I nearly spit out my water after hearing what Landen had said.

"So I can play!? Really!?"

He chuckled and nodded. "You've been working hard, and I spoke with your dad. He said it's okay, but to pull you off the second if anything were to happen."

I squealed with excitement and threw my arms around him. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I cried.

He hugged me back and then put both hands on my shoulders. "But enough of showing me I'm your favorite coach because I already know I am. Go get your uniform on. We will start warmups soon."

Landen did not need to tell me twice. I took off and sprinted right into the locker room where the rest of the team was getting dressed.

I stopped beside Lacey since our lockers were right next to one another, and took out my jersey which was white. The rest of the team, aside from Ella, all have black jerseys since Ella and I are liberos.

"Stop, did you get permission to play?" asked Lacey.

I nodded with excitement as I pulled my jersey on, and then went to change into my spandex.

"Oh my gosh! Maybe now we won't suck!" she cried loudly, probably a little too loudly.

Lacey and I giggled softly as we put our court shoes on.

"I hope you start over her. Imagine the look on her face," Lacey whispered.

"Me too."

-

A while later, after doing our warmups in a separate gym, we went back into the locker room. We lined up in numerical order behind the door because this year at our home games, with volleyball having more fans than ever since state last year, they hype us up a lot more. One by one, they call us out and we run out into the gym.

I stood behind Katie, who is number nine, and in front of Lacey, who is eleven.

The gym went silent and the lights were dimmed, but a spotlight was left on the tunnel of people which we were to run through.

"Excited?" asked Lacey.

I nodded. "Little nervous too. No one knows I'm playing."

"I can't wait to see the looks on everyone's faces," she whispered as the announcer began to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen... thank you for joining us tonight for the face off between your lady bears, and our guests, the mustangs!"

Cheers sounded from either student section as each school was announced.

"Please stand so we can welcome your defending state champs... the lady bears!"

The crowd went wild once more.

"Number one, senior and outside hitter, Lucia Simmons!"

The drummers from the band played a beat as she ran into the gym. We each took a step forward.

As I neared the entrance to the gym, my nerves ramped up.

Katie ran out into the gym and I walked up to the entrance so I could be announced.

"And give this senior a warm welcome for her debut game! Number 10 and tonight's starting libero, Ainsley Sloane!"

Cheers broke out as I took a deep breath and jogged through the tunnel. The stands were absolutely packed as I stopped with my team, who was huddling up in the middle of the court. Ella, who is number seven, was already there. I received a dirty look from her.

"Don't mess this up," Katie jeered at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Please. You should be thankful I'm playing."

"I'm just saying," Katie bit as the remaining few players joined the huddle one by one.

A while later, the game was just about to start. I walked onto the court with the other starting five. Funny enough, Katie was not included in this group. It was Kylie, Lucia, Lacey, Arya, Camila, and me.

I glanced up into the crowd and saw so many familiar faces; my parents, classmates, town members... Ryder. It seemed as though everyone was here.

Becca was even here. She must be visiting for the weekend since she is going to college. I waved up to her and she waved back.

"I love you, Ainsley Sloane!" she shouted while holding up a heart with her hands, which drew a slight uproar from the crowd.

I laughed and yelled back, "I love you, too!"

Although, the gym soon drew silent because we were soon to play. The other team was setting up to serve, so we set up to receive the ball.

"On your toes, ladies. Nothing drops," Kylie yelled from where she stood on the court.

I took a deep breath and set up to receive the ball. The ref blew the whistle, and the server was doing her serve routine. I breathed out as she tossed the ball up and hit it. It was a solid serve as it made it to the back row, but it was slow moving. I passed it easily.

"Pass!" yelled the student section, "set!" they screamed as my pass went right to Kylie, who set the ball. "Boom!"

Their shouts echoed through the gym as Lucia slammed it right onto the floor of the opposing court.

"Ahhh... KILL! KILL! KILL!" chanted the student section which somehow eased me. A small smile spread onto my face because it was good to be back and I knew this would be a good game.

So, the remainder of the set went by quickly. We shut them out and won by more than 10 points.

As we huddled up to talk before the next set, our student section began to sing along with the band who was playing "Escape."

"If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain... if you're not into yoga, if you have half a brain," they sang.

It truly was a good time and I absolutely love the energy surrounding the volleyball program.

"Ains, feeling good?" asked Landen.

I shifted my weight from one leg to another and felt no tension. "All good."

"Perfect. Let me know if that changes."

I gave him a thumbs up and ran back onto the court with my teammates since the second set was about to start.

This set, we won by even more. It was an easy game for us as it seemed the other team did not even put up a fight. We got a majority of our points from serving, and the only points we did lose were because we either served it out or hit into the net.

"Alright, girls. Don't get excited yet. This team could come back," said Landen as we stood in the huddle. "Don't play to their level. Keep playing strong and shut them out. I want to see less than 10 points on the scoreboard for them. That means control your hits and serves," he said sternly.

We all nodded and stuck our hands into the middle. Landen looked at me. "All good?"

"Yes, Coach."

"Alright, call it."

I smiled at my teammates and shouted, "bears on me, bears on three!"

In the huddle we all yelled, "one, two, three... BEARS!"

Cheers erupted from the stands as we turned and ran onto the court.

As my teammates got into their positions, I ran around and high-fived each of them.

When I retired to my position, the student section had begun to quiet down since they were just doing a chant.

I set up to receive the ball, which came to me after the girl served the ball. It was an easy pass once more and it went right to the setter, who set Lacey, who tipped the ball over. The other team just barely managed to play it as their libero had to come from the back row to pick it up.

They attempted to send a free ball over, but Lacey returned it to the floor by hitting it. Cheers thundered through the gym as we all celebrated on the court.

"That's my girl!" I yelled as I threw my arms around her.

For the remainder of the set, we did exactly what Landen asked for. We lost six points due to some balls going out, but other than that, we won 25-6.

Lacey ran up to me and pulled me in for a hug. "Ainsley! This is why we needed you back! We would not have won by this much!"

"You give me too much credit. I didn't even have to dive tonight," I said with a laugh.

"Still, Ella shanks way too much. She would have totally screwed us over," Lacey explained.

I glanced over my shoulder and felt my cheeks heat up when I saw Ella behind me. Hopefully she did not hear.

"Lace, she's behind us," I muttered.

"Oh well," was all she had to say.

We began to make our way to the locker room, but we bumped into Ryder and Braxton. How ironic!

The four of us grew silent and no one knew what to say.

"Um... good game," said Ryder, and Braxton nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, glad to see you're back, Sloane," Braxton added. "And Lace, that was an amazing game."

She looked him up and down before rolling her eyes and walking off.

"Uh, sorry about her... thanks for coming, guys."

"Of course, Sloane. We needed you in there," said Ryder, his tone sincere.

I raised an eyebrow at him. Did he just throw shade at Ella?

"I better meet up with Ella. See you around," he muttered before pushing by me and leaving me with Braxton.

"Trouble in paradise?" I questioned.

Braxton chuckled and nodded. "He might not admit it, but he still loves you."

I was slightly taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"It means he wants you back, stupid. Just wait. Him and Ella will be over in a matter of weeks," he said.

"Um, okay. And what about you and Lacey?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I love her but I did something stupid. I hate myself everyday for it and I need to accept the fact that she probably won't come back."

"Maybe you should show her that rather than ignoring her. You only ever talk to her when it's required."

"I know, but for now, good job out there. Let Lacey know I said the same about her," he said.

"Of course. And keep doing little things for her... it shows you care," I said as I backed away towards the locker room.