Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try.
~ ~ ~ ~
It's finally practice time and Fred has made practice three hours instead of two since nationals is right around the corner. Also now that Mya is out for the rest of the season, Liana is going to be libero since she's our next best defensive player, and Carter is going to have to play right side instead of outside because Fred managed to get us a new girl.
Her name is Allana Baker. She's a senior like us and she's one of our best players.
"Alright everyone gather around!" Fred yelled. We're practicing with he 18 White team today so the gym is a little more crowded today, "We are gonna play a six on six. With a twist." He said smirking.
We all groaned. Fred stopped and gave us a look that made us all shut up. We all know that whenever adds something to a game, it always has some type of workout involved with it.
"Oh relax, this isn't going to be that bad." He said as he waved us off, "Okay since nationals are coming up in 4 weeks, I want you guys to understand what an adrenaline rush really is. I want you to imagine you're in a game, and the score is 25-25. You know the feeling you get after you earn hat 26th point? The feeling that gets you so pumped that you wanna keep going?" A couple of us nodded, while the rest just continued to stare at my coach.
"I know some of you girls know this feeling, but I want everyone to know this feeling-- and not just for extremely close games, but for every single point. Which is why after every point during this game you will run one sprint. Even the people on the side." I fought to hold in my groan in front of Fred because I know he will have me running for the rest of the practice.
"Alright, so I need my starters and the starters for the 18 White. Let's go, up to 15!"
We all got in our places and Fred passed the ball to Miracle, which meant that we had the serve. I turned facing the net and started calling out the players on the 18s team.
"Set's dead! Three hits! I got middle, I got middle!"
Fred blew the whistle, indicating that Miracle could serve. She bounced the ball a couple of times before I heard her hand slap the ball. Carter and Kailah as I watched the ball be passed by one of the girls. It looked like the ball was coming tight to the net, and I didn't know if their setter would dump on us or not.
"Watch tip!" I yelled out. But the setter just ended up jump setting it right side, who is their strongest hitter.
"Line, line!" Carter yelled out. We did the block approach, and went up for the block. I felt the ball touch my hand, but the ball still went over, "Touch!" I quickly transitioned as the ball was passed by Liana to Miracle.
"A!"
"Izzy!" Miracle said as she set the ball to me. I waited until the ball was at the top of its peak before I did my approach and hit the ball as hard as I can, aiming for the far right corner.
The ball landed right in front of their middle back player, earning us the point.
"Ayee!" We cheered. Immediately after, we began to run our sprint. The one thing that I don't like about them is that down and back is one.
After we finished the sprint, we got back into our places. Fred passed the ball back to Miracle, who bounced the ball a couple of times before I heard her serve the ball. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down before Carter and Kailah moved to their places. I watched as the ball was passed and then set to their outside. I quickly did my approach went up and got a block.
"Ooo!" We cheered as we threw our hands up. We did our sprint and got back into our spots.
The score was 14-13-- we are losing. I wiped the sweat that was dripping on the side of my face and turned towards the other side of the court. The 18 White had serve. Their libero was serving, and she was their best server. She definitely knew where to put the ball.
Marcey was in now. She looked over at Miracle and she gave her the signal to run a slide, while Kailah is gonna run the 4. The ball was served to Allana, who passes it perfectly to Miracle.
Allana and Marcey called out what they wanted to hit at the same time, but Marcey ended up getting set. She went for the B, hitting it towards the line, but their libero was able to get it up.
The ball was coming towards the net and both Allana and Marcey got ready to attack.
"Lana go!" I heard Marcey yell. Allana went up and slammed the ball back into the libero's face.
"Nice Allana!" I cheered.
I ran my sprint with the rest of the team and went back off the court. I looked at the board and the score is now 14-14.
"Come ladies push 2!" I yelled out, trying to encourage them.
Fred handed the ball to Liana. She bounced it a couple of times before she finally served the ball short. The other team had struggled, but they were able to get the ball back up and free ball it over the net.
Kailah passed it to Miracle, who then set it to Allana. She did her approach and hitting the ball, aiming for the line. The ball landed in front of one of the girls earning us the point. We cheered, and ran our sprint.
*
"So Lana-- Can I call you Lana?" Kailah asked.
Allana chuckled, and shrugged, "Yea I don't care."
Everyone is at my house since it's Friday we don't have a tournament tomorrow-- thank God. Mya came over later since she was at her physical therapy session. We told her about Allana, and she's really excited.
"Okay, are you planning on playing in college?" Kailah asked.
Lana shook her head, "Nope. I mean I got some offers, but I decided volleyball isn't what I wanna do for the next four years." I nodded my head, I can see where she's coming from. You can love volleyball, but you may not wanna dedicate all you time to it.
