Panem High: Freshman Year

Chapter 28

"This is a big game, ladies!" Coach Briggs yelled, startling all the girls in the locker room, most of whom hadn't even put their uniforms on yet and were standing in sweatpants and sports bras. "Sorry, forgot to knock," she said, closing her eyes for a minute while the team changed into their spandex and red and gold jerseys.

"Where's my captain?" she bellowed, opening her eyes just as Katniss pulled her jersey down over her stomach.

"Over here, Coach!" answered Tabitha Mattson, a tall and burly senior who'd been playing for the team since her freshman year. She scared Katniss a little bit.

"Good," Briggs grunted. "You talked to your team about the changes yet?"

"Was about to," Tabitha said.

"Well, get on it then!"

"What's she blabbing about?" Glimmer asked as she pulled a piece of Clove's dark hair into the french braid on the left side. Clove winced and swatted at her best friend's arm. Katniss tried not to laugh.

Tabitha waited until Briggs left the locker room before turning her attention to her team.

"Coach changed the lineup," Tabitha said carefully.

"What?" exclaimed Kate Hunting.

"We've been using these lines all year!" Lira Drummer protested.

"Girls!" Tabitha said, raising her voice just a smidge. "I know. I tried to tell Coach we're doing fine, but this is our championship game. We have a player from our first line out and injured right now. I'm sure you noticed Johanna isn't here."

There were several acknowledging grunts. Katniss's stomach turned. She'd never played a volleyball game without Johanna, and they'd both been playing since fifth grade.

"She was injured in her combat class yesterday. Sprained shoulder. Totally blows. But she'll be in the crowds, I'm sure, or maybe even on the bench if Briggs isn't too pissed anymore, but she will be here."

Some nervous chitters flew around.

"Anyways," Tabitha continued, "we have a good team. We've already played the Kennesaw Falcons twice this season. We've seen how they play."

"Which means they've seen how we play," said Tate Wascher.

"They've seen how we play with Johanna," Tabitha corrected. "I know it sounds mean, and trust me, I'm bummed out that Johanna isn't here, but if we have to play without her, we might as well use it to our advantage. Kennesaw is expecting a lot of plays to the left side, because that's how we used to set up Johanna. Since she's not here, we have to adjust our strategy.

"A strategy change doesn't always involve a line change, but we're going to be switching it up here," Tabitha said, and she explained the new lines. Reyna, Terra, Jess, Valeria, Tabitha and Clove were the starting line, which was pretty cool for Clove, since ninth-graders were hardly ever starters. Glimmer, Kate, Lira, Malaak, Camila and Lucienne were on the second line, and Tate, Oakley, Nina, Hasfa, Sarah and Piper were on the third. Katniss was the substitute, the one that had to be ready to go in at any time.

Glimmer came and sat next to her. "Why aren't you in the lineup?"

"Special plans for me today," she grinned.

"Katniss," Tabitha called while everyone else was finishing getting ready. "You know what you've gotta do out there?"

Katniss nodded. She was ready.

Coach Briggs tramped in again. "Kneepads and shoes on, ladies!" she barked. "They're gonna call us any minute now! Let's get out there and kick some Falcon butt!"