Jilly Anais
I felt my door being knocked on and I didn't respond. I stared outside at the sky. The sun was beginning to rise. That meant it was four days after me and Klay broke up. Was it even a breakup ? We never settled that but it evident its over now. Whatever we had was somehow done that simple.
And we lost to Russia the day after.
And I quit the team.
I was watching one of the girls on the other side get yelled at by her coach. She rubbed the back of her neck and I immediately thought of Klay.
"Hey you alright ?" Alisha hesitantly.
"Oh I'm okay."
I wasn't. I stood there, thinking about Klay. Thinking about how he was feeling. He sat at my door all night and the next day and then just left. He sent messages to my phone,constantly blowing it up. He sent the whole team to try to talk to me. I remember I left one day and he followed me . He almost kidnapped me so I ran all the way to my room and slammed the door in his face.
I wasn't in the game at all.
The game ball hit me in the face, knocking me out of my thoughts. I fell over and tried to get myself together. I felt my mouth get wet and I touched it to see it was bleeding.
Coach took me out and I knew automatically he was pissed. The team and I gave up on ourselves, causing the Russians to notice and take advantage of the situation causing them to beat us in the next two sets.
I stood there numb on the stage as we accepted the silver medal.
"Jilly. Open the door."
I recognized Alisha's voice. I ignored her and she didn't knock anymore. But the door opened.
"Thank you.'" She said, storming in.
Her hair is up in a bun and she has practice clothes on.
"What ?" My voice croaked.
"I know your life is in shambles but your hope will shine through starting now." She said, ripping off my blanket to show me only wearing shorts. Alisha turned around and threw some clothes for me to wear which was a sports bra and some shorts with my socks and sneakers.
"Why am I doing this ?"
"I don't know. Coach said we need to have a meeting this morning and you are going."
I sighed and brushed my teeth. I put my hair in tight ponytail and walked out with her. We went downstairs and met coach in the gym. No one spoke at all. We all pretty down from our game the other day and we were all sitting in our own sadness.
"Hello ladies , I am Lawrence Frost, president of the USA Olympic Committee."
None of us said anything but he continued.
"It was hard to watch you guys get bronze but you have a chance to fix that."
My ears perked up.
"What ?" Carli said, lowly.
"In recent events, a Russian team member recorded a video and had it sent to International Headquarters of them forcibly given drugs such as steroids. Such activity is frowned upon and unprofessional. Their team is disqualified and now, things have changed. The other teams were notified and held games against each other to change their outcome. Japan has bronze and if you beat the past team , Serbia will have your silver. "
"Wait does that mean-"
"Yes it means that you will have your fight for Gold in three days."
There was a moment of silence until we all started screaming and wrapping our arms around each other.
We had a chance to fix this. We had a chance again to fix this.
.................................................................................................
"LET'S GO GIRLS!" Alisha shouted, as we were in a huddle. This was our last and final shot for Gold.
"This is it. We are tied. I don't know about y'all but I'm ready to come back and brag." Kelly said, smirking.
"24-24. We make this count. I don't care if we win or lose, I want all of us to put our hearts out there."
"Jilly your choice to call us out." Foluke said to me. I smiled.
"We are one."
"I dig it."
"1,2,3."
"WE ARE ONE!" We shouted before going to our spots. I took a deep breath. Serbia came back to the court and they had the same look of determination as we did. I smirked.
They weren't gonna beat us this time.
We weren't going to let that happen.
I bounced the ball a couple of times on the ground before serving it. It flew across the net and the ball bounced around for awhile and it was harder keep it up. The crowd was on their feet and their chants got louder with every hit.
The tallest girl on their team hit it far in the corner to reach the other corner were no one was at. I took off to the corner and slid on my knees , bending my back backwards hitting the ball. I turned and got back up, running back to my spot.
We all started falling , diving for the ball but they did it on purpose. I hit the ball up hard as hell, buying us a couple of seconds. The other girls got up and started hitting ball again.
"Hannah do you trust me ?"
"No."
"When this ball comes your way, I want you to toss it up and drop to the floor, its a demand not a question." I said, hitting the ball across the net.
Hannah rolled her eyes. The game continued and everyone was falling again on both sides. Hannah and I made eye contact and she turned around. Alisha hit the ball across the net , as she saved it , falling on the floor. Serbia served it over and it came in Hannah's direction. She hit it high in the air and dropped to the floor. A big smile came on my face as I ran and jumped over her, spiking the ball. It hit the very corner of their side and they smiled, jumping on each other.
I didn't make it.
Tears immediately flew down my face.
"I'm sorry guys. I blew it."
"We played with our hearts. We all did great." Hannah said with a genuine smile.
