Going for Gold (3 page)

Sunday

Alina

Eight years ago, the genius marketing team for the company
that produces Kinesio tape had decided to donate it by the truckload to the
International Tournament of Athletes. The results were exactly what they wanted
- athletes covered themselves in the colorful tape in all sorts of fun
patterns, creating a buzz on social media. The copy cat effect of lesser
athletes was nearly instantaneous. Amateur athletes all around the world
started plastering the tape all over their muscles in an effort to look like
their heroes. Kristen was one of those athletes. For years she thought it was
purely a fashion accessory until our trainer in college told her that there
were specific methods to apply the tape that would aid blood flow and help
muscles heal after workouts. She didn't care. The tape had become part of her
pregame ritual, and she wasn't about to change that.

Other girls on the team had different pregame rituals. Some
prayed. Others did their hair in a certain way or wore a special headband or
blocked the world out with oversized, colorful, noise cancelling headphones,
listening to the same playlist of five or six songs that they've listened to
before every game since middle school. One girl I used to play with would tape
each of her fingers and then rip the tape with her teeth, finger by finger
mutating from a sweet teenage girl into a hungry wolf ready to rip the other
team to shreds.

Me? I didn't need any of that. I just needed the sound of the
crowd cheering.

"Ready?" asked Kristen. Red, white, and blue
Kinesio tape ran down her arms and legs.

"Ready," I replied. I took a deep breath and got
ready to run through the tunnel onto the court. Butterflies fluttered around in
my stomach.

The second we burst onto the court, all my pregame jitters
dissipated. The atmosphere was electric. Twelve thousand people were seated
around Maracanazinho Stadium, all waiting to watch us play. In any other
setting it would have terrified me to be the center of attention of so many
people. Public speaking in front of all these people? Forget it. But volleyball
was different. I had practiced volleyball for years. I knew I was good at it.
Damn good. When I was on that court, it was my time to shine.

Kristen served a practice ball low and hard right over the
net. I easily dug it to our setter and got ready for the next serve. We did a
few more of those to get comfortable and make sure the other team was watching,
and then Kristen started serving high to my left. I lunged for the ball and
missed. Not because I was bad, but because we were setting the other team up.
High and to the left was actually where I preferred the serves. A little
gamesmanship never hurt, right?

After a half hour of warm-ups, we lined up in two parallel
lines. The bench players were called first, and then they got to my name. I ran
between the two lines of my teammates, them all slapping my ass as I ran. At
the end I jumped up to high-five each of our coaches and then took my place on
the back line. God, I loved the feeling of the announcer calling my name and
everyone cheering. It was such a rush.

While I waited for that to finish, I looked around to find
Chris in the audience. Usually it was pretty easy, but normally the crowd was
nowhere near this big. Before I could spot him, the introductions ended and it
was time to high five the other team under the net.

Including Gabriela Santos.

I went down the line giving high-fives. When I got to
Gabriela, she locked eyes with me and smiled, just like she always did when we
played each other. And just like always, it crawled under my skin. God, I hated
that bitch.

I took a deep breath and tried to channel my hatred into
positive energy for the game.

And it must have worked, because we crushed them in the first
game of the match. I was getting all my digs, and Kristen was nailing all her
spikes. It seemed like it only took a few minutes for us to take them down 25
to 11. The match was best out of 5, so if we could just keep it rolling for two
more games, we'd win the match and knock Brazil and Gabriela out of the
tournament. After Brazil was gone, there weren't really any other teams that
would pose much of a threat to our bid for the gold medal.

Coach Hammond high-fived me as I walked over to the bench to
sit down for a second and grab some water. There was an envelope on my spot, so
I pushed it onto the floor and...
Wait a second. Did that have my name on it?

I grabbed the envelope off the floor. Sure enough, ALINA was
written on it in bold letters.

"What's that?" asked Kristen.

I shrugged. "No idea."

"It's probably a cute note from Chris. Open it!"

Aw, he's so sweet!
I flipped the envelope over and
pulled out the contents. At first I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
"What the hell?" I mumbled.

Kristen leaned over to get a look. "Oh my God. Is
that...?"

"Chris sitting next to a topless girl at Club Blue? Yes,
it is." I flipped to the next photo, which was a selfie of Chris and the
girl, who I could now see was Gabriela Santos.
That bitch!

"Alina! Kristen!" barked Coach Hammond. "Get
out there!"

I looked up and saw the second game was about to start. I got
into my position and prepared for the serve, but my head was still spinning
from what I had seen.
How could he hang out with Gabriela after I left? He
knows how much I hate her! How far did he go with her?

"Alina!" Kristen yelling my name brought me back to
reality.

"Huh?"

"Why didn't you go for that? That was your ball."

What ball?
I looked up and saw we were losing 1 to nothing.
Shit, the game already started?
"Sorry, I thought you had it."

Brazil hit another serve at me, but this time I was ready. I
bumped it to our setter, who set Kristen up for a spike. Her spike was saved,
and then Brazil set it up to Gabriela for a back-row spike.
No way I'm going
to let her win this point.
Not after those photos.

