You Belong With Me (A Sequel to "What Once Was")

10 a soft spot for you

I could hear Ella sigh. "You're right... but if I see that bitch near Ryder one more time, I swear."

A small, uncontrollable smile spread onto my face. For whatever reason, pissing off Ella sounded fun, and she just said exactly how to do so, because we all know I'm 'that bitch.'

So, when I ran into the gym that night after being announced, I glanced over to the student section. Ryder sat in the heart of it, and gave me a small smile. Although he averted his attention to Ella when she started to wave to him. He gave her a smile, too. However, I know Ryder well enough to be able to tell that it was not a genuine smile. His eyes did not light up when he looked at her.

"Ryder is checking you out," Lacey whispered as we took our positions a few minutes later

I smiled at her while I tightened my ponytail. "I know."

It was not in a creepy way or anything, but I could feel his gaze on me. I knew it was there without even having to glance back at him.

"It's disgusting that you two aren't back together," she commented.

"Not everyone is meant to be," I responded, despite my sureness that Ryder and I belonged together.

"Just give in to him already."

I scoffed and leaned my hands onto my knees since we were seconds away from serving. "I'm not having this conversation right now."

Lacey smiled and turned to face the opposing team. I hate the fact that she knows me as well as I know myself.

However, I had to shake off that thought because Katie was in the middle of the serve. I took a deep breath because within a few seconds, their outside hitter had slammed a ball down at me. Just barely, I was able to get the pass under control but my ball went to Katie, who set the ball to Lacey.

Soon after, a rally had begun. We knew this team was supposed to be good and give us a run for our money.

Although, we put a stop to the rally thanks to Lacey and Katie shutting down one of their hitters with a block.

The game went back and forth the whole time but I felt as though I was playing well.

As I hopped back up to my feet after saving a ball from going out of bounds, the student section cheered for me. Amongst those in the section, Ryder stood out to me, of course.

"Atta, Sloane!" he cried as I dove once again for a downball, which I successfully passed up.

However, the attention I was receiving from him definitely pissed off Ella, but hey, that was my goal.

-

Near the end of the second set, we were just barely up. We led by three points and needed two more to win it.

I went back to the service line because I was serving. The student section went silent as I waited for the ref to blow the whistle. When she did, I tossed the ball up into the air and leapt up to give it a hard hit.

It soared over the net and the other team managed to get the ball under control, just barely.

I set up to receive the ball, which was coming to me. I called for it, but for whatever reason, Katie felt the need to be a libero for a minute. She tried to pass the ball, but it shanked, which left me to retrieve it. I sprinted off the court, chasing after the ball, and used my foot to kick it back over to my team. Although, that was not my best idea because I slid onto my back and felt my knee burst with pain.

I rolled onto my stomach and frowned seeing my efforts were not even worth it because the other team slammed the ball right back onto our court.

Slowly, I sat up and climbed back onto my feet. It definitely hurt, but I was not leaving the court until we at least won this set.