You Are Something Else, Juniper Zwinggi

Chapter 4

"Juni!"

I looked up and saw Emily waving at me from across the school lawn. It had been such a beautiful day that I decided to sit outside under one of the trees and read over the group case notes for our second week of orientation. She jogged over and plopped down next to me.

"So, don't kill me but I signed us up to play in the sand volleyball tournament on Saturday," she winced, waiting for me to strike the fatal blow.

The veterinary medicine students were having a coed sand volleyball tournament to raise funds for the ASPCA. They were dividing the teams by year and experience level and depending on how many signed up there would be multiple teams for the same year. I knew Emily was interested so I was just going to watch her play. I didn't realize she wanted BOTH of us to play.

"Why on earth did you do that?" I asked half annoyed and half amused. My notes fell into my lap, forgotten.

"Well, I thought it would be fun. We both played volleyball in high school, it won't be so bad!" She nudged me with her shoulder. "Oh, and that Jake guy was there signing up too."

Great.

"Did you thank him for carrying you out of the party last Friday? You called him a cute giant guy and poked him in one of his cheek dimples."

"Ugh," she covered her face with both of her hands. "God, don't remind me."

"Fine. Did you at least sign us up on the experienced team? I actually want to win."

"Yes, don't worry."

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Saturday rolled around and we got up early to drive to the sand volleyball courts on campus. We were going to meet our team and practice for a little while before the tournament started. People were already gathering in the bleachers to watch. There were hotdog stands, popcorn machines, and other concessions available. There was even a bounce house for those who brought their kids. The ASPCA had an adoption event tent as well, with dogs and cats waiting to find new homes. We agreed that if we won the tournament we would both adopt something. Vet students were encouraged to own pets so we thought this would be a good opportunity.

The sand was being watered down so it would be easier to move around in. We strategized with our team members, four guys, the two of us and two other girls. Emily and I were going to switch in and out whenever she went to the back and I went to the front. I was too short to play on the front line but I was the strongest server. By ten o'clock the bleachers were full and all of the courts had teams on them. The freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior B teams were to play on one court while the A teams played on the other. Whichever teams advanced to the final round would play each other and win some prize I didn't know about. I was on the freshman A team and we were going to play the seniors first.

In my mind I didn't think that was very fair for a couple of reasons. One being that they were older and most likely better. Second being that Jake was on that team.

I had texted him when we got home last Friday like he told me to but he never responded. Part of me felt relieved, maybe he'd gotten tired of me and would leave me alone. But, the other part of me, the raw part, felt disappointed. Seeing him smiling and messing around with his friends made me wish I could go back in time to when we were kids. Everything had been so much easier then, Pat was still alive and I was happy. I wanted to go back to when I didn't have to feel guilty for having a good time.

A whistle blow signaling for the team captains to meet brought me out of my reverie. Our team had assigned Emily and I as the captains so we met the referee and other captains by the net to pick who served first. The ref made us shake their hands and then he tossed a coin telling us to pick heads or tails. We picked tails.