You shouldn't blame others for the conditions you endure; we each have the freedom to follow which path we desire in life.

Vivianna's twin, Payton, is my 'team captain' and she was the first one to pick someone.

So, looking Dela straight straight in the eyes, she picked Lavender first.

Lavender being Scarlette's sister, along with their third sister Cara- -I don't know where the color theme here failed her, but it's kind of disappointing- -were all Lawrence and Eli's daughters.

Both Cara and Eris ended up on Payton's team, although Scarlette didn't.

Next Payton specifically chose me and Fly as a pair, somehow knowing we work well together, to which Vivianna chose Axel and Anadi -since they're a couple and work well together.

Honestly, I was fine not having Axel on my team.

Then when Payton chose Eris, Vivianna responded by picking Jasper.

Which I wasn't okay with.

The teams ended up being Vivianna, Ahmik, Damien, Nyx, Scarlette, Dela and Axel, who I was familiar with. Then Arabella who is Eris's girlfriend and Anadi, who's Axel's girlfriend.

And, of course, Jasper.

Who I didn't like fighting against.

But hey, it gave me a pretty good chance to impress him even while I fully plan to kick his entire team's ass.

My team is made out of people I didn't know, besides Fly.

Eris was the only one I was remotely familiar with, and I only met her once, but I did know that Lavender- -who's on my team- -is Dela's girlfriend.

Other than that there is Payton, Aiko, her girlfriend, Isaiah who is Cara's boyfriend, Nymphadora and Atticus who were a couple and Atticus is a D'Silvetta.

So me, Fly, Eris, Lavender, Payton, Aiko, Nymph, Atticus, Cara and Isaiah verses Jasper, Scarlette, Arabella, Dela, Vivianna, Ahmik, Axel, Anadi, Damien and Nyx.

Which spelt chaos pretty quickly.

I discovered pretty quickly that I couldn't keep track of who acted what way, or really even, who everyone was, so I relied on Fly to strike up conversations -since he was there the year before and met everyone already.

Honestly I don't think I'm really learning everything, but rather using him as a human shield.

Which, again, is perfectly fine with me.

We're all playing volleyball and even though I'm average height, right at the 5'10 mark, I'm still the shortest guy there.

Fly's our setter, I'm the wing spiker during the games I won't be the libero- -which, I don't think they'll be many- -and Atticus is our ace. Payton is another spiker, while Aiko is just a blocker.

Nymphadora is my mirror, for games I play libero she's the wing spiker and vise versa.

The other setter is Cara, who said she's way better at receives so I think we're all going to let her focus on that more. Lavender and Isaiah are blockers too, Eris is a sub in.

Jasper is the only player I know so far, but he's the ace and a wing spiker, which means I'm going to be taking a lot of hits directly from him.

Apparently, I'm not supposed to let him know this.

I'm about to question why, why Jasper's hand is running through my hair before pressing it down flat, making me wrinkle my nose at him.

Jasper doesn't say anything, just angles my head towards him and makes me fucking face plant into his bicep.

What the fuck is this dork doing?

"Did..." I push myself away from him. "You just compare our heights."

"Oh! It's the green's fault, and your hair!" My boyfriend literally bends down to be face to face with me, making me scowl at him. "The fluffiness made you look taller, and I never noticed how short you were before, because the green distracted me. You're so cute."

He kisses my nose, despite the way I glare at him.

"Cute and tiny."

Tiny!

Tiny?

I'm not fucking tiny, I'm completely normal.

And sure, I might be a little skinny but it's not like I don't have any muscle mass to me, I'm not a toothpick.

He's the giant here.

"Got something to say, Star?" Jasper asks, voice dropping as he teases me, making my glare double.

As if he couldn't get any more smug in the moment, the musician growls at me, prompting me to do the same back.

You know, because I can't stop myself.

Just because this dork likes it.

God, if he could stop being so annoyingly cute and hot and kissable all the fucking time maybe I could actually be mad at him.

"You're too hot to be playing dirty like that." I grumble at him, trying to fight off my stupid blush only for my boyfriend to make it impossible by running his knuckles along my cheek. "It's not fair."

"If how hot someone is determines how fair it is for them to play, you should never be allowed on the field again."

Without warning, Fly grabs me by the shoulders and yanks me back all while Arabella- -I think it's Arabella- -points a finger up at Jasper. "No getting yourself worked up before a game!"

Scowling while Flynn grins, I cross my arms at his smug behavior. He's never seen me flirt before and I can tell he's just desperate to tease me about it.

But, seeing the crossing of my arms, he pouts.

I roll my eyes, throwing a hand up.

He holds a finger up at me and dashes over to Payton, coming right back with the ball like I asked.

