The girl and the games

Chapter 1

"Girls! Look! It's William!" Amanda squealed as a boy in our year walked past us. The whole group turned our head. William Archibald, slightly curly brown hair, crystal blue eyes, slouched a bit as he walked, had a few freckles across his nose and his skin was a nice shade of tan mixed with porcelain. William was one of the tallest guys in the grade. He was super friendly, to his friends. Most of the group smiled and waved. He rose his eyebrows as a gesture back to them. I was lost in just staring at him. Since the start of grade 7, I had a crush on him. He was the man of my dreams. That all changed when one day I saw him kiss one of the 'cool' girls, Ashleigh Harber. She was a blonde, perfectly shapes, green eyes, and was a cheerleader outside of school. Grade 7 was 5 years ago.

******
"Have you heard?" Amanda asked me as I was grabbing my books from my locker.
"I haven't heard anything. When do I put in the effort hearing gossip?" I looked at her and smiled. She does that thing where you scrunch your nose when annoyed. It's quite cute with her button nose.
"Ugh, you are so annoying sometimes. Clearly you haven't heard, we are getting a new student and rumour has it, Ashleigh and William broke up. She was caught cheating at a party two weeks ago." Amanda smiled widely like the information was a godsend.
"Oh, well,  poor William, being cheated on sucks. And cool, new guy. Very excited." I was sarcastic at the last part. I shut and locked my locker. "Is that all of the amazing information? I have psychology to get to." I said to Amanda. She linked her arm with me and smiled softer this time.
"That's all! For now!" She did her cheeky giggle and we walked off to class.

William was in most of my classes, so was Ashleigh. Usually the two sat together but today, William sat near me. Usually I sat alone, did experiments alone, studied alone, so this was very out of the blue.
"Can I sit here?" William asked. His head hung lower than usual. And his posture was even worse too.
"Go for it. I'm sure Casper is willing to share." I said opening my things and William chuckled sitting down next to me.
"So, how many people know?" He asked.
"Know what?" I turned my attention away from my book to his face. He was already looking at me.
"About myself and Ashleigh?" He asked with a hushed tone.
"Ah." I stared at him for a moment and bit my lip before looking around the room then back at William. "I didn't know until this morning. It's really not my business. I keep out of other peoples personal business." I went back to writing down notes. I heard him sigh heavily and felt a bit bad.
"It's shitty for someone to cheat. I'm sorry you had that happen to you." I whispered to him before getting back to my work.

I heard someone clear their throat before my head rose and saw a new face. The new kid. He was blond, brown eyes, slightly less shorter than William from what it looked like.
"Everyone,  this is Henry. He's a new student, please treat him like he's already a friend." Mr Smith said before pointing out to the other free desk next to me.
"There is a seat next to Mia. I'm sure she'll be happy to have another class buddy with her." Mr smith smiled and Henry then made his way towards us. I was now sat in between two good looking guys, this wasn't how I expected our first day of grade 12 to be. Henry was quite pretty up close.
"Anyone play volleyball?" He asked. I laughed in return.
"I do. William doesn't. William plays footy." I said before smiling at Henry then at William who was staring at me.
"You've seen me play?" William asked. I scoffed and rolled my eyes.
"I would like to study psychology thanks, this isn't HPE." I said before writing more notes down.

After class, William walked with me to my locker, it was quiet between us.
"So, you've seen me play?" He asked again and leant on the lockers next to me as I exchanged my books and grabbed my morning tea. I saw Amanda and our friends, Lilly and Shae.
"Of course I've seen you play. I sit on the bleacher every day and your team plays occasionally at lunch time." I said before shutting my locker and staring up at him.
"Well, I'll keep an eye out for you next time. Enjoy your morning tea." He said before walking away. His posture was less horrid as he walked away which was good for his back. I heard Amanda creep up behind holding in her squeal.
"Yes?" I said turning around and she threw herself on me.
"He talked to you!" She squealed in my ear. It hurt.
"Wow, yes he did." I chuckled and pushed her off gently. "Volleyball practice this afternoon,  you gonna be there?" I asked her, changing the subject. I also started eating my now squished sandwich.
"You always do this! Never wanna talk about anything exciting!" Amanda whined. "Of course I'll be there." She smiled. We all went to the usually spot on the bleachers to eat. Lilly and Shae were talking to Amanda about the cheating scandal with William, Ashleigh and Max. Max was one of the basketball players of the school. Our school had many sports. Volleyball, football, basketball, netball, tennis, swimming. It was quite a large school. I really did feel bad for William.

