Chapter 9: Chapter 7 – A Newly Found Rivalry

Amary left Grandma Suzzane’s home early as Coach Miguel may be looking for her already. After all, it’s been an hour since she disappeared. When she came back to the place where she left the coach, he was there looking for her everywhere.

When he sees her, he glares at her, approaches her, and pinches her cheeks sideways before asking. “Where did you go?”

“Ouch! Jiji, that hurts.” Amary glares back at the old man. Coach Miguel lightly pinches her cheeks one more time before letting it go at once.

“I saw an old lady struggling while carrying multiple grocery bags. I helped her take them home. She invited me for some snacks, so it took me a while to come back. Look, she even gave me some cupcakes to take home. "

“You.. you..” Coach Miguel doesn’t know if he wants to reprimand this child or praise her for her good deed. This child, really. She disappears whenever she wants to, and does things she wants to do.

“Not only did you eat snacks in their home. You even brought some on your way out. Good deeds are only good deeds if one does not expect payment. Seriously…” Coach Miguel messes her hair up and pats her head.

“It tastes great though. Nee-chan will like these cupcakes a lot.” Amary huffed, not showing any guilt for the so-called “payment” that she received.

Coach Miguel knows how stubborn and clever this child is. That’s why he can only sigh in his heart. “Nevermind, you cheeky child.” Then he patted the girl’s head again. “Earlier, the man who approached me before you left, is a professional volleyball trainer. He specializes in training children your age, and he said we are welcome to visit his workshop in the neighboring city anytime. Are you interested?”

Looking at the child, her eyes are twinkling and her smile almost covers half of her face. “I’m excited!”

But then she looked like she suddenly realized something, “Aren’t you going to train me by yourself?” she asked.

“I’m training you now, am I not? However, I do not have extensive experience in training children yet. So, I’ll be attending a workshop myself. After I finish it, I’ll be taking over your training again. In the meantime, I’ll be sending you to him so we don’t end up wasting so much time. I’ll complete my training in 3 months, so make sure you learn a lot from there and go make some friends with the other kids.”

“Alright, when does it start?”

“Tomorrow.”

The next day, Amary woke up and prepared to go out. As this day will be the day she’ll be attending the workshop, she brought along a change of clothes, some protein bars as snacks, and a huge bottle of water.

“Do you have everything you need?” Amary looked for the source of the female voice and found both Coach Miguel and Dr. Hana in the doorway of her room. She hummed as an agreement before she stood up to go outside with them.

Outside, Amary gets into the car with Dr. Hana, as the lady will be driving her to her workshop school since the hospital where the lady doctor works is also in the neighboring city.

After they arrived at the destination, the doctor reminded her nominal daughter, “Riri, be good, okay? Try to avoid accidents and injuries as much as possible. I’ll pick you up later at lunch.”

“Okay, take care on your way to work, Mama.”

“I will. Go inside now. I’ll leave as soon as I see you inside the building.

After Dr. Hana said that, the young girl immediately went inside the workshop building. When she entered, she found other children, aside from her, sitting on the benches on the side. An old man, who seems to be the coach, looks at her and instructs her to leave her things in the locker room before joining them in the training.

Soon, she joins the other children in their warm-up exercise.

After a few minutes, the coach suddenly speaks, "Since all the trainees are here, we will start by explaining first what positions you can take as a volleyball player, what are the rules and the edge of playing the sport. After giving a brief explanation, I’ll be calling some high school volleyball players to show us some play. You can observe and see what techniques they use or what combinations they play. Are we clear?"

“Yes, coach!” the class said in unison.

The coach opened the projector beside him and spoke, “Take a look at this first diagram that I have here. Here are the positions that we have in volleyball...”

The coach continues to speak and explain. Amary listened very carefully, and took note of the important information about the positions.

Middle-blocker - on the volleyball court, these are your finest blockers. A middle blocker must be able to halt batters from the opponent's middle outside and right side. Their greatest strength is their ability to block.

Outside Hitter - the outside hitter is in charge of hitting and blocking on the volleyball court's left side. Your outside hitter must be a good all-around player who can play multiple positions on offense and defense.

Opposite Hitter - the opposite hitter will be on the opposite side of the volleyball court from the outside hitter. This position performs the same function, but on the opposite side of the court. To succeed, individuals must be excellent in both offensive and defensive skills.

Libero - the libero is a specialized position in the backcourt. They wear a separate jersey and can join and quit the game without requesting a substitution. A libero is largely in charge of passing and defense. Note that a defensive specialist is occasionally added to a team. They play a similar role to the libero, but they must adhere to the standard substitution protocols.

