DATE ME IF YOU WANT

Chapter 7

Monday morning, sunny morning. Yes! The day of regional volleyball tournament was here. I was ready to face the other team. It was in my hands as a captain to make my team victorious. My thoughts were cut short with the arrival of my mother, who doesn't bother to knock! (I need some privacy! But neither of the female members of my family will ever understand this fact!)
"When is the match? Your dad's got a meeting again but Kate and I will surely come to watch. Should I pack you some extra glucose drink and towels?"
"...", I was still processing her before-every-tournament-early-morning ceremonial caring.
She placed a palm on my forehead. "Are you sick? Does your wounds still hurt? You can withdraw, you know!"
"I'm fine!! And first game starts at 9.", I politely asked her to leave me alone till eight. I had preparations to make. But I was the centre of attention that day. And so...
"Yo bro! Anxious?", Kate stormed into my room.
I facepalmed myself several times in my head. "Can't you knock, dear sister?", I smiled creepily.
"Uhh...I can!", she dashed towards me, "but I won't!", she gutted me, hard.
"Ouch!", I squeezed my spilling guts, "dammit Kate, I have a tournament to play today!"
"Don't be melodramatic!", she protested, "by the way..."
I was listening. Huh! But she was not speaking. She had a weird taunting look. "Speak up!", I made my poker face.
"I wonder if she will come to cheer our captain Harry!", she spun around on her heels and left.
"Who?!", I asked (myself, maybe!) Maybe, I knew 'who'.
Around 7:30 A.M., I took a refreshing bath and dressed up. I ate my full-of-calories but light breakfast. On the other hand, mother packed me half a dozen lunch boxes; maybe, to bribe my opponents. 'I wonder if that would work!'
"Dad! I really wanted you to come watch me play like every year!", I chewed on the bread.
Father put down his cup of tea and replied, "I tried my hard to postpone the meeting. Don't worry, I'm coming to the nationals!"
'Nationals!', nostalgic feelings flooded in. "ummm...sure!", I kept extracting nourishment from the food.

I reached the stadium. It was noisy. I searched around and found my teammates practising. I felt excited.
"Don't exhaust yourselves before the match.", I instructed, running towards them.
There was a "yes, captain!" in chorus. I joined them. I looked towards the audience area. It was mostly empty. I imagined people sitting there, watching us; family, friends, Rach....
Bam! The hard ball crashed against my handsome face. I gasped, fell 'thump' on my butts. It hurt badly!
"Are you alright?", some of them were worried.
"Stop spacing out! We are here to win!", my vice captain shouted at me.
"C'mon, David! Cut him some slack!", others suggested.
"What slack? Seems like I'm the captain here!", he was super furious.
I stood up, rubbing my back, "Dave, calm down. I wasn't paying attention." He started to speak but I cut him short, "it won't happen during the actual game.", I assured him.
"Well then. I want us to shine for the last time, captain.", he marched to the other side of the court.
'Last time!' I had been leading our volleyball team for the last three years. The wins and losses, all flashed at the back of my head. It was my, no, our last chance to make our school proud. 'I will do my best!' I gathered all of them in a circle.
"Today, we give our all. For us, third years, this is the last high school volleyball tournament. Juniors, please lend us your strength to be the best school club once again." I put forward my hand; we did the team thingy. 'Yosh! Team spirit at maximum!'

The first match was against Daffodils High School, which couldn't put up much of a fight. We won by a landslide.
"Other matches are not going to be as easy!", I warned the inexperienced.
Winning the second match would send us to the quarter finals. And we did! I still had lots of stamina to spare. I sat on the bench and shared my sour lemons which mother packed, with everyone. The next match was scheduled for 1 in the afternoon. I wondered if Jimmy was cheering for me; if she was looking at me in admiration.
The whistle blew. My captain mode switched on. We played our first actual match against Silver Point High School. But we still managed to win by a score of 3-0. We were exhausted. It was lunch break.