It's not how tall you are, it's how tall you play
~ ~ ~ ~
I hate Tuesdays just as much as I hate Mondays.
I rolled out of bed, and went straight to the bathroom. I did my hygiene things and went to my closet.
I pulled out my grey Nike joggers, an olive green t-shirt, and my blue jean jacket. I left my hair in its messy curls and threw a hat over my head and slipped on my black Timberland boots. I then put on some mascara and lipgloss to wake me up, and headed downstairs.
The kitchen was empty which means that my parents had already left for work. I pulled out a box of pop tarts and began eating it as I scrolled through my social media.
*Beep *Beep*
From: Li Li
Iz can you pick me up?
To: Li Li
Ya, i got you
From: Li Li
Gracias chica
I finished up my pop tart, grabbed my keys and bag, and headed to my car. I plugged in my AUX cord, turned on Upgrade U by Beyonce.
Since traffic was fairly light, I got to Liana's house in 15 minutes, and she was already outside waiting for me.
"Heyy Iz!" She practically yelled opening the door. I still don't understand how she can be so energetic early in the morning.
She threw her duffle bag in the backseat, and looked behind in the backseat, as if she was looking for something.
"What?" I ask looking behind me.
"You're not going tryouts today?"
My eye widened, "Holy crap I totally forgot." I rubbed my hand in my face, "What time does it start?"
"From 5:30 to 7:30"
"Alright well I'll just run home after school—are you leaving your things in here, or no?"
"Leaving it— it doesn't take that much time to get to Ag right?"
"Not really, probably like 20 minutes or so."
"Yea, I'll just go back with you."
We got to school 15 minutes before the bell rang. I got all my books, and threw my book bag in my locker, and headed to the commons to get breakfast.
I get in line and get two hash browns, two pieces of bacon, and a pop tart. I know, sue me, I don't eat healthy.
"Izzy Iz!" I hand the money to the cashier, and look up to see Adam and Aaron walking over to me.
Aaron snatched a piece of bacon off my plate while Adam took the hash brown.
"What the hell bruh?" I snatched my plate back.
"What?" They said simultaneously.
I rolled my eyes, "I don't know how y'all were raised, but touching someone else's food is rude."
Aaron raises his hands in defense, "Sorry Iz, I was just hungry."
"I don't care, if you were dying of thirst, you do not touch my food."
Aaron and Adam looked at each other, then busted out laughing making me raise my eyebrow. "I don't find anything funny." I say walking away.
Adam stopped laughing when he noticed that I was walking away, "Izzy wait." He said grabbing my arm, "I'm sorry, okay. It's not my fault you're funny and cute when you're mad."
I rolled my eyes, "Whatever Adam, just don't touch my food. Okay?"
"Ai-eye captain." He saluted me.
I chuckled, "Just go to homeroom, I'll meet you there." They grabbed their books, and headed out of the Commons with girls following them. I rolled my eyes.
At least I'm finally alone.
"Hey Izzy!"
Or not.
I look up to see Ali coming towards me.
"Hey Al, what's up?" I plaster a smile on my face, trying not to look too annoyed.
"I know you're showing Adam and Aaron around this week, but do you think that you could get Adam to go out with me?"
Just as I was about to answer her question, Adam walked in. He looked to be in a rush. "Why don't you ask him yourself?" She straightens her posture as she quickly rushes over to him.
I stand up, grab my now empty plate and my things and throw my plate in the trash. I look back at Ali and Adam. I noticed Ali's smile getting wider every second, then she threw her arms around Adam catching him off guard. He soon wrapped his arms around her waist.
I watched them walk away together and I sighed in relief since I was finally able to be alone.
*
I spent the whole day with Adam asking me questions about Ali. Questions like, what was her favorite restaurant, does she have any siblings, what's her favorite color, and finally I just said, "Ask her yourself."
You would think he would've got the idea that I could care less about their date Friday, but nope. He continued to talk and ask questions, which I ignored.
School is now over and now Liana and I have to run home to get my things.
"I heard Ali asked that boy Adam out." She huffed in annoyance, "I swear she dates everyone. I'm surprised she's still a virgin." I laughed.