Setter - on the volleyball court, the setter might be considered the leader. They direct the offensive flow and call the plays. Their main responsibility is to set up the ball for an attacker. They usually get the second touch on the ball. A setter must be precise and have strong control.
Serving Specialist or Pinch Server - the serving specialist is only there to serve. This player typically has a difficult serve to return, and they will be employed to replace players with a less difficult serve.

Even though Amary paid attention to the coach’s briefing, in her heart, she already knows what position she wants to be in. She wants to be a right wing spiker, the opposite hitter.

The coach still continues to explain, “The new serving team rotates clockwise each time a team wins a side out or takes possession of the serve. Each player rotates one position: the left front moves to the middle front, the middle front moves to the right front, the right front moves to the right back, and so on…”

The discussion went on for half an hour, after that, as promised, the coach let in a group of high school volleyball athletes, who are all men. If there is anything that Amary noticed, it is that all of the players are huge. Probably around 5’9 to 6 feet above tall. She kinda felt sorry for her height, who even in the future would probably be 5’7 at best.

When the high school group started playing, Amary marveled at how awesome they play even though they are just high schoolers. Their actions are decisive, the spikes are hard-core, and their digs are solid. She can only clap on the sidelines together with the other kids her age.

Someday, I’ll also be like that and even better. She thought, her heart beating wildly and she felt heat all over her body.

After watching the high school players, the coach instructed the trainees to line up as they will be practicing individually in each position.

Amary has a little bit of an advantage since she practiced way earlier than the other trainees, additionally what she did was an extensive one. So, whenever it is her turn, whether it is spiking, receiving, serving or tossing, her actions are smoother than the others.

Like right now, she sees a ball heading her way, it is coming fast and it looks forceful, so she positioned herself lower to receive it. She successfully passed it to another player.

The coach took notice immediately and praised her, “Good job, Amary. Miguel may have taught you early how to play volleyball, right?”

“Yes.”

“Keep it up. You are doing a good job.” The other trainees looked at Amary with envy, as some of them are even older than her and had a height advantage, but they are still less than her current skills right now.

However, aside from Amary, there are three more trainees who excel and whom the coach also praises from time to time, which are two guys and one girl. Amary heard that the two guys are the same age as her nominal older sister, Ayane, who is currently an incoming middle schooler. While the other girl is the same age as she is.

But, what differentiates them from Amary is that their movements are sharp, which means, unlike Amary, those three have already played volleyball in a tournament. They have more experience.

After the short practice training, all the trainees gather in a circle as everyone is required to share their experiences today, their thoughts about the techniques they’ve learned, and what position they wanted to be in and why. They may also introduce themselves and explain the reason why they want to play volleyball.

“Does anyone want to volunteer to go ahead and share first?” the coach asked. At first, no one reacted, but suddenly one hand was raised. Amary recognized the person as one of the three trainees that the coach praised earlier.

“Alright, go ahead and share your experience.” the coach said.

“My name is Dayton Waynes. Nice to meet you all.” the guy introduced himself. His posture is very easy-going, and his face screams that he is playful. With a closer look, you can observe his smile as boastful and proud.

“My position is an outside hitter, and I’m an incoming player for Williston Academy, I plan to be their ace that is why I’m training here right now. For my experience today. I think everything is awesome. Aside from learning the techniques, I learned how to smash the ball so hard that the opponents can’t receive or block it.”

Williston Academy.

Amary had heard about this school. It is said to be a powerhouse school for boys' volleyball, both at the middle school and high school level. The school has a specific program for their athletes, training their bodies incessantly from middle school to high school and creating champions that stand out even at the national level.

Some trainees did not react well to what the boy said, probably because they did not know about Williston Academy. But for Amary, and the rest, they could only be amazed in their heart and gaped at that statement.

The sharing and introduction went on.

When it’s Amary’s turn, the slightly noisy crowd suddenly went quiet.

She stands up and goes in front of all the trainees, with a slight smile on her face.

“Hi, my name is Amary. For my position, I want to be an opposite hitter–”

“An opposite hitter?”

“Aren’t you too cute and small for that?”

“But you are good at receiving and digging the ball. Why not become a libero?”

The girl had not completed her sentence yet, but the crowd had already reacted to her words. Amary could not help but be startled. She is about to speak again, but the coach’s voice interrupts her again.

“Shut up, everyone! She is still speaking. After she’s done, then go ahead and ask her questions.”

