"Sophie! Come downstairs!" Grady yelled. I sighed lazily and got up from my bed, stretching big and nearly collapsing from all the blood rushing to my head. I went downstairs, where I found my parents in the living room, sitting on the sofa on their phones.

"What's up?" I asked while sitting down on the soft recliner.

"Check this out!" Edaline excitedly shoved her phone in my face. I blinked twice, trying to make out the words that were hardly an inch from my eyes. I took the phone from her and put it at a more reasonable distance, looking at the website she wanted to show me.

The logo was blue letters over a black background, the letters spelling out ECV in a diagonal overlapping pattern. I scrolled down to find more about it and saw some pictures of girls playing volleyball in a very nice gym. I read the about section next.

Players of Eternalia Club Volleyball (ECV) get to compete in many different tournaments all over Great Britain. The club takes boys and girls from ages 10-20, of any skill level. We aim to improve your (or your child's) volleyball experience with reasonable practice times made with careful consideration for school schedules.

Intrigued, I scrolled a little farther to see the past achievements.

ECV has won many different awards over the years, including 10+ regional championships. We have also had many current and past pro volleyball players start at our club. Many of our teams are Division 1 and have won many awards within themselves.

Now this sounded like my type of club, especially after remanding the reviews. It sounded just as good as the club I had gone to in America.

I looked up at Edaline to see her staring at me intently.

"What do you think?" She asked.

"It sounds really good. It'd be nice to have something the same from back home. When does the winter season start?" I handed her phone back to her.

"This week is tryouts, I signed you up as soon as I saw this, figuring you would like it and if not I could've just removed your name." I smiled, loving how much my Edaline was always willing to do for me.

"Thanks, mom." I'd gotten better at calling Grady and Edaline mom and dad, but I still called them by their names more often than not. They knew how appreciative I was whenever I brought it out. Either that, or I really wanted something. "I love you."

"Love you, too, sweetheart. Now why don't you go make sure you have stuff good to go for tryouts?" I followed her advice and ran up to my room, checking in my closet.

Shoes, check. Knee pads, check. High socks, check. Spandex, check. I also got out my nice NSAA volleyball and went outside to practice.

The sports complex that hosted ECV looked kind of like a fancy warehouse on the outside. On the inside, it was even nicer than the pictures. The gym floors were spotless, meaning the people who played in here definitely wore different shoes than they did outside, thank gosh golly gee.

I went to the desk set up at the entrance to check in and get my tryout number, then went up the stairs where all the girls were going with their backpacks. I mentally winced when I saw Biana near one of the walls with other girls, waving me over.

I really needed to stop doing that. Maybe Stina had misinterpreted the situation. I really should've been getting Biana's point of view on what happened instead of just avoiding her.

"Hey Sophie!" She greeted me as I put my backpack next to hers. The other girls were putting their shoes on, ready besides that. I took off my sweatpants (having my spandex on underneath, of course), then slid up my knee pads, sleeves, and shoes. I stood up when I was done, the rest of the girls were done too.

"Girls, this is Sophie." Biana introduced me. "Sophie, this is Brisa, Juji, Irja, and Rayni."

"Nice to meet you." I said.

"Nice to meet you, too. Let's go down and warm up." Rayni replied. I noticed that all of Biana's friends were insanely pretty by modern beauty standards, with long legs, long and smooth-looking hair, and blue eyes (seriously, was I the only person with brown eyes in this kingdom? Was I part of some conspiracy?).

We went to the court closest to the stairs (which was still empty) and split up the court. I was on the side with Rayni and Biana, the other girls on the other side. Biana took left and Rayni took right, leaving me to be in the middle. That was fine, I had been a D.S. on quite a few teams, so I knew the spot well.

We just scrimmaged back and forth across the court until tryouts started. The coaches came out and had all the girls gather around the front two courts, which included the one we were playing on.

"Hello everyone!" The main coach announced from the center of the two courts. "Welcome back to the winter season at ECV!" The girls cheered and stomped their feet so I joined along. "We're so happy to have all of you signing up, this is the biggest amount we've had so far! Oh, and welcome to anyone who's new, we can't wait to get to meet you all. Now, to start off tryouts, we're going to split you into groups by number. Those of you who've been on teams here before will have the smallest numbers and be on the courts on this side, then there'll be those of you who've tried out before, then all of our newcomers on the far end of the complex. Now, split up. The coaches on your respective courts will proceed from there."

I was a little nervous to part ways with Biana and Rayni, not that I'd ever admit that to them. Instead, I swaggerly (is that a word? Oh well, who cares?) walked to my court to see a really tall lady wearing one of the ECV coach shirts. She had to be at least six four, if not taller. 

