That One Moment...

Chapter 4

Have you ever daydreamed about how your life might have turned out differently if just one thing changed along the way, or if you had approached an event in your life slightly out of character. That was what Sarah would think about a year later. Her junior year was following along the same path as usual - slowly moving through her days, keeping to herself, only interacting with acquaintances when needed, keeping the buffer around herself, staying quiet at home and school.

August had moved into September, while October was just around the corner. Life was about to get more complicated .

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Day 25 - end of September

Sarah was once again rushing out into the gym for another "power hour" of athleticism.  Although she couldn't saw she was an athlete, and nowhere near a jock, the past month and a half had really honed her body more than she thought was possible. Even though she was still the worst at almost everything Coach Bradford had them try, at least she could tell that her coordination and athleticism in general were getting better. She had been doing real well in the track module, sprinting being her best category. Now that they were focusing on volleyball, Sarah was the definite weak link. She could not get her arms and hands, wrists really, to hit the ball correctly, so it tended to fly pretty much anywhere other than where she wanted.

As they finished up the warmup and running laps, teams were beginning to form. Hopefully there would be an odd number so she could attempt to limit her time on the court.

"Hey, Sarah! You're over here with us."

Sarah was pulled out of her thoughts when Chris yelled in her direction.

Great. Looks like she was on a team facing off against Chris and Abby. She didn't really know any of her team mates other than in passing during class. One was in the trio of hot males that also graced her chem class. Leonard, or Leo, maybe. He always looked like he was pissed off. The three other girls on the team also looked annoyed, but that was probably because I had been added to the team. They were 5 on 5 to begin with. Coach was talking about how they would move into 8 on 8 later. 

Sarah took her spot towards the front, hoping to put off serving for as long as possible. As the play progressed, she had to admit to herself that she really did suck at this. Even though she could estimate where the volleyball was headed when it came in her direction, she could never hit it correctly. She probably looked like a flailing chicken, sometimes with it's head cut off, other times just crazy. What was wrong with her hand-eye coordination in this? She could tell the rest of her "team" was getting just as frustrated with her as she was at herself, but really there was nothing she could do...

As the latest ball was spiked towards her, the 'weak link' on the court, Sarah felt herself tripping over her own feet to try and get to where the ball was headed. As she started to pitch backwards, she felt herself hit another body, HARD. Her head making contact with something that gave her an immediate headache.

"Shit. Ouch." As she ricocheted off what she could only assume had been Leo, her body twisted and fell hard to the ground, making her lose her breath for a second.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Leo started into a berating that Sarah only half caught in her dazed mind. She didn't know how much time had passed before she caught her breath finally and realized he was still criticizing her "It's just a game of volleyball, can't you even see where you are going? Or is it your fat thighs and big head that cause you to be so bad at this? Anyone would be better at this then you."

Everyone was looking, watching her get bullied for missing a ball in gym class. What was wrong with this kid? It was gym...not like she actually thought she could play the game.