Forever and Always

Chapter Two

Volleyball practice was the time of day that Katrina looked forward to the most. She plays other sports also including basketball and softball. But Volleyball is her favorite. When she's playing volleyball, she just forgets everything. Her main focus is just whether she can set the ball to her teammate and get it over the net.

Katrina's grade doesn't have many sporty girls and it never has. Her and Aubrey have always been the best athletes in the grade and in all actuality, they aren't very good. Katrina and Aubrey are both setters this year even though Katrina should be a hitter.

Katrina was waiting impatiently for the school day to end. She was staring at the clock and tapping her pencil on the desk. At the moment, she was sitting at a table across from Jackson. Her and Jackson have been hanging out and talking to each other recently. The boys have matured a lot over summer vacation. They have began to talk to the group of girls and have became way closer.

Jackson noticed she was anxious and that she was waiting for something

"Whatcha thinking about?" Jackson asked.

"Nothing. I'm just really impatient because I want to go to volleyball practice."

"Do you realize you just said nothing and then continued to tell me something?"

"Okay fine," said Katrina, "I meant nothing important."

"Alright. That's better." He said. "Are you going to the game tonight?"

"Yeah I'll be there. I'm going with Aubrey."

"Tonight's going to be the most interesting night of the season," Jackson says.

Katrina went to say something but the bell rang, dismissing her from class. She ran from Ms. Richardson's class to her locker so she could get her volleyball clothes. She met up with Aubrey at their lockers and they went in to the locker room to get changed.

The 8th graders and the 7th graders share a gym for volleyball practice because the nets spread all across the gym. While the 7th graders were setting up the net, while Katrina, Aubrey, Kylie and the rest of the team were playing in a volleyball circle. Mrs. Anderson, the coach, walked in to the gym and told everybody to start doing laps.

After laps, Aubrey and Katrina partnered up to do their stretches and passes. They made it a tradition to make up songs when they worked on stretches. Each song was only about 5 lines and they all went along to the same beat. It kept them occupied while they were stretching.

The actual time for practice started and they started working on plays. When Katrina played volleyball, nothing else in the world mattered. She forgot about boys and she forgot about homework. She cleared her mind of everything, except for the ball that was flying through the air.

Volleyball practice ended and Katrina got kind of sad. The only thing that cheered her up was the fact that she was going to Aubrey's house after school. They got in the car that Bethany, Aubrey's mom, was driving and they brought her back to her house. They went upstairs to Aubrey's room and threw their bags on the bed.  Aubrey got in the shower while Katrina laid on her memory foam mattress going through her Instagram.

Aubrey got out of the shower and got changed for the football game later. The two girls put on their after school clothes and re-applied their makeup. They were ready to go out and cheer on the mighty bulldogs.

Time skip brought to you by minidogs.com

The game was in the third quarter and the Bulldogs were up  20-14. Both teams were really good at defence so it was hard to score a touchdown. The Bulldogs had scored three touchdowns so far, one in each quarter, and had made 2 field goals. The other team, the Saints, had scored two touchdowns and had made both field goals.

Aubrey and Katrina didn't really watch the games. They hung out with their friends in the open area next to the bleachers on the home side. It mainly consisted of the football boys in 6th-8th grade playing two hand touch and the girls sitting and watching them play.

Unbeknownst to Katrina, this was the night that would change her life.

She was with Aubrey walking around the entire field in search of some new friends. At least that's what they admitted to themselves. They actually were looking for any cute guys that they could give their Snapchats to. After their unlucky walk around, they returned back to their side of the field. The boys were still playing football when they came back around.

Katrina heard lots of people's voices but she didn't know what they were saying. She was too focused on the way Zach looked while he was having fun.

But then Aubrey's voice broke Kat from her thoughts. "Kat look out!" She yelped.

Before Kat knew it, she was on the ground holding her head in pain, a football laid next to her. Aubrey bent down next to her and grabbed the ball, throwing a perfect pass back to Brett.

Katrina wasn't a person to show her pain. She didn't like to look weak in front of others. She was just on the ground laughing because, how do you not notice a football flying towards your face? Aubrey was curled over from laughter because that was the funniest thing she had ever seen.

The next thing you know, Jackson was standing in front of her with his hand outstretched to help her up.

"Well," Jackson said, "I did say this was going to be an interesting night."

Katrina giggled at what he said, remembering their conversation earlier that day.

"Sorry about that," Jackson said looking guilty. "I threw the ball. It was just a little bit over Brett's head."

He was being sarcastic with her. One of the many things she loved about her friends. They could just sit there and be a smart ass with each other and nobody seems to care, nor do they want to.

"Mhm. Just a little bit?" Kat snapped back in a playful manner.

"Here." Jackson stuck his hand out to help her up, ignoring what she said.

"Thanks ," Katrina says before reaching up to grab his hand. Just before she got a hold of it though, she heard Zach's voice from behind Jackson.

"Come on man, stop playing around. Let's get back to our game," He said before shoving Jackson and walking away. Jackson's footwork was the last thing on his mind, leading him to lose his balance from Zach's push, and fall over.

And it just so happened to be, that Katrina was still on the ground. Right in front of him.

Katrina was shocked with the turn of events tonight. Jackson fell on top of her and was making no effort to move. He spoke up after just a second of being on the ground (More like on Katrina)

He was strangely calm. "Well, like I said. Interesting night."

Then out of nowhere, Jackson jumped up and shouted "Race you to concessions!"

"Oh it's on."

Right then, Katrina jumped up and sprinted after Jackson, leaving Aubrey behind and confused.

Katrina forgot about Zach. She forgot about Brett. She even forgot about the pain in her face. She was just focused on the guy running ahead of her.

It was that moment when she realized, she had a thing for Jackson Stryker

"Oh no."