"Hi girls, I'm Coach Alexine, it's so great to meet all of you! If or when any of you make a team, I'm usually coaching one of our top three. I really hope I'll get to see some of you on my team, we don't get many new faces getting in the top tiers though, so don't get your hopes up. I will let you know now, with the big numbers of sign ups, there will also be big numbers of cuts, so don't be too disappointed if you don't make it since you'll be in the majority. Now, let's get down to business. There's thirty of you and one of me in this group, so we'll only be doing two skills per day for tryouts. Basically, we'll be passing and serving today, then setting and attacking tomorrow. And just so you know, some of you will be getting cut after today, since these are the most necessary skills that you need. Split up, half of you go on the other side of the court and grab a ball, we're going to be serving first."

I did as she said and went to the other side along with fourteen other girls, grabbing a ball and a spot in between the middle and right side of the court to serve. I decided to start with five float serves, which all went pretty well. The first one went straight into the net, but that was okay because it was my warm up serve. My second one went over, but not to the area I was hoping it would. The third one did the same thing, but by the fourth and fifth I had complete control over the ball. I did three more so I could have a total of five good floaters. I then practiced my jump serves, hoping they weren't too rusty.

It took me a couple to get it right, but then I was executing them flawlessly. Once I had gotten ten over, no problem, I couldn't hide my smile. Whenever I served, I always remembered a couple years before, when I had struggled to just get an overhand serve over the net. Now, after lots of practice, I finally got it. 

I continued for the rest of the time, attempting to hit different spots, including barely skimming the net and hitting straight on the line. Those ones were trickier and took a lot of tries, but I got a few that landed on the right spot. I also took short breaks while waiting for another ball to come over the net, using the time to rest my arms and make sure I didn't overwork myself.

"Okay girls, that's enough." Coach Alexine said, stopping us around the same time the other courts did. "Now we're going to move on to basic target practice. Can you all get into defense lines on that side of the net?" I moved to the other side and joined the line on the left of the court, near the back since I had been on the other court.

The left side was the side I was most comfortable with as libero (I know what you're thinking: of course the amazing Sophie, main character of everyone's story, is libero. That's so basic. Yeah, it kinda is. But as a shortie, I didn't have many options for the front row. And I should not be trusted as a setter. Sue me). When I got on the court, I waited patiently for the ball to come to me. I was slightly squated with my arms out in front of me, in ready position. Coach Alexine tossed the ball to me, a fairly high and easy toss, and I sent it right back to the setter spot, where she was standing, with plenty of height so she could've setted if it were a game.

I sighed as I trudged off the court. I went to the middle line this time, hoping to show that I could pass wherever I was put. I really hoped the lines would move faster.

For the rest of tryouts that day, we did some moving passes, peppering, dives and pancakes, and free balls. In my opinion, I played pretty well and believed I had a good chance of getting to return the next day.

I met up with Biana and the other girls upstairs, putting away my gear and putting my sweatpants and Hey Dudes back on.

"How'd your first tryout go?" Juji asked me.

"Pretty well, I think. Not to brag, but I had some really good passes. I think I have a serious chance of making a team." I replied belatedly.

"That's great!" Rayni added. "I really hope you do make a team, preferably the same one as me." I smiled at her words.

"How'd it go for you guys?" I asked. Biana groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"So bad for me. I kept messing up everything and I don't even know why! I know I play better than this, but I was legit playing like a third grader!"

"Oof, I'm sorry." I replied. "I hate off days, especially during tryouts. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do better tomorrow." She smiled.

"Thanks, Soph." She took a deep breath. "I'm gonna go home now and pray they don't cut me tonight."

"They won't." Irja tried to reassure her. "You've played every season here since you were in pre-two! They know you play better than this, they won't cut you just because of an off day." Biana hugged Irja before dragging me out the door.

"Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" She asked. "Because if you don't, I'm dragging you home with me."

"Looks like I'm going with you then." I texted Edaline, letting her know where I was going, before hopping into the passenger seat of Biana's Tesla (rich kids, I'm shaking my head) and letting her take me to her giant mansion (which even had a name, Everglen. Tell me you're rich without telling me you're rich).

"Can I ask you something?" I broke the silence while Biana was doing my eyeshadow. I learned that along with volleyball and glitter, one of her favorite things was makeovers. Being the kind person I am, I subjected myself to this torture method.

"Of course. Just make sure not to open your eyes." I could practically hear all the concentration she was putting into the layering and blending.

"What happened between you and Stina? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, it's just that I've already heard her side of it, and I want to hear yours before I decide to judge anybody." I felt her stiffen slightly before relaxing.

"So I'm sure she told you that her, Maruca and I were all friends, and how Maruca and I had been friends before adding her to the friend group." She didn't pause for me to respond, instead just continuing. "She started getting really mean to us, saying mean things when we got upset about something, or when we didn't have good grades and were complaining about it. She even made a couple jabs at our appearances. It really hurt my mental health. I told my parents about it, and they talked to me about bullying and toxic friends. So Maruca and I stopped being friends with her, because we knew her attitude wasn't good for us. 