Amary thanked the coach before proceeding to her share, “As I said, I want to be an opposite hitter. I want to play volleyball, specifically, to be a wing spiker, because I once saw someone play it while I was watching TV. To me, it looked awesome. Her height was only around 5’6 feet at the time, and yet she was able to conquer the nationals…”

Amary suddenly felt an intense stare. She stops momentarily and looks where it is from. At the back of the crowd, she sees the other boy who the coach praised for being good. He has his arms crossed and he is looking at Amary sideways. Beside him is a squatting Dayton Waynes.

Unlike Dayton, he looks quiet and calm, like a careful observer. Seeing Amary stare back at him, he redirected his gaze to the clueless Dayton beside him and whispered something.

He looks handsome, but what’s with the attitude? She pouted internally.

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Amary stopped paying attention to him and looked over instead on the other person staring at her. This time, it is another girl who also excelled while playing earlier. This girl won’t even look away even when she is caught staring rudely.

Seriously, these three, what’s their problem? She thought.

However, she didn’t care anymore. She just let them stare all they wanted. Amary continued speaking,

“I think being the opposite hitter should come naturally to me because I have an inspiration, and it does, but it may take a lot of practice because of my height.” She sighed, and continued, “So, I need to practice, and practice until I succeed.”

Then she added, “Thank you very much. That's all for me. "

Amary decided to cut short her introduction, so she sat down immediately, not wanting to entertain questions. The crowd, who had so many questions, couldn’t react to her and remained quiet instead.

Amary lost her earlier focus on the group sharing, she doesn’t know how many others have finished theirs. But suddenly, the crowd went quiet again, as they had done to her earlier. She is curious, so she looks up in front.

She sees that the handsome boy who was staring at her earlier is now in front. All the girls are focused on his introduction.

“My name is Enzo Carlos. Nice to meet you all. My position is a setter, I play volleyball just because I want to, and it is also to help me spend some time.”

“He’s with me at Williston Academy!” Dayton interrupted.

Murmurs suddenly erupted in the crowd about how students in Williston Academy are mostly athletic and handsome. As such, some girls decided to attend the same school, too. Amary’s eyes narrowed and she snickered internally when she heard that, but the other girls were clapping with excitement.

It’s not that Amary blames them for it. After all, the guy who is speaking in front is absolutely handsome. Almost model-like. He looks as handsome as Rowan, her previous life obsession. She also first met Rowan when he was the same age as Enzo right now and immediately fell in love at first sight.

Comparing them now, both guys do not lose against each other in terms of build, facial features, and posture.

Enzo, on the other hand, did not mind the racket caused by the crowd. While he silently observes everyone, his gaze lands on the only nonchalant girl, who they call Amary.

She looks like she is in deep thought and is not interested in what he is about to say. He suddenly had the urge to just sit down, and he did.

After Enzo’s extremely short introduction, a girl stands up to introduce herself.

“My name is Rayleigh Waynes. I only started playing volleyball this year, but my position is as a setter. Nice to meet you all.”

“Is Dayton your brother?” someone randomly asks.

“Yes.” Rayleigh answered before she continued. “I love volleyball because our whole family loves the sport. I chose to be a setter because I wanted to be the control tower for the whole team. Also, because it is the setter who touches the ball most on the court.”

Hearing that, everyone clapped and cheered for her. At first glance, you can tell that her body is specific to an athlete: tall, slim, and strong. Additionally, she is gorgeous and her face looks very serious, almost to the point of grumpiness.

People love this type of athlete, whom at first, you can tell will be a successful one.

Amary is overwhelmed by shock and unable to react. It's because Rayleigh only started playing this year as well, but her movements are twice as sharp as hers.

She suddenly had the urge to not be left behind.

The next day, there’s a lot of noise inside the gym when Amary entered. The boys, including Enzo, are all shouting and running around trying to get ready early. The girls, especially, are doing their own things, too. They were talking loudly among themselves.

While Amary is busy getting ready, she notices the coach calling her over to talk. So, after changing into her indoor shoes, she walks towards the coach, who had his hands behind his back.

“Good job on yesterday’s practice. You really hit the mark.” Coach says without giving any further explanation.

Amary gave her thanks and then smiled to herself after hearing the compliment.

After looking around, she found Rayleigh silently sitting on one of the benches, not participating in the girls' talk. She walked towards her and sat next to her.

“Do you want to join the others?” Amary asked.

Rayleigh shook her head "no" and said nothing. Amary frowned at her response and didn’t ask further. Instead, she turned towards the group of girls, who kept chatting and laughing.

In fact, she had been listening to them for quite some time now and understood a bit of their conversation. There seems to be some kind of discussion about the guys who are doing their warm-ups, specifically with Dayton and Enzo. Amary turns her head back to Rayleigh and smiles again.
“Hey, aren’t those two hot guys?”