The rest of the day was smooth sailing, english, maths, modern history then, it was time for volleyball. Amanda and I got dressed. I was the teams libero. Amanda was a setter. Every one hated but loved the uniform, it showed off our arses but it was easier to move around in them. I slipped on my knee pads before turning and bumping straight into a soft wall of human flesh.
"I'm so sorry!" I called out before my eyes settled and it was Henry. He was laughing softly.
"It's alright. I should have been more careful, I saw you putting on your pads." He said before stepping back.
"What position?" I asked him. He stared at me for a moment before chuckling.
"Ah, I was confused for a second. I'm the new Ace. I moved here for a scholarship for volleyball." He said before looking around. "Is everyone the same?" He asked. I laughed.
"Nope. Some of us really had to work our arses off to get here. I am one of them. Been playing since I was 5 and I didn't cut it for a scholarship so good job." I said patting his arm. "I'm gonna join my team now. Have fun." I said jogging away. Amanda was staring at me, as per usual when she's spying.
"New kid does volleyball?" She asked. I rolled my eyes.
"He's an ace, way out of your league." I said before playfully elbowing her. We both got on the courts a bit late and they started without us.
"Mine!" I called and went to receive the ball.

Training went on for a 2 hours. Everyone was sweaty,  tired and hungry afterwards.
"Maccas run?" I asked looking at Amanda. She was flirting with a boy on the guys team. Tyler, Zack and Jack.
"Oh yes please!" She squealed. We got in my car and drove to McDonald's. We went through the drive through, I ordered myself a quarter pounder with a salted caramel frappe and Amanda got a McChicken with an iced coffee. I drove us to my house and we ate in my bedroom, away from my loud younger brother and Mum.

"Henry seems nice." Amanda said as we were stuffing our faces.
"Yeah, he's not bad." I replied taking a sip of my frappe.
"He's cute too." She said before I looked at her and rolled my eyes.
"Okay, just because I spoke to two guys today, doesn't mean I'm interested in any of them." I said putting my drink down.
"You haven't liked anyone since William got with Ashleigh. I've had more boyfriends than you." She said and I laughed.
"That's not a good thing Am!" I yelled out.
"Some are better than none!" She replied and we both laughed for a bit finishing our food.
"My mum will pick me up soon. Great practise today." Amanda said as I walked her to the door.
"Yeah, arms are dead. Can't wait to have a relaxing bath." I chuckled a little and watched Amanda get in her mums car before my mum was behind me with her arms crossed.

"I've talked to you about shutting your door. It's not needed in this house. We are an open family." Mum said before Hayden, my younger brother stood with her.
"It was just so I could hear Amanda better while we ate. Jeez." I started walking back towards my room.
"Don't walk away from me missy!" Mum yelled out. I stopped and turned to her.
"I'm not, I'm just grabbing clean clothes so I can bathe before you yell at me for smelling." I crossed my arms as she walked towards me.
"Your attitude isn't needed!" She yelled and spat in my face.
"There was no attitude." I said as calmly as I could. "Can I please bathe now?" I put my arms down and looked away.
"Better fix up your attitude. Just because it's your final year, doesn't mean you can be bitchy with me." She had her finger in my face as she spoke.
"Yes Mum, sorry mum." I said before grabbing my clothes and phone walking to the bathroom. I shut the door and slumped onto the floor. I heard my phone go off as I started getting undressed. I got a follow request from both William and Henry on Instagram.
"Well, shit." I sighed.