No Boundaries

Jersey No. 00

Chapter 1: Jersey No. 00

Azalea's POV:

I'm on my way to my new dorm.

It's the start of my college life! I'm excited but frightened at the same time. I hope I'll get along with my roommates since the three of us would be spending our entire college life living together.

I do have a key but I still knocked and someone opened the door for me.

"Oh my, gosh! You're tiny." The girl who opened the door said.

I looked at her confused. "Excuse me?"

"You're short and cute. It feels like I could keep you in my pocket. I'm Maddie Carson, a fashion design major." She said with a smile.

She has beach wavy highlighted hair, wearing a black and white plaid tank top and shorts, white denim jacket, and sunglasses on her head. From all the series and movies I've watched, I think she's probably the mean girl or the queen bee of her high school. I know most of them are just crazy stereotypes but I can't help but think that it might be quite close to reality.

"I'm Azalea Tan. I'm also from fashion design." I introduced myself.

I was caught off-guard when she helped me with my bags. "Come on in, sister." She said.

I smiled at her. She's very nice and pleasant.

Inside the room, there's one bunk bed and one separate bed. It was quite spacious than I imagined.

"Hey! I'm Elicell Davis. Looks like we're not just roommates but we're all from the same department. Feel free to call me Eli." the girl sitting at the top bunk bed said.

As for her, if I'm gonna find a high school stereotype for her, she would probably be the badass, rebel, boyish girl. Not really the emo type but that person who gives off a strong charisma and wears studs and leathers.

"Since we've arrived earlier, we decided to use the bunk bed, I'll be using the bottom bed. Are you okay with that?" Maddie asked as she sits on the bed already covered and decorated.

I smiled and nodded. I started decorating my bed and organizing my clothes. They were both kind enough to help me unpack and Maddie turns out to be really talkative. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not complaining. It actually made me feel more comfortable and at ease.

"Maybe we should hangout later after you're done resting." Eli suggested.

"Yeah!" Maddie agreed. "We'll be living together for a long time so it's best if we'll be the best of friends, getting to know each other. What do you say, Azalea?"

I nodded. "That's a great idea. By the way, just Azzy is fine." I smiled.

"Aww~ now I feel that you're loosening up. Are you usually shy?" Maddie asked.

"Kind of... If we compare me to a character from a high school movie, I'd be that person who no one knows unless it's a group project." I giggled.

"Uh-uh." Maddie shakes her head frantically. "My brother is an alumni here and he just graduated last year so, I've been hanging around here 'coz we're really close. If you ask me, the moment I saw you, in this university, you're like this nice preppy princessy type of girl." She added.

I saw Eli nodding her head. "Like a popular girl or queen bee material? Trust me, I like girls so, I know that you're certainly a 10 here."

"10?" I snorted. "I don't think that's possible. I'm barely a 3 back to where I came from."

"That place sucks." Eli laughed. "Where are you from?"

"Well... I'm from the Philippines but my dad is Chinese so..."

"How can you be a 3 there? You're kinda short but your face is really something. It just gets better the more I stare at it. And you're not wearing makeup yet." Maddie said. "You're gonna be a bomb."

"Actually, I kind of lost weight during the summer... I did bought a lot of new clothes but I don't think my appearance changed that much."

Maddie laughed, "Sister. 2kg would already make a huge difference. How much did you lose anyway?"

"Hmm.." I tried computing the numbers inside my head. "59kg to 47kg so... 12?"

"12 kg during summer where you should be out eating and partying?! Girl, you're insane." Eli said looking very surprised.

"You know what? I have faith in you. I'm gonna work my magic on you." Maddie smiled at me meaningfully and winked.

And she was true to her words...

—2 weeks after the first day of school

"Looking good Azzy~" someone from one of the class I attended greeted me on the hallway.

I smiled as a reply feeling quite shy for being noticed.

"How's it going Fashion Design Department's Princess?" Maddie smiled at me as she linked our arms together.

"What?" I asked not understanding why she said that to me.

She looked at me quite confused. "I sent you the link this morning." She said sounded like I'm being scolded. "We'll be having our department's welcome party this weekend and they invited everyone in this website or forum to talk and plan the party. The upperclassmen decided to give awards during the party and there's this poll in the forum where we could vote who we wanted to win. You're most likely to win the poll for Department's Princess a.k.a Pretty face."

"I was nominated?" I asked completely shocked.

"Duh? And also winning? You're the only freshmen on that poll and you're kicking the others' butts! I am so proud of my work." Maddie said as she pats her own shoulder.

"But Maddie... I'm getting really shy. I'm not good with names so I don't really know anyone on my classes but they keep on greeting me. I just ended up smiling 'coz I don't know what to say." I whispered.

"Chill, you're doing the right thing babe. Smile and wave. You're naturally nice and oozing with innocence aura so, no one would really think you're being mean by not talking back. It'll only come off as you were just the quiet type." She assured me.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

Maddie nodded with a smile to comfort me. "You don't have a class now, right? The basketball varsity team is having a practice game right now. Let's watch that." She said and pulled me to the gym.

We sat at the front row and watched the game. Just 10 minutes before the game ends, Eli arrived to watch it with us. She was forgiven for being late since she gave Maddie coconut water and ice cream for me. While watching, my eyes are getting attracted to this guy wearing No. 00 on his shirt and that's probably because of his interesting hair color. It was parted at the middle and dyed pink and blue. It's very eye-catching and unique. Most students cheer too when he's got the ball.

"That's my cousin, Seth. He's very charming, I know but you shouldn't be interested in him. He's in a relationship. Of course I'm very supportive and typically I would advise you to just steal him but not on this case. You don't stand a chance here. He's only interested in men. Shocker, right?" Maddie said.

I looked at her slightly perplexed. "That's a very despicable advice. But it's not big deal, why would I be shocked about it?"

"As expected, I really like you." Eli chuckled.

"Usually those who doesn't know yet would react like— aww too bad, or —he's kinda feminine so... But you, no judgments huh?" Maddie smiled at me like a proud mom.

"—WATCH OUT!!" someone yelled.

I quickly checked what's going on and saw the ball rushing towards Maddie. Thanks to my quick reflexes, I promptly blocked the ball with my forearm. But that hurt- aw, I lose my grip on my ice cream and it's now on the ground.

While I'm rubbing my arm, there was this loud noise that indicated that the game ended. Then, this player jogged towards me.

"Hey, I'm really sorry. Are you okay? I swear, I didn't mean to hurt anyone. Do you need to go to the clinic or something?" He asked me.

I shook my head as a no. "It'll be fine. Don't worry about it." I smiled.

"By the way, I'm a junior fashion design major, Anthony. You're Azzy, right? I'm really really sorry. That must have hurt a lot."

"You didn't mean to, so I swear it's okay." I replied.

"I should make it up to you. I uhh- how about, I drive you the department party tomorrow?" Anthony asked.

"Like a date?" Maddie asked.

"Well... No-"

But even before he finished Eli cut him off, "So, sure it's not a date?"

"Okay, a date." Anthony chuckled awkwardly. "Will you be my date for tomorrow?"

His teammates started teasing him and it's starting to make me uncomfortable. I kind of feel being pressured to go out with him. I wasn't really intending to reject him but now, I don't want to accept him because of the teasing.

"Uhmm... Yeah. I guess. Sure?" I replied.

He smiled but more of like a smirk or grin. He asked me for my phone number, told me that he'll call me tomorrow and left with his teammates.

"Well.. We probably should be preparing what you're gonna wear for tomorrow. Let's go, pretty." Maddie said and we walked back to our dorm.