The referees furiously blew their whistles and shook their heads.
"WHAT ?" Coach shouted. We pulled apart and the referees shouted on the microphone.
"The ball did indeed stay in the boundaries. USA earns their 25th point, making them the Women's Indoor Volleyball Gold Medalists."
We all screamed and tackled each other to the ground. Coach even came over and joined.
We got our jackets and sweatpants back on to stand on the stage and it felt good.
They gave us our medals and placed them around our necks. We got off the stand went back to Coach who had tears of his own. He gave us all hugs but his arms lingered on me.
"I knew you had it in you." He whispered before pulling away.
"Now you guys can have all the fun you want. Your plane comes in two days . You will ride the basketball team back." He said to all us and winking at Alisha's who cheeks were red. I turn to her.
"So how are we riding with team back ?" I asked.
"I maybe had something to do with that." Hannah mentioned.
"How ?"
"I maybe hacked on to the passes online and switched us with the men's team."
"Hannah never knew you could be so naughty." I said, wiggling my eyebrows. She laughed and shook her head. We all were escorted out and got on a bus back to the hotel.
"So what are you gonna do with Draymond ?" I asked Alisha who was sitting beside me.
"Maybe go out to eat with him and kiss him in public since this Olympics are over for us."
I nodded my head.
"What are you gonna do with Klay ?"
"Nothing because we have nothing." I said, getting on my phone. She snatched my phone and tossed it on Carli's lap. I tried reaching across Alisha but she grabbed my arm , pushing me back.
"What the hell ?"
"You aren't getting your phone until you talk to him."
"What ? This is childish, give me my phone."
"No. He brought out the girl I met in college again. I missed that girl. The one that had aspirations and dreams. Not the one who would quit on everything that got hard. I know he broke your heart but he heard you out and don't you think he deserves the same ?"
The whole bus stopped and they all looked at me.
"Are you willing to leave the one person that makes you happy in Rio ?"
I sighed.
"I hate y'all so much." I jumped up and ran down the five steps off the bus.
"Go get your man girl !" Someone shouted behind me. I ran inside, pushing past many people in the lobby and earning a couple shouts.
I saw the elevator was full so I ran to the stairs. I stopped and sighed.
"He's lucky I love his ass."
I ran up the nineteen stairs and ran down the hallway to see Andre coming out of his room.
"Andre !"
He turned around with a candy bar in his mouth. He quickly removed it and held it behind his back.
"Where's Klay?"
"He's been in the room since we won gold."
"Thanks."
I ran to his room and banged on the door. There wasn't any sound at all. I looked around and saw a maid leaving her cart to go into someone's room. I crawled over and she came back. I dropped down lower and moved around the cart before trying to reach for the card in her pocket. I snatched it but I tugged too hard, causing her to fall.
"Sorry!"
I ran away and swiped the card , walking into the room. I shut it behind me. His room was a complete mess. The bed was completely undone and he had food lying around everywhere and it didn't smell the best.
The smell of marijuana hit my nose.
"Klay ?"
He didn't answer and I felt a breeze of air come from the balcony. I walked over to it and saw Klay sitting in a chair, smoking a blunt and sipping on some foreign alcohol.
"You know you can't smoke drugs ?"
"I already won gold so that rule doesn't quite frankly apply to me." He snarled. If it didn't apply to him then it didn't apply to me. I took his blunt and took a puff before blowing out an O.
"Can we talk ?" I asked him.
"I really don't want to."
"Klay just why didn't you tell me ?"
He stood up and walked back in. I put down the blunt and followed him back in.
"Klay."
"What the fuck do you want Jillian ?"
"I just want an answer."
"Because I fell in love with you , that's why I didn't say anything."
I stood there as he continued to explain , completely red faced.
"You are the first girl that actually wanted to get to know me and treat different from anyone else. You actually like that I'm weird and smart as hell. How was I supposed to tell you that our relationship was based on a question my best friend asked ?"
I just shrugged.
"I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't even want to and I couldn't even if I tried my hardest. I swear that I always gonna tell you but your smile made me stop even trying. I could tell that you were happy with me and I didn't want to sacrifice that. I thought about telling you that night when we were outside but you confronted your feelings and I felt the same. I thought that I should've said it back because I felt same way but I hesitated because you looked so damn beautiful under that moonlight and your smile was so bright."
"But you kept having chances to tell me." I murmured.
"And I didn't. This is all my fault. I did whatever it took and I took your heart right along with it."
We sat there in silence before I reacted.
I walked over to him and he looked at me confused. I straddled his waist and kissed his lips passionately before pulling away and whispering.
"If you're sorry, prove it to me right now."