I was forever grateful when Friday came and as soon as my alarm went off at eight in the morning, I dressed in my volleyball jersey, the only item of clothing I actually had brought from home, and quickly ran into the bathroom to make myself look stylish. I had to look like my dad was taking the best care of me because I was positive some of my friends were going to be wondering. When the job was complete, my hair was in a curly ponytail tied with a sparkling silver bow, my makeup was neat, and I smelled like I had just come out fresh from a bush of lavender.
“Alleah, are you almost ready to go?” my father called from the hallway as I grabbed my sports bag, heading toward the door with a swing to my walk.
“Yes, I’m coming, Dad,” I called back, turning the gold knob of the giant white door and opening it to reveal my dad with Barry and Phil. Phil had a huge smirk on his face and I knew we were up for trouble as soon as I spotted it.
“Morning, merry sunshine,” Phil chuckled, making Barry reach over and smack his arm playfully. “Finally out of your beauty sleep, or are we going to hear about it all the way to this volleyball match?”
“I’m feeling great, Phil,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him as we headed for the garage. “You may be hearing about how excited I am to kick the other team’s butts. By the sides, I don’t get beauty sleep. I just get regular sleep, but it’s overrated anyway.”
“Whoa,” Barry gasped. “Did I really just hear a teenage girl say that about sleep?”
“That’s because she spends all night texting boys, Barry,” Phil laughed and nudged his arm, walking into the elevator first, which was now open for us to enter. “You honestly didn’t think about that?”
“Oh, duh,” Barry smacked his forehead softly, making a loud slapping sound echo throughout the elevator.
“Hey, I don’t text boys all night, Phil,” I hit his arm with the back of my hand, surprising him and making him hold on to it, looking hurt.
“She’s just saying that,” Barry whispered to Phil and he also held is arm after I punched his arm more forcefully than I had hit Phil.
“You know, boys, I just found another reason that I’m glad Alleah is back home with us,” my dad said, smiling. The elevator finally stopped, opening its doors so we could enter the giant ten car garage in front of us.
“And what is that, Brent?” Phil asked, looking at him curiously. “What could possibly make you happy about having a little monster running around to bother us, hmmm?” That earned him another smack from me, but this time it left a red handprint by his shoulder.
“That right there is why, Phil,” my dad started to laugh and he sent me a happy wink. “Someone needs to keep you in line, and who better than a girl? Especially a sixteen year old girl.”
“That’s right, Phil,” I whispered, sticking my tongue out at him once again. “He just gave me full on permission to boss you around.”
“But Brent,” Phil whined, narrowing his eyes at me as he and Barry hopped in the back seat of the dark red mustang we were now piling into. I couldn’t help but laugh at the tone of his voice.
“What now, Phil?” my dad looked back at him with a playfully annoyed face while I did my seatbelt up in the car.
“Why are you glad about that?” he complained. “She has devil horns, but she makes it so you can see the halo.”
“Phil, please just do yourself and the rest of us a favor and shut up,” I snapped, even though everyone knew I wasn’t actually snapping seriously.
“Yes, Queen Alleah,” Phil muttered. Barry was howling with laughter next to him and my dad was grinning as he pulled the mustang out of the garage. I couldn’t help but laugh inside too, even though I was trying my best to keep a straight face.
The ride to the high school was forever long and I could understand why we had left so early. The thing I didn’t realize was that my dad lived two states away from the place I had grown up and so the ride there was going to take around six hours. With Barry and Phil in the back, it was certainly a long ride.
“Hey Alleah,” Barry said, about one and a half hours away from our destination.
“Ugh, what now, Barry?” I groaned, watching my dad grin in my peripheral vision. He was getting a kick out of our arguments, Barry and Phil versus me. I was totally dominating.
“Excited to see some cute boys? Maybe you could get some numbers,” Barry joked, making me roll my eyes.
“Trust me, Barry,” I said as coolly as I could manage, “I have all the numbers that I need.”
“She’s going to get the numbers of attractive men?” Phil asked, whirling around to dig into his work bag and pulling out a piece of paper. “Oh here, let me give you my number, hot stuff.”
“Phil, he said attractive men,” I narrowed my eyes at Barry, who grinned evilly at me. Phil was scribbling down his number on a ripped off corner of a piece of notebook paper.
“I know he did,” Phil said, not bothering to look up at me as he neatly folded his number in the little corner of paper. “Hence why I’m giving you my number.”
“Phil, you’re twenty-seven and Alleah is sixteen. Don’t you think that’s a little bit too big of an age difference?” my father dove in the conversation after staying quiet for most of our playful bickering.
“Not for attractive ladies like her,” he laughed as I stuck my tongue out at him, pushing his number away when he tried to make me take it.
“Phil, first of all, I said attractive. You do not fit the attractive category. Secondly, there are eleven years between us and I refuse to even think about marrying a man who is eleven years older than me. Finally, you aren’t a teenager. Now go take that number and throw it out the window.”
