Chapter 1

I felt semi-settled in by the end of June except for not having any friends and there was nothing to do each day. The only person I knew was Lindsay and that was only because the cute, little teen blonde girl was my next door neighbor but I rarely saw her. She was one year younger than I was and all we had ever done was exchange a few pleasantries. Her dad did not work where my dad worked, but she didn't say what he did because before I had a chance to ask, her friend Emily drove up and off she went.

Most of the times our conversations were scintillating like:

"Hi, Lindsay." I would smile at her.

"Hi, Kyle." She would smile back.

"How are you?"

"Good. I have to go."

See? Scintillating. Or some cheap facsimile of it.

It was eventually early August and I had four girlfriends, was sleeping with them all, and sometimes all on the same day. Not really. I'd settle for one girl who would talk with me for five minutes. The truth was it was early August. That was it.

With Dad and Mom at work I had a whole lot of alone time. I wasn't the type of boy who could play videogames for hours on end. When we first moved here I walked around town since I had plenty of time. The town was basically flatlands and I heard the town used to be called that but the name was changed to Villa because Flatlands sounded boring. The name change didn't change the town. It was still boring. I now spent a big chunk of time sitting outside in the front in a lawn chair mindlessly looking out. Where I used to live there were plenty of cars driving by and activity, but here there was nothing. Oh, look a squirrel. Not really.

I was depressed. I was extremely depressed. I wasn't to the point of suicidal or anything stupid like that. I wasn't that bad off, but when I went with my parents to visit the school a week after we moved here, I learned that there was NO boys' volleyball team at Villa High. If there was any consolation it was that I had an excellent chance to make just about any boys' sports team I tried out for. The entire school was only about two hundred students. That was all four high school grades. I had more than twice as many sophomore classmates at my old school. Carlson High had nearly two thousand students total.

I wasn't a football person. Watching it - yes. Slamming into other people - no. I was only five foot seven. It wasn't short but I was used to seeing the big giant boys on the Carlson High football team. My height also limited my ability as a basketball player, but I was considering trying out for the Villa team. I might try my hand at baseball too though I had no idea where I might play. The outfield sounded safe.

Volleyball was my joy and now it was gone.

I sat in a lawn chair when I saw Lindsay come out of her house. I looked forward to another scintillating conversation. Honestly, I did because I was SO bored. Sad, sad, sad.

A Hispanic-looking girl followed Lindsay out. I found out later that she was Gabriella and she didn't speak a lick of Spanish though her parents did. She immediately interested me. It wasn't because the dark haired girl was pretty and attractive though she was. It was because she carried a ball. It was a volleyball! I sat up straighter.

Lindsay and Gabriella stood in the front yard and forearm passed the ball back and forth. Surprisingly, they were pretty good. It was immediately evident they were more than just casual players.

I walked over to the girls.

"Can I pass the ball with you?" I asked.

The girls looked at each other then Lindsay shrugged and tossed the ball toward me. I immediately bumped the ball over to Gabriella which apparently caught her completely by surprise because the ball hit her upper arms.

Gabriella popped the ball back to me and I immediately passed it to Lindsay. She hit the ball to Gabriella who hit it to me and we continued in a circle until I reversed the direction. Gabriella was slow to respond but managed to hit it to Lindsay who hit it to me. The girls rarely had to move to get my balls because I skillfully placed each pass so they could optimally hit it while I often had to scurry to the left or right to hit their passed balls but overall they had decent skills.

Lindsay held the ball and said with surprise in her voice, "You're good!"

I shrugged and said, "I used to play on my high school team where I used to live."

"It's too bad there isn't a boys' team here."

"Yeah," I said. Don't remind me!

"Gaby and I are on the girls' team."

"Hi," I said to the other girl.

"Hi," Gaby replied.

I turned to Lindsay. "If you change your grip I think you'll be more accurate in your passes." I demonstrated with my hands. "Turn your hand."

Lindsay tossed the ball to Gaby and tried to imitate me.

"Like this." I grabbed Lindsay's hands and positioned them. "Give it a try."

I held my hand up for Gaby to throw me the ball. I stood a little way back and tossed the ball toward Lindsay. She popped the ball straight back at me. We did it a few times. I had Gaby stand to my left then my right to see how well Lindsay could direct the ball.

"Great," I said. "Do you want to try, Gaby?"

"Sure," she said.

"There's Emily," Lindsay said.

An older SUV pulled up to the curb.

"Thanks ... uh..." said Lindsay.

"Kyle," I said. I remembered her name. She couldn't remember mine?

"Thanks, Kyle. We have to go to practice."

"It's the first one of the year," said Gaby.

"Could I go?" I asked.

"It's the girls' team," Gaby said.

"I'd just practice with you."

Lindsay said, "I guess so." She sounded uncertain.

Lindsay introduced me to Emily, the driver of the SUV.

"This is Kyle. He used to play volleyball. He's just going to practice with us."

"Hi," I greeted.

Emily said nothing and drove off.

It was only a fifteen minute walk to school from where I lived so I don't know why Lindsay waited for Emily to pick them up. If she was going to practice, it seemed pointless to get a short ride there.

Lindsay introduced me to all the girls who were in the gym which helped alleviate any discomfort my presence might produce.

