“You with the brown curly hair, stop being goofy”. I hear my coach as I hit the ball again and I sigh. Seriously does this man thinks I'm doing this on purpose. We've been playing for close to an hour now, my palms and wrists are really hurting me. Damn, these girls do have a lot of energy, they play so vigorously and I fear that I wouldn't be able to make the team. I never knew a volleyball tryout was this nerve-wracking and exerts this kind of energy but then what can I say when there are ten girls trying out but only four gets picked. Two from each team.The ball comes to our side of the net again and then out of frustration I hit as I hard I can, scoring a point for our team and also increasing my chances of being on the volleyball team a little.I hear the coach blow his whistle, we stop playing and walk tiredly to where he is standing. “You girls did a great job today. I really wish you all could be on the team but that can't be possible”. Coach says and points at me, my heart beats faster. “You need to work on your stamina, you are a great player but not an energetic one. Do you understand?”. He asks and I nod my head. “Yes sir I do and I would definitely work on my stamina”. “Alright that's it. You can go take a shower and get ready for the results by Monday”. The coach dismisses us. We all praise each other and commend ourselves. The girls all go into the bathroom but I don't.I sit on the floor of the volleyball court and bring my knees up and put my head in it. “Inhale and exhale”. I say to myself as I do it. I exhale loudly and lay down on the court still closing my eyes. “I didn't know angels play volleyball”. I hear a cheery voice say. I open my eyes as I try to adjust my focus on the figure staring down at me, it is a boy and I don't know him.I look at him as I lie on the floor. “You were great out there you really can play”. He says again and that was when my brain came to work. I sit up and turn to face him with my curls sticking to my face. “Thank you”. I smile at him and then ask, “You were watching?”.He smiles back at me. “Nope, we were watching”. I hear another voice and I could recognize this one. It belongs to Matteo.I watch as he and Adrian comes into focus with some other guys I also do not know. “Great tryout Lia”. My heart clenches as I hear that name from his lips again. He is wearing a black t-shirt and a blue jean. His blue jacket is in his hands “Wow I didn't know people were watching”. I say timidly as I scratch the back of my head. He is wearing a chain which has the initial ‘M’ as it's pendant. Adrian is wearing the same kind of chain over a red striped shirt with his initial as the pendant too.
There are six guys in total and all are quite tall. “Well you would have if you weren't so focused on the ball”. Adrian says and I give a weird look. “So Einstein, where was my focus supposed to be?”. I ask as I use the nickname which Andrea gave him. “Tsk tsk tsk take a joke”. Matteo covers up for him as he stretches his hand for me. I look at his hand and back at him. “Let's go get something to eat”. He says and I grab his hand as he hoists me up. “Wow you are quite tall”. The guy who was talking to me earlier before the others came comments. I shrug my shoulder. “You are tall too”. I say as I dust my back clean of any sand particles.Someone laughs. “Yeah Levi, and pretty”. Another person says and I look up and give him a cheeky smile. He is sporting a pixie cut. “Thank you, you are a very handsome young man too if I must say”. I see a light blush creeping up his fair skin. “Why don't you compliment me this way?”. Matteo asks playfully as his eyes rests on me. “Well, what does her stares imply. I mean you should see the way she looks at you like you are the hottest guy on the planet”. Adrian jokes and Matteo and the other guys give a small laugh. I give them all a glare, all of them. They might tower over me by few inches but it doesn't bother me. “I really wish Andrea is here to deal with you”. I cross my arms.Matteo laughs and asks, “Where is she anyway?”. “She had something to do at home so she couldn't come. And Mari?”. “She's at a study group”. Adrian answers. “Well since you guys have decided to take me out for an early dinner, I better go shower. I don't think you boys want a girl with sticky sports wear and a sweaty body to go eat out with you”. I say and they all nod but Matteo doesn't. “I don't mind”.
I feel my cheeks turning red and I turn on my heels and go to have my shower. I feel their eyes on me and I suddenly become self conscious. “She is really pretty and hot too”. I hear Levi say as the door to the shower room opens up and the girls file out.I go into one of the stalls and and strip as I turn on the shower. The water becomes warm and I step into it.
I dry my hair with a dryer that I see on the sink. I dress up and pack my clothes into my bag and leave the room.I step into the court room and my eyes roam to the bleachers, I see the boys there, I wave to them. “Come on let's go I'm done”. I shout grabbing their full attention. They all come down and we walk out of the volleyball court together.
