Camouflage (Camren)

Chapter 3

"Alright girls," Coach VandenAkker called Tuesday morning when practice was starting, "as you all know, we will have shorter practices starting next week when classes begin so let's put in our hardest work while we have this much time, alright? Also, we have two freshman joining us today from California, who were unable to come out here last week when we started. We have third setter, to go along with Meghan and Camila. Her name is Ally. Katie, you are an amazing weak side hitter and since Ally is so small, I want to play front row for her and hit. Okay?"

"Okay," Katie replied.

"We also have Dinah who is an outside hitter. Here our the positions I have down that each team member plays. If I have one wrong, tell me and I'll fix it. Outsides: Dinah Jane, Christina, Sarah, and Olivia. All correct?"

All the girls mentioned nodded.

"Good. Middles: Erin, Ari, Lindsay, and Hanna. We still good?"

"But I'm a libero." Erin spoke up.

"Same thing."

"Setters: Ally, Meghan, Camila, and Katie."

"Wait," Katie spoke up, "I thought I was a weak side hitter."

"You are," Coach responded, "I just have you down as setter because that's the real position you'll be in. Alright scrimmage time! On the left starting in the 1 position with serve, Meghan, Dinah, Hanna, Katie, Christina, Erin. Right starting in the one but rotating when they get serve, Lindsay, Ally, Sarah, Ari, Camila, Olivia. Go!"

The girls played like this for half and hour, until Coach VandenAkker stopped them and told them to do the rest of the drills for another two hours.

"Be back by six for another scrimmage!" She called as they left.

They were all back for 6 o'clock. They played with the same teams and the same positions. All of them just wanted to be home, even Coach. But they knew they had to practice and be the best they could for one of the toughest games they would play all season the next day.

✦✦✦

Lauren sat at her new kitchen table staring at the phone. "Ring, damn it, Ring!" she yelled. Like it was listening to her, the phone rang.

"Miss Jauregui?" a voice called.

"Yes, this is she."

"Hello, this is about your audition for the nutcracker."

"Oh, yes, of course."

"We are delighted to inform you that the part is your's if you want it."

"Yes! Holy Shit! I mean uh-"

"It's alright, we receive that a lot."

"Good, okay. Thank you so much. See you Monday."

"See you then."

She hung up the phone and did a little happy dance all the way next door to Camila's apartment. Luckily, Camila was heading in right then.

"Wait!" Lauren yelled.

"What's up?"

"I got the part of Clara for the nutcracker!"

"That's so exciting! Congrats!" The two girls hugged in joy.

"Hey when's your next game?"

"Tomorrow at six. We're playing Harvard. Uck."

"Can I come?"

"Sure! It's a home game so you know where it is."

"Yeah of course. We'll see ya tomorrow!" The 19 year old started to walk away.

"Hey Lauren!" Camila called.

"Yeah?"

"Wanna come in and have some pizza?"

"Sure."

That's exactly what she did. Lauren went into Camila's apartment. The younger girl grabbed the phone and ordered pizza from the Domino's down the street. As they ate, they watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Netflix. Just sitting around together was the closest either figured they would get.

✦✦✦

Camila stepped into the familiar gym at five o'clock, Sunday evening. She smelled the stench of lingering sweat from the day before. She was the last teammate to get there and immediately got to wrapping her right middle and pinky fingers with tape. The dangers of being a setter. She thought to herself. As she was finishing, Coach yelled, "Get peppering with a partner. I want you girls with someone who plays the same position as you." Camila immediately looked over to Katie, who was already peppering with Meghan. That just left her with Ally. They made eye contact and the smaller girl ran over to get a ball. They grabbed a spot on their half of the gym and started peppering.

Focus, Camila, focus! Lauren's coming tonight. Play thing game for her. Win this game for her.

After several countless minutes of peppering, six minutes of hitting and serving, and six minutes of passing, Coach VandenAkker called the girls over for the start of the game.

"Okay here's the setup. We have serve so starting in the one, Ally, Christina, Erin, Camila, Dinah Jane, and Hanna. Alright? Let's go win this thing. Eagles on three. Erin take it away. She screamed "1,2,3, Eagles!" We walked out to the court and got in our rotation positions. After the refs made sure we were all in the right spots, I made my way to the middle for preparation.

As soon as she hits that ball, you run. Head straight to base. You got this.

Ally hit the ball. Camila ran. She stood at the net, ready for a hit to come over. A hit came down from the middle, but Erin couldn't block it. Ally made a perfect pass to me, overcoming our missed block. I set it up to Dinah. She pulled out a perfect hit, leading to a kill. We all cheered and ran into a circle in the middle, high-fiving me, Ally, and Dinah.

We played the rest of the first game like pros. Ally had an 8-point serving streak. Hanna had a 13-point serving streak, getting us to 25 points. They were the only ones to serve, only won girl on the other team got to serve.

During the second game, though, we let up a little. Our opponents won, showing us that we needed to keep up the hard work. Thanks to an encouragement speech from Coach, we won the third and fourth games. 

Winning their first game, especially against Harvard, was one of the best feelings in the world. Camila couldn't wipe the big stupid grin off of her face. It stayed until she fell asleep that night.