I woke up and looked around the room.
“Where am I?” I asked groggily.
“Hey, you’re awake,” JC said walking out of the bathroom in just a towel.
“What time is it?” I asked confused.
“It’s 8,” JC said, putting on a tight muscle shirt.
“Then why is it so light out?” I asked, looking out the window.
“It’s 8 am,” JC laughed.
“Oh shit! Are you serious?! I have to get ready for the game!” I said, running out of bed towards the door.
“Hey, calm down! The game doesn’t start until 10!”
“Not for you it doesn’t! But I need to take a shower and practice with Chris! I’ll see you later!” I ran to my room and could hear Joey and Chris whistling and calling JC a ‘lucky dog.’
“Laura? Hey, are you in there?” Chris yelled through the door.
“Hold on! I’ll be ready in a minute! I just need to finish drying me hair!”
I opened the door and grabbed a fishermans hat and a pair of purple sunglasses.
“Ready to kick some ass?” Chris asked, and I smiled in response.
“Laur, about yesterday,” Chris began but I cut him off.
“I know Chris, I know.” That was the great thing about Chris and I. We knew what the other was thinking, without words.
We started to jog, and jogged over to the beach where the games were being held. Exercise and sports always helped take my mind off my problems, so I was beginning to feel a little better about the whole Nick misunderstanding.
“Laura? Getting ready to beat everyone again?” a voice behind me asked.
“Brian!” I squealed. “How’s my favorite MTV VJ?”
“Great! How’s my favorite star?”
“Okay! Getting really to beat everyone!” I smiled. “You’re covering the games?”
“Yup! Quddus and I are covering them.”
“That’s cool! Well, we’re going to get some practice in before the game!” I said as I ran and joined Chris on one of the courts. We each took a side and started bumping the ball back and forth over the net. We then fed each other high shots so we could practice our spikes.
“Laura! I see some people coming! We better stop practicing! We always love giving the people we play a nice surprise when they realize how good we are,” Chris laughed.
“Hey Laura. Hey Chris. Looks like we’re on a team together,” Justin smiled.
“Awesome! Any of you know how to play?”
“Yeah, we’re all pretty decent,” Joey said.
“Well then, look out everyone else, we’re going to kick your butts!” Chris smiled.
After another half hour, the first game began. We played the guys of Linkin Park first, and beat them by 14 points. We then beat a team comprised of The Calling and Hoobastank, and a team of people who were in American Pie 2.
“Oh yeah! One more game and we’ve won!” Chris K. yelled jumping up and down.
“Who are we playing in the final?” I asked.
“BSB, Sayde, and Ani,” Lance said.
“Are you serious? Wow! This should be an interesting game!” We walked over to the court and bumped the ball back and forth a couple times.
“Okay, this is it! The final game is between Laura and NSYNC, and the Backstreet Boys! Talk about a boy band rivalry!” Brian announced on the loudspeaker.
“Let the game begin!” the ref announced, throwing the ball to Joey who served first. We took an early lead, but the game was really close. Kevin ended his serve, and our team rotated, leaving me face to face with Nick in the middle of the net. JC served the ball and Sayde bumped the ball up to Nick, who then attempted to spike the ball right at me. I moved right before it would have hit my head, and bumped it over the net to Ani who missed it. I glared at Nick, since it was obvious that the ball was intended to hit. Nick tried again two serves later, and was yelled at by most of his team. Not even three serves later, he once again tried to spike the ball at me, but while I moved out of the way, I tripped. I could hear a snap as I fell to the ground, and grabbed my ankle as the pain shot through my leg.
“Oh crap! Laura! Are you okay?” Justin asked running over to me.
“Justin, please, get out of the way,” a man said as two emergency personnel ran over. They strapped my leg to a board, and picked up the stretcher they had put my on. They carried me over to an ambulance, and after lots of begging, they allowed Justin and Ani to come with me.
“Why am I in an ambulance?” I asked one of the EMTs once the doors were closed.
“We don’t want to take any chances. We need to get you to a doctor as soon as possible, because we don’t want to put your career in danger,” one of the men said.
“That’s just great,” I groaned. If any permanent damage happened to my ankle, there could be a possibility of never being able to dance again. Of course, that wasn’t too much of a problem since I didn’t do that much dancing in my concerts, and mainly played instruments, so it wouldn’t jeopardize my career too much.
We got to the hospital and they rushed me up to a doctor. They put my on a fairly empty floor, and security guards were placed everywhere. Justin and Ani followed me into my room, but were soon shooed into a waiting room.
A doctor soon entered and introduced herself as Dr. Parker.
“So, what exactly happened?” she asked while examining my ankle.
I told her about the volleyball game and my fall.
“Hmm, I can’t be absolutely certain until we do some x-rays, but it seems that it’s broken. I’m going to have to put you in a wheel chair for now and take you down to get an x-ray, and then we’ll be certain,” she said.
She helped me slide from the bed into a wheelchair, and then rolled me down the hall, followed closely by Mark. After several x-rays were taken, Mark rolled me back to my room.
“Laura! Are you okay?” Justin asked running out of the waiting room.
“Yeah. The doctor thinks it’s broken, but we can’t be sure until the results come back,” I sighed.
“Everyone is here. They rushed over right behind us. We won the volleyball game, since we were ahead when you fell,” Justin said as he and Mark helped me back into the bed.
“Should I go get everyone?” Justin asked once I was comfortable.
“Actually, I kinda wanna be by myself for a little while.”
“Oh, okay. Mark knows where we are,” Justin said, standing in the doorway.
“Thank you Justin,” I smiled.
“You’re welcome Princess,” he said before walking away.
“You get some rest, okay? I’ll be right outside the door,” Mark said, ‘tucking’ me in.
“Thanks big guy,” I smiled, leaning up to give him a hug. He walked outside the door, and I shut my eyes and fell asleep.
Chapter 18
Chapter 20
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