I'm interested to see how you all react at the end.  Happy reading!

"Ryans can you try and hit a different zone for once, I mean seriously you're as predictable as a traffic light" Meredith spat.  I should add weird metaphors to her list of ways to annoy people.

"Sure thing sweet cheeks.  Your wish is my command" I responded in a fake sickly sweet voice, and she rolled her eyes. 

We set back up and this time instead of swinging line, even though that's what Martinez had told me to warm up, I hit a hard cross shot.  Meredith dove for it and completely shanked it. 

"Better?" I asked as I ran past her to get my ball.

"Lucky shot" she pouted.

"Great swing Ryans.  Meredith stop coaching my players, and Ryans stop taking orders from Meredith.  You're a captain, but I'm the coach in case people are forgetting" Martinez appeared out of nowhere.  Finally after all these years she heard what Meredith was really like.

We were taking advantage of the open court before our opponent for the game arrived.  It was Friday night, and of course we had a game on the same day as a football game.

Paige and I were going to try and make it to the boys' game after ours, but Statesville wasn't going to be an easy win.

Martinez was pacing back and forth across the gym. 

No matter how collected she tried to remain, playing Woodridge always stressed her out. 

They were the best team in our conference and if we had any chance of making it into the playoffs in two months we had to beat them.

"Your not so secret boyfriend is back" Allie, my freshman secret keeper, whispered as she passed me on her way to the ball cart.  I grinned at her.  Definitely my favorite freshman. 

Jake and Tyler were standing by the bleachers already in full pads and their uniforms.

"How are our girls doing tonight?" Instead of hugging us individually like normal people they pulled us into a massive bear hug, which would be cute if I didn't have shoulder pads digging into both sides of my face.

"We're good.  Hopefully this is a fast win so we can make it to at least part of your game" Paige was practically bouncing up and down.  She loved football season even more than I did.

"Eh don't worry about us just focus on winning your game.  We'll still be around in all our glory after we all kick some serious butt" Tyler punched the air really cheesily. 

"Sounds good.  We'll see you guys after the game.  Good luck" I kissed Jake on the cheek before running onto the court to do the coin toss.

"So nice of you to drag yourself away from lover boy" Meredith snarled as we walked toward the ref and the other team's captains.

"I was over there for two minutes calm down psycho" I tried not to let her annoying personality get to me.

"I'm just surprised you finally tricked someone into going out with you.  I thought Jake had better taste" the she devil smirked. 

"Kayla" I shook hands with the other captains choosing to ignore Meredith even if she was voicing one of my fears.

The game started and as expected it wasn't easy.  Statesville was the biggest team in our conference, literally.  I wasn't exactly short, but I felt like a midget next to that team.

They had a reputation of playing dirty too.  Stepping on ankles over the center line, throwing elbows into the net, and setting up screens so we couldn't see their server.

"Gosh if their middle elbows Michaella one more time I swear you're gonna have to hold me back" Meredith was livid.  It was nice to see her defending one of our teammates instead of berating them.

"Hey I won't hold you back.  I'd love to see you go bat shit crazy on her" I grinned.

"It'd be so fun.  Besides they deserve it" Meredith cracked her knuckles, and I had to admit it was pretty intimidating.  Now I'm not saying I'm scared of Meredith, because I'm not, but I wouldn't want to be the Statesville girls right now.

"Or we could just win this game and then watch them walk out of here with their tails between their legs" I suggested.

"Even better.  Let's do this Ryans" Meredith high fived me and I was momentarily in shock. 

She and I managed to make it through a whole conversation without fighting.  We actually agreed on something.  Miracles do happen.

We sneaked out a win, but it took three games.  Luckily no one got in a fight, and Meredith managed to keep her cool.

"Gosh my hair is a disaster.  I can't go out there like this" Paige was attempting to tame her sweaty ponytail

"We're going to a football game not a beauty pagaent" I pulled my hoodie over my head and left my sweaty hair the way it was.

"Yeah yeah you're right.  Let's go.  At this rate we can still make most of the second half" Paige grabbed her bag as we headed out of the locker room.

"Tyler will think you're beautiful no water what" I looped my arm through Paige's.  We managed to squeeze our way into the student section right as the third quarter ended.

Statesville's volleyball team may be good, but their football team definitely wasn't.  We slaughtered them 42-3. 

Right as the student section was about to storm the field the announcer's voice came back on over the sound system. 

"Ladies and gentlemen before you go anywhere one of our football players has a very special question to ask a very special girl" the voice said. 

My heart started to race.  Homecoming.  I completely forgot homecoming was coming up.

The football players suddenly came running back out on the field from the sideline with a huge sign.  Sure enough it spelled out HOMECOMING? in big block letters.

Suddenly another voice came on over the sound system. 

"I can't think of anyone else I would have wanted to send the last three months with and there definitely isn't anyone else I'd wear a suit for.  Paige will you go to homecoming with me?" Tyler appeared behind the row of football players.

A collective "aw" came from the student section.  I sighed in relief as Paige ran down the steps of the bleachers, jumped the fence, and ran towards Tyler.

I was thrilled for the Paige.  She thought big homecoming proposals were unbelievably romantic so this was perfect for her.  I on the other hand would be extremely uncomfortable having everyone's eyes on me like that. 

No, it wasn't because I was closed off, I just didn't like my personal life advertised for everyone to see.  That's perfectly understandable.

I ran down on the field to take a picture of the happy couple after Paige started making camera clicking motions at me.

"Tyler has been freaking out about that all day" Jake came up behind me as I was taking pictures of the cute couple.

