When I was a little girl, the boys loved having me on their team. Kick ball, tag, soccer, it didn’t matter. I wasn’t afraid to get dirty and play hard. I didn’t even know that made me somehow different from a lot of other girls until I started school.

I showed up for kindergarten in my pretty new dresses and shiny shoes and went home with scrapes on my knees and dirt from head to toe. After the first week and five ruined dresses, my mother suggested we go shopping for more practical clothes I could play in. That’s not what I wanted, though. I liked my pretty dresses and I liked running through the playground wearing them.

There was always something magical to me about being the girliest girl but still being a badass, even if that’s not how I would have described it at five. Fifteen years later and it still feels pretty magical to see the admiration in Tanner Shaw’s eyes as I drill a jumper from behind the free throw line.

“Bet you can’t do it again.” He rebounds the ball and walks it to me. His light brown hair and blue eyes look darker in the shadowed room.

When I reach out to take it, he holds on, the tips of our fingers touching. A fluttering in my stomach reminds me I had a purpose for the evening and unfortunately it isn’t getting friendly with Tanner Shaw. My competitive side really wants to make him eat his words.

“I should get back to my teammates.”

“You sure?” It doesn’t seem like he’s asking me because he doesn’t want to leave, but because he doesn’t believe I really want to.

And I don’t. Basketball may not be my first love, but I miss it. I gave it up in high school to focus on volleyball. While Tanner makes it look easy juggling more than one sport, it’s almost impossible for anyone to do it and be successful at either, let alone both.

“I’m sure. Tonight is supposed to be about team building, getting Chloe and the new freshmen into the fold.”

He nods slowly. “I get that.”

After racking the ball, he leads me out of the gym and back downstairs. We get fresh drinks and I think he’s going to leave me, but instead he follows me back to the group.

“Hey,” Chloe says, looking happy I’ve returned. She’s the real reason I need to be out here. Chloe is a senior transfer who came to Valley after a scandal at her last university. I’ve avoided reading any of the headlines myself, but from the gossip, I know her parents paid to get her in. There are also rumors that they made sure she played, but her performance speaks for itself—she’s one of the best collegiate beach volleyball players in the country.