five more days:
"last volleyball game with us, huh Didi." Lilly reminded as they were warming up.
"ugh don't remind me. I'm gonna cry." Andi replied and pouted. She then went up to hit and per usual, she pounded the ball to the ground. After she picked up her ball and put it back in the cart, her coach called her up to talk.
"you're gonna play power for the first set and play libero for the other two." She stated. "we wanna have Eden as a power again since you're leaving."
Andi nodded. "okay." Her coach then pulled her in for a hug.
"have fun in London, kid. I'm gonna miss my best player."
Andi pulled away and smiled. "thanks. I'm gonna miss you too." She then went back to warm up. She told Eden to hit, for the last four minutes of warm up, and passed for her. Thankfully, for the sake of the game, Eden was still an amazing hitter. After five minutes was up, they served for a minute before the other team warmed up. While the other team warmed up, they huddled in a circle on the side line.
"last game with us Andi, how you feelin'?" Eden asked.
"I feel like I'm about to cry." Andi answered, resulting in the team going in for a group hug around her. Soon, the referee called for captains, but Andi stayed in her place.
"Andi, they called for captains." Lilly reminded.
"I know." Andi replied casually, leaving her team confused. "I just.. don't know why Kath is still here."
"what?" Katherine furrowed her eyebrows.
"go, captain!" Andi demanded with a laugh. Katherine smiled and ran to the referee to do a coin toss. Katherine won the coin toss, and the first serve, so she ran back to Andi.
"I won my first coin toss as captain!" She beamed and did a happy jump.
"being captain's more than a coin toss. Now you have to serve first, which you hate." Andi chuckled and gave her a light push. Both starting line ups shook hands and Katherine, being the setter, went up to serve first. The other team's best power spiked and Eden practically slid across the floor to dig it. The ball was passed perfectly to where Katherine was.
"that's my-" Right before Romeo could finish his sentence, he shut his mouth. Race leaned towards him and gave him a nudge.
"ya what?" He smiled teasingly.
"nothing, I didn't say anything." Romeo lied, speaking quickly.
Jack chimed in. "nope, I'm pretty sure ya said somethin'."
"no I didn't."
"hey, you're missing Didi's last game." Albert piped in and slapped Race's shoulder. Romeo was relieved that Albert just saved him.
"we were jus' boutta get something out of Romeo!" Race complained, in which Albert slapped his shoulder again. "okay, okay." On cue, Andi pounded the ball to the ground and everybody cheered.
"I don't think I've ever seen you hit so hard!" Lilly remarked.
"you hit T-line like, three times already." Katherine added.
Andi winked. "I just wanna scare people, then not show up to the next game." She joked, but part of her knew that it wasn't a joke. She loves knowing that she gets in people's head a lot, when it comes to volleyball. She hoped she would be able to do that in London.
Before the second set started, Andi and Eden went to change their jerseys. Because Andi was now playing libero, she had to wear a different coloured jersey. Eden changed into her purple jersey, matching everybody else's.
"why is the munchkin wearing a different coloured jersey?" Albert asked Elmer when the two came out of the change room.
"do I look like I play volleyball?" Elmer deadpanned and motioned to the sweater he had on that says Millennium Track and Field. "go ask Finch, he plays volleyball too."
Albert tapped Finch's, who was sitting in front of him, shoulder. "why is the munchkin wearing a different coloured jersey?" He repeated.
Finch turned around to face him. "Andi's a libero, she has to wear a different jersey." He explained briefly.
"why?"
"so the ref knows that she's libero."
"why?"
"'cause she can't be in the front row."
"why?"
"'cause it's not allowed."
"why?"
"'cause-" Finch stopped, knowing that whatever he tells Albert, he still won't understand. "Andi plays a special position where she has to wear a different coloured jersey and she could only pass and serve."
"wh-" Before Albert could continue, Finch slapped a hand onto his mouth.
"just watch." He demanded, took his hand off of his best friend's mouth and turned back around. Andi is an amazing passer. Nobody, even Finch, could understand how she could make the ball go, well literally, wherever the hell she wanted it to. This was probably the best everybody has ever played. Lilly was blocking all over the place, every one of Katherine's sets were perfect, Andi was sliding and rolling on the floor everywhere, picking up every ball she could.
Millennium soon won the game 3-0 and Andi was, well... she was bawling her eyes out. She's been playing with these girls, except Lilly, since she started playing for a club volleyball team.
"we did so good!" She cried, laying her head on Elmer's shoulder.
"I know, Sunshine. We saw." Elmer replied, rubbing Andi's shoulder.
"I'm gonna miss this." She added. "and you're an amazing captain!" She told Katherine, who then hugged her. "and I was the best player on the team. Coach told me." Andi bawled.
Katherine scoffed. "okay." She let go of Andi and gave her back to her boyfriend.
"can we go to that ice cream place that gives you free ice cream when you show up in a jersey?" Andi asked Elmer.
He gently kissed her nose. "whatever makes you happy." He answered. With that, Andi's mood quickly changed and she wiped her tears.
"alright, ice cream let's go!" She exclaimed and everybody ran out of the gym.
"I don't wanna take it off!" Andi whined, hugging herself. Elmer, Spot and Race have been trying to get Andi to change out of her volleyball jersey for an hour now.
"Andi, you just played your best game ever and now your jersey's all sweaty and gross. Take it off." Elmer ordered.
"no!" She yelled.
Elmer put his hands up in defeat. "fine then, sleep in it." He said.
"I will." She stated and tucked herself in. Elmer laughed and shook his head before he, Spot and Race went to his room. They hung out for a while before it started to get late, so they left. Elmer then went to check on Andi, who he just woke up.
"you woke me up." She complained groggily and sat up. Elmer noticed that she had changed out of her jersey, thank god.
"sorry, I was checking on you." He apologized quietly.
"now you have to stay." She stated and held her arms out.
Elmer clicked his tongue. "awh sucks." He faked a pout. Before Andi knew it, Elmer tackled her in a hug.
"I need to breathe!" Andi whined, in which Elmer rolled over and flipped her on top of him.
"better?"
"much better." She smiled and kissed him. She then laid her head on his chest and fell right asleep again.
He kissed her head. "goodnight, beautiful." He whispered and started to play with her hair. She's an angel. Well, when she's asleep, she is. When she's awake, she's nowhere near angelic. He's really going to miss having his best friend around everywhere he looked.