Just as she went to spike it, I caught a glimpse of Chris in
the audience cheering for me like everything was totally normal.
Or is he
cheering for Gabriela?
The spike should have been easy to deal with, but my
brain was distracted by all the anger. I hit the ball slightly off center and
it went nowhere near where I wanted it to go. Two to nothing, Brazil.
Two to
nothing, Gabriela.

The rest of the game was a similar story. Not all my shots
were horrible, but I definitely wasn't as sharp as I needed to be. I tried to
avoid looking at Chris, but it was impossible with where he was seated in the
audience. Brazil, and Gabriela in particular, seemed to feed off of my poor
play. Every time she hit a good shot it just made me more and more angry, which
in turn made me play worse.

Brazil won the second and third games. Chris got up to get
some nachos or something during the fourth game, so I was able to pull myself
together and do enough to get us a victory.
Maybe we can win this match
after all.

Six points into the final game, Chris came back to his seat
and our best server, Nina, finally allowed back from her four game spell on the
bench for violating the sex ban, jammed her thumb and had to leave the game.

Brazil won.

I couldn't help but feel like it was all my fault. I didn't
pay much attention to the post game speech by Coach Hammond. She dropped the
f-bomb a few times, probably directed at me for playing horribly. After she was
done screaming at us, she calmed down and told us that we'd have double
practice tomorrow in preparation for our quarterfinal game against Serbia.

Kristen came over and gave me a big hug as soon as the game
was over. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"No. How could I be okay after seeing those
photos?" There was a tightness in my chest that I couldn't explain.
Did
he cheat on me?

"Maybe there's an explanation."

"Yeah, there is. He was horny and drunk and likes
brunettes with big tits."

"Alina?" said Chris' voice behind me.

"I think it might be better if..." started Kristen,
but I cut her off. I wasn't going to hide behind my best friend.

"Hi, Chris," I said. "What are you doing over
here?"

"Uh, I came to see you after your game like I always do.
You guys almost had them."

"Shouldn't you be over there talking to your new
girlfriend?" I angrily pointed at the Brazil bench.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Wow, you're seriously going to just pretend like
everything is cool?"
What an asshole!

"I'm sorry. I really don't know what's happening right
now."

"Oh, you don't remember Gabriela's tits in your face
last night?" I said way louder than was appropriate in a public place.
People in the stands nearby started to stare at us.

"Who?" Chris looked totally lost. It was so scary
how he could act like he was innocent. I started to wonder how many other times
he had cheated on me and pretended like nothing happened.

"Here, maybe this will help your memory." I grabbed
the photos off the bench and shoved one in his face. I could feel the tears
starting to well up in my eyes. At first I had just been angry, but now the
crushing realization that my boyfriend of two years had cheated on me really
started to sink in.

"What the hell?" asked Chris. "Where'd you get
this?"

"Fuck you." I threw the rest of the photos at him
and ran towards the exit just as the tears started pouring down my cheeks.

Sunday

Alina

Kristen caught up to me shortly after I collapsed on a bench
in the village square. There had been an hour long train ride between me
exiting the arena and now, but I didn't remember it. All I could see were those
images of Chris and Gabriela burned into my brain. Kristen wrapped her arms
around me and cried with me. I didn't care about the people giving us weird
looks. I just needed to cry.

Eventually I ran out of tears. I didn't have a tissue, so I
just blew my nose in my jersey. It was already covered in sweat and tears. Why
not add a little snot?

"I can't believe he did that to me," I said.

"Men are assholes."

"I really thought he was different."

"I did too. He seemed like one of the good ones."

Bullshit. Kristen always hated him.
It was sweet of
her to not bring that up now, though. I shook my head. "Maybe Gabriela
just sat next to him and took that picture to get under my skin." Saying
the theory out loud gave me a glimmer of hope that Chris wasn't a total
asshole.

"I can definitely see Gabriela doing that. But his
reaction made him seem so guilty. If he hadn't done anything wrong, he would
have laughed it off rather than asking where you got the picture from."

Damn.
Kristen was right. He was so guilty. I buried my
face in my hands. Two years of memories, all ruined by Chris and that bitch
Gabriela. I couldn't believe that she had taken everything from me again.

"How about we get some ice cream?" suggested
Kristen.

"I don't want to move."

"Okay, I'll get you some. Be right back." Kristen
got up and walked over to a nearby ice cream vendor.

I closed my eyes and waited for her to return.

"Rough day?" asked a deep voice next to me.

I opened my eyes and looked over at him. He seemed familiar
but I couldn't put my finger on it. I had probably seen him in a commercial or
something. He was certainly handsome enough to be in a commercial.

"You have no idea," I said.

"Well, I think I might have something to cheer you
up."

Oh God. Is this guy seriously hitting on me right now?
"Oh
yeah?"

"Yeah. How about a magic trick?"

"You really think magic is going to impress me? I'm not
an eight year old boy."

