Playing for Love

Chapter 1

Word count: 1335

I hope you enjoy the first chapter of Playing For Love.

Mostly an introduction to Nova and her life.

Pushing through the crowded hallways I made my way to my last period. I took my seat anticipating the end of class before the bell even rang. I had been dying to get to practice since school started. Since we had just come from a long weekend I hadn't been able to practice on the court in a while and I was dying to get out there again.

After the bell rang signaling the start of class I completely zoned out the rest of class watching the clock the entire time. The moment class ended I was the first out the door rushing to get to the gym. we had a game tomorrow and I had been dying to get some practice in with the team before the game. 

As I hurried through the halls I turned a corner and rammed into a strong chest. I went tumbling down along with the rest of my things.

"You good?" Asked a voice. 

I looked up and made eye contact with blue eyes. I instantly knew who they belonged to. I ignored his hand to help me up and grabbed my things. I pushed past him and continued my way to the gym. I used to have the biggest crush on Ezekial when we were growing up but when I found out I was competing against him for a free scholarship I distanced myself from him and ignored him. I hated being around him because it just reminded me that I was a failure. 

Finally, I made it to the gym and pushed open the door. I rushed to the locker room and changed quickly. I had gotten there before anyone else so while I was waiting I practiced serving. Once Dylan arrived she and I decided to be peppering partners. About 10 minutes later practice began.

There were 9 of us on the varsity team. I was captain and Libero. I loved being on the team of course but sometimes it could be stressful. We started with pressure serving. We all went down into planks and one person would serve at a time. After that they served they would go back into a plank and we would do that till everyone severe. I was last and my arms were on fire when I served but I still (barely) made it over.

"Now I want you to get into groups of three. We're going to practice serve receive," instructed the coach.

Dylan, Nina, and I got into a group and I started serving. I served it over and Dylan passed it to Nina who et it to Dylan and she hit it over. We rotated and did that for about 20 minutes of practice. 

"As you all remember we have our game against the Lunior girl's volleyball team tomorrow. It will be a home game and I know this is the first game of the season but we can win if we play like we been practicing." 

Before very game we played Coach was always there to give us confidence. She would always find a way to tell us how amazing we were doing and if we could practice like that then we could play even better. Those were one of the reasons I was so motivated in a game, I wanted to make the coach proud. 

We spent the rest of the practice working as a team on ball control. We had 3 on each side and we would do bump set spike. We would rotate in and out because there isn't enough of us to scrimmage so we play 3-3.

After being dismissed by the coach I grabbed my things and left right away wanting to get out of there before the football team was dismissed not wanting to run into Ezekial again. he was the quarterback of our boy's football team and since those two seasons were at the same time I saw him often after school s well cause we got out of practice around the same time though I always tried to avoid him. 

I unlocked my car and walked slowly over to it enjoying the slight breeze of the late afternoon. I started the car and drove slowly not wanting to hurry anywhere. I let my body relax and turned my music on full blast screaming along to the songs. 

I pulled into the library parking lot and grabbed my school bag. I came to the library every day after practice to study and get my homework done cause it was always extremely loud and unpleasant trying to get anything down at home. I looked down at my clothes and completely forgot I was still wearing my practice clothes. I pulled off my knee pads and just shrugged the rest off hoping nobody noticed. 

Entering the library I took a deep breath of the beautiful smell of the books. I smiled and took a seat at an empty table pulling out my AP world history homework. I grabbed my textbook as well and let myself get sucked into the assignment. 

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I finished all my homework around 7:00 and finally left the library exhausted after the day. I finally started on my way home and couldn't wait to change into my warm pajamas. 

Pulling into my driveway a couple minutes later I grabbed all my books and my bag and entered the house through the back door trying to avoid anyone. I wasn't very subtle because only seconds later my dog Axil came towards me. He's a black Lab and has the most adorable face. He jumps up on me which is his way of giving hugs. I stumble slightly but catch myself and laugh as I pet him with a slightly free hand. 

I continue my way to my room and put all my stuff down changing into a pair of fluffy pajama pants a warm sweatshirt that I stole from my best friend's closet. 

My stomach growled and I realized just how hungry I was. I hadn't eaten lunch today and the only thing I had for breakfast was a piece of toast. Quietly I made my way to the kitchen and looked in the fridge for leftovers. Smiling I grabbed the chili and put some in a bowl. 

My family always found it weird that I ate it cold but it was just better that way and it just seemed to have a lot more flavor in my opinion. Grabbing a spoon and putting the chili back I reentered my room and sat down grabbing my computer and pulling up my short story. I was writing a short story for Creative writing. 

I loved writing and had dreamed of being an author but my parents wanted me to be a lawyer or Doctor. They wanted me to make a change in the world so instead of doing what I loved I studied to be a lawyer. I still take the same time out of every might to spend writing. 

I smiled as I wrote about the cute romance story that had been going through my head all day. I spend the next twenty minutes writing nonstop and finally stop to take a drink of water and finish my food.  Then write for another twenty minutes. This is what I do until about 8:30 and then finally close out my computer and grab a book as a replacement.

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Hello and thank you for reading my book. I hope you enjoyed please vote. If anyone has any advice on what I could do to write a little better please comment and I would love any type of advice you have. If anyone has anything you think I should change that I might have misspelled or messed up please comment. Sorry if you thought this chapter was short but they will start to get longer as the book continues.

I hope you enjoyed it and continue to read on. Love you guys 🥰