"Are you excited guys?" I remember my mom asking me, looking down at my small toddler face on our way through the front doors to the local college's girls' first volleyball game of the season that year. Ever since we had the tickets, I couldn't wait to see the game, even though I had no idea what to expect. I remember not even answering her and just turning towards the arena and started skipping all the way to our seats, but I'm sure she knew what I would have said.
I can still bring up the picture vividly in my head of one of the players on the team we were cheering for. To this day I can't come up with her name for the life of me, but I do remember the way she moved on the court and off of it. On the court she was very precise in every movement she made, but off the court she celebrated their later victory with her team; all smiles and cheering. I wanted to feel that feeling. The feeling of being good at something and with a team above all.
After the game, my sister started to act up, being just a baby at the time, so my parents took us back to the house right away. Yes, I was very little and anyone there could have felt the same way I did at only two-years-old. For some reason, that one game has followed me since then and encouraged me to play volleyball up to this year. My final year on my high school team. I play club, too, and beach, but this will be the last time in my life I will probably ever play with these people.
Since I made captain as a senior, I get the job of picking who to keep on the team and who to tell they didn't make it. Each year I've played at this school, less and less girls try out for the team. I keep telling the principal that is he would just make volleyball a sport and not a club, more people would probably show up.
"I'm sorry, but we barely have a budget for the sports we already have. The only revenue we get is from the tickets we sell and the few donations we get. I'm sorry, but it's not going to happen," he would always tell me when I went to his office. This year we have about twenty girls here to prove they're able to keep up on the team. The first year I came here as a freshman, there were around fifty girls at tryouts. The first day was basic drills for bumping, setting, and spiking.
We lost most of our players because they were all seniors going on to college, so now I'm kind of hard pressed to keep up our numbers no matter what. Right now, we have four reoccurring team members, including me, from last year:
Merida Scott: sophomore, middle blocker. I went through tryouts with her and was, for the first time in my life, intimidated by someone else. She exuded a very intense aura that I had never felt before and I thought for sure she would be outside hitter or something, but no. The only thing that has ever been on her mind, from what she has told me, is being a blocker. It actually makes more sense since she is so intimidating.
Rapunzel Corona: junior, libero. I think she's the closest thing I have to a best friend. I normally keep to myself and focus on one thing at a time, but we've been on the same club team since seventh grade. To be honest, she is almost the complete opposite of me.
Pocahontas: junior, left wing spiker. No, I don't know her last name, but she doesn't really talk to anyone. She became a regular last year when she amazed everyone in our fall tournament. No one had ever really noticed her until then, but I don't think that bothered her since she kind of ignores everyone else too.
Elsa Queen (Me): senior, setter. I was the first underclassmen to become a regular out of the girls I started out with. I normally keep to myself outside of practice or games/tournaments. Most people don't think of a setter as very special or that it takes a lot of talent to be one. I know that this is totally misconceived since I've been one almost my entire volleyball career. I started out as libero before I grew because I used to actually be a very small.
From these twenty or so girls, I have to come up with a right wing spiker and if possible, and ace, decoy, serving specialist, and even though we already have a libero, I think we could benefit from having a defensive specialist as well.
"Hey Queen," I hear from my right side and turn to face Merida trying to tie back her mess of curly red hair. As soon as I turn to her, the hair tie she was struggling with breaks and flies into my face. "Oh, hey I'm sorry. Curse this hair!"
"No it's fine I promise. What was it you wanted to ask me though?" I ask while rubbing the sting from my left cheek.
"Did you ever find us a manager? I mean an official one? Because I know we have little Tink, but she's so small and probably needs a little help." She has a point. I completely forgot that we needed one this year. Last year we had one, but because he was a senior, he left us to struggle finding a new one. "And do you know if we're gonna get a new coach or not?"
"Don't worry about it, I have it all handled. I'll find them after tryouts, I promise." Merida turns back around and almost trips over our current manager, Tinker Bell. Maybe right after today's tryout day I'll start working on that. The sooner the better, right?
So far we've narrowed it down to thirteen girls who could keep up with the basic drills. I have my eye on a few already, who seem to have a lot of power and will to be here. Unfortunately, since this is a club, we really only have this one team that we have to treat like varsity and only let in the best.
Anna Queen (My sister): freshman, possibly our decoy. It gives her an unfair advantage because I know what she is capable of since I live with her and pretty much taught her the sport. She has a surprising amount of power in such a little body, but what I'm worried about is her lack of accuracy. She has enough confidence and will so she can get away with it, but if she were to be our decoy, she needs to develop a perfect hit almost every time.