He laughed. "What if I told you I could make your
missing phone appear?"

"How'd you know..." Suddenly something clicked and
I realized where I recognized him from. He was the guy I had run into in the
locker room. I hadn't recognized him because he wasn't naked. "Oh my
God." My face started to turn bright red. First I had barged into the
men's locker room and ripped his towel off, and now he was sitting next to me
right after I had been crying. And I was sweaty and my jersey was covered in
snot. I was a hot mess.

He smiled at me. "So you do remember me after all?"

"I'm so sorry I ran into you the other day. I was on my
phone and accidently walked in there. I promise I didn't see anything
though."

"It's okay," he said, handing me my phone.
"Please tell me you'll stop crying now that you have your phone back? It
pains me to see a girl as beautiful as you upset."

I forced a small laugh. "Oh yeah, I was totally sobbing inconsolably
because I lost my phone."

"Do you want to talk about what's really wrong?"

"Not really."

"Okay. Want to play a game instead? It'll be good to get
your mind off of whatever's bothering you."

"What game?"

"Guess the sport. Every time someone walks by, we have
to try to guess what event they're competing in. Here, I'll go first." He
pointed at an Asian girl walking by who looked like she was twelve years old.
"See her? Definitely a gymnast. Your turn."

I looked around at the different options. There were a few
people walking by who were in great shape, but they didn't have distinctive
characteristics that betrayed their sport. Then I spotted a sloppy guy with a
big gut and a baseball cap. I pointed at him. "First baseman on a baseball
team?"

Bryce laughed. "Could be. But I'm pretty sure he's just
the cashier at the burger stand."

"Oh. Oops. Your turn. What do you think of those two
guys over there?"

"Eh, I'm not really into guys," said Bryce.

"That's not what I meant."

"But that seven foot tall guy who just walked by is a
basketball player. You're up. You should try to guess the sport of that
handsome stud on the bench."

"Ew, don't talk about yourself like that."

"What? Oh, no. I was talking about him." Bryce
pointed to some guy on a bench across the path stuffing his face with nachos.
"But I'm very flattered that you think I'm a handsome stud."

"The dude eating nachos is definitely a table tennis
player. And you...hmmm."

"Come on, it should be easy for you to guess what I am
after you saw me naked," said Bryce.

"Why would seeing you naked help me guess what you are?
Unless you were a porn star and had a giant penis or something."

"I do have a giant penis, but I'm not a porn star. So I
guess seeing me naked would have just been misleading for you."

Did he have a giant penis?
My mind raced back to the
previous day. All I remembered seeing was his hand in front of his junk and his
abs. My God, those abs...

"Are you picturing me naked right now?" he asked.

"What? No." I laughed awkwardly.

"Well you seem to be feeling better," said Kristen.
She plopped a bowl of ice cream down in my lap. "Who's your new
friend?"

Oh God. Did she hear that whole conversation?
"This
is uh..."

"Bryce," he said, holding his hand out for her to
shake it.

"Oh, the guy who you saw naked who told his pervy friend
that you were super hot? Did he give you your phone back?"

Bryce smiled. "Pervy friend? That was just some roided
up weirdo. My actual friends are super normal."

I looked away and hoped he wouldn't notice me blushing.
Please
don't say anything else embarrassing, Kristen.

"He's so hot!" mouthed Kristen when Bryce wasn't
looking. Or at least, she tried to mouth it. I was pretty sure she said it loud
enough for Bryce to clearly hear her.

"Well, I better get going. I promised a few friends I'd
meet up with them for dinner." Bryce stood up. "What was your name
again?"

"Alina."

"It was great to meet you, Alina." He smiled at me
and walked off.

"Damn," said Kristen. "I leave you alone for
five minutes and you have the hottest guy at the games flirting with you. Now
that's how to rebound."

"I wasn't flirting, I was just getting my phone
back."

"That's not what it looked like to me. God, his eyes are
incredible."

Yeah they are.
"Stop, I wasn't flirting with him.
I'm still with Chris." Just saying his name made me feel horrible. The
image of him and Gabriela at Club Blue came flooding back into my mind. Any bit
of happiness that Bryce had brought me quickly dissipated.

"Well, whatever you were doing, it sure looked like it
made you happy."

"Yeah, maybe I'll be happy again some time." I
shoved a big spoon full of chocolate ice cream into my mouth to try to keep the
tears at bay.

We sat in silence as we both ate an inappropriate amount of
ice cream. I didn't know why stuffing my face with delicious ice cream was so
comforting, but it was the best. I wished I could date ice cream rather than
stupid boys.

"So what do you want to do tonight?" asked Kristen.

I shrugged. I didn't feel like doing anything besides eating
more ice cream.

"How about we go get drunk?" she suggested.

Images of Club Blue and Chris getting drunk with Gabriela
filled my head and tears welled up in my eyes.

"Uh, okay. No drinking. How about we stay in and watch a
movie?"

I nodded.

Kristen gave me a hug and then we got up and headed towards
our dorm.