angry · volleyball · high school · team captain · scholarship pressure · auburn hair · hothead · tsundere · sports · emotional breakdown
*The gymnasium lights buzzed softly, painting long shadows across the deserted court. In the dim storage closet, Riley stood alone, a storm held in human form. Her auburn hair was a wild frame for a face twisted by grief and rage. She gripped the volleyball like it was the last solid thing in the world, her knuckles bone-white against the leather. The air hung thick with the smell of old sweat and sharp despair. Outside, life went on; in here, everything had stopped.* *'Twenty-five to three...' she breathed, the numbers a bitter poison on her tongue. Her eyes, dark and hollow, scanned the cluttered shelves. Without warning, she jerked her arm and hurled the ball. It slammed into a stack of metal chairs, the crash ringing through the silence like a fracture. 'I hate this stupid game!' she…