Forever and Always

Chapter One {Part 2}

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Word Count | 2,743

Twenty minutes later, our friends start arriving. Asher and Grey, Ellie and Kennedy's boyfriends, are the first to arrive. After them comes Christian and Ellie's cousin, Gabe, and some other kids from school: Grace, Tessa, Lizzie, Paige, Olivia, Taylor, Ethan, Carter, Zach, and Conner. That makes fifteen people in total, but mixed in with our family, it seems like way more.

The party starts with a match of speed volleyball. We have a lake in our yard, so we set up a volleyball net on the beach. It's better on sand, because when you fall down, it doesn't hurt as bad.

We split off into separate teams, with six players on each one. Our brothers are playing too, and considering they're stronger and taller than anyone else, we make sure there's at least one on each team. I manage to snag Jackson for my team, which consists of me, Ellie, Grace, Jackson (obviously), Christian, and Gabe.

Kennedy and I would have been on the same team, except she wanted Grey on hers, and that would have meant getting rid of Ellie, Grace, Gabe or Christian, none of whom I wanted to lose. So we went on different teams, which is actually way more fun, because duh, sibling rivalry!

"Jackson will start out setting, okay?" I say in our team huddle. "That way, he can keep serving aces while we get ahead. And when once he goes out, we'll move on to Grace, me, Ellie, Gabe, and Christian."

"Why am I last?" Christian asks, looking offended. "I can serve just as well as Gabe, if not better."

"I agree that I'm better than Christian, but why am I behind all y'all girls? I think the guys should serve first if we want to win," Gabe says confidently.

"You haven't been in real volleyball," Grace tells him, "so you're not as good as us."

"Then why is Jackson before you?" Gabe challenges her.

She rolls her eyes. "Because he can actually get it over the net, Gabe."

"Hey, team one, y'all are up," Dylan calls to us, just as Gabe opens his mouth to argue. I grab his arm and pull him onto the sand before he can say anything.

The other team serves first, which means we have to keep the ball from landing on our side if we want to have a chance to win. Unfortunately, Dylan is serving, which means it's pretty much impossible to hit.

Thankfully, Jackson has long arms, and he lunges forward, bumping the ball to me. I set it to Grace, and she slams it down on the other side in a spike. There's no time to celebrate, though; the thing about speed volleyball is that every time the ball lands on your side, you go off the court and another team comes on, so if you're the serving team, you're going to want to send it over the net as soon as possible, hoping that it'll land before the other team is ready.

Jackson catches the ball from Dylan, and immediately serves it. The other team tries to hit it, but it slips past them, an ace.

After that, we get several more aces, with Jackson hitting the ball harder and harder each time. But eventually, someone from the other team bumps it to Donavan, who chooses to spike it right at me.

I dive, trying to hit the ball. But just then, Harper runs onto the court. I trip over her, clipping the edge of the ball before choking on the sand. It's annoying, but all I can do is get up and stand on the sidelines, watching as the others play.

We come back in when Jordan misses a hit. I high-five Kennedy as we pass by.

"Good luck," she calls.

After we get serving rights back, Grace does a great job serving, and we collect a few more points. In the end, though, we lose second place to Kennedy's team by one point, so now we're right in the middle.