long chapter ahead!

Sierra

I rush into my room with all my bags and I nearly topple over because of a shoe left on the ground that caused me to trip.

"There you are!" Parker immediately shoves all the things down on the ground and grabs me to my vanity, sitting me down. Cameron walks out of my bathroom and waves at me.

"No time to wave! Team hairstyle is dutch braids." Parker swats my hand and she immediately works on my hair.

I couldn't come home early as I hoped because of a stupid test, but here I am. My leg is bouncing like crazy. I've done these types of games before, I shouldn't be nervous! We're playing a different school that's pretty close with Elwood, no surprise, but I feel like they've gotten stronger.

At least they didn't puke after a practice.

I see Cameron sitting on my bed, eating a piece of Twizzler while scrolling through her phone.

"Sarah Holiday just posted on her story, "championship predictions!" geez." Cameron snorts and throws her phone down on my comforters. "She also said earlier that she'll beat Parker's ass!"

Parker rolls her eyes and ties one of my braids, hairspraying it a bit. "She'll barely lay a finger on me."

We all laugh and just chatted while Parker finishes up. I hear a knock on my door and Cameron gets up to
open it as Parker does her last finishing touch on my hair. The chatter outside the door becomes louder and once she opens the door, three people busted into my room and toppled all on top of each other.

Poor Ty on the bottom.

"Get off of me!" he groans and they all shuffle up, fixing their hair at the same time. They freeze and stare at each other and cleared their throats. Blake fixed his sideways cream colored beanie on his head. He was fitting a white Nike hoodie and grey sweatpants. Ty on the other hand, yanked his hat off of Kaydon's head and put it on backwards. The red and white colors matching his checkered shirt and black jeans.

Kaydon gives me a lopsided smile and I subtly rake my eyes down his outfit. A beige loose shirt and black sweats with a hoodie in his arms. His hair is all tousled and a strand hangs in the front, making me suppress a laugh.

The girls and I laugh at their silly antics. "What do you guys want? You're supposed to leave soon!" Parker throws her hands in the air and Blake shoots his hands up, with a smirk.

"We wanted to give you guys our good luck charms before you guys leave. Plus, Kaydon wanted to see his gir-" he got smacked upside on his head and Cameron gives me a wink. Kaydon's ears are bright red. Poor boy.

I roll my eyes, "Is that all?"

Ty's eyes immediately light up and went back in the hall to grab three black and gold bags. The bags had our names in giant calligraphy handwriting and I instantly knew it was Carol who made it.

When we were little, the group and I would find Carol, Blake and Cameron's mom, to do handwriting with because it looked like so much fun. She still does it but not as much anymore.

Ty hands each of us the bag and they all stand next to each other, waiting with anticipation. "Open them at the same time!" Blake says excitedly. The three of us take out the white tissue paper and I quietly gasp at the sight.

"The whole team gets them too but you guys have your number and last name on the bag while they only have their last name." Kaydon informs us and Cameron almost tears up at the sight. I hold the dark maroon and white hoodie up to see a small volleyball on the left chest area on the front and I smile at the sight of the white numbers and letters on the back.

It's funny to me how Kaydon and I have the same number. I shake the bag a bit and I hear something in it. Inside of the bag is a light grey envelope and I look over to see the girls examining it.

"These were from all of us." Ty grins and my lips form an "aw" pout at them. I stand up and gave them a hug. Kaydon's hug at the end was a bit longer and touching and Cam and Parker do the same.

I open the card and I read Blake's first, out loud:

Hey, SiSi! I wanted to let you know that I am so incredibly proud of you. We've been apart for so long yet you still feel like a little sister to me. You're also the best bestie I could've ever asked for. Thank you for being there whenever the guys or Cam couldn't. Win the games for me!!

ps. shipping saydon till the day i die!!

I didn't read the last part but I smile at him through teary eyes. The words, I'm proud of you, hold a special place in my heart and I'm thankful he remembers that. We laugh at the message he gave to Parker saying he'll shave her hair off if she misses a hit and we almost cry at the sweet message he gave to Cameron.

"Stop it! Mom only makes me cry with letters," she whines and gets pulled into a hug by Blake. He gives her a quick kiss on the top of her head and I adore the sight of their sibling-ship.

I then read Ty's next:

SIERRAAAA. I am so proud of what you've accomplished! When I came back here with the guys, I never thought that things would be the same like it used to. I now realize that all we needed was an extra push and you definitely gave us that push. I'm forever thankful for your impeccable advice and funny humor, and I'm so grateful that you're in my life.

