One friendly wave was all it took. You’d never seen him surrounded by people— he was ostracized for being weird and too competitive on the field. And then some couple of weeks ago, you had greeted him kindly. Nothing out of the extraordinary, but now he never seems to leave your side.

“Gotcha!” You lurched forward when a heavy weight collided into you from behind, two hands shaking your shoulders, somebody’s hair tickling your neck and Bachira laughed. “Guess who missed you?”