it's the end of volleyball practice, i go to the girl's locker room to get changed with everyone else.

"there's a boy's basketball game tonight, y'all should go, especially since we can watch all of the hotties play." my friend ashley says.

"yes! and jason carver? oh he is so hot." says my other friend stephanie.

"oh please, jason? he isn't even attractive." i say.

"wait? y/n? are you serious?" stephanie asks.

"she obviously is, she's into lucas sinclair." ashley says, smirking.

i blush slightly. "no! i'm not into lucas, he's one of my best friends." i say.

"yeah right, you guys are like, totally into each other. i've seen you two, you guys flirt every time you're together." she says.

everyone says a mix of 'yeahs' and 'yups'

i roll my eyes and grab my bag.

"hey are you going to the game though?" ashley asks.

"yeah." i say.

"okay, i'll come to your house and pick you up at 5:30, the game starts at 6." she says.

"okay." i reply, walking out of the door.

once i get home, i go upstairs to my room. i go to my tv and turn on spotify, i play frank ocean.

i hum the lyrics as i pick out clothes to wear to the game, i decided to wear jeans and my hawkins volleyball t-shirt. i pair it with white slip-on vans.

i get a text message from ashley.

i'm here! hurry up, i don't

want to be late

i'm coming hold on

i grab my phone and head downstairs.

"mom i'm leaving!" i call out.

"okay! text me when you get there!" she replies.

i get into ashley's car and we drive to the school. we're going up against a neighboring town, and they're really good, we have to win this game otherwise we won't make it to state.

we make it to the school and we get out of the car and head into the school. students get in free so we didn't have to pay.

we sit in the student section, all of the boys are warming up, i see lucas. he looks up at me and waves, i wave back.

"aww look he's happy to see you!" ashley teases.

"ashley, me and lucas are friends!" i reply.

"yeah, friends with benefits." she says.

"ashley!" i say, hitting her arm. "no we are not! i've never even kissed him before!"

ashley just laughs, then a few other girls from the volleyball team sit next to us on the bleachers.

the game starts.

stephanie looks behind us. "ooo look." she says, tapping our shoulders. "it's steve harrington. he's so hot."

"i can't argue with that." i say.

"he definitely is hot, i don't know how he's single." ashley says.

"isn't he dating that robin girl?" another girl, michelle, asks.

"no." i say.

"how do you know that?" she asks.

"lucas is kind of friends with steve. they're not dating." i say. "trust me."

the game is almost over, and we're losing by 2 points, we can't lose. and winning to this school? that would definitely be something to brag about.

i see one of the boys pass the ball to lucas, there's only 4 seconds left. lucas has to make this shot.

he shoots, the entire court goes silent, everyone has their eye on this ball.

he makes it in!

everyone starts screaming and cheering, the entire basketball team crowds around lucas. a bunch of people run onto the court.

a bunch of people crowd around me, i eventually get lifted up with everyone chanting 'lucas' over and over again. it was pretty cool being in the spotlight.

once everyone puts me down, i see y/n standing near the bleachers, she runs over to me. i pick her up and spin her around.

"you did it!" she says.

"i did it!" i respond.

she gives me a big hug and then i see mike, dustin, and will. they walk over to me.

"congrats man! you did good." dustin says.

"thanks man." i reply.

will gives me a hug and mike gives me a high-five.

"are you dating y/n?" mike asks, pointing at y/n.

"no, why?" i reply.

"i don't know... maybe because you just lifted her up and spun her around? and she let you? you stink and you're gross and sweaty." he says.

i look over a y/n, then back at mike. "no, i'm not dating y/n, we're just friends. and she let me hug her because she didn't care if i was sweaty and gross. we both play sports, she's on the volleyball team you know. she understands being sweaty after a game."

"we all know she plays volleyball, she's y/n y/l/n. everyone knows who she is." mike says, looking in her direction.

i just nod. y/n walks over to me.

"hi!" she says to dustin, will, and mike.

"hey!" will says. dustin waves and mike just looks at her.

"i'm y/n." she says.

"yeah, we know who you are." mike says in a rude tone.

"oh, sorry." she replies.

"no it's okay, i'm will! and this is dustin, and that's mike." he says, pointing at everyone.

y/n nods with a smile.

"okay, lucas i'm going to head home, see you tomorrow!" she says. "oh and nice meeting you guys!"

"see ya!" will says.

"bye y/n." i say, hugging her.

she returns the hug and walks off with her friends.

"are you sure you guys aren't dating?" dustin asks.

i roll my eyes, "yes. i'm sure."

we start to walk out of the doors, until i'm stopped by jason.

"hey sinclair, there's a party on friday if you want to go. oh and invite y/n." he says. "maybe she could have her and all of her friends go, it'd be nice to have some cuties at the party."

"i'll invite her." i say.

"good." he replies, patting my shoulder.

i then walk out of the gym and head home.

i'm home, i took a shower and got out my clothes for tomorrow. i look at my phone and see a text from lucas.

hey, there's a party on friday

if you want to go, also jason was

wondering if you could invite your

friends

yeah i'll go, and i'll have

to ask them. i'm sure they would

all go, especially ashley, she loves

parties.

okay, see you tomorrow,

good night. :)

goodnight

i get off of my phone and put it on the charger. then i walk downstairs to tell my parents goodnight. i go to my room and shut my door, then i lay in my bed.

if i'm being 100% honest, i've had this weird feeling in my stomach when i'm around lucas, butterflies. but- lucas is just a friend. i can't like him. i mean, even if i did like lucas, he probably wouldn't like me back anyway.

i want to hang out with lucas's friends, but i'm pretty sure the only one that actually likes me is will, dustin seems okay, but i don't know. if i'm being completely honest, i don't really like my friends, except for ashley and sometimes stephanie. all of the other ones are snobby and think that they're better than everyone.

i wish i had real friends. my only real friends are lucas and ashley. i've been friends with ashley since middle school, i became friends with lucas when he joined the basketball team. we've been friends for a little over a year but it feels like we've been friends longer.

after a few minutes i finally fell asleep.