Love, Ty.

ps, i love u more than kaydon

I roll my eyes at the p.s. , and I give Ty a hug, wrapping my arms around his waist. He ruffles my hair and gives me a sly grin. "Love you too, Ty." I muffle into his shirt and he laughs, his body rumbling.

"You called me a latina crazy lady!" Parker shouts and Ty's eyes widen, immediately pulling away from the hug.

"Shit, Google Translate sucks." he mutters and Blake shoves him.

"You could've asked Valentina."

Valentina is her mom and Ty does an O shape with his mouth. We all laugh and I look at Kaydon's note that said to not read out loud.

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, Si. It's game day! One of the biggest games you'll ever play. I heard last year was a bust, but you guys will be fine. I swear. We've had our ups and downs and I didn't deserve a second chance at all.

But thank you for giving me a chance that I didn't ever deserve. We had bumps along the way and we changed, a lot. I'm so fucking glad we came back because I never would've seen you again. You completely changed my view on life. Literally. I sing Taylor Swift every now and then in the car.

This isn't going to be a love letter, I swear, I remember our rule. ;) But I just wanted to say that I'm so proud of you. I'm proud of your accomplishments, I'm proud of every single milestone in your life. Even the ones where I wasn't there with you. Fuck all the negatives, fuck the shit that goes through your brain, say fuck you to the people out there who mess with your shit. You are so much more.

I should end this note now, the guys are going to bully me.

Always and forever, Kaydon. <3

My eyes are tearing up, what the actual fuck.

"Kaydon, fuck you!" Parker shouts and went to give him a hug with tears down her cheeks. "Why are you so nice??" She waves her envelope in her hand and Ty starts laughing so hard he bends over to stable himself.

Cameron sniffles a bit and gives him a side hug. Blake laughs and puts an arm around me, pulling me closer. "You made your bestie cry, Kay." he cooes and I roll my eyes. They don't know what he wrote for me and I shove it in my drawer with the other random gifts I had.

"Thanks, Kaydon." I smile and started walking towards him. He opens his arms and puts them around my waist, fitting his head in the crook of my neck. My arms are around his neck and I smile as he holds on a but longer before letting go. The smell of mint and a hint of cologne

I wave them off, "Okay, now go to the gym! The student section will get full." They laugh and hugged Cam and Parker before shutting the door. We wait till we hear their footsteps disappear and I get tackled to the ground by the two.

Hair is in my face ad I try and shove them off of me. Cameron finally gets off of me and I stand up, giving them a, what the fuck?, glare.

Parker smirks, "That hug! What the shit was that?"

Oh.

"It was a hug?" I chuckle slightly. Cameron throws me my bag and I catch it, putting it on. I grab my water bottle and Parker groans.

"Just a hug my ass. You guys have so much tension I want to just smush your faces together so you can kiss!" she exclaims and my jaw drops to the floor. Cameron starts cackling and I feel my cheeks getting red.

"Shut up." I mumble, opening the door.

**

We all run on over to coach as she calls us. Our student section tonight is packed. The guys were at the very back but tall enough for us to see them. The band was here, surprisingly, and some of the basketball players were here to cheer us on. Some were in Ferraview colors, red and white.

"Alright, ladies! It's now or nothing. You all worked your asses off this season and this game is the time to show it. I'm not settling for a far game, I'm looking for the closest game you can get!" she tells us, looking straight into our eyes. Full of determination.

"You either put your all on that court going down on your knees or stomach for that ball or you can get off. Elwood has gotten good but we've gotten better. We'll meet them at championships, right Parker?" she turns to Parker and she nods, having a thrilling grin on her face.

"Parker, talk to the team and we'll get on out there." coach heads to the referees and the other team's coach that we all know. Parker puts an arm around the teammates' waists near her and we all follow lead. She looks at every one of us, smiling.

Parker looks up at the scoreboard and turns on her game face. "We threw up, we collapsed, we passed out. Am I wrong?" she asks. We all say no in chorus. She loves the power of talking like this. She lives hyping us up and telling us to give it our all.

"That's proof that we worked hard enough for this game. There's no what if's. When we win, we're going to be working even harder for championships! When we go to championships, we'll show Elwood what we got!" she shouted and we all cheer in unison. The ref blows the whistle and we all gather on over to the student section for the Ferraview tradition for every game day before championships.

