Avery 🏐
When I woke up, my alarm was already going off. I jumped out of bed. How could I sleep in on my first day? If I'm late, I thought, Oh god, this is not going to look good on my permanent record.
I threw on a white tank top, some light jeans, converse, and grabbed my bag as well as a jacket on my way out of the door. I slowed in the living room to ask my dad for a ride when I stopped. He'd fallen asleep on the couch again. I thought, oh well, I can take the bus.
But as I stepped outside, the yellow school bus was already driving away. I gasped and began to sprint after it, trying to also stuff my water bottle in my bag. I hoisted my cheap bag onto my shoulder when I finally got it in and sped up my pace. I grinned when the bus began to slow down finally, only to realize it was turning at a stop sign. I caught up to it when a car came speeding by me, about to hit me—I shouted a curse at the driver before desperately continuing the chase.
When the school finally came into my sight, I heard the first bell ring. I brought my jog to a sprint and soon came tumbling into the classroom right before the tardy bell rang. The teacher, a serious looking woman with a name tag reading "Ms. Dominguez" gave me a stern look and nodded to a seat just a few rows from the front. Without protesting, I sat with the rest of the class.
"As I was saying," Ms. Dominguez continued, "after school clubs closed weeks ago, Jamie, the next openings are January 5th, after we come back from winter break. Now. Any math related questions?" Hands shot up. I began to think I should gain more interest in math if I wanted to fit in at my new school. "Michael. Yes?"
"When does the tournament start?"
There was a sigh from Ms. Dominguez and excited murmurs from students. Ms. Dominguez set down her keyboard and leaned on her desk. "If you'd like to have any questions answered about the upcoming tournament, talk to Coach Deane for any additional information. Now, can we please get on with the lesson?"
All throughout class, I wondered about this tournament that everyone happened to be talking about. Since I was pretending to be invested in the algebra lesson, I wasn't called on at all, other than when Ms. Dominguez pointed out the fact that I was a new student. The bell rang at the end of class, and as I was heading towards the door, Ms. Dominguez called me over.
"Now I know I said after school clubs are closed," she explained, "but the board says all new students get an extra week so they, too, get the chance to sign up. There's a board outside my classroom if you'd like to take a look." I nodded, intrigued.
"Thanks. I'll check it out."
"Get to class." Little did she know, I had a free period. If I could only pass my driver's test I'd be able to go wherever I wanted for the 45 minutes of freedom. When I walked into the hall, someone ran into me. I gave him a dirty look and immediately recognized who he was—the dark brown siren eyes and that messy black hair was very recognizable.
"Hey," I let out, "you're that jerk who almost ran me over earlier!" He looked me up and down, narrowing his eyes at me.
"And you must be the idiot from this morning who ran into the middle of the road." He scoffed. "You know, you should watch where you're going. Look both ways before you cross, eh?" As he walked off, he nudged my shoulder with his aggressively. I scoffed and bent down to pick up my book, tucking a loose strand of blonde hair behind my ear. When I stood up, I just turned to the activity board and began to read.
I read down the list of activities, getting accidentally pushed by students as they walked through to get to their classes. Track intrigued me until I saw the meeting times; every weekday after school. That'd get tiring quickly, and besides, if I kept sleeping in, my legs would be sore for the rest of my life. I thought of soccer, but my legs had terrible aim and I'd probably miss the goal. Basketball didn't sound much fun, either; I never got the 'traveling' rule or 'double dribble'. I highly considered joining something boring like chess club or coding club. I really was just looking for something that would keep me occupied after school. Something that would keep me from going home right away.
That's when it caught my eye. In gold lettering, a flyer read:
Newbridge High Volleyball Team
I'd always wanted to try volleyball. Around the house, I was always bumping around a bouncy ball. Dad didn't like the sport much; he'd much rather watch football "like a normal person", but he rarely ever had time to do so anyway with work and all.
A voice from behind scared me. "Looking to the team?" I spun around and saw a man around my father's age. He was wearing a burgundy polo shirt with gold Coach Deane lettering near his heart. He laughed. "I didn't mean to scare you—we do need another player. Our libero last year was a senior—nobody yet has matched the requirements. Might as well give it a try, right?"
I started to second guess myself. "Uh...I don't know, I was just looking..." Coach Deane's smile faded a bit.
"Just give it a shot, kid. You never know unless you try." I thought about it for a minute and held out my hand for Coach Deane to shake.
"Alright. When can I try out?"
"There's a practice right after school. I'm sure you know the basics, but it will be a good time to explain everything you need to know in a short amount of time. See you then, kid."
