Following the football game on Friday night (it was right after the first round of states, and they won), we were boarding the bus that was to drive us to states for volleyball.

As I stood by the bus, talking to Lacey, Braxton and Ryder ran up to us. They both pulled us into hugs.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Play hard, yeah?" said Ryder as he pulled out of the hug, but kept his arms around my waist.

"Of course. Good job tonight."

He smiled and tucked my hair behind my ear. "I love you."

I stood on my tippy toes and kissed him. "Love you too."

-

The next day, we showed up to the complex bright and early. Landen led us over to the court in which we would be playing on. We set our stuff down and began to put on our shoes and knee pads.

As we got ready, fans from our school and the other school began to flood in. Amongst those many people was Ryder and his family. 

I quickly laced up my other shoe and then rushed over to him.

"You saw me 12 hours ago, did you miss me or something?" asked Ryder as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Maybe just a little bit," I said.

"Play hard," he said, but as he spoke, his eyes were focused on someone behind me.

I turned to follow his gaze. His eyes were on Ella, but she was glaring at us.

Ever since Ryder and I got back together, she hasn't been at school, like at all. She probably only showed up this last week so she could be allowed to play at states... well sit the bench at states, actually.

"Have you talked to her since?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No, the entire week has been so awkward, but at least she doesn't know we were sneaking around."

"I feel bad," I mumbled.

"Me too, but think about it this way, we ended up together, and that's what matters. After all, she was doing the same."

"I guess so. I should warm up. I'll talk to you after the game."

"Alright, good luck, pretty," he whispered in my ear as he gave me one final hug.

When I stepped out of the hug, I waved to the rest of his family. Nancy wished me good luck and Tessa ran over to hug me real quick. After that, I walked over to where the rest of the team was getting ready to warm up.

A nervous breath left my mouth a while later as I took the court. We were one of the higher seeds and this team was really low, but that did not help my nerves.

For the entire game, it felt as though we were evenly matched, which was a little discouraging considering we are supposed to dominate this weekend, and if we can't even take out an easy seed in three sets, then that is not a good sign.

However, we did manage to beat them. As we walked off the court, despite winning, all our spirits were down.

"Girls, chins up," said Landen, "you all have the potential to win state, again. Just take some deep breaths and shake it off because we're moving on to the next round," he said.

I did as he said and tried my best to forget about the game that just happened because it was rough, but we play better than that. After all, we're defending state champs. This should be a breeze.

And so, our next game went way better. Funny enough, we played the team that we lost to when I got hurt. I think that was enough to fire us up because we took them in three and won by a big gap each set.

As we waited for our third and final game of the day, I sat with my parents, who were sitting next to Ryder's family. How convenient.

"Any schools standing out to you yet?" my dad asked Ryder.

"UCLA for sure, but a bunch of out of state schools are on my mind because they all have amazing programs," he said.

"Ainsley looked at UCLA," said my dad, "wouldn't it be funny if you two ended up at the same school?"

Ryder and I shared glances. Sometimes it is so hard to tell whether or not my dad would like Ryder and me together, because he says things like that.

"That would be. Do you think you'll go for soccer?"

"I hope so," I said, even though Ryder and I have had this conversation before.

"Well, you have quite a few volleyball offers," said my dad.

"Really? I didn't know about that," said Ryder.

I have not even really acknowledged the volleyball offers. I'm grateful for them, but I love soccer way more. The volleyball offers are more of a last resort if soccer doesn't work out.

"Yeah, I just haven't made any commitments yet..."

After our final game, we jogged off the court as our fans cheered. We just won, so we are onto the next round tomorrow. It was a successful game though. We won in three sets.

As I slipped my knee pads off and kicked off my shoes, Ryder came up to me.

"Amazing job, pretty," he said as he held my volleyball bag open so I could put my shoes inside.

"Thank you, and thanks for coming."

He nodded. "It's the least I can do considering all you have done for me when it comes to football."

"It's nothing really... Are you headed home?"

"Yeah, but I'm coming back tomorrow."

"That's like a three hour drive and our first game is at 9:00," I stated.

He shrugged. "I like to support you though, so the drive is nothing."

"Well, thank you, Ry. I need to talk to my parents, but I'll see you tomorrow."

Ryder pulled me in for a quick hug. "Sleep well."

-

"Lacey and Ainsley, start the warm up. I need to attend the coaches meeting," said Landen after we had gathered on the court in which we would be playing on.

So, Lacey and I led the team in the usual warm up. By the time we were done, it was just about game time.

As captains, Lacey and I met with the refs and the captains from the other team for a coin flip on who gets serve.

"Tails," I said as the ref flipped the coin.

He showed it to me, and it had in fact landed on tails.

"We'll serve," I said.

"Perfect. We start in five minutes," he said, and we made our way back to the huddle.

Five minutes later, I took the court with Lacey. Since our game was early, not too many of our fans had showed up yet. Therefore, my parents were here, but Ryder was not.

Aside from that though, the first set was a breeze and built up our confidence. The second set was not as easy because the other team started to get fired up, but we didn't let them stop us. For the third set, we lost, but Landen had me sit out because I was limping for like a minute.

"Send Madelyn on at least and not Ella. She can't even pass correctly," I jeered as Landen debated whether or not to put me in for the fourth.

He glanced down at me with a stern look on his face.

"No, I'm not apologizing for the truth," I added.

"I'm not asking you to, but you're going to get punched if you keep talking so loudly," he responded as he glanced at Madelyn. "Rivers, I'm going to have you play this set just so Ainsley can be ready if we win," he explained. 

She hopped up and nodded. "Sounds good. Feel better, Ains."

And with the help of Madelyn, she gave us the third win that we needed. With that win, we were on to quarterfinals, and if we win quarters, we're in the final game, the one for the state title.

As I walked to the next court we would be playing on, Ryder ran up to me.

"Was it your knee?" he asked because he had not shown up until after I was benched.

"Yeah. It's beginning to be a pain in the ass," I bit.

"I get that. Are you playing in this next game?"

"Yup. Landen is having me play the first set and see how things go from there."

And it went well but he still had Madelyn play the second set as a precaution. She also played the fourth set, and I played the fifth...but we won.

Our fans cheered loudly and many of the students crashed onto the court because we won. We were to play for the state title, again.