Ariel Triton: freshman, most likely a pinch server. She is the opposite of Anna. A lot of accuracy for someone her age, but lacks the confidence to follow through. If she could bring that out, she could be a very powerful weapon during tournaments.
Aurora Rose: sophomore, right wing spiker. I know that she will be perfect for this position even though this is her first year of actually playing. Her jump is crazy, which, combined with her aim, is dangerous.
Even from the first day, these few have stood out, but we still need alternates and a couple other regulars. My goal is to find a perfect ace that I can pair with myself. So far, even in past years, I've had trouble finding someone who can match my ability. I'm not bragging or trying to boost myself up or anything, it's just hard to find a perfect ace for any team and we really need one if we are going to make it to nationals this year.
"All right everyone, we're gonna start off with some spiking since that was the most difficult yesterday. After that we're gonna do some practice games with each other." I call out through the gym so everyone can hear me. Our school's gym is actually pretty big from when we did used to get donations, so we have to share it with the boys' volleyball team's tryouts. They can get very loud especially since their captain is the most rambunctious of any boy I have even met.
"Hey, watch out!" My mind is too far behind my body as a ball comes flying towards Tink's face. My arms stretch out and make contact with the blue and white ball, sending it back to where it had come from on the boy's side of the gym.
"Will you please be careful next time? Unlike you I would like to not have anyone get a concussion from your reckless and careless captaining." I say to the captain of the boys' team, walking over to face him. When I get up close to him I can see a cocky grin forming in his lips and I want to smack it right off his face. Why does he have to be so annoying?
"Sorry Queenie, one of the freshman was trying to do a jump serve on his first try and it didn't work out that well. We're all learning here and no one got hurt so it doesn't really matter now does it?" He starts to walk back to his teammates, but I block him path, feeling too frustrated to let it go.
"First of all, how many times have I asked you to not call me Queenie? Second of all, if you wouldn't mind managing your underclassmen to not only be careful but to also not try new tricks or they could hurt someone that would be great." His expression doesn't change the entire time I scold him, which puts me a little on edge.
"Are you done?" He asks. I don't want to say anything to him that he could possibly make fun of the he usually does, so I just cross my arms in from of my chest. "Good. Now if you wouldn't mind, I would like to go make my team better by educating them on the art of spiking. Not everyone can be born with your god given abilities Queen. We all have to start somewhere."
"Who the hell do you think you are? I work extremely hard to be good at something I love and I don't treat it like a joke!"
"You think I treat this like a joke, do you? How about I show you how much I take this seriously? Let's play a little three on three. First one to fifteen wins." He walks back to his team, bringing two other people on to the court with him. I recognize them immediately:
Flynn Rider: senior, middle blocker/serve specialist. I assume he is a great blocker mostly because of his height, but I know from being in the same school as him since middle school, he is also very great at timing. Anyone in this school knows that he is very cocky and full of himself.
Hiccup Haddock: junior, setter. He has always been very kind and considerate for being friends with the people he hangs out with. He looks worried as he is forced into position, but not like a nervous worried, more annoyed. I know for a fact that he is the brains of the team and has been since he first started.
"Rapunzel! Merida! I need you over on the boys' court, we're gonna play a three on three." They run over to the opposite side the boys are on and get into position. Rapunzel is good for receiving because she's fast and flexible, which will be good for getting the boys' fast spikes and chance balls. Merida is intimidating, but she also has a powerful spike that is usually very hard to get if she actually aims, but I'm worried she will get too into the competition and forget to do what she is supposed to be doing.
"Would you like the first serve or receive, Queenie?"
"How about we just flip a coin and have fate decide for us?" Merida answers for me, pulling out a quarter from her gym bag. She throws it up into the air, catches it in her right hand, and slaps it onto the back of her left hand. Before she pulls her hand off of it, Flynn calls out heads, leaving me with tails. "Heads it is. Would you like to serve or receive first?"
Instead of answering, Flynn takes the ball and hands it to his captain. Merida gets back into position and we wait to receive.
He bounces the ball three times onto the ground, spins it in his hands once, then throws it up into the air, and boom. The ball smacks against our side of the court without any movement from us. Damn.
"Oh, Queenie, you asked who the hell I think I am. I'm Jack Frost, and I'm going to win."
A/N
Hey! This isn't my first story on here, but it is one that I am trying out. This story will be pretty different from my other one, even though neither of them are finished yet. I had writer's block for the longest time, but then this idea popped into my head with the help of one of my favorite animes, Haikyuu!, which is about volleyball and teamwork. (If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend you do because it's amazing and if you do, please tell me how you like it!)
Anyways, I hope you liked the first chapter and please let me know with a review or favorite. There is a lot more to come from this story and my other ones so please follow along with me and I will try not to disappoint!