Parker points to Ty who just recently learned the song. He smirks and cups his mouth next to his mouth. "Listen, baby," he starts and everyone claps. This is the last time we'll ever sing it.

"Ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low." we all sing, continuing this section until it's the last line.  The section goes loud and crazy and the volleyball team runs back to coach, getting into our huddle.

"Kick ass, girls." she smiles and we cheer. The other team has serve first and our lineup all runs on the court. Parker calls a small huddle and we all meet, breathless from the running.

I calm myself down and my eyes drift to the student section finding that familiar brown haired boy. He gives me a smile and a thumbs-up. I laugh and focused on Parker.

"We know what we're doing?" she asks and we all nod. She pats us on the back before saying coach's words a few seconds ago.

"Let's kick ass."

**

We're behind. We're fucking behind by one.

"Time out!" I hear our coach yell, throwing the clipboard on her chair aggressively. It's the fifth match and we're all tired and sweating. We won two sets and the other school won two.

It's so fucking intense, I think my heart might just beat outside of my chest. I glance at the student section and everyone had weary faces. Kaydon and the guys were all biting their nails anxiously.

"What are you girls doing out there?" coach lokks at every single one of us. "Julia, I don't know what type of crap is in your head but you do not get Cameron's ball!" she says directly to our sophomore back row player.

"You go get the damn ball! What's so hard to understand? You worked this hard and you're about to lose. I love you girls, alright, but I'm about to run out on the court myself and play. Get the ball, focus, and have fun." she says and we all nod. The timer buzzes and we all run back onto the court.

I look at Parker who's behind Cameron, scraping her foot on the gym floor. The other team's player is getting ready to serve and I wipe my hands on my thighs.

Getting nervous is a habit during these types of games. A sport is this type of love you don't feel for anything else. Whenever you lose or make a mistake, it's like a piece of disappointment being mounted in your shoulders. It hurts, it hurts so so bad. How can I just leave it all behind when I love it so much though?

I shake the thoughts out of my head and the referee gets up on his area. He blows the whistle and motions for her to serve. She throws her ball in the air and makes a smacking noise against it, getting it over the net easily.

I read the ball as it travels in the air and I can tell it's getting a bit short. I immediately run forward and passed it right up in the air. Scrambling to get up, I run back to my spot and try to ignore all the chaos happening around me. Coach is screaming and my teammates on the bench are cheering us on.

Cameron sets it swiftly in the air backwards to Parker who hits it so fast that if you blink, it would already touch the floor.

Point to us. We run into our small huddle and pat each other on the back for support. Parker urges us to try harder to win this shit and we all agree. This time one of our best players for serving and pretty good at defense is up.

The whistle blows and she bounces on the ground once. She exhales and throws it up in the air, jumping and then hitting it so hard, it was nearly out. An ace.

"Fuck yeah!" I hear a student shout and the section goes crazy. We all smile at her and I look at the scoreboard with my throat getting stuck. We're so close.

She serves again and it hits the net a bit and they received it with ease. I get down low ready to pass it up but they dump it over to Parker who was ready to block. She goes to the ground, using her right arm to get it up high enough and Cameron accidentally sets it back.

Back to me.

Oh you're screwed, Sierra.

I only had the littlest time and I just cross my toes, hoping this would make it over. One more point, I keep thinking. One more until you're in championships for the last time. I jump up and went into the attack position and I just close my eyes and hit.

I landed. My feet hit the floor and I pry my eyes open to see the ball landing in the exact middle of two back row players who couldn't get it. The next thing I see is me getting trampled by our teammates and the tears and laughter they have.

"Holy fuck, Sierra!" Cameron pulls me into a hug and pieces of her hair gets into my face. Am I alive? Did I just do that? I chuckle and I step back to just feel the pride and joy my body is feeling. It's like I'm on fucking cloud nine.

My eyes immediately go to the student section who's jumping like crazy, some pooling out onto the court. The feeling of my heart dropping to the ground aches and everything just stops where everyone is frozen. I keep searching the one pair of eyes I wanted to see but I can't find them.

He's gone. The person in the spot where he sat is gone. I ignore Parker calling me over and I run to the bleachers, running past people congratulating me and when I reach the top, he's gone.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and I turn around to see Cam and Parker's worried eyes. "What's wrong, Sierra?" Cam asks, searching for an answer.

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, not knowing where he could've went. He said he would celebrate this with us. With me.

"He isn't here." and those words just hurt like shit.