Only You- A Harry Styles Fanfic

Chapter 9: Victory

"Made a lot of changes, but not forgetting who I was."

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Chapter 9

The following weekend, I had my last outdoor volleyball game of the season. At Flintridge, we pride ourselves on our beach volleyball leagues, and as a senior I was captain of the girls’ varsity team. I woke early, putting myself fully in game mode.

The morning was slightly chilly, as it was the last weekend in September. I pulled on my favorite running shorts and tank top and slipped out of the house. I began to jog along the water’s edge just as the sun peeked over the horizon. As I went past the boys’ house, I had to force myself to keep going. This was important. I couldn’t let Harry distract me today.

An hour later, I arrived back home, muscles aching. It was a good ache, though, one I was familiar with. This was an ache I could handle. I showered quickly and ate a healthy, energizing breakfast. By then, it was almost ten, and my game started at noon. Avery and my dad knew better than to mess with me on a game day.

I settled into my usual routine. I stretched out my muscles and lightly conditioned, ate a few power foods, and at eleven slipped on my spandex and school sports bra. I grabbed my bag and walked out the back door and made my way down the beach to the courts.

When I arrived, they were already slightly packed. Girls from the rival team were on the courts scrimmaging to warm up, and my girls were stretching out. I greeted them and joined them on the warm sand, adrenaline coursing through my veins. We went out onto the court and scrimmaged for a few minutes, and then set up to start our game.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harry, Niall, and Louis arrive. They were wearing dark sunglasses, board shorts, and t shirts with snapbacks, hoping to avoid detection. As much as I wanted to go and greet my boyfriend, I couldn’t. I hadn’t let the other girls get distracted all season on game days, and I wasn’t going to make an exception for my own rule on myself. It wasn’t fair.

Beach Volleyball is slightly different than volleyball played on a court. It’s still played in three matches, but there’s only two players from each team on the court at once. As such, we only have seven players on our varsity team.

My team huddled around me, and we put our arms around each other, pulling into a tight circle. I looked into the eyes of every girl on my team, pride evident everywhere I looked. I grinned at them.

“Okay guys, this is it. The regional title is ours if we win this game.” The girls around me whooped and cheered.

“Now we worked our asses off to get here, and we’ve come way too far to lose now.”

The girls nodded, and I couldn’t help but beam at them. I was so incredibly proud of my team. These girls were a second family to me. We’d come so far together, and as we were all seniors it was doubly important that we win.

“Let’s do this.”

I sent Maria and Sophie onto the court together and the rest of us watched from the sidelines. They tore up the first match, defeating the other two girls easily. We congratulated them when they came off the court and surrounded them in a hug. The second match was against two different girls and wasn’t going as well. I rotated the rest of the girls through, but to no avail, we lost that match. The third round, that wasn’t an option.

I pulled my best player, who just so happened to be Maria, and pulled her onto the court with me. We prepared for what we were sure would be an intense match. From the first serve, it was high paced and ruthless. I worked my ass off, and we were up 14-13. We needed one point. Just one lousy point, and we’d beat them and be regional champs.