I was tired beyond belief after the Moonlark and Techno concert, but I still got myself up on Saturday morning to go to volleyball practice. It was honestly a miracle that I could even walk, considering the fact that I wore heels the entire time. Good thing I've been conditioning myself to wear them since I was born.

I got ready, going through my skincare, putting bits of concealer on my dark circles, then of course my mascara and lip gloss. This is volleyball, basically the same thing as a fashion show. Plus, you never know when you might end up filmed, and you never want a bad picture of you circling the internet. Once in my life is enough, thank you.

The sun was just rising when I got there. I saw Sophie sitting in her car, leaned up against the window (definitely not sleeping) so I knocked on it to get her to walk in with me. She bolted up (not helping the fact that she wasn't asleep) and looked rapidly from side to side until finally noticing me. She rubbed her eyes, grabbed her bag, and fell out the door and onto the concrete right in front of me, all while I was trying to contain my laughter. No I wasn't, I was snorting so loud-

The very graceful blonde scrambled up, but in a slow, groggy way. She pulled her hair out of the messy bun it was in (couldn't even really be called a messy bun with the way there was all of two hairs in the hair tie) and somehow slicked it back into a low pony that was messy in a cute way, the type that I spend hours trying to do. She pulled her bag out of her car and slammed the door, hitting the lock button on her key five times even when it locked the first time.

By the time we got in, got ready, and went down to the courts, practice was about to start. Sophie gave me a hug, which I almost pushed her away when she did. I didn't want her to hug me, I wanted to get on a good team. Then she comes in here, Little Miss perfect new girl, and she gets the second best team in all the age ranges! It wasn't fair, and how did she even do it? How was she good at everything? I despised it. She had two guys fawning over her, became immediate friends with everyone (including Stina!), was pretty, she's in tons of activities, and she got one of the best volleyball teams in the club, arguably even in the country. It didn't even sound real.

And why couldn't I be that girl? The perfect, unreal one. The girl that got everything right.

"Vacker!" The coach yelled and I immediately snapped out of my thoughts. A girl next to me, around fourteen, snickered. I flipped her off when the coach turned around.

During practice, we did so many easy drills, working on ball control and proper form for attacks. Hated to tell them, but I already knew all of that, I could do approaches and blocks with my eyes closed. I still put in my all, though, hoping they'd see what they missed.

I looked down the courts and saw right as Sophie dug a middle attack, sending it perfectly to Rayni, who then set it beautifully to whoever the outside hitter was. It could've been me. She even looked like me from behind, long brown hair, tall, lean figure. I imagined her being me, being on the same team as my friends, being considered just as good as them.

According to the coaches and their decisions, I wasn't even close to their level. But they were wrong and I had to prove it.

For the rest of practice I gave it my all, not getting distracted, or even tired because of the easy drills I had been doing all my life.

At the end of practice, we were getting our jerseys. Each team's jersey corresponded with the color, and I knew it was going to be over when they passed me my purple jersey. I'd be stuck on that team with those snotty hardly even teenagers, listening to them laugh at me behind my back and make fun of me, the seventeen year old that got stuck on a team with them. I was going to be carrying that team, given that I was on Green, four teams up, in the fall season.

Everyone would see I was too good to be on that team at the games, but by then it'd be too late because I wouldn't have been practicing in December with the proper teams. And December was a crucial practice month for the winter season, we did all of our hardest work in December, getting ready for the games in January and February.

I walked to the front and met up with Sophie and the rest of the girls, so we could go get our jerseys. The numbers were typically assigned year to year if you had played before, or by size and position if you were new. We went up to the front table and waited in the line.

"How'd practice go?" I asked Sophie and Rayni, trying to show them I wasn't bitter... even when I really was.

"Pretty good, actually." Rayni said after Sophie didn't say anything. She must've been too nervous, based on her face. She probably didn't want to hurt my feelings.

"That's good." We stood, mostly in silence, while waiting for it to be our turn. I was scared. I hated to admit it, but I really was. I loved the color purple, plus it looked really good on me, but knowing the meaning behind if I were to receive the jersey... it made me feel sick. I'd much rather be wearing green or silver, like my friends would be. I hated being the odd one out.

"Rayni Aria." She told Coach Alexine. She was given her silver jersey, number fifteen. Sophie stepped up next.

"Sophie F-Ruewen." I wondered why she stumbled over the name. Maybe her original last name started with an F, but she was trying to use Grady and Edaline's? Yeah, that was probably it. She was given a silver jersey with the number thirteen. She turned to me and smiled, whispering in my ear as she passed by: "Taylor Swift's lucky number." I giggled at her enthusiasm. Also because I was a diehard Swifty and was glad she was, too. Linh liked her okay, but preferred Moonlark and Techno, while Marella had some weird thing against the amazing singer. Meanwhile, the boys were, well, boys, and my brother was too closeted to actually admit anything.