"Then, around the time we were entering Level One, she came up to us and apologized. Maruca immediately forgave her, but I couldn't. All I could think of was how her words had affected me, how they made me rethink everything I said, everything I wore, five times over. I couldn't put myself through that again. And in her apology, she kept bringing up her dad, completely blaming her attitude on her dad. 'I'm sorry, my dad's really sick and it made me mean. I shouldn't have let it affect me.' Or, 'I know the way I acted and what I said is inexcusable, it's just with my dad being sick, things haven't been the same.' I know that her dad's sickness is bad, I really do, and I know it's tough on her. But wasn't it at least a little pathetic that she'd always apologize, throw in a 'but' or 'just' then bring up her dad being sick again. So I told her 'It's pathetic that you're using your dad's sickness as an excuse.' 

"I know it was a mean thing to say, but I couldn't help it then. I wanted to hurt her like she hurt me, and show her that when she's apologizing for something like that, she should take full responsibility instead of constantly shouldering off the blame onto her dad." I sat in silence when she was finished, going over everything she said again. To me, it sounded like an issue of miscommunication and children not knowing how to properly communicate their feelings without getting worked up. I told Biana so, and everything that Stina told me.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, but I think it'd be good for you two to talk, as almost adults now. From what Stina told me, she must've heard what you'd said wrong, and she didn't believe she was shouldering the blame onto her dad. So I think if you two talked now, you would fully understand what the other is saying and keep your emotions under control." Biana was silent for a moment, causing me to worry if I'd crossed a line.

"You know, that might not be a bad idea. But... do you think you could be there for it? Help regulate?"

"Of course." I replied immediately, wanting to help my two new friends.

I was finally able to open my eyes, Biana done with my makeup, and saw a small smile on the brunette's lips.

Day two of tryouts started much the same as the first. I drove there in my Jeep Wrangler (because I'm the rich pop star main character, of course I have a Jeep Wrangler) and parked next to Biana, who was just getting out of her car.

"Hey." She greeted me, dragging out the 'ey.' She hooked her arm around my shoulder. "Ready for a day of torture, shortie?" I groaned as I remembered what we were doing that day.

"I think I should get a pass for attacking." I told her. "Not like I'm gonna be a hitter anyways."

"Who knows, maybe you can secretly jump twice your height and spike like a monster." We both laughed.

"Oh most definitely. Have you seen these muscles?" I overdramatically flexed my biceps. "You know I'm gonna be the best hitter out there."

Our conversation continued up the stairs and while we got ready to play. When we were done, we went down to the same court as the day before, where the other four girls already were. We did the same warm up, except Brisa was on Biana and I's side instead of Rayni.

When the head coach came out (still didn't know her name, but oh well), her speech was pretty much just reviewing what she said yesterday, saying how proud she was of all of us who made it to the second day, then had us split up into almost the same groups. They had the same number of groups still, but with twenty people in each instead. With the variety of girls they cut, groups had to get changed slightly. A lot of the newcomers got cut so there was only one group left of us.

Coach Alexine had us warming up our arms before actually starting tryouts, which I was grateful for. There was another girl there, with dark blonde hair and, you guessed it, blue eyes who asked to pepper with me. We went back and forth, passing, setting, and attacking until it was time for actual tryouts. I sighed and shook out my arms, hoping it would go well.

I jolted up at the sound of a scream. It looked to me like the other girls had, too. I turned my head and saw it was Biana, staring at her phone with tears in her eyes. The girls and I rushed over to her to see what caused her scream. It was the team results.

All of us (Brisa, Juji, Irja, Rayni, and I) had been at Everglen, hanging out in Biana's room while waiting for team results to be emailed. And based on Biana's reaction, she didn't get what she wanted. I pulled out my own phone to check.

I saw Biana had made Purple Team, Brisa and Irja made White, Juji made Green, and Rayni and I made Silver.

"Oh, honey." Rayni said after reading over my shoulder, giving Biana a big hug. "That has to be a mistake, there's no way you made Purple."

"Wait." I said, confusion laced through my voice. "What do the different teams mean?"

Biana laughed, a dark laugh. "Of course she doesn't know when she literally made the second best team. How is this fair?!" Juji grabbed my arm quickly and pulled me out of the room.

"Biana made a really bad team." She explained. "Like, the team for thirteen year olds." My eyes widened and Juji just nodded. "The teams go Orange, Blue, Black, Purple, Yellow, White, Red, Green, Silver, and Gold. Usually only girls nineteen to twenty make Gold, and eighteen to nineteen make Silver. So you and Rayni making Silver while she made Purple was major hit on her self-esteem."

"But that can't be right." I cut in. "When we were warming up, Biana was just as good as Rayni and I, she should be on that team!"

"Yes, but you and Rayni also play positions that not a lot of girls our age play. Biana's an outside hitter, almost half the girls there signed up to be outsides."

"That's just dumb then, she was better than all the girls our age, even some older!"

"Yeah, but remember how bad her first tryout was? It was probably a miracle she even got to come for the second day."

I shook my head. "This isn't right. I'm not going to let this happen to her."

New longest chapter with over three thousand words!!!! Yippee to me! Anyways hope you all liked the chapter, I feel kinda bad for doing that to Biana at the end, but it's all for the plot so... oh well. Love you all and thanks for reading!!!!

Avery, out ->

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