Impossibly His

Chapter Nine

"Keep your head in the game, Rogers! You need to focus!" My coach yelled at me before ushering me back to the center of the gym with the rest of my team.

"You got this, Clare!" Maya shouted over the noise, patting me on the back encouragingly as she ran to get into her position. I walked to the very back of the team, and Maya tossed me the volleyball.

I got into stance, hearing the crowd that was watching us play go quiet in anticipation before I brought my hand back and sent the ball flying into the air, a killer serve that went perfectly over the net, and even though the team on the other side chased it down, the ball ended up hitting the floor with a thud and the crowd cheered wildly.

I felt so exposed in the thin volleyball uniform that we had to wear. It consisted of a set of black spandex shorts that clung to me tightly and a small, dark blue sleeved top that rose up over my stomach when I went for the ball. We had to wear tennis shoes and tie our hair up, which I never did, and having so much exposed skin was making me uncomfortable.

I was the best server on the schools volleyball team, the Devil Chicks, and holding that position was hard to do when everyone was constantly screaming, "Don't screw up!" in your face.

One amazing serve after the other, the ball went flying, and point by point, we won the game. I smiled brightly as Maya and me walked side by side to the locker room and my teammates highfived me and said congratulative words.

After showering and changing, I knotted my damp hair into a messy bun and grabbed my stuff before heading out. Maya had already left, and the courtyard was mostly barren of students besides a few strays loitering around campus. I stood there for around thirty minutes waiting for my mom to show up so that she could drive me home, but as time dragged on, she texted me and told me she couldn't make it because she was busy with a case.

Sighing deeply, I decided to face the fact that I was going to have to walk home, but before I took even a step away, someone's hand clamped over my mouth.

"Guess who," the person cooed, and my mind was immediately on alert. A muffled scream left my lips, and the few self-defense moves that the police had taught me more than a year ago popped into my head.

I brought my elbow back with force to the attacker's groin, and when they let me go and doubled over in pain, I spun around and brought my fist down in a hard punch.

"Shit!" A now familiar voice exclaimed. Stumbling backwards and pinching his bleeding nose, Reth looked at me in pure astonishment.

"What the hell, Reth?!" I yelled at him angrily. "Are you crazy, or just stupid?"

"Well I didn't know that you were going to sucker-punch me in the face!" he groaned. "Who the hell taught you to do that anyways?"

"Nobody," I snapped, taking him by his arm and pulling him alongside me as I walked back into the school.

"Where are you taking me?" He asked.

"To clean the blood off your face," I replied, annoyance hinting my voice.

"You assaulted me."

"No, I was defending myself. You assaulted me, Reth."

"Whatever you say," he muttered under his breath.

"I can't go into the boy's bathroom so you're going to have to go in the girls," I told him.

"I thought you didn't break the rules," he pointed out.

"I don't, and I'm not, you are. I'm actually allowed to be in there."