Chapter Text
I sighed with relief as I finally got to pull down my knee pads after practice. I took a sip from my water bottle and let myself catch my breath. As I was screwing the top of my bottle back on, Hannah approached me.
“Hey! Good job at practice today, shit was rough,” Hannah groaned as she sat next to me on the metal bench.
I only chuckled. “I know right! But good job too, your hits were amazing.” I complemented.
“Not without your sets!” Hannah laughed, “well anyway, we better get going before the boys get in here for their practice. You know how annoying they are,” she warned as she sat up. I nodded and grabbed my bag and water, walking towards the exit. I guess the world was against me though, because right as I opened the gym doors, the boys varsity team was pushing past each other in the entryway.
I audibly groaned, catching one of the boys' attention. “Oh come on, we’re not that bad,” a voice I recognized as Karl teased.
I gave the rest of his team a glance, the only one not shouting was their middle, Wilbur. I tried to walk past them, accidentally bumping into the team captain, Clay.
“Oh come on, what put you in such a bad mood?” He cooed, firmly grabbing my shoulder with his right hand.
“Can you just get out of the way,” I complained, still trying to leave the gym. Clay smirked but let go of my shoulder, allowing me to leave the building. I walked towards my car.
As I unlocked it, I felt a tap on my back. I gasped but turned around and saw a familiar face, our right side, Niki. I smiled and pulled her into a hug. “Was the boys team bothering you?” She worriedly asked as we pulled away.
I furrowed my eyebrows, “I mean I guess. It was fine though,” I shrugged. Niki nodded but still looked concerned. “Niki, I’m fine. It’s all in good fun,” I assured..
“See you at practice tomorrow!” Puffy yelled, waving at us.
“Oh- that’s my ride. Bye! See you tomorrow!” Niki ran towards Puffy, yelling at the girl to wait up. I shook my head, closing my car door and driving towards my house.
I sighed as I opened the door, setting my stuff on the counter to be handled later. My dad was at work and probably wouldn’t be home until late at night. After about an hour of sitting there on my phone, I figured I should take a shower. I felt, and probably looked, absolutely disgusting. I trudged up the stairs, shutting the bathroom door behind me.
The shower water finally ran hot so I stripped and stepped in, listening to my playlist through the speakers. I was washing my hair when I heard the garage door open downstairs, it was probably just Nick getting back from practice, so I continued washing myself.
I stepped out of the shower, turning off the water and changing into a pair of shorts and a hoodie.
***
A growl in my stomach reminded me that I hadn’t eaten since lunch.
“Nick!” I yelled before bursting into his room. My eyes were glued to my phone, “I’m gonna order a pizza, what kind do you want?” I asked.
“Pepperoni,” a voice that was not Nick stated.
My eyes widened. “Clay? Why the fuck are you here?” I yelled in a sort of disgust. “And why are you shirtless?” My eyes land on his exposed abdomen.
The cocky motherfucker laughs. “Cause it’s hot,” he shrugs. Nick nods.
“Now can you order that pizza?” Clay feigned innocence. I nodded and went to leave the room, my eyes lingering on Clay for a second longer than I’d care to admit. I ordered the pizza, the 20 minutes it took to get ready were awful. When I got the notification that it was ready, I sighed in relief.
“I’m going to go pick up the pizza. I’ll be right back,” I yelled.
“Why didn’t you just get it delivered?” Nick shouted back, him and his friend leaving the room.
I shrugged, “cheaper to go pick it up.”
He nodded. “We’re coming with you!” Clay interrupted. “I’m tired of sitting here.”
I sighed, grabbing my keys and walking towards the door. “Coming or not?” I teased, the boys chuckling and following behind me. I was driving of course, Nick took the passenger seat and Clay reluctantly got in the back seat.
“I’m taller! I should be up front!” Clay complained. Nick and him argued the whole way there.
“Shut the fuck up, I’ll be right back,” I said as I unbuckled my seat belt. I waited in the line, finally grabbing our food and walking back to the car.
I opened the door to see Clay sitting in the passenger's seat and Nick in the back seat. Clay looked at me holding back a laugh, finally bursting into a wheeze when I shook my head at him. His laugh was contagious, the music being consumed by the sound of all of our laughter. Nothing was even funny, but tears were pricking in my eyes and I could barely breathe.
I regained my composure and started driving back home, while Clay and Nick were still losing their shit. We arrived back at the house, immediately grabbing plates to eat.
Dinner was awkward, at least for me. Clay and Nick were cracking jokes to each other, whereas I sat there staring at my phone. I yawned loudly, all of the sudden becoming tired.
“Oh by the way, we have morning practice tomorrow,” I reminded the boys. They both groaned.
