The Ramblings of a Writer: Oh, high school girls . . .

Yes, I have fallen prey to the down sides of high school. The elbow-juts in the hallways, the insane number of assignments and homework (wait, you mean that’s due next Friday, right? Oh, this Friday? As in, two days from now? Oh, all right. I see.) If the awkward side-steps and eternally dislocated shoulders weren’t making themselves loud and clear, the smack in the face today definitely did.

It was a run-of-the-mill volleyball practice. Or, no, not really. We had to start practice late so the JV/Varsity girls could get their gym set up and ready to go after the assemblies that had taken it over for the day. It was already raining outside, sending breezes of water into our gym and making it awfully chilly, if I do say so myself.

So, for those of you who think volleyball is just an intense version of ‘keep-it-up’, it’s really not. I wish so. To give you the jist, there are three positions. Outside, middle and setter. The ball goes to an outside or middle, is passed to the setter who then hits it to an outside or middle and they (hopefully) smack it down over the net.

There’s a rough picture for you. To practice, we split into two groups for hitting drills. The middles go on one side and the outsides on the other. Setters set us the ball, we hit it over. Simple, right? Yeah, if only it could be a tad bit more easy.

Anyway, that long, rambling explanation probably wasn’t needed, but you’ll understand why I was practicing with girls I really don’t like that much and not my friends on the team. I am a middle, along with four other girls out of our twenty-person team, so there’s a difference. While I was making my approach (running to the net with fancy footwork) I felt the ball hit the back of my head. It happens. I was like, ‘eh, whatever’.

And then it hit my neck.

And my shoulder.

And then a voice said, “Crap, I missed.”

Then, it hit my head in the back. Yeah, she didn’t miss that time.

It’s one thing for your friend to be funny and toss the ball at you, but to have a girl you know doesn’t like you throw the ball at your head repeatedly . . . not the best feeling in the world. I tend to have trouble controlling my anger, too. Honestly, get me started and I won’t stop. Being a writer gives me quick and easy access to thousands of metaphors and similes that I can throw out for hours on end. I just won’t stop.

So, this post isn’t to bash the bully. It isn’t to make you feel sorry for me and run over with a box of tissues. It’s just to show that we all have bad days or people that annoy the crap out of us. In case my post wasn’t as lighthearted as you expected and now you’re feeling depressed, enjoy this picture of a psychotic kitty!