"Biana Vacker." I said, preparing to blink back tears when handed a purple jersey. But I wasn't. I was handing my usual number five... on a green jersey.

My friends threw themselves on me when I showed them. But I didn't believe it, it had to be a mistake. Coach Alexine told me to talk to her when she was done, so I decided to go upstairs to take off all my gear and put my sweatpants and Tam's hoodie back on to pass the time. Sophie was just smiling and gave me congratulations. There was something up with her, I knew it. She had something to do with this, but I didn't know what.

We went back downstairs and in the time it took us to get ready for going home, the rest of the girls had cleared the line. I walked up to Coach Alexine, unsure of how to approach this. I was grateful when I noticed my friends had followed me.

"Coach Alexine." She turned towards me, giving me her full attention. "I was wondering if the jersey I received was a mistake. I was placed on Purple, not Green." Coach Alexine just smiled.

"No, the only mistake we made was putting you on Purple in the first place, when we know how you really play. Thankfully, we received a little tip that just aided our decision to reevaluate you, and we were right to do so. You belong on Green, you're simply way too advanced for Purple, even on a bad day." I could help the smile growing on my face. I squealed, thanking and hugging her then running off with my friends.

"I'M ON GREEN!!!" I shouted when we got out to the parking lot. We all laughed and cheered. Brisa grabbed my hands and jumped with me.

"We get to be on the same team!" She exclaimed. We all cheered for a long time before bidding each other goodbye and heading to our cars. Since Sophie and I parked next to each other, we continued walking together.

"Congrats on finally getting a team you should be on. Though I was kinda hoping they'd put you on Silver." Sophie hugged me tight, smiling the same as me.

"Was it you?" I asked, knowing it had to have been. The way she was acting, she knew. "You're the one that told them to reevaluate me?" She just smiled and hugged me again.

"I couldn't let them do that to you, you deserved better. Plus, I could see the way those kids were acting, I could it let you suffer with them any longer."

"Thank you. You know what, you're coming with me. We're spending the rest of the day together. Let's go to the mall first!" Sophie groaned, but I could tell she was happy, and I was happy, too. 

After a long day of shopping, we both were laying next to each other on my bed, looking at the ceiling. It felt so nice, hanging out with Sophie. When I had been thinking earlier about her making friends with everyone, I could see why. She just had such an easy going personality, she was always nice but would also goof off with me. She gave off the vibe that you could tell her literally anything and she'd listen, give you her full attention. That's why I decided to tell her everything I was thinking during practice, but nicer. I wanted her to understand and know I like hanging out with her, and I appreciated her, but also if I get mad at her, I wanted her to know why. Know it wasn't her fault, it was my fault and how I got jealous too easily. Plus, it probably hurt when I pulled away from her hug earlier, and I wanted her to know why.

"I just, I see you always doing everything perfectly, and it kind of got to me. Your life seems so perfect to me, and I got jealous. I'm sorry." She just looked at me.

"You know, I get it. I feel the same way, but about you. I had a boyfriend before I moved here who I really liked, but I broke up with him because long distance doesn't work. And yeah, now I have Noah, but I see you and Tam so happy, and you two have been together for a long time, and it takes a while to get a relationship like that. And you and our friends, you all talk so easily, naturally, because you've been friends for a while. It's going to take me a while to catch up to that, too. So, I get what you're talking about, and I forgive you. And I'm sorry I made you feel that way. Are we good now?"

"We're good now." I smiled. I felt bad that she was struggling with her own stuff, too. I didn't even think about how being the new girl was affecting her. But I was so glad she understood. "This is going to sound so pre-1, but do you think we could be best friends? Linh and Marella have each other, then I don't have Maruca or Stina anymore, so I've been stuck with boys as my options this entire time." Sophie laughed but nodded.

"I would love to be best friends. And believe me, I know your pain. The girls at my school in California were jerks so I've been stuck with Dex and his friends, who were all boys. I need a girl best friend right now, and I'm so glad for it to be you." She smiled and we hugged.

We watched movies for the rest of the night and eventually Fitz and Alvar (my oldest brother, who was back from college in France since his winter break started early) joined us. Sophie and Alvar hit it off, making fun of the cheesy Hallmark movie we were watching. I would join in occasionally. It was one of the new Christmas ones, and it really sucked.

The best part wasn't when we all basically fell asleep in a dog pile, it was the feeling of having a friendship I knew was going to last forever. I could just tell, Sophie was going to be that friend.

BIANA GETS HER JUSTICE!!!! I love Biana too much to do her dirty like that, plus now we have really cute platonic Sophiana!!! I love their friendship and feel like there could've been so much more of it in the books, so yk I'm gonna have it here. They're gonna be besties. I hope you all liked the chapter, and I love you all!!!!

Avery, out ->

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