In the gym were Lindsay, a sophomore, Gaby, a junior, and blonde Emily, a senior. Abigail was a senior, and she was a tall brunette. She wasn't like super huge but she was six foot tall. She wasn't built stocky though. She was lean and athletic like most of the girls but only in a bigger package. I admit I felt a little intimidated by such a tall girl. Abigail was predictably the star of Villa's girls' basketball team. For volleyball, she was the primary spiker and blocker. There were three other girls who were all freshman. There was Maria who looked and sounded Hispanic, auburn haired Hayley, and Krystal, a strawberry blonde.

Lastly Lindsay introduced me to Coach Addams which freaked me out because my coach at Carlson was Coach Adams. The only difference was this coach had an extra "d" in her name and was a she while my old coach was a he. The only other difference was this Coach Addams was in her late twenties and the other one was in his late fifties.

"I guess it would be alright to practice with us," Coach Addams said. She sounded hesitant but I gladly took the opportunity.

"Thank you," I said very politely. A good-mannered teen was likely to stay in the good graces of the coach.

Coach Addams had the girls warm up. It was good that I was there because I evened out the squad. Lindsay, Gaby, Emily, and I were on one side of the net and Maria, Abigail, Hayley, and Krystal were on the other side. I sympathized for Abigail because the team's best player was stuck with all freshmen.

"You're very good," Coach commented to me later on. "Your serve needs work and your front court could use improvement but you're a good player."

"I was a backcourt specialist," I told her. "I was hoping to be a starter at my school when we moved here."

"Too bad there's not a boys' team."

"Do you think there's any chance? Could you coach both teams?"

"The boys around here are interested in football. There's not enough athletic boys left to play volleyball."

Yes, that was my lot. If half the school was boys then that was one hundred students and probably forty or more of those ended up on the football team. Even IF I could find five or six more boys to play, we would probably be the worst team ever. It might be more aggravating than having no team at all.

Coach lined the girls up behind each other. She tossed the ball to each girl who hit it back to coach then ran to the back of the line. Coach gave pointers and corrections. I wasn't included in the activity.

"Do you want me to throw the ball, so you can observe?" I asked. I wanted to do something.

Coach paused a second then said, "That's okay. Thanks."

I was bored. I should have stayed home.

They did setting drills next. It was only when the girls were once more split into two teams was I allowed to participate again. I was with Hayley, Krystal, and Emily this time.

"Everybody stay in your zone," Coach Addams said. "Only get the balls in your zone."

In a real game, one might go out of their zone, but I understood Coach was trying to work on reflexes and agility. It was hard not to go after balls I knew I could get to and especially so when I realized how much improvement Krystal's instincts needed. She would end up as a reserve player. Actually with only seven girls, she'd be the only reserve. I gave all three girls pointers. Coach didn't seem to mind or if she did she didn't say anything.

After practice, Emily dropped Lindsay, Gaby, and me off.

"It's too bad Coach didn't let you do more things," Lindsay said.

"It's okay. I had a good time." It was mostly true. While the girls were doing drills it was dull, but the rest of the time I enjoyed it.

"I wish you could play with us."

So did I ... so did I.

The doorbell rang a couple of days later. It was Lindsay.

"Do you want to go to practice with us again?" she asked. Gaby stood behind her.

"Yes!" I said excitedly. I grabbed my keys and locked up.

When Coach started drills, I asked if I could throw the ball to a second line of girls but she said, "No." She wanted to observe each player.

While the girls welcomed me and were friendly, I felt Coach Addams thought of me as more of an intrusion today versus the last time. It was harder to enjoy my time practicing with the girls.

We returned home.

"I have to go," Gaby immediately told Lindsay. The girl hurried off.

Lindsay and I looked at each other.

"What do you want to do now?" she said.

"I don't know," I said confused. I assumed she would go to her house and I would see her again whenever I happened to be outside when she was outside. "Do you want to come in to get something to drink?"

I don't know why I said that. She certainly could get a drink at home. It must have been politeness training kicking in.

"Sure," she said happily.

The layout of her house was identical to mine so she went straight to my kitchen. She sat down at the table while I retrieved two plastic cups from the cupboard.

"Soda? Juice? Water?" I inquired.

"What kind of soda?"

"Pepsi or 7-Up."

"7-Up."

I preferred Pepsi, but I poured two cups of 7-Up. I guess I wanted her to think I liked the same thing. I guess I kind of thought she was pretty and I wanted to impress her or some silly thing like that. I wasn't exactly sure why I did it.

"It's fun having you at practice," Lindsay said.

"I like it, but I don't think Coach wants me there."

"I don't think she minds. Did she say she did?"

"It's a feeling I have. It's like I'm in the way."

"I wonder why she thinks that. You're not in the way."

"I don't know." I shrugged. I didn't understand it either.

We talked and found out about each other. Lindsay had a 6th grade brother named Logan which explained the boy I occasionally saw. Lindsay thought it was strange that I didn't have any brothers or sisters, but it was how I grew up so it seemed normal to me. We must have talked for a couple hours but it felt like only ten minutes. It was really great talking with her. I liked her a lot!

"I should go," she said, rising. "This was fun!"

"Yeah," I said. I couldn't agree more.

"You're really nice."