Paper Planes (Book 1)

2. Pep Talks

Chapter 2: Pep Talks

It was a cold morning today so I bundled my face into my hoodie on the way into the school building.

“Hey!” I heard someone yell behind me. “Hey!” I heard them again. I turned around to see someone that I’ve never seen before. He had dark brown hair and the same colored eyes. He was definitely tall but not muscular. He jogged up to me. “Your Fay, right?”

“Yah. Why?” I asked as I unburied my face from my hoodie.

“I just needed to deliver a message to you. Meet me after school at the gym lobby.” He said. Just as he was about to run off he stopped and said, “I’m Zach by the way.” He gave me a small smile and then ran off to get to class.

I headed to Language Arts class. Once I got into the classroom I took a seat at the seat I usually sit at. It was right next to my friend since sixth grade, Jo. For some reason she wasn’t at school today, and she always came to school. She loves school and I’m not surprised. Ever since I’ve known her she would always be in the happiest moods when she was in class, and if we were at recess she would stay in and do extra work or help the teacher.

“Maybe she was sick? But she was a germaphobe, she couldn’t. Maybe her parents whisked her away on a trip? Nah, they would never do that. Why isn’t she here?” I thought to myself.

Those thoughts were soon interrupted by the substitutes voice. “Hello everyone, my name is Mr. Hal.” He said exhausted as he wrote his name onto the whiteboard. “I will be your sub. today, seeing that Mr. Johnson is out sick.” He read off a piece of flimsy white paper. “You will be continuing the rough draft for your papers, which are due next Friday, so a week and a half from now.” He rambled on. “If there are any questions please come and ask me. You may get started.” He told us as everyone started rushing to get the computers. I grabbed a computer out of the cart once everyone else slowly went away and then sat back down in my seat. After I logged onto my account I pulled up google docs. I clicked on my assignment and then just sat there, with nothing to write about. My mind was blank and I had no idea what I was suppose to do. I sucked at school. Ugh. I had to get a good grade on this assignment or else I would get a ‘C’ and my parents would kill me. It’s all my perfect sisters fault. She was a perfect student. Straight ‘A’s’ and everything. Finally I decided to suck it up and just type something. I didn’t know where it was going but at least I was going somewhere. 

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Finally, my favorite part of the day, volleyball. It was the first game of the season today and I was so excited, but nervous at the same time. I got into the locker room where the rest of team was changing into our jerseys. Our school colors were baby blue and white so our jerseys were really cute. I slipped on my jersey, which was white background and baby blue writing instead of baby blue background and white writing because I was the Libero. Then I put on my black nike spandex, black Mizuno knee pads, baby blue and white nike socks and my black Mizuno volleyball shoes. Once I was done with my outfit I went into the bathroom and did my hair into a high braided ponytail. Then I walked into the gym and began to pass with some people from my team before our coach calls us for our little, pre-game pep talk.

“Mine.” I called.

“Got it.” My team mate Milly called out, she was the setter.

“Got it, got it.” Shay yelled out and then hit it down at me, she was the middle.

“Mine!” I got low and then popped the ball up back to Milly. We continued to do this.

“Ladies!” Coach Lissa screamed from the other side of the gym. As she mimicked us to come to her. ”Hustle!” She yelled again. We all, terrified put our balls into the cart and then ran over to where she was at. “So today is the first game. We are going to go out there and play our hearts out. Right?”

“Yes!” The whole team shouted.

“Good. And if we shank a ball or miss our serve what are we going to do?”

“Shake it off.” We all said in unison.

“Just forget it happened and keep playing. Be supportive of your team and have fun.” She said. “Now, Fay lead the cheer.”

“Dolphins on three.” Dolphins were our school mascot. Weak, I know.

“One. two, three, Dolphins!” Everyone cheered.

“Lets do some stretching, arm warm ups, hitting lines and serving. Can we do all that in..” Coach Lissa looked down at her watch. “Ten minutes? The other team will be here soon so we better hurry up. lets go ladies!” And then we were off.

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“Come on ladies! We’ve got this!” I cheered as the other team was about to serve. The score was currently 23-16 and it was our second set and we won the first set so if we won this one we would win the game. The girl on the other team did her jump float serve which was really good and it went short but still over the net. “Got it!” Shay yelled. She bumped the ball high enough for Milly to give her a good set. “Two, two, two!” Shay called out.

“Two.” Milly responded. She gave her a set and Shay did her approach and hit it straight down. The Libero on the other team dove for it and missed. 24-16, game point.

We all went into the middle and did our cheer and then it was Milly’s turn to serve. She had a really good topspin jump serve, it was consistent and super hard. She served the ball over and the other team got the ball up and the setter decided to set the right side and then the hitter got ready, did her approach, hit the ball and then I went down. The ball came up, a little far from Milly but she still went for it and set left side, she hit and the other team put the ball up again. It kept going like that for a while and then Shay decided to do a tip. She tipped it in between middle and left and they couldn’t get it quick enough. It hit the ground and then the scoreboard changed from 24-16 to 25-16, game.

The buzzer went off and then we all lined up and then high fived the other team under the net. Once we did that we headed back towards our coach who was smiling. “Great game tonight girls! I’m so proud! You did so well! You talked, went for the ball, and most importantly had great teamwork. There are a few things that we could work on but we’ll worry about that at practice tomorrow.” Coach Lissa rambled. “Okay, hands in.” She said.

“Yogurt on three!” Shay cheered.

“One, two, three, yogurt!” We all laughed.

We all split apart to find our families. I spotted my dad standing in the bleachers and walked towards him.

“You did so well, Fay.” My dad greeted me.

“Thanks dad.” I smiled at him. And then I remembered, I was suppose to meet Zach in the lobby. “Wait one sec.” I told my dad and then ran to the crowded lobby filled with families. I serched through the whole crowd and couldn’t find him.

Suddenly I felt someone poke my back. I turned around and there he was, smiling. “Hey,” I said in shock. “So... what was the message you were going to give me?” I asked.

He put up his finger giving me the sign to wait as he rummaged through his backpack. “Here it is.” He said as he pulled out a crushed, paper plane. 

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A/N: Yay! Second chapter, done and done! Hope you are still liking it. Oh, I've also decided that this is going to be a short story. I'm going to be uploading a new chapter every Monday! Don't forget to vote, comment and follow. Thanks for reading!

Picture on the side is of Zach Bradon played by Nat Wolff. >>>>

~Pham234 or Scarlett