"Pay told me to keep an eye on Damien and Jasper -they're their power players." Fly whispers to me. "Just keep the ball in the air."

Nodding, I send him a small look, the message is clear.

Not a problem.

Right now there's five of us on my team, me as the libero, Fly as the setter, Nymph as the wing spiker, Atticus as our ace and Isaiah as our middle blocker.

On Vivianna's team, there's Jasper and Nyx as the wing spikers, Damien and Axel as the middle blockers, Scarlette as their outside hitter and Vivianna as the setter.

One advantage to us is that we have a libero, but they have faster people with stronger hits, as well as another player.

The game starts with Vivianna serving from the back, everyone on my team expecting to be able to hit it, only for it to smack Ahmik in the ass and send him sprawling into the sand.

"That's all I know how to do with a ball, I'm a shit serve." The weirdo admits, grinning widely. "Big bro?"

Damien raises an eyebrow, reaching out for his little sister, but she swats him away and tosses the ball right into Axel's face.

This family is a fucking mess.

Thank god Payton and Atticus are on my team.

I guess Axel's the setter now, and Vivianna is a middle blocker.

Axel serves it in a jump and sends the ball spiraling into the court, it bounces off Isaiah's arms in a shitty half-relieve. Catching on to Fly turning to a set position, I dive down and skid, making it bounce off my foot.

The ball sails through the air, Fly setting it perfectly and lets Nymphadora score as none of them catch the ball before it hits the sand.

Looking up, I catch Jasper's eyes narrowed at me but quickly get distracted as Fly moves his hand out.

He's setting it so they can receive it really well.

What the-

Oh. It's Scarlette on the receiving ends of his hits, he's making it so she doesn't get hurt.

That means when she receives, she'll send the ball straight forward to Jasper. The ball then will either be spiked down or blocked by Isaiah.

Just as I thought, Jasper gets to spike the ball but Isaiah jumps a second too late and the ball is sent flying past his fingertips.

It's a shock to me when the ball that I rebounded off my hand is sent straight back over the side right towards Axel.

Axel fucking D'Silvetta.

Who literally doesn't look at the ball as he shrieks in surprise and slaps it out of the air.

Right back into my face, just as I was trying to stand back up again.

"Fuck." I grunt, landing on my ass as my nose starts to feel way too hot. My eyes water.

It's fucked that no matter how hard I'm hit in the fucking nose, I still end up fucking crying, whether I'm bleeding or not.

"Fuck, Cassie," Fly crouches over me, forcing my hand away from my nose, which just makes more blood spill down my chin. "Let me check if it's broken."

"It's not, I'm fine." I hiss, going to shove him away but the fucking idiot slips in the sand and lands on me instead -making me flatten on the ground. "You fucker."

Fly gets picked up by Jasper, who simply drops him to the side before my boyfriend hauls me up to, head being forced to tilt up to him as he frowns at my blood.

"I'm okay." I pull myself out of his grip. "It really doesn't hurt that much. But if that dumbass hits me in the face with the ball because he got scared by it, even though we're playing volleyball I'm- -mother duckling- -going to kill him."

"Oh come on," Flynn says sarcastically, hand waving to my face. "You wouldn't kill a fly!"

"You're right, I wouldn't kill an innocent fly. Or any creature that never knowingly harmed anyone but," I look over to Axel. "I will maim."

Lavender, who's controlling the scoreboard when she's not playing, throws me a towel to clean up with, all while Jasper pouts at me.

"C'mon Jitterbug, it was an accident, I'm not broken." Raising up, I press a quick kiss to his Adam's apple. "Why don't we keep playing the game?"

"But what if I hurt you?" Jasper continues to pout.

I shrug, "It's volleyball, I'm the libero. If not you, it's that fucker. Take a guess which one I'd prefer."

He huffs at me, "I'd prefer it if you weren't hurt at all."

"The only other libero is Nymphadora, and I'd much rather be the one kicked around in the sand, Jitterbug." Telling him this, I see Atticus nod in agreement. "Plus, the adrenaline rush can be fun."

Not to mention I don't really mind pain.

"I want to make sure you're okay," Jasper exclaims. "It's my job!"

Looking him in the eyes I deadpan, "Quit."

My boyfriend narrows his eyes at me. "I refuse."

"Then you're fired." I shrug, turning back to Fly to tell him we should start around round only for Jasper's arms to circle my waist.

"You can't fire me Star," The musician says, speaking against my neck. "I'm union."

Scarlette scoffs at us, "You guys have time for fucking later. Let's play this game already."

Turning around, I catch the way Jasper's clearly about to argue and shake my head at him with a smirk.

"You heard her Jitterbug," I wink. "That's for later."

Jasper flushes, and I laugh.

He's cute.