Avery 🏐
When I walked into the gym, people were practicing already. I looked around and saw a brunette girl tightening the lid to her water bottle. She saw me looking over at her and smiled, setting down her bottle and walking over.
"Can I help you?" She asked over the sound of volleyballs hitting the ground.
I answered with, "Oh, yeah, I'm just looking for Coach Deane and—"
I didn't get to finish by the time the girl was yelling for the coach, shouting "AL, SHE'S HERE!" Coach Deane came power-walking out of the boy's locker room and clapped his hands.
"Alright, let's get started! Quickly, now!" He turned to face the court where members of the volleyball team were having a scrimmage. "You know the basics?" I nodded. "That's great! So you know how many points are in a set?
"25," I answered quickly. It was more of a guess.
"Right, and a team has to lead by 2 points. It's the best 2/3." I followed along. "If you'll follow me, I'll have the team members explain their positions and how to do them." Surprised as of how fast Coach Deane was talking, I followed him. The first team member was a dark brown haired boy. "Chase," Coach Deane addressed.
The boy, smiling, having just blocked a hit from the other side, turned to face us. "Al," he addressed to Coach Deane, mocking his tone, "what's up?"
Coach Deane explained what we were doing and Chase caught up easily. He looked at me—or looked down at me. "There's not much to it, Coach—all a middle blocker does is defend for their team. I've got to read the opponent team's moves to block quickly."
I nodded—I thought that would be easy for him, since he was so tall. "Next?" suggested Coach Deane.
We did the same thing for a few more people. Madison, the setter, has to set the ball for a player who's going to hit or spike it. Madison spoke easily over the racket made by the sound in the gym, since she told me herself that it's vital to communicate with her teammates to get them to know she's about to set the ball.
Callie, another brunette girl, her role is a left side hitter. She demonstrated jumping high to spike the ball Madison set to her. Callie's role focuses on offense—she explained that she and Callie communicate the most.
"Jasper."
"Al Deane."
Coach Deane sighed. "Come on, Jasper. The faster you get into it, the faster you get out. Just explain the dang role and move on."
"But—"
"It's not a question," Coach snapped.
Jasper—the boy from this morning—rolled his eyes. "An opposite hitter is offense and defense. They hit the ball but also defend, so their job is really important. If the opposite hitter hits the ball to the other side, they might have to switch to defense right away and defend for their team. They also need to know how to jump high and all that, get it?"
"You talked so fast I didn't even get a chance to translate stupidity to english. Could you say that again?" With an ear up to my ear, I mocked, even though I didn't need him to say all that again.
"Shut up."
"Make me."
"Idiot."
"Jerk."
"That's enough! Moving on. Natalia, our defensive specialist. She subs in for anyone on the team," Coach explained. "That counts for the limit of 12 subs."
"Seems easy enough to understand," I pointed out.
"And you, the libero—you're the hardest working on the team—the first round of the tournament is in 4 weeks, which means we should probably get to work as soon as possible. Avery, you might want to change into something so you can practice, did you—"
"I didn't plan on having volleyball practice today, so I don't..." Someone touched my shoulder—Natalia was smiling at me.
"I've got a change of clothes you can wear. Here, the girls' locker room is over here. Follow me."
After I'd changed, Natalia was using the bathroom, so I was looking at the trophy case right outside the door to the locker room. They were all volleyball trophies—I figured the school was dedicated to volleyball like how other schools are dedicated to football or soccer. I turned around and saw a plastic bag that showed a gold uniform rimmed with black—I looked up at Natalia, who just walked out.
"Is this the uniform?" Natalia chuckled and shook her head.
"No, no, no—that's your uniform."
When I walked out onto the gym, the court was cleared—for a second, I completely forgot I actually had to try out. Madison and Chase were on the other side talking. When they saw me walk out, Madison tossed the ball to me. "Let's see what you got!" she exclaimed.
By the time tryouts were over, I left myself in shock. I hadn't missed the ball once—and every time I hit it, the ball went straight over the net. I hopped up from the ground, as I'd been sitting criss cross. "So," I dragged out my voice. "Did I make the team?" Coach Deane thought about it for a short minute—me, Natalia, Chase, Madison and Callie all stomped our feet on the ground to make the sound of a drumroll. Coach Deane laughed and he mumbled something—the next thing I knew, Natalia raised my hand in the air.
"We've got ourselves a new libero!" We all celebrated—well, everyone but Jasper, who rolled his eyes in the corner of the gym.
Smiling, I walked in the front door of my house. I called for Dad. Surprisingly, he walked into the living room from his office. "Hey, Dad," I said excitingly. "Guess what?"
He thought for a minute. "Have a good day at school?" He guessed.
"Yes, but...I joined an after school club!" I celebrated quietly. He smiled and laughed.
"Ah, that's why you took a bit to get home—what club?" He sat down at the kitchen table.
"Volleyball. Maybe you'll finally get out of your funk you have with it and—"
"No!" He shouted, interrupting me. I was shocked, speechless. "You can't join volleyball, it's...it's too dangerous! You've got to tell the coach you quit."
"What?"
"You heard me. I don't want you playing that—it won't happen. Not in my house."
He slammed the door to his bedroom, leaving me in complete shock. I dropped my bag to the floor, running up to my own room and closing the door.
I just joined—and I wasn't planning on quitting.