It's a little dark and cloudy when we step out of the building. “So where are we going to?”. I ask as I follow them out. “There is a nice pizzariea that is not to far from the campus”. Someone says and I mentally face palm myself. I rush to their front and spread my arms wide stopping them. They give me an amused look. “Hold on a sec, I don't even know some of your names yet. I mean we haven't even introduced ourselves”. “My name is Annalia Anthony”. I introduce myself. “What is yours?”. I point at the guy who has got a pixie cut. “Micheal Baldwin here” “Adonis Davis”. The guy who was talking about a pizzariea says.I look at the remaining one. He has a bright blonde hair. “Coby Gallagher”. “Alright now that you know their names can we go eat I'm really starving”. Adrian interrupts as I'm about to speak. “Way to break the fun Addie”. I roll my eyes and go to stand with Matteo. “Proceed”.
We get to a pizza parlor which isn't to far from the campus. We enter and the bell chimes notifying the waiters or waitresses about the new customers.We find an empty table that would fit all seven of us and go to sit there. “So Lia what would you be having?”. Matteo asks as we sit. “Anything you guys are having”. I wasn't really hungry but since he went out of his way to invite me to eat out with them I may as well eat whatever they eat. “We need three of your largest pizza with everything on top”. Levi tells the waiter and the boys agree with him.The waiter didn't look too stunned. There is no way that I'm eating that kind of pizza. The waiter is about to go get the orders but I stop him. “Please don't listen to them. For the first pizza we will have half pepperoni and half sausage, second one we would have half mushroom and half bell peppers and for the third one we would have half Mexican and half Hawaiian. And please do not forget the cheese”. The table is quiet by the time I'm done talking. “That is okay isn't?”. I ask the boys as they all look at me as though I've grown bigger ears. “Yes Mom”. Matteo answers with a cheeky smile.I roll my eyes and then nod to the waiter to go get our order ready. “Your order would be ready very soon”.As soon as the waiter leaves the boys start talking. “Lia, where did you learn to do a dump like that?”. Matteo asks reffering to the tryout earlier. “Seriously, that was some crazy hit, your opponents couldn't even touch the ball”. Adrian says. “Well honestly I didn't know I had that in me. It was as a result of the frustration in the tryouts”.Matteo looks at me awed. “Woah, remind me never to get on your bad side”.I laugh. “Well what were you guys doing there anyway, apart from watching the volleyball game”. “Our coach couldn't come to practice today because of some reasons that he didn't share with us so he cancelled the basketball practice”.Matteo says as he leans on his chair. “Oh, you guys are basketball players”. I say and they all nod their heads. “Nice”. “So how is Andy doing?”. Adrian asks . “Who is Andy?”. Coby asks as he looks at Adrian. “Oh Andy is the girl that Adrian is head over heels for”. I look at Matteo and he smirks. “Am I not right Lia”. Matteo looks at Adrian and then back at me. I giggle and Adrian shoots him a playful glare. “Tsk tsk tsk, take a joke man”. I tease. “That has got to be the most used sentence tonight”. Adonis says as the waiter brings our pizza to us. My eyes widen at the size of it. It is really large.Adrian and Matteo stand up to join another table to ours while the waiters put the pizzas down.I look at them astonished. They must really come here alot.After the pizza has been set, we arrange our chairs properly. “Alright boys and girl” —Adonis looks at me— “dig in” . And the boys do so.I look at them as they grab the pizzas and I know that if I don't act fast I wouldn't eat this pizza.
What was that saying again?. ‘When you are in Rome act like the Romans’.I internally shrug my shoulders and join the boys.
“You’ve really got a big appetite Annalia, I mean you really eat a lot”. Levi tells me as we walk out the pizzariea after eating to our fill. The boys are still chatting about their upcoming basketball games. “Well you really didn't expect me to sit there and watch you guys wolf down that pizza while I don't get anything”. I look at him with my eyebrow raised. “You really know how to give the worst compliments Levi”. Matteo says. “Yeah, at this rate you'll never get a girlfriend”. Adrian shakes his head.I turn my head to them, I didn't know that they were listening to our conversation. “You guys should quit picking on him. He is being truthful, I do eat a lot”. I cover up for Levi when I understand what their statement means. “Bleh, we know but if he had said this to another girl who isn't you, she would have felt really offended, kind of”. Adrian is right not many people like being told that
“Help, Lia please help it's so hot in here”. She screams as I try to get to her. There is fire on both sides of where she is standing “I’m coming, just hold on and do not move. I'll be right there”. I tell her calmly as I prepare to cross the fire in order to meet her on the other side of the kitchen.I try to cross over but I can't. This place is so hot and I feel like I'm being boiled. I feel so dizzy and I can't think properly with the smoke clouding my vision and almost choking me. “Hurry up please, I am finding it quite hard to breathe”. She calls out to me again and I hear her cough. I let out a cough of my own. I look at her and see that she is huddled up in a corner as she clutches her shirt so tight. She is staring at the fire fearfully as she moves deeper into the corner not really realizing that she can't move backwards anymore. “Hey, listen, look at me”. I say to her with a
