Page 69 of Going for Gold (Sweet Cravings 3)

Kristen high-fived Nina.

The ref pulled his arms to his shoulders, signaling that the ball was out.

"Come on!" Nina yelled and tapped her right hand against her left wrist. "She touched it! It only went out because she touched it!" She pointed toward the player who had clearly touched it. The girl shrugged her shoulders innocently.

The ref pulled out his red card and blew the whistle.

"This is bullshit!" Nina yelled. "Coach, do something!"

But there was nothing that Coach Hammond could do. She called for a time out. "I told you to hit it toward the center!" she yelled at Nina.

"It was a perfect shot, and you know it." Nina grabbed her water bottle off the bench. "This game is fucking rigged!" Nina shouted. She was quickly escorted back to the locker room.

Is was one thing to lose Jess, but Nina was our best server and it was her turn to serve next. Which meant a backup was going to take her place. Nina would have brought us the rest of the way. She would have served us to victory.

"Kelsey, get over here," Coach Hammond said. Kelsey got off the bench. "You're taking Nina's place."

"But I'm not a middle hitter."

"Yeah, but you're the best backup server we have."

"But I play in the back row." She looked so nervous.

"You'll be fine."

Except it wasn't fine. I ended up having to dig twice as many balls without Nina there to help block at the net. But eventually we got the ball back.

Kelsey's first serve went straight into the net.

"It's okay." I gave her a high five anyway. I needed to help calm her jitters or we were going to lose this thing. Besides, I had lost a serve in one of the games today too.

I didn't even realize that it was Gabriela's turn to serve. I took a deep breath. We just needed to get the ball back and tie it up again. I bumped the ball almost perfectly to our setter, but Jess's backup spiked it out of bounds.

Shit. Gabriela served the ball again. I stepped to the left, but stopped. It was going out.

The ref put his hands forward, signaling that the ball was in.

"What the hell?!" Coach Hammond screamed "That was out!"

Luckily she was the one yelling. I bit my tongue. The last thing I needed was to

be ejected. I glanced up at the scoreboard. I hadn't realized that Brazil was one point away from winning. I swallowed hard. You got this.

Gabriela served the ball and time seemed to slow. If Jess had still been in, she would have stepped back and gotten the ball. But her backup stayed glued to the next.

No. I dove forward, my stomach sliding against the floor. The ball landed an inch in front of my hand.

The crowd erupted in cheers. For Brazil.

Everything suddenly felt cold. I tried to stand up, but my legs gave out. I collapsed on the court, tears streaming down my cheeks. I lost. It was my fault that we lost.

I heard Coach Hammond throw her clipboard on the floor. I felt Kristen wrap her arms around me. She was sobbing almost as loudly as me.

The roar of the crowd was suddenly deafening. Everyone seemed to be cheering for their home team. The sound echoed around in my head.

This is all my fault.

The next thing I knew, our whole team was standing on the podium, getting our silver medals. But I couldn't seem to stop crying. I didn't want silver. Silver wasn't enough money for the bakery. Silver wasn't enough to beat Gabriela. Silver wasn't good enough. It wasn't gold.

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