"So what school are you going to?" I asked as I ate another spoonful of ice cream.
"University of Texas at San Antonio."
Liana gasped, "You're gonna be with me!" She squealed.
Allana laughed, "Thank god." She said in relief, "I suck at making friends. Have you picked a roommate yet or no?"
"Nope, I haven't even figured out where I wanna stay."
"Oh well I'm living in Chaparral Village with 4 four roommates, but we only have 3. You can room with us if you want." Allana suggested.
Li Li's eyes widened, "Oh my gosh really? Thank you chica!" She said as she grabbed Allana in a hug.
"No problem." Allana smiled.
There was a lot more that we learned about Allana too. Like she's an only child and she goes to our rival school Mother McAuley. She also has a cousin going to Duke on a basketball scholarship who's like her best friend.
"Isn't Kado going to Duke on a basketball scholarship too?" Marcey asked as she drunk more of her pop.
Allana's eyes widened, "Kado is my cousin."
I frowned, "How? Aren't you Mexican or mixed with something of that sort?"
"Oh no I'm white, but Kado isn't my first cousin. He's my third cousin."
"So he's mixed, but only with a little bit of white." Mya clarified.
"Right." Allana said.
"Hm. That's cool." I mumbled.
"Oooh Izzy done got her a mixed nigga." Mya said as she nudged me.
I rolled my eyes and laughed. "Girl boom."
"You like Kado or something?" Allana asked.
I shrugged and shook my head, "I mean yea-"
"So why aren't y'all together yet??" Mya interrupted.
I stale faced her, "Well if you let me finish, you'd know why." Mya made a face, but didn't say anything, "Anyways, I do like him and he likes me, but since we're both on scholarships for sports and we're going to different schools in different states, we just decided to be friends." I explained
"That's good actually. That way you could focus on yourself, and maybe find someone better."
"Right." I instantly thought about Ben. He seems really sweet, but he could be completely different once we get to LSU.
My eyes wandered around the room, and landed on the now, empty bowl of popcorn. I unfolded myself from my blanket, and grabbed the bowl of popcorn, "I'm gonna go make more."
"Oh thank God. I thought that bowl was just gonna stay empty cus I sure wasn't about to get up." Kailah said.
I chuckled as I made my way to the kitchen. I opened up another thing of popcorn and placed it in the microwave, and pressed start.
As I stood in front of the microwave watching the popcorn pop, my phone started ringing. It was Adam. I raised an eyebrow and looked at the clock.
It's 11 o'clock at night why would he be calling me? I pressed the green button to answer the phone.
"Hello?"
"Izzy." Adam slurred into the phone.
I frowned, "Adam are you drunk?"
"I don't know-- maybe?" His accent seemed much stronger now that he's drunk.
"Well what do you ne-"
"It's you." Was all he said. I heard the microwave stop, and a focused my attention on putting the popcorn in the bowl.
I threw the bag away and made my way back to the living room, "What are you talking about?"
"You're the one I want. I-I love you Izzy." He mumbled. I stopped at the threshold of the family room. I frowned and took the phone away from my ear to see if it was really Adam.
"Uh. What?" I felt all the girls staring at me in confusion.
"You okay Iz?" Mya spoke up.
I shrugged and covered the speaker with my hand, hoping that Adam wouldn't hear me.
"It's Adam. I think he's drunk or something cus' he saying some weird stuff right now." I placed the phone back to my ear, "Look Adam, do you need me to come get you or do should I call Aaron to come get you?" I asked as I set the bowl of popcorn on the table.
"Uhh-" I took my ear away from the phone as I heard Adam vomiting over the phone.
I sighed, "Okay I'm coming to get you. Send me your location." I didn't give him the chance to answer before I hung up, so hopefully he understood what I was saying. I rolled my eyes and placed my phone in the pocket of my sweats.
"What happened?" Liana asked.
"I need to go get Adam from where ever he is. Oh and Mya please look after my the house until I get back." I pleaded.
Mya smiled and saluted me, "Gotcha boss!" She chirped. I playfully rolled my eyes and made my way up to my room to get my shoes and keys. As soon as I made it upstairs, I hear my phone ding. I quickly pulled it out to see that Adam sent his location.
I opened the maps and groaned in frustration.
"This dummy is all the way on the Northside." I mumbled as I put in the address.
I made my way downstairs and out the door to my car. I texted Mya to lock the doors, and to not open the doors for anyone.
I started up my car and plugged up my phone to the AUX. I turned up the volume as My Favorite Part by Mac Miller played through the speakers.
I followed the GPS all the way to place called Primary NightCLub. I turned off my car, making sure I locked it, before making my way to the front of the club. Since traffic was light, I made it there in about half an hour. I looked around, and saw that I was in a pretty good neighborhood, so I had nothing to worry about. The club was across the street from a restaurant and a sports bar.