But it was true. When I first got here my sophomore year, Alison was dating this senior. They lasted for a good 6 months until they broke up. After that, Ali's been on and off with different boys in what seems like every two months or so.
The only good thing is that it's never distracted her from playing volleyball.
As soon as I pulled up to my house, I killed the engine, and ran inside. I packed a random shirt, my lucky navy blue spandex, kneepads, and my volleyball shoes. I grabbed a water, and put on my lucky black headband, and headed out the door.
Liana was already changed when I got back to the car, and we were ready to go.
We got to the Agricultural School 30 minutes early which gave me time to change and warm up. I paid my $20, got my number and filled out my card. This year I'm trying out to be a middle since I've really been working on it a lot before.
Mya was already warmed up and was about to start peppering with Marcey, but she saw me and Liana walk to the court. Marcey went to Liana and Mya came to me.
"Izzy!" She yelled. She ran and jumped on me, catching me off guard, but she's not that heavy.
"Geez Mya, I told you to warm me when you do that." I joke. She jumps down, and laughs
"Sorry, but I find it funny catching you off guard."
"Of course you do."
Mya grabbed a ball and I began stretching my arms and legs before we could pepper.
"Ready?" I nodded my head, and Mya tossed me the ball.
I got low to pass the ball to Mya, she set it back to me, and I hit it back to her. We do this until more people start to show up.
I looked at the clock and saw that it was 5:15, which is when everyone started walking through
Ali came and brought Adam and Aaron, which confused me a little, but I don't mind and Miracle walked in right after Ali. A smile formed on my face as I saw everyone here.
There were a lot of newbies which is pretty odd, but it means that there's gonna be two 18's teams.
"Alright ladies line it up!" Claire, the club owner/coach, yelled, "I need six rows of three with a returner at the front of each line."
Marcey, Liana, Miracle, Alison, Mya and I got in the front of each line.
"Alright ladies, run through the warm ups like always. New comers please watch what they're doing!"
We started off with a simple jog to the net and back two times each, then we did high knees to the net and back, next was butt kicks, then lunges, squats, and so on. The new comers seemed to catch on pretty well which is surprising, but this is only the beginning.
After warm ups we began warming up our hitting. Claire had everyone line up at the outside first, and we went on from there. After a couple of rounds from each side, they finally separated everyone to their actual spots, and they let the setters set and the liberos pass or shag the balls.
I'm currently standing in line waiting to be set, my eyes wandering off every now and then. I look at the outside to see someone who looked very familiar.
"Carter? What are you doing here?"
"I'm trying out." She said in a 'duh' tone.
I rolled my eyes, "Duh, I'm asking because I always thought you only cheered."
"Oh," she chuckles, "No, Destiny and I play volleyball, Chasity is the one that only cheers. I just needed to find a new gym." She explains.
Finally, it was her turn to hit. She called three, and she hit it perfectly. It's hard to admit, but she's pretty quick her her feet.
She got back in line, and I held out my hand, "Nice hit." She looked at my hand, and hesitantly slapped it.
It was soon my turn, "One, one, one!" I called out. I did the approach, and Miracle set the perfect set. I easily killed the ball, and Mya, somehow got the ball back up.
"Awesome work ladies! Mya, that pass was golden, but try not to swing your arms that much, Miracle, that set was perfect, but spread those fingers a little more so the ball won't spin. And Izzy, that was the perfect kill, but you gotta be quicker so you won't be so into the net." Fred, one of the coaches, explained.
Fred is one of the best coaches at this club. Everyone wants to be coached by him, but he only coaches to 16s. But ever since I started, Fred has always been my coach, even though he's never actually coached me. Whenever we have tournaments with the 16s, he always watched us when he gets the chance.
When he notices something that my coach doesn't he calls it out, so we won't make the same mistake again. But if that ever happens during a time out, or when we're subbed in, he would pull us aside and thoroughly explain what we have to do. He expects for us to try it even though it might not be perfect.
We did a couple of more rounds of hitting, and let me tell you was pretty good. Miracle, Mya and I took Fred's advice, and Miracle's sets were amazing, Mya's passes were more solid, and I was less in the net. Ali, Marcey, and Liana didn't get much feedback since they were pretty much solid in their areas. Even Carter got some compliments by Fred.
