a normal teenage story

III

another day passed by. and another one. and another one. soon it was saturday, the day of my tournament.

i tied my hair into a ponytail, but on my volleball unfirom and shoes, and physically prepared myself.

my brother and chris were taking me to the tournament which was an hour away, so i put on a hoodie and sweat pants to be comfortable.

i was finally done preparing and i ran to the car, being met with chris sitting behind.

"hey sofia, how are you feeling?" my brother said with a strong accent. he moved to america just a year ago, so he was still learning.

"I'm a bit nervous to be honest, i haven't had a tournament in a hot minute." i replied, drying my hands from the sweat forming onto them.

"relax. you got this." chris smiled at me, and i returned his smile back.

he grabbed my hand and gently blew some cold air onto it, making it dry faster.

"thanks chris." i thanked him, from which i recieved a nod.

thr hour spent in a car passed quick. we were mostly playing car games from boredom. my brother, gabriel won most of them.

"aaaaand we're here." he announced happily, helping me carry my bag.

"thanks for taking us here." i thanked him and fist bumped him.

"always. now go on, you have to warm up." he shooed me, chris leaving right behind me.

as we entered the building, you could only hear the sound of the ball getting hit and falling, some yelling, talking and overall normal tournament sounds.

"I'll be here, if you need me just yell." chris said and sat down on one of the benches as i continued to my team's room.

after getting undressed, warming up and getting ready for the game, we finally got on the podium.

i could hear cheering (mostly chris's and lily's screaming) to which i smiled.

my captain flipped the coin, and we won, so we served first. i was the libero.

the ball passed over the net, and the game quickly began. the ball was constantly in the air and i was on the floor 90% of the time, catching it and making sure it doesn't fall. i could feel the sweat dripping and myfriends cheering, which made me even more hyped.

we won the first set. i drank some water and wiped my sweat, panting pretty loudly. i looked over to chris and lily and they showed me a thumbs up and a smile.

i smiled back and by the time i waved at them, it was time for the second set.

the second set was going smoothly. we were probably goong to win this whole game. suddenly, the ball was in the air again, flying over our net.

it was going all the way back, which was completely empty. i started running towards it, trying to catch it, and i did. i basicially threw myself on the ground, already feeling the bruises forming, but i did it.

the cheering got even louder. lily was screamed some random chants she made up, and chris just cheered and clapped.

after a few more minutes of sweating, running, throwing myself,

we won!

"YESSSSSSSSSS WE WON WOHOOOO!" my coach screamed in happiness, which made my whole team laugh.

after the whole motivational speech, i went to the bathroom to wash up. sweat was dripping like crazy, hell, i was so red it was embarrassing.

as i was washing my face for the third time, three girls from the opposite team entered.

"hey, you played amazingly." they pat my back and smiled.

i quickly got up and wiped my face, shooting them a smile.

"thank you. so did you guys, the game was really fun." i smiled again and handed them my hand to shake it.

"too bad you're black. i would've loved to have you on my team." the middle one said, making me drop my arm immediately.

"pardon me?"

"you heard me. if you weren't black, you'd probably make it to a better team, other than a high school one."

the sentence made my blood boil. who does this girl think she is?

"your american ass does realize i can't change my skin color, right?" i asked, already feeling annoyed.

"yeah sure, but you could try bleachi-"

"fuck off, bitch." i deadpanned, getting ready to leave the bathroom.

"what did you just say?" one of them asked in disbelief.

"fuck. off. bitch. do you have trouble understanding english?"

"girls." she said and that's all it took for the two girls next to her to push me harshly against the wall, pinning me and making me not able to move.

"who the fuck do you think you are? you should be back in africa, being a slave or some shit you bitch." the middle one came up to me as she pulled my hair.

i winced in pain, but that didn't stop my glare.

"in what fucking century do you live?" i asked in annoyance.

the girl was quick to punch me. and again. and again. she punched me about ten times, until they heard the door open.

"what the fuck are you doing?" a familar voice was heard.

our heads immediately turned to the person and i just sighed in gratefulness. it was chris.

"we were just about to leave, right sophia?" the middle girl said, making me flip her off.

"fuck off." i replied again, making her scoff and leave.

"holy shit, soph. your whole face is bleeding." chris quickly ran up to me, worried out of his mind.

"don't worry, I'm fine." i lied and shot him a smile, which caused me to wince.

"stop lying, come over here." he sighed and started patting my face with cold water.

it felt so refreshing. my whole face felt as if it was on fire. i was pretty sure it was gonna bruise bad.

"are you okay, like mentally? they probably said some fucked up shit." he asked worried.

"i'm okay. i don't really care what they think." i replied thruthfully.

he looked at me one more time before he wrapped his hands around me, making me do the same.

"you were amazing today, soph." he whispered.

"thanks, dude. appreciate it." i squeezed him, feeling him hug me tighter.