I pulled out my phone and dialed Adam. After the first 2 rings, the sounds of yelling and glass breaking filled my ears. I frowned, "Adam?"
"Izzy!" He slurred, "Are you here already?"
"Yea, come on out."
Adam didn't even answer he just hung up. I rolled eyes put my phone in my pocket. Minutes later, I see Adam being dragged out by what looks like a security guard. I walked towards the two. I lightly tapped the man on the shoulder.
"Hi. He's with me, thank you!" I said. The man looked up and my eyes went wide, "Ben? You're a security guard here?"
He smirked, "Yup." He pointed towards a very drunk Adam, "This your boyfriend?"
I raised an eyebrow, "No. Is that what he's been telling you?"
Ben chuckled, "Yea." He said as he handed Adam to me.
I sighed, "I'm so sorry. He called be not that long ago saying that he loved me."
Ben's eyes went wide, "Really?"
I nodded, "Yea. I don't know if he meant it though."
"I don't know. Y'know what they say, a drunk man's words is always a sober man's thoughts."
I groaned, making Ben laugh, "Let's just hope he forgets everything that he said." I said as I turned back to my car, "Well I have to take him home, so text me?"
"I gotchu when I get off."
I smiled and unlocked my car. Ben walked back to the club, and I helped Adam into my car. He was mumbling something, but I didn't understand. After getting him situated, I got in and started up the car.
"Put on your seatbelt." I demanded. He huffed, but managed to do it, "And if you throw up in my car, you're gonna be cleaning it up." I said.
Adam didn't respond, but I heard his light snores so I figured he was sleeping.
I plugged my phone up to the AUX cord and March Madness automatically came onto the speakers.
The drive to Adams wasn't that far, but I was really tired. I pulled up to his two-story house, and immediately called Aaron. Thankfully he answered on the second ring.
"Hello?" He said in a groggy voice.
"Come get your brother." I demanded. I didn't give him time to say anything back before I hung up the phone.
A minute later, Aaron came out in a wife beater and basketball shorts. His hair was all over the place, and he had a glare on his face. Once he got to my car, I unlocked the door, and he yanked my car door open with so much force. I didn't even say anything about it because I would be mad if I had to wake up at one o'clock in the morning to get my drunk brother.
I started to get out to help Aaron with Adam, but I stopped once I saw him carrying Adam over his shoulder. Once Aaron and Adam made it safely in the house, I put my car in drive and drove off. I turned back up the music Fuck Apologies was playing. I nodded my head to the music as I rolled onto the expressway. Traffic was extremely light, so I made it home in 20 minutes.
I parked my car in front of the house, and got out. Since my parents always parked in the garage, I didn't know if they were home or not. When I unlocked the door, the girls were no where to be found. As I walked in further, I smelled pizza and heard their voices coming from the kitchen.
I took off my shoes at the door and made my way to the kitchen to find that the girls had migrated there with my parents and Rodney. They were all crowded around 2 large boxes of pizza.
"Y'all do know what time it is right?" I asked catching everyone off guard.
"Izzy's back!" Mya shouted as she limped her way over to me and pulled me in a hug. I smiled and gladly hugged her back.
"Be careful now crip, you'on wanna fall and break anything else." Rodney joked. Mya stale faced him making him laugh even harder. My mom on the other hand took the initiative to slap him upside his head.
He groaned in pain as Mya laughed and stuck her tongue out at him, "That's what you get."
We laughed at their childish behavior. Mya and Rodney were finally becoming actual friends again. They'd squashed all of their mess, and can finally be civil. My mom soon turned her attention towards Allana.
"So Allana, how are you liking Chicago Juniors?" She asked.
"I really like it actually, your drills are a killer, but they help a lot."
"Were you playing at a different club before this?" Marcey asked.
I grabbed a plate, and put three slices of pepperoni pizza on a paper plate. I grabbed a seat next to my dad and began eating the slightly cold pizza.
"No, I decided not to since I don't plan on playing in college. But I really started to miss it and since I missed tryouts, I couldn't join a club. Then a couple of weeks ago, Fred called me and said that he needed another player, so here I am."
"What school are you going to?" My dad asked.
I scrunched up my face, "Dang what is this, 21 questions?" I asked once I finished chewing.
"No it's okay, I kinda saw it coming." Allana reassured me, "Anyways, I'm going to University of Texas at San Antonio."
"With me!" Li Li shouted in excitement. My dad chuckled at Liana's outburst.
He looked over at Allana, "Goodluck with her." He tried to whisper, but we all ended up hearing.
"I heard that Mr. H." Liana said as she ate more pizza.