“I swear coach is trying to kill us or something,” Nick laughed as he put our plates in the sink. Clay nodded in agreement.
“You should go to bed,” Nick urged me. “Your practice is before ours, remember?”
I shook my head, “no? Did you even see the text that Coach sent us?” The boys went quiet. “Of course not. Well anyway, he said that we’re practicing together. So I’m guessing a scrimmage- if we’re lucky.” They both rolled their eyes.
“Well goodnight Nick,” I hugged him. I didn’t say anything to Clay. I went back upstairs making sure my alarm was set, and went to bed.
***
I woke up at 5:45 AM, nearly crying as I heard my alarm. I went downstairs to make myself a cup of coffee. I winced at how hot the drink was as I took a sip. I sat there for a bit, waiting for my mind to fully wake up.
I turn around to see a smiling Clay staring right back at me. I nearly jumped out of my skin, having zero clue he was here. “Why did you stay the night?” I whisper-yelled.
Clay laughed, “didn’t feel like driving home. Plus, scaring you like that was worth it.”
I shook my head, going back to my coffee. “Well you’re not even going to offer me a cup?” Clay faked offense.
“Make one yourself. Also make sure Nick gets up,” I said.
I quickly threw some shorts and a t-shirt on, pulled my knee pads on and grabbed my bag. Waiting for the boys felt like forever, though it was probably only 5 minutes.
“Hey Nick,” I gestured towards him. “Did Dad come home last night?”
He thought for a moment, “oh yeah. He just left early this morning. I saw him last night when I was getting water,” Nick recalled. “Now come on, if we keep sitting here we’re gonna be late!”
Nick drove us there, speeding down the road while Clay desperately tried to get him to slow down. We finally parked and ran into the gym.
When I got to the court, most of the girls team was already warming up. Hannah smiled and waved for me to come warm up with her. After everyone was in the gym and warmed up, Coach blew his whistle.
“So today it’s gonna be a girls versus boys scrimmage to get you ready for the big game next week,” Coach announced. This earned cheering from the boys, but mostly loud groans from us.
“How do you expect us to play against them? They’re like seven feet tall!” Puffy complained, “especially that one!” She jokingly pointed at Wilbur, making him stick his tongue out.
Coach shrugged, “you can have some of the JV boys play with you. They’re pretty tall.” I glanced over at the JV team on the other court, them looking at us expectantly.
“I don’t mind playing with them,” Niki said, “it’s up to the captain though,” she looked at me.
I thought for a moment, “fine! Ranboo, Tommy, come here,” I shouted.
“Hah! Suck it Tubbo,” Tommy teased as he ran over towards us.
“Alright what’s the plan?” Minx asked. I took a second to think of a plan.
“Okay, so normal starting rotation. Hannah, Minx, Sylvee, Niki, Puffy, and I. Then if we get really behind, I want Ranboo going in as middle and Tommy on the right side. Subs the same for everyone else. Got it?” I explained, everyone nodded their heads.
We walked onto the court, getting into starting rotation. “Oh and you’re not going to see who gets first serve?” Clay yelled from the other side of the net. I rolled my eyes, walking up to him.
The smirk on his face was prominent while we played rock, paper, scissors. Which made it only that much more satisfying when I won. The look on his face only boosted my ego as I grabbed a ball from the cart to serve.
I’d been wanting to try my jump serve for a while now, but for the first ball I decided to just do a normal float. The ball flew right over the net and right to the libero- Alex. The ball went perfectly to George and he set Clay up.
Minx and Niki tried their best to block it, but his greater height made it easy for him to get past them. Luckily, the ball went straight to Puffy who got a pass to me.
I set up Hannah who got a tip in, though Karl saved it. We went back and forth like this until Wilbur got a kill on us, giving the boys the first point.
We were actually playing with them for a little bit, though after we got behind, we lost that quick. We quickly subbed out Niki and Minx for Ranboo and Tommy. The switch did help, but no matter what we did, we ended up losing. After the scrimmage, Coach said we were free to go home since it was the weekend.
“Come on! We still have to take Clay home, remember?” Nick reminded me as I had stayed in the gym even though everyone had left.
I turned away from him, “nah, I think I’ll stay. My serves were shit today.”
“Then how will you get home, huh?” Nick challenged.
“I can walk,” I smiled.
He shrugged, “suit yourself. Come on Clay! She’s staying, apparently!” Nick yelled out.
Clay appeared from nowhere, “and why are you staying?”
“Need to practice,” I simply answered. He nodded with an eyebrow raised, running after Nick when he noticed that he already left.
“Wait up you fucker!” Clay yelled after him.