Rayleigh, who was looking somewhere else, suddenly turns her head to Amary. Her expression remains unchanged.

“Amary, right? I didn’t expect you’d also be like them. "

“Like what?” Amary asks, grinning from ear to ear.

“To be interested in this kind of stuff, crushes and love life. I thought you’d be the serious type, since your expression didn’t falter when you first met the two guys yesterday, Enzo and my brother Dayton, unlike the others. "

“Not really. I’m just trying to tease you since Dayton is your brother. I wanted to see your reaction.” she stops and smirks at Rayleigh, “I’m more interested in volleyball.”

The girl hummed to acknowledge Amary’s words, before asking, “What school do you play at? When did you start playing? "

“Just this year. Probably around six months. And I don’t attend any school."

“Your moves are really smooth and decisive for a newbie.” Rayleigh marveled at the girl’s adeptness. However, with curiosity, she asks, “But why are you out of school?”

“I took accelerated classes and graduated two years early.” the girl answered her briefly. Rayleigh looked at Amary with envy and melancholy, “I’m so jealous. I also want to play volleyball without studying.”

“Then take accelerated classes.”

“No thanks, we also have a school volleyball club. I like playing there.”

While talking, the two girls didn’t notice, but they unconsciously stood up and started playing toss and receive with one another. Oblivious to their surroundings, they are still garnering attention from the guys who are doing their warm-ups.

Unlike the other female trainees who are focusing on them, the other two seem more invested in playing the sport instead. Besides, both have different types of beauty. While Rayleigh is a serious and fierce beauty, Amary is cute but maturely composed.

However, they were proved wrong in their first impression. When it is the girls' turn to do their warm-ups, both Amary and Rayleigh, who look lovely to the eye, suddenly act more manly than them.

They were trying to outrun each other during laps while shouting three times louder than the other girls behind them. They are pushing one another lightly, and their gazes locked against each other. Obviously, they are trying to compete by themselves alone, forgetting completely that it is a group workout.

Amary, who didn't want to lose on the final lap, decided to make a rolling dive in order to get there first. As soon as she regained her footing, she smirked provocatively at Rayleigh while blowing her hair out of her face.

Rayleigh can only huff, swearing revenge on her mind. However, Amary’s arrogant frontage did not last long because she soon lost to Rayleigh, on the count of finger push-ups. The latter did not forget to return the cold smirk on her rival as a clap-back.

Their competition went on for the whole day. The other trainees could only become audiences to their wild acts.

In the last part of their training for the day, their competition score is tied at 5-5. The only thing left for them to do is win this part, and they’ll surpass the score of the other.

Amary, although exhausted and heaving deeply, confidently proclaimed, “Unfortunately for you, Leigh, I’m definitely going to win this round. If I don’t, I’ll run around the streets buck naked.”

Rayleigh’s eyes narrowed, and she made an annoyed face, “Do you think I’m so easy to defeat? If you really win this round, you bet I’ll also run buck naked.”

The audience, who heard their conversation, can only become speechless on the sidelines. What kind of people would bet their dignity just for the sake of winning?

This part of the training is when one needs to work on passing the ball to themselves. Throw the ball up in the air, then strike it with your forearm to keep it up or use your hands to toss it. Try to keep the ball off the ground as long as possible with repeated passes. However, the twist is, you need to lie down, sit up, and stand all together continuously.

The two competitive girls positioned themselves to start, but suddenly, a hand grabbed the two of them from the back at the same time and removed them from their positions. When they both looked up, they saw the coach surrounded by a terrifying aura glaring at them.

“What is it about running buck naked? Who made that rule?” the coach asked, his voice stern.

Both Rayleigh and Amary remain unmoved, unable to formulate an answer. Knowing that getting angry for a long time is futile, the coach decided to reprimand them now.

“You know, you two. It is not bad to be competitive, and rivalry helps people grow. But what do you think would happen to me if your parents knew the two of you were suddenly running naked out in the streets while you were under my tutelage?”

“Sorry coach, we’re just joking about it.” the two girls said in unison. However, in the hearts of the audience and the coach, the two were probably not joking when they said it.

“Since you two are so competitive, go compete to see who can pick up more balls. Make sure to put it in the storage room accordingly. You two also mop the floor. This will be your task after the end of our practice, which will also serve as your punishment. "

“Yes, coach.” Rayleigh and Amary answered in a soft voice.

“Also, I won’t be hearing another reckless declaration, like running naked, ever again, okay?”

“Yes coach!” This time, the two answered more loudly. In the background, you can hear snickers and laughs from both girls and guys, as they spectacle at the two girls’ foolish and reckless acts.

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