So! I'm back!...Don't kill me, please? My only actual defense is that I really had no idea what to write for this chapter, and while this is pretty short, hopefully this'll help me segue into later chapters.

1 month later

"I'm so sweaty," said Lissa, wrinkling her nose. "Is this seriously what you were getting up early to do every day?"

"Nope," I smirked. "I got up early to get even sweatier. How come he made me run miles for warmups but not you guys?"

Lissa shrugged. "I'm not complaining."

Mia and Jill might have once been in the conversation with us, too, but they'd quit junior year, citing busy schedules and a decline in interest. And Sydney wasn't athletic, we'd learned.

We had just come out of practice after classes, and, true to form, Dimitri was relentless in his trainings, though maybe not quite as tough as he had been on me yet. Still, even with my preparedness for the onslaught, I wasn't immune to it. Although, to be fair, I was so used to his conditioning that it was almost refreshing to hear my teammates complain about how sore they were and realize that I was not in pain. Now that Dimitri had stopped our private trainings, it was clear just how much I had improved over the past few weeks.

Since I was on the team, I'm sure you've guessed by now that tryouts had gone well for me. And they had, in a way. I mean, I was on as first setter. And I was definitely having an easier time adjusting to the touch training regimen that Dimitri had in store for us.

And yet...

My social life was suffering.

For one thing, I rarely had free time anymore. There was a vast difference in the rigor of trainings between a freshman team and a varsity team, and I didn't get to see many of my non-volleyball friends outside of classes anymore. I could still text and go on Facebook to check up on Mia, Jill, Mason, Christian, Sydney, Eddie, and Adrian, but face-to-face talking was basically limited to the school day.

And for another...well, if anyone was angry about my placement on the team, it was Camille Conta, who had been demoted to DS because of that. I honestly am not sure if she was actually surprised or not, but she was pissed anyway. She hadn't actually done anything apart from ignoring me and making little comments here and there, but with her swarms of sycophantic followers, it felt like half the school not-so-secretly hated me.

But it was worth it. Making the team was completely worth it, I told myself. Still, it would've been nice to not be glared at every time I walked into a room.

As far as actual practice went, it wasn't that bad—at least not for me. My teammates, however, were suffering through Dimitri's preference for hard workouts and hard practices, and while it was now something I was acclimated to, they had not quite adjusted.

Dimitri smirked slightly at me as I finished the round of sprints he'd made us do far faster than everyone else. "First again, Roza?"

I shrugged, trying to remain nonchalant as I wiped the sweat from my eyes. "Yeah, I wonder how I got so fast," I quipped.

His smirk got a little wider as finally, Jill managed to hit the endline a few seconds after me. "Your speed has improved, Meredith," he said. "Try to beat Rose next time."

I snorted quietly as I gulped water down. As if that was going to happen soon.

As the rest of my team finished chugging water, I sauntered back onto the court. Once everyone was done drinking, Dimitri said, "Alright, girls. Let's get back to serve receive..."

Everyone groaned.

After practice, Dimitri called to me as I was leaving. "Rose. Can I speak with you?"

Frowning, I nodded and walked back over. Was something wrong?

When I was within speaking distance, he began talking. "You've improved a lot, Roza, from when you first started." He paused. "But I think we should resume private training. Your footwork still need some work—you tend to forget it when you have to move backwards, and I think the easiest way to rememdy that is by resuming our sessions."

I nodded slowly. I wasn't happy to be told that I was still doing something wrong, but it was true—I did move awkwardly.

A sneaky voice inside me whispered gleefully, And Rose, you'll also get to spend more time with him.

"Okay," I said, trying to shut the voice up.

He smiled at me then. "Good. I'll see you tomorrow morning."