“Ohhhh, dude!!!!” Barry howled with laughter. “Not only does that chick have spunk, but you just got told!”
“Barry! Don’t rub it in, man! I thought you were on my team here!” Phil punched his arm, making Barry rub the spot where Phil had just slammed his fist.
“I don’t know. That was pretty stinking hilarious,” Barry chuckled, stroking his arm and grinning. I turned around in my chair and shook my head. My father was one patient guy to put up with such lunatics. They were about to drive me completely nuts.
“How much longer?” I asked my dad, frowning as the boys kept hooting with laughter in the back about the attitude I had just revealed to them. I couldn’t understand how they found it so funny every time I showed it to them, but I guess boys will be boys.
“We have about an hour and twenty-five minutes,” he replied, patting my leg in a comforting way. “If you sleep again we’ll be there in no time.”
“Sleep? With those two freaks in the back that won’t shut up? I don’t think that’s going to work.”
“You did for the first few hours after we left,” my father reminded me.
“Yeah, that’s true, but those two were also asleep and not pestering me like annoying little chumps that they are.”
“Excuse me?” Barry stopped, tuning in to our conversation.
“Here, I know what we can do to get rid of them,” my father said, ignoring Barry’s voice. Flipping through some buttons on the control panel, a small divider wall slowly slid down between the front seat and the back, making the noise from the boys die down completely.
“Dad, that’s awesome!” I exclaimed, getting comfortable in the seat. “Thanks so much!”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” he winked at me as I fell asleep in the passenger seat.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Alleah! Wake up!” a girly voice hollered, surrounded my a bunch of other girly squeals.
“Oh my gosh, it’s Alleah!” one screeched.
“You mean she’s actually not kidnapped?” another gasped, followed by a few other gasps to echo.
“I’m her father and no, she’s not kidnapped,” I heard my father speak and seconds later I felt his hands rest on my shoulders and gently shake me, making my eyes open to a team of girls ready to play volleyball.
My father helped me stand up and steady me before letting me loose, which was a huge mistake on his part. As he went to open the seat for Barry and Phil to get out, all the girls on the volleyball team ran over and caught me in a huge hug. Standing up like an unsteady Barbie doll, I almost fell over on my face from the impact of the hug, but luckily a few of the girls caught me before my face was shoved into the ground.
“Alleah!!!” they all screamed as I got attacked by another hug. My father looked at me nervously, but I sent him a reassuring glance. “We’re so glad you’re here!”
“Alleah, you actually made it!” Coach Taylor gasped happily, giving me a hug of her own. “I’m so happy! We really needed you this game!”
“We’re going against the best team in the whole entire state and we really needed a tough girl like you to show them who’s boss!” Jessica said, putting her arm around my shoulders.
“Let’s show these champions who the true champions are!” I yelled out, followed by an echo of shouts in agreement.
“Oh, are you Mr. Johnston?” Coach Taylor asked my father, who hovered protectively behind me with Barry and Phil on his sides.
“No, I’m actually Mr. Smith. Mr. Brent Smith, but you can just call me Brent,” he smiled at my coach, who returned his smile warmly.
“So you’re Alleah’s birth father?” she asked him curiously, even though I was sure she already knew the answer.
“Yes, that’s me,” he chuckled, putting his hands on my shoulders lovingly. “I’m sorry for taking her away from you at such an inconvenient time.”
“We survived,” she said, shrugging. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, right?”
“Right, for sure. I still feel bad though.”
“It’s alright, Mr. Sm-..Brent,” she smiled at him, giving me a pat on the back. “Alright, ladies! Let’s move this into the gym! The game is going to start soon and we need to do our warm up stretches and exercises!”
“Good luck, Alleah,” my father said softly to me as all of the girls but Jess followed Coach Taylor into the gym to start doing warmups. “Remember, if anything happens, anything at all, use your powers against his forces. Hurt him as much as you need, but please, don’t hurt your brother. Be forewarned that your brother may use his powers to get you too because he wants you just as bad as I do, since you’re his sister, but restrain and don’t give in to them, okay?”
“Okay. Thanks, Dad. I love you!” I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek sincerely. He returned my kiss and Jess took my hand, leading me into the gym.
“I love you, too!” he called back, just as the door the locker room closed behind us.
“Alleah, I’m so happy to see you!” Jess hugged me around my shoulders. “I’ve missed you so much!”
“I’ve missed you too, Jess,” I hugged her back and happily laughed. It felt so good to be back home where I had grown up. It felt like home.
“You ready to kick the other team’s butts?” she asked me.
“Heck yes, girl! I’m ready to dominate!” I exclaimed. “Let’s just hope I don’t suck after my lack of volleyball over the past weeks that I haven’t been here.”
“Nah, you have natural talent. You’ll cream them,” she smiled, giving me another hug as we entered the gym, where the team was either stretching their muscles or bumping the volleyball back and forth. It was time to dominate.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you enjoyed and the action is certainly coming in the next chapter! On the right is a picture of Alleah and Jess playing volleyball :)