SWEAT ROLLED DOWN carolina's face as she warmed up with conrad. she wasn't used to playing under the sun or even on the sand. she probably drank half of the water in her bottle already and it had only been 30 minutes.
after warming up, carolina walked around asking people for pledges. her smile and kind eyes made it hard for people to say no to her. here and there, people said no because they has already pledged to other people. her list of pledges was filling up and was almost to her goal.
after that, conrad and carolina sat on the side and watched belly and taylor start to play their game. everything was well until taylor fell. taylor gave her 'team belly' shirt to jeremiah so he could substitute for her.
jeremiah was going fine in the first match, but it all went downhill when they moved on to the next round. carolina saw belly get visibly upset with him. "she looks mad." conrad said leaning towards her after watching jeremiah attempting to dive for the ball.
"yeah, jeremiah told me he was bad at diving."
conrad and carolina had their next game soon, so they had to stop watching the game. they walked past susannah and she stopped them to wish them good luck.
carolina wasn't that worried for them. conrad was a great server and carolina was good at spiking. first, they played the 'beach bums'. on their first serve, the girls missed it and the ball fell inside of the line. carolina and conrad shouted in celebration.
conrad served again and the girl hit it back. conrad set it for her, and carolina slapped the ball as hard as she could. the two girls on the other team both went for it and the ball landed between them. for the rest of the game conrad and carolina crushed the team. their first final score was 20-10, making them the winners.
carolina jumped and conrad caught her and spun her in a circle in celebration.
they played four more games and won all of them. they beat the capulets, heavy hitters, and they beat shayla's team. that was more thing conrad and carolina could hold over steven's head after that one party. now, she had to play against belly's team.
they took a short break before their game with belly and taylor. she got better after some "rest" and went back to playing with belly. conrad and carolina passed a cold gatorade back and forth to cool them down. "i don't get how you don't like the red gatorade! that's like the best one!" carolina said.
"no, i'm telling you! the blue is the best one!" conrad said holding up the blue gatorade they were drinking. susannah walked past them laughing at the two debating over gatorade flavors. "susannah! great! tell your son the red gatorade is the best flavor!" carolina said laughing as he tickled her side.
"conrad, stop tickling her and you know how much i like the red one!" susannah said and carolina pumped her fist in victory. "thank you susannah!" carolina said as they got up to head over to the last game.
"we got this okay? stay focused and pretend the ball is someone who you really hate when you serve." carolina said to conrad and he nodded. "i have many people in mind. we got this. pretend like we're playing a normal team and not belly and taylor."
"okay."
conrad was passed the ball and the whistle was blown. conrad threw the ball up into the air and it with a strong force. belly got it over and carolina set the ball for conrad to hit over. taylor dove to get the ball and belly hit it over. carolina spiked the ball to the floor and that was their first point.
throughout the game, the scores were always close. one team would be behind 2-6 points at most. carolina and conrad were pushing through the tiredness they felt. carolina was sweating in places she's never sweated before. she's played multiple games in a day, but not in the hot sun.
the score was 19-20 and carolina's team was currently winning. this was the last point they needed and if belly and taylor missed it, carolina would win.
conrad threw the ball up and served it over to belly's side. belly and taylor both went for the ball and missed it. they both sighed in defeat. carolina and conrad hugged each other immediately after the ball hit the ground. conrad picked her up and spun her around just like he did at the last matches.
"we did it!" conrad said setting her down in the sand.
"and the winners are carolina harper and conrad fisher!" susannah shouted into the microphone. everyone cheered as susannah ran over to them with the trophy. "carolina! i knew you two could do it!" susannah said hugging the two teens with excitement.
"congratulations!"
"and of course, they won." belly said walking away with taylor.
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it was now later in the evening and carolina was getting ready to go to a party. she started rushing after daniel told her to hurry. she ran downstairs of their house and walked over to the fisher house.
conrad was sitting on the couch watching steven play a car game. "carolina, tell your boyfriend he needs to come to the party with us." steven said throwing the controller to the side. carolina stood behind the couch and wrapped her arms around conrad's shoulder. she kissed his cheek lightly, "please, con. make steven feel better after his horrible loss against us."
"hey!" steven said as carolina laughed.
"oh yeah, is this the second time you've lost to them." daniel chuckled.
"fuck all of you." steven said throwing his head back on the couch.
"fine, i'll go. to make stevie over here feel better," conrad sighed.
