DANA HAD PUT the note in Jason’s desk on Tuesday. By Wednesday, she was wondering why she’d done it four days ahead of time. She had wanted lots of time to prepare. Now she knew she’d just given herself lots of time to worry instead. At least she had a volleyball game that afternoon to help keep her mind off things.
The Wesley Wildcats were visiting. They were a tough team. During the warm-up, Dana noticed that they had some great servers. They also had some really tall girls who were very good at tipping the ball back over the net. The Eagles were going to have to be ready. But Dana was distracted. Every time she thought about the note she’d put in Jason’s desk, she got a really weird feeling. Her face got hot, but her insides felt like cold jelly. She was glad she’d written the note, and she was excited about talking to him. But nervous too. A little.
She scanned the crowd starting to fill the bleachers. She didn’t see Jason. Janelle hadn’t come to watch the game either. Dana wasn’t sure why she even bothered looking for her. She shook her head. Never mind. Concentrate. She narrowed her focus to only the volleyball. Watch the ball. Watch the ball.
She began to anticipate where the ball would go, and every time the Wildcats tried to bump it over the net, Dana was there to block it. She jumped. She blocked. She tipped. She called out to the back row when it went over her head. Time after time she was able to return the ball. It was a tight game. Very tight. It was game point again and again. First for the Eagles. Then for the Wildcats. Neither team could get ahead by the two points they needed to win. Dana tried to ignore the score and kept her focus on the ball.
The Wildcats sent a blistering serve their way. The Eagles sent it back. The Wildcats tried to return it, but the ball hit the net and bounced back on their side. Now Emily had the serve, but she put too much into it and it went out of bounds. The Wildcats served the ball back and the same thing happened. “Easy does it, ladies,” called Mr. Finch. “Easy does it.”
Lisa Torelli was up. She served the ball way over to the left, and all the Eagles held their breath, thinking it was going to go out. Instead, it landed just inside the line to give the Eagles a point. The Wildcats rolled it back to the other side. Everyone took another deep breath.
“Game point, game point,” shouted the fans.
Dana felt tingly all over. Lisa served the ball a second time. It was a good, hard hit. “Crater maker!” yelled the crowd, but the Wildcat player in the middle of the back row managed to get a piece of it and bump it back in their direction.
“Short, it’s short!” called the girls behind Dana. But it wasn’t. It had just enough oomph to hover right above the net. Dana jumped and tipped the ball so lightly that it dropped to the floor right next to the net. The other side of the net. The other team didn’t have a chance. Game point. Emery Elementary had won.
Dana was swarmed by a mob of jumping, screaming girls. Emily pulled her out and put her first in line to shake hands with the Wildcats. Back at their own bench, the girls exchanged hugs and high fives. When the team was finished celebrating at last, Mr. Finch asked Dana and Lisa to stay behind a minute. He called Beverley Tran over.
“Beverley,” he said, “I know you were taking pictures at the game, and you’ve probably got lots of great shots already, but could you please take one of these two young ladies? Lisa was our star server today. Dana made some exceptional plays in the front row.”
Beverley tossed the girls a ball, and they held on to it together and grinned while Beverley took the picture. “Okay. It should be in this week’s school news,” she said.
“Good game,” said Lisa.
“You too,” said Dana. She felt great. If she could do this, she could do anything. Meeting Jason? Piece of cake. But would he come?