Renegades // #Wattys2015

Chapter One

"Down and ready, girls!" Coach Warner ordered from the sidelines of the game.

The players on the court—Talia, Rocky, Beverly, Elle, Paris, and Megan—hunched into their ready positions and prepared for the other team to serve. On the bench, Cass, Elise, Leigh, Avery, and Trinity cheered their teammates on.

It was the final game of their senior year. The girls' team reputation depended on if they won or not. A win would mean total and eternal glory in the hallways (okay, more of "congrats!" for a week), and a loss would mean complete humiliation.

The echo of the opposing team's server's palm hitting the ball sounded, and the ball was in the air.

"It's over!" shrieked Talia and Elle together as the ball flew over the net.

"Rocky!" Beverly yelled, signaling Rocky that the ball was heading her way. Rocky bumped the volleyball and it went up—but didn't quite go far enough to go over the net.

"Help, help, help!" Megan shouted. Paris dove in and gave the ball a powerful bump, and it soared over the net, sending the other team scrambling for it.

The other team exceeded their three-hit limit soon, and got lucky as the ball tipped the net. Elle got under it and did a set—Talia finished off the set with a spike.

Boom! The ball hit the floor, giving the Cavington High School team another point. One point, and they were going to win the game.

Adrenaline pumped in each of the players' veins as they rotated. Rocky was up to serve.

"C'mon Rocky!" the girls on the bench encouraged loudly.

And then the gym got quiet. So quiet, you could hear a pin drop. Rocky stepped forward and commenced the serving sequence. She hit the volleyball and it flew across the court. The opposing team skittered around, frantically hitting the ball. They hit it a third time and it went to come over...

"Short!" Talia called. And she was right. The ball caught in the net, causing Cavington High to win their last game.

Hoots and hollers filled the gym. "We won! We won!" Cheers filled the stands as parents talked excitedly.

The girls all huddled together. "Great game girls! We did it! Thirty-one consecutive wins—I think we've broke a school record!"

"Team on three!" Elise yelled.

"One, two, three, TEAM!" the volleyball girls all shouted in unison. Then, they all ran together to the locker room to change.

As they all took off their sweaty kneepads and socks, Elle began to talk.

"I meant to tell you guys before the game—I want to host a camp out for all of us before graduation. Does Friday night sound good to you all?"

A collective "yeah" went throughout the locker room. Elle gave a thumbs up and went on.

"Okay, so I want you guys to meet at Amidon Park and we're going to go hiking up to a clearing I found. It's going to take around forty minutes to hike up."

"Sounds fun," Leigh commented.

"Yeah, I'm up for it," Avery said perkily.

"Great, so it's settled!" Elle left the locker room to head home. She had lots of planning to do for this camping trip.

***

"Study hall, the most boring and useless part of the school day," Paris whispered to Trinity. Trinity nodded in agreement and stared at the clock. It was five minutes until dismissal bell, but she knew good and well that they would drag on into infinity. With every minute that passed previously, she had felt her heart go faster, as the camp out was tonight and none of the girls could really hold their excitement.

Trinity took in the scene around her—Talia and Elle were asleep with their heads on their desks, Megan was writing love notes to her boyfriend (at this, Trinity rolled her eyes), Rocky was busily doing her homework, Beverly was trying to be a sneaky, rebellious teen by texting (with a phone that was cracked beyond repair), Leigh was doodling, and Avery was watching, Paris was talking to her in whispers, and Cass was reading smutty fanfiction on her phone. Nothing out of the usual.

The pierce ringing of the dismissal bell echoed throughout the hallways and all the girls jumped up from their seats, practically running to their lockers so they could get out and get going.

A few minutes later, they all met in the parking lot. "Everyone loaded up?" Elle asked. The girls all nodded and got into three cars to carpool. Talia, Elle, Paris, Cass and Avery went to ride in one car—Rocky, Trinity, Beverly, Elise and Leigh took the other. Megan volunteered to be the lone wolf and take her car by herself.

Elle began to drive her 2015 Buick Lacrosse out to Amidon while she listened to GPS instructions on her iPhone. Talia turned on her radio and set it to the Hits1 weekend countdown on SiriusXM while Paris, Cass and Avery jammed out in the backseat.

"THIS SUMMER'S GONNA HURT LIKE A MOTHE—"

"Guys, can you quiet down? Siri's giving me directions!" Elle said.

The girls' voices in the back only intensified.

After a painful hour of their singing, the girls arrived at the park. Elle parked the Buick and the girls got out to start unloading their camping supplies. Soon, Rocky and her group drove into the parking lot with Megan tagging behind her. They each pulled into parking spots next to Elle's and began to unpack their supplies from their trunks.

Soon, they were walking the trail for their hike to the clearing.

***

"I'm hungry."

"Beverly, you just ate. We're just about there. Can you wait?"

"Okay."

The group walked a few steps before Beverly spoke again.

"I'm thirsty."

"Beverl—"

Elle cut Leigh off. "We're here!"

"Thank god!" Cass sighed in relief. Everyone pitched in to help set up camp, and soon, they had two tents erected and a fire pit made. By the time they were done, it was sunset. Twinkling stars began to appear in the sky.

"I've got the marshmallows!" Beverly announced. "Where's the chocolate and graham crackers?"

"Right here!" Megan joined Beverly by the camp fire. Upon hearing that there were s'mores to roast, the volleyball team was soon gathered around the flames.

"Let's sing a camp fire song!" Elise suggested.

"No...I have something to announce," Elle said.

"Well, spit it out!" Talia demanded, placing a marshmallow on her chocolate and graham cracker.

"Okay, okay. Guys, I've been accepted into Woodbury, and they want me to start next year."

ctioO/DK