Page 68 of Going for Gold (Sweet Cravings 3)

"That was in!" Coach Hammond yelled at one of the refs. "Do you need fucking glasses?!"

We lost by 10 points.

"What the hell was that?" Coach Hammond said as we made our way off the court. "I knew practicing for that stupid tiebreaker would throw you two off your game," she said, directly at me and Kristen. "And if you two would get your heads in the game, you wouldn't even need the tiebreaker. Focus on the game. All of you!"

I had never seen her this upset before. I ran back onto the court. Coach Hammond's wrath was enough to make me focus. It was exactly what I needed. Gabriela and Chris were both awful people. Who cared what they did together? I liked Bryce. I really liked Bryce. I took a deep breath. And I needed this money. I needed to win gold. Coach Hammond was right. Now my head was officially in the game.

But even with me playing better, it didn't seem to matter. It was almost like the game was rigged. The line judges were blowing easy calls, all in Brazil's favor.

"It was like a foot in!" Nina yelled after her serve was called out. "What are you talking about?"

The ref lifted out a yellow card from his pocket.

"This is such bullshit," she mumbled. The ref gave her a warning look. One more wrong move and she'd be ejected from the game.

We started hitting all our shots directly into the middle of the court to avoid bad calls. And eventually we got up by two points to win the third game. We were leading the match, two games to one.

I took a huge sip of water. All we needed to do was win one more game. Then gold was ours. Coach Hammond was having a heated discussion with the refs instead of lecturing us. Which probably meant she thought they deserved her wrath more than we did.

I closed my eyes for a second and just listened to the crowd. This might be the last volleyball game I ever played. At least at this level. I wasn't sure I could ever give it up completely. The crowd's excitement was electric. It revved me up even more. We're going to win.

The ref blew the whistle and I ran back onto the court.

"Ow!"

I snapped my head around. Jess, our inside hitter was on the ground holding her elbow.

Coach Hammond was already kneeling next to her. "They spilled water over here!" she screamed, pointing at the other side of the court.

The coach from Brazil walked over and put her hand on her hip. "None of my girls did that."

The closest ref came over to evaluate the situation. "One of your own players could have spilled that," he said.

Meanwhile, Jess started sobbing. She was clearly in a lot of pain. An athletic trainer knelt down next to her. Jess winced when she lifted her arm.

"This is a delay of game," the ref said.

What the hell? One of our best players had just gotten hurt. And maybe sabotaged. And we were the ones delaying the game?

Coach Hammond shook her head. "Fine." She motioned for Jess's backup to get on the court. Unfortunately Jess's backup wasn't nearly as good. All of us seemed a little shaken. I was still probably the most off my game. The game was close again, but this time Brazil pulled off the win.

I shook my head as I walked off the court. We were tied two to two. It all came down to one last game.

"Girls," Coach Hammond said. "You all know what this game means. It's not just a gold for you. It's a gold for Team USA. It brings us out on top. And we are not the ones that are going to lose bragging rights for the USA. Not on my watch. The refs clearly favor Brazil. So we hit every ball toward the center. Do it for Jess. Do it for yourselves. Do it for whoever you want, just get it done."

We all nodded and put our hands in. "Team USA!" we yelled at the top our lungs. I ran back onto the court.

The cheers from the crowd reverberated through me. My heart seemed to beat to the rhythm of the cheers. I looked up at Bryce in the stands. He was on his feet waving his sign in the air, cheering. I smiled and got ready for the first serve.

Bump, set, spike...perfection. After several minutes, we were up by three points. I looked over at Gabriela and smiled, hopefully mimicking that fake smile that she always gave me.

She locked eyes with me and smiled back. And then she winked at me.

Why the fuck is she winking at me? She's just messing with me. She's just trying to get in my head.

I dove and missed my next dig. Fuck.

The next play, I was able to get it to the setter. Nina spiked the ball from behind the middle of the net, perfectly toward the back corner. It skimmed the Brazilian player's arm before landing outside the lines.

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