Pinehurst: Book One (A Magical Olympian Adventure/Young Adult Romantic Fantasy)

Chapter Twelve

Chapter 12

We spent the next several weeks training. Antonio and I met before school now as well. He was trying to make the most of the time we had left before finals. I, however, secretly hoped it was because he was madly in love with me and couldn’t stand being away from me—wishful thinking on my part. If Antonio was in love with me, he wasn’t going to let me know about it. I’d sure like to read his mind for a change.

Antonio ran me to death. Pushed my body beyond its limits in the weight room, and my mind . . . well . . . he was pushing that too. He had me throwing objects as fast as he did now. The point of all this . . . who knew? But something told me it unfortunately had to do with that little trip to Hell Antonio had hinted about. Could my life possibly suck anymore?

***

“Evie, I haven’t seen you in days.” Iris was in her usual mood—worried about everything! “The dance is next Friday and Roland said he doesn’t even know if he still has a date, or not. He hasn’t gotten to spend any time with you outside of class.”

“What do you mean he doesn’t know if he has a date or not? I told him yes!”

I hoped he was still taking me to the dance. My dad had a dress shipped a week and a half ago. I opened my closet and pulled out a garment bag. I still hadn’t let any of the girls see it yet. I tried it on when it arrived and it fit like a dream. Aside from that, I hadn’t taken it out of the bag. I wasn’t about to get my first prom dress dirty before I had a chance to wear it. I hung the bag back on the hook and closed the closet door.

“It’s not like anyone’s had a chance to talk to you lately,” Iris continued, not skipping a beat. She actually looked hurt.

“Iris, I’m sorry. I don’t have a choice. There are only two months left before my field trials.” What started as a defensive response, turned out sounding desperate: I really had no idea how I was going to pass those tests. Along with Antonio’s private instruction, Gunny had a sick sense of humor and thought it was time to throw me into the mix with the rest of the guys. Lots of protesting moans filled the room that day—the guys complained too.

“Well, you’re free tomorrow, right?” Iris interrupted my mental pity-party.

“Tomorrow?”

“Remember? Gina Von Rotmund is coming to announce the volleyball players that will go on to the Junior Division’s team!” Iris squealed excitedly. “She’s even bringing several of the star players! I heard Vlad’s going to be here, too!”

Iris was in near hysterics now. Not that I blamed her. Vlad Smirnov was the hunkiest hunk that ever graced the cover of Mageian Beach Volleyball. He was twenty-two. Blonde, blue-eyed, and all man! Dang! I’d spent so much time in that gym the last few weeks I’d missed all the playoff games.

I was glad however, that Iris’ mood had perked up. Mine wasn’t so glum anymore either. This event had been the talk of the school for the past three weeks. Many of the wannabe Slayers were so psyched up about it they could hardly concentrate in gym. Every one of them aspired to make the team and go on to be world famous players—they weren’t fooling me. Every one of these guys had visions of hot bikini-tanned girls fawning all over them.

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” I said. With the rest of the female population, drooling!

I left Iris for my after-school-practice. All the guys were there now. With only two months to go, everyone was on edge, desperate to push their bodies to the limit. They wanted to be Slayers so badly; you could taste it in the air. That and boy sweat—gross!

“Hollyander!”

I jumped. I’d been practicing my round-kicks on a punching bag and missed my target completely; thanks to Gunny’s sneak approaches. That man could make the dead jump!