"You knew about this and didn't tell me?  She's my best friend, how could you not tell me" I playfully slapped him after giving Paige her phone back.

"I'm a super-secret keeper" Jake grinned like a little kid.

"Congratulations you get a sticker" I pinched his cheeks.

 "Don't joke about stickers.  Stickers are serious" Jake attempted to say with a straight face.

 "I will never joke about stickers again I'm sorry" I tried to hold back a laugh.

 "So?" Jake wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we walked toward his truck.

 "So what?" I was missing something.

 "Did you win your game?" Jake looked at me hopefully.

 "Yes we did.  It wasn't a blowout like yours, but it was a win nonetheless" I looked away from him for a second and realized we weren't driving toward my house.

 Jake noticed my confusion and grinned before handing me something.

 "No way.  I am not putting this on" I threw it back at him and crossed my arms stubbornly.

 "Kayla Ryans put the blindfold on.  Please for me?" Jake put on the puppy dog face.  He and Charlotte must've given each other tips because they were both getting way too good at that face.

 "No way.  I am not letting you drive me to who knows where while I'm blindfolded and have no idea what's going on" I stuck my tongue out at him trying to lighten the mood, but there was no way I was giving in.

 "Trust me, please" Jake was suddenly very serious.

 "I do" I sighed and took the blindfold because deep down I knew this was more than just a blindfold to him.

 "Thank you.  Now stop being a control freak and relax" Jake teased.

We drove for about ten minutes and I'm not going to lie I tried to peek several times, but Jake wouldn't let me.

Finally the car stopped and Jake opened my door.  He put one hand on my back and guided me with another hand on my elbow.

 "If you let me fall I swear-"

 "Kayla you're not going to fall, and even if you did I'd catch you" Jake assured me. 

 Suddenly the ground beneath my feet changed.  We were no longer on pavement, but instead it was grass?  No, sand, it was sand.

"Alright stand right there, don't move, and don't take the blindfold off" Jake let go of me and I was left standing awkwardly on the beach.  Since it was late September in North Carolina it was still warm, but there was a light breeze that carried the salty smell of the ocean that I loved.

"Jake Mitchells can I please take this blindfold off?" I begged.

"Yes oh impatient one.  You can take it off now" I could hear Jake's smile, as crazy as that sounds.

I pulled the blindfold off and couldn't hold back the smile that spread across my face.

Jake was standing in front of a volleyball court.  Our volleyball court.  That court that we spent three months practicing on and playing on.  That court where I first started to fall for someone.  Where I first let myself lose control.

He had stuck paper cups in the holes in the net to spell out homecoming, and there were volleyballs arranged in a big question mark on the sand.

It wasn't a big homecoming proposal in front of the whole school, no bouquet of flowers, no cheesy poster.  That was for some people and if it made them happy that's great, but that wasn't for me and Jake knew that.

It was simple, but sweet.  It was perfect.

"Well are you going to give me an answer, or are you just going to keep staring at me with that goofy smile on your face" Jake rocked back and forth on his heels.  We'll I'll be damned.  Jake Mitchells actually looked nervous. 

"Hmmm I don't know.  I'm going to have to think about this one" I tapped my chin as if I was deep in thought.

"Kayla Ryans you're killing me here" Jake was trying not to smile, but it wasn't working.

"Of course I say yes you goon" I pulled him into a hug.

"Thank goodness you had me worried there for a second" I went to pull back but Jake kept his arms loosely around my waste.

"Oh please as if I would say no to you" I couldn't stop smiling.  I was not one for corny romantic stuff, but somehow this still gave me butterflies.

"So does this mean I have to wear a tie?" Jake asked.

"Nah as long as I don't have to wear some crazy dress.  Why don't we just go in sweats?" I suggested, only partially kidding.

"We'll be the hottest couple there" Jake gave me another lopsided grin.

"Of course we will.  We always are" I turned to look at the ocean, still pressed against Jake's side.

"Do you remember our first day here?" Jake asked.

"Sometimes it seems like ages ago, but right now it feels like it was yesterday.  If you had told me that first day that three and a half months later we'd be the championship winners and be dating I would have thought you were crazy" I thought back nostalgically.

"I never would've guessed it either.  I mean if you think about the two of us, this whole thing was pretty unlikely.  We're so different" Jake kissed me on the forehead.

"We're basically Ridgemont's most unlikely duo" I laughed as we watched a seagull dive down and skim across the water.

"I'd rather be part of an unlikely duo with you than a likely duo with anyone else" Jake looked down at me with a big lopsided grin.

"That was extremely corny, but I'll give you points because it was cute" I ruffled his hair like a little kid, and he glared at me.

"Just call me King Corn" Jake ran his hands through his hair trying to get it to stand up and out of his eyes.

"Well Kind Corn are we going to use these volleyballs or what?" I ran over to our court and removed the ball that was the dot on the question mark.

"Ridgemont's unlikely duo playing volleyball?  Why that's preposterous" Jake attempted a British accent before I served the ball and the game began.

Well folks I hate to say it, but that is the end of An Unlikely Duo.  Don't worry there will be an epilogue and a sequel, and trust me the epilogue and the sequel are not what you are expecting! 

This book is almost at 10k reads and I still can't believe it.  When I started this book I never expected this many people to read it.  I just want to say thank you to every single one of you for reading my book and sticking with it all the way to the end, and I hope you'll read the sequel because I think it is going to be better than anything I've ever written.

Looking back on the whole book, I'd love to hear what your favorite moment was!  My top two were when Kayla went into full sass mode with the two idiots in chapter two and Jake's whole monologue that ended their fight a few chapters ago.  What are yours?