down to congratulate the victorious sports team.

"Soren!" I called, beckoning for him to come closer to me. The blonde perked up, running my way, giving me a hug, smiling in satisfaction. "Great job today!"

"Kasef's the real one to thank. He's a real one, alright. Neolandia isn't that bad after all." I took a look at the usually stern-faced student, and found that his expression was lifted, a full blown grin gracing his features as the guys from the Katolis team celebrated together.

I laughed in response, ruffling Soren's hair as he took off his helmet.

"Glad to hear!"

__

A couple of weeks after the game, Soren had become good acquaintances with Kasef, practicing and becoming semi-workout buddies. He was still in my English class, as quiet as ever -- and I had to say I was still intimidated by him, just a bit.

Currently, while these matters occupied my thoughts, I tried to focus on doing my Calculus homework during the free period I had for school. Groaning, I shook my head, flipping my hair back and forth. I put my pencil down and massaged my temples, furrowing my eyebrows in distress.

This is so boring. I'm gonna go walk a little bit.

As I was about to get up, a figure walked up besides me, pushing a hand down onto the desk I was sat behind. Too stressed to even be scared at this point, I rolled my eyes and glanced behind me.

"Can I help you?-" My breath stopped short as I recognized the shadowed face. "Oh, Kasef." He straightened up, lifting his hand off of the desk as I stood up to face him. I nervously scratched my cheek and smiled warily.

"Do you need anything?" I mumbled, the pitch of my voice going up bit by bit.

"I need English help," he stated bluntly. My eyes widened in surprise.

"But I thought-"

"Well I need it now," he interrupted, looking away. Was he... embarrassed? The tips of my lips curved up in amusement, Kasef's face flushing with a pink hue.

"Of course I can help you," I chuckled, crossing my arms, "I can even tutor you, if you want." His gaze focused back onto me, eyes glinting with hopefulness.

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure!"

"Uh... thanks, I guess." I beamed, pointing at the door.

"I was about to go on a walk, wanna come with?" He slowly nodded, waiting for me to pack up my stuff. As I tidied up, we signed out of the library and strolled around the school, chatting about teachers and the people he'd met so far. Turns out we lived near each other and often went to the same places to shop for things.

"By the way, I never got to congratulate you on the great game we had a couple of weeks ago. For your debut game, it was pretty damn good."

"Oh, thanks." I laughed and kept on blabbering on about Soren, Claudia, and all of my other friends. Offering to introduce them to him, Kasef accepted my offer, the time in the free period slowly melting away with every topic being introduced.

This was nice.