I groggily wake up from my slumber my eyes feel heavy and instantly I knew the cause of it. I had cried myself to sleep earlier this morning. I rub my eyes with my two fingers as I sit up on the bed. I stand from my bed and move to the mirror, I was right my eyes do look quite puffy. I didn't have the time to start making remedies for puffy eyes so I just left it that way, the puffiness will reduce soon. I glance at the little clock that is by my bedside table to check the time, it's eleven am. As I get out of my room with my phone in my hand —in case Andrea calls— and go to take a bath, I keep my hopes up that Andrea would be in the living room but sadly she wasn't. I enter the bathroom and immediately turn on the tap to fill the bathtub with water, as the warm water pours into the tub I pour in my scented shower gel and lavender oil. The bathroom begins to get a little steamy and now has a fresh scent of oranges and lavender. I take off my nightclothes, get into the water and start t
She was hurting me and I wanted to make her feel the same pain that I felt. So I decided to tread on her most sensitive subject.Her infertility.With my vision clouded by anger I made a statement that I wish I can take back. “Well, if only you weren't a barren woman maybe you would have given birth to another child and I wouldn't feel so lonely”.I had screamed at the top of my voice. At that time I didn't regret what I had said. I just wanted to take out the anger which was boiling inside of me on someone or something and she was the perfect bait. I looked at my mother's face and I could tell she was in shock. She kept on moving backward slowly until her legs touched the couch and she just sat on it.A tear slipped through her face and then another and another. You might have thought that me seeing my mother cry might have given me a change of heart. Wrong. I had kept on looking at her with no remorse at all. I was still angry.
“Don’t you think that it is time for you to go home, you've been out for too long and you are still in your pjs”. Levi tells me and I give him a look. I'm not complaining, why should he. “Uhm I really don't care”. I tell him and instantly regret the tone that I use. “I’m sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out that way”. “Nah, it is okay. I understand that you don't want to go home now, but you still in your sleepwear by this time of the day doesn't really seem proper”. “Yeah you are right but I really don't want to go home now. I know that I'm being quite immature but I just don't want to go home”. “Must be some pretty fierce argument eh”. He says.Throughout the conversation I had with Levi, I never mentioned what happened between Annalia and I or even about my issues. We had just talked about school and other stuffs. I found out that he attends Bayweach College too and that he plays basketball. I still don't want to go home now because I cannot face Annalia. I fee
As soon as I get the spare keys to my apartment and say goodbye to Levi, I rush to my apartment to go take a shower and relax. I go straight to the bathroom pulling off my clothes in the process, I feel quite itchy.I get out the shower feeling refreshed and quite relaxed. As I get to my room and plop down on my bed, I pick up my phone and tap it twice. I am faced with twenty two missed calls. Three are from my dad and the rest are from Annalia. My chest clenches with hurt and I feel a pang of guilt.I dial her line in order to put her at ease and let her know that I am back home.Unavailable. It doesn't go through.My eyes are teary as I dial my dad's number. He picks as soon as the phone starts to ring. “Hello my darling, I have been expecting your call since. Are you okay?”I begin to sob and I don't hear the next thing he says. “No Daddy I am not okay”. I cry o
ANNALIA’S POV “I am craving cakes”. I tell Andrea nervously as we walk to school. “Uhm, isn't it too early to eat cakes”. She looks at me puzzled. “I know but I am very nervous and I want to eat something sweet”. “Wait hold on a second is this about making the list for the volleyball team?” I nod quite sheepishly and steer clear of the moving car coming my way. A horn blows but we don't pay attention to it. “Please don't stress this Anna, you will make the team”. She says as she rubs her forehead with one hand and pats my shoulder with the other. “I really wish I could be as confident as you, you know”. “Excuse me” –she comes to my front and stops me– “you can be confident too if you want to, I have watched you play Anna and you play really well. So if your coach can't see that then he is really really really blind”. “Well, you didn't come for the tryouts so you can't say for sure if I played well”. I shrug and continue to walk. “I am not going down this lan
16 “Here is your jersey Annalia, welcome to ELITES FORCE volleyball team”. My coach says as he hands over the jersey to me and gives me a handshake. I take the jersey from him and shake his hand vigorously. “Thank you so much, sir. Thank you so so much”. I say with a lot of excitement, still managing to compose myself in front of him. “Here is our schedule, I hope that you'd follow through”. He hands me a piece of paper and my eyes scan through it. There are days for exercises and also days for practice. “You need to be on time for the exercises and also practice. Tardiness would not be tolerated at all”. He speaks to me without humour in his tone. I nod my head. “I will try my best sir...” He puts his hand up signalling me to stop my statement halfway. “I do not want you to ‘try’ your best Annalia, I want you to do more than your best. Do I make myself clear young lady?” “Yes sir, I will do more than my best”. “That’s more like it. You can leave now”. I gently le