Whenever Ali would get a prefect kill, Adam would scream her name and yell weird things. At one point one of the coaches told him to be quiet or he'd be put out.
We moved on to serving. I'm not a fan of it, but I'm pretty good at it which is weird. Since it was so many people, we had to split up on both courts. Most of the new comers went to the other court, but the rest and us returners stayed where we were at.
I grabbed a ball, bounce it a couple of times and spin it on my hand. I toss the ball, and swing sending the ball hard over the net. We all do this for a couple of minutes until everyone is fully warmed up.
"Alright ladies, since there's twelve on each side, we're gonna play a six on six." I heard a couple of groans and cheers most people, but the Sexy Six? We're ready.
We all got in position. Claire rolled the ball over to my side, but Marcey shook her head, and rolled the ball over to the other side, so the new comers can go first. Carter was on the opposite side and she looked ready as ever. We switched rotation, so that I was off the net. Claire looked at both courts making sure that everyone was in position, and she blew the whistle.
"Watch serve, watch deep, watch short!" I heard Miracle call out.
One of the girls, #12, served the ball. It was a soft serve, but a deep ball.
"Ali, it's coming to you!" Marcey called out. And she was right. Ali passed the ball semi-perfectly to Miracle.
"One, one!" I call out. I quickly did the approach, but Miracle ended up setting Marcey instead.
She went up for a kill, but got blocked.
"Ayee!" The other team cheered.
"Alright ladies, sideout. Lets go!" Mya yelled.
#12 grabbed the ball, and bounced it a couple of times before she tossed the ball up.
"Watch middle, Mya cover short!"
As soon as I heard her hand touch the ball, I moved to my position. The ball went to Mya this time. She passed the ball perfectly to Miracle.
I called out my number to hit a quick set and did my approach. Miracle set the ball to me and I swung at the ball sending it towards zone five, giving us the point.
We continued the six on six for a while it seemed like, but Claire stopped the games before we reached 25. She called us all in a circle, and explained how everything was going go, and she handed each of us a packet with all of the club's information.
"Okay, quick reminder before I let you girls go. Just because you showed up to the tryout doesn't mean that you made the team. I'm looking for girls who are willing to put 110% into everything that's put in front of you. Now, I saw some girls who showed that, and I also saw some of the girls who sadly did not. Now since there's so many of you, there will be two teams; an 18 Jade and 18 White. Alright, I'm done rambling now, so everyone hands in."
We all stood up and put our hands in the middle, "Juniors on three. One, two, three."
"Juniors!" We all yelled together.
We all parted ways. I went to my bag, and took off my volleyball shoes and kneepads stuffed them in my bag, and threw on my slides. I flung my bag over my shoulder and downed the water that was in my bag.
"Oh hey Izzy, I don't need a ride home. My mom is here, thanks for today though!" Liana told me as she was running towards the door.
I waved, "You know I got you girly!"
As I was scrolling on my phone I felt a presence next to me. I look to my right to see Carter. I raised my brows in confusion, "I just wanted to say you're a pretty good player. Honestly all of you guys are like the way y'all play is amazing, the communication on the court is immaculate."
I smiled, "Thank you I hope you make the team. You really surprised me out there. We could definitely use you on our team." Carter looked shocked, "I'm serious. You're extremely quick on your feet and you make passing look so easy."
"Girl I need to make this team. The other teams I looked at don't give off that family vibe. Like I need teammates who actually want to hangout outside of practice." Her phone dinged, "My mom is here, but it was good talking to you Izzy! Good luck!"
"You too!"
I stuffed my phone in my pocket and made my way to the car. Once I stepped outside I realized I forgot to pack some sweats. I didn't realize how cold it got and now my legs are freezing. I book it to my car and immediately turn on the heat. The ride home was quiet since I decided not to turn on any music, but I liked the silence.
I made it home just as Rodney was getting ready to leave, "Where you going? I called out."
"To mind my business. How was tryouts, you made the team?"
I rolled my eyes, "It was good, but we won't know until tomorrow or something."
"Okay well I'm gonna be back late, so don't wait up."
I nodded and made my way in the house, and up to my room. I plopped on the bed and decided to just take my shower in the morning because I am extremely tired.