Read Demon Accords 05.5: Executable for Free Online Page A

gaze.
     
    “Alli, help Sarah with the rules and techniques, would you?” Coach called, sending the new girl our way. 
     
    “Sure, Coach,” Alli called back, immediately showing Sarah the proper way to pass a ball.
     
    “Okay, ready to volley for serve?” Bockman asked.
     
    “Nah, just give them first serve, Coach. We’ll get it back soon enough,” Trey said with a wink at Sarah.
     
    Coach threw me the game ball, and I bounced it a few times as I backed behind the serve line.  Sarah and Alli were to my left in the back row and Johah and two other kids were up front.  Jonah was easily the tallest kid in the gym, so he sort of owned the front row.
     
    I kept my eyes on Lisa Tesslor while I lined up my serve but sent the ball directly for Kevin Otts in the back row.  Despite being a ditz, Lisa would actually be likely to handle my serve.  Kevin, on the other hand, was an over-muscled moron who could be counted on to knock the ball into orbit or, in this case, the ductwork overhead.  Score one for our side.
     
    I got the next shot as well, putting it between Otts and Trey, but closer to Otts.  Trey actually got a hand on it, but it bounced off Otts and the ball went into the net.
     
    My next serve got too close to Micah Issacs, who was arguably one of the best athletes in school.  He passed it to Jessica, who set it for Trey, who aimed it for Sarah’s face.  It was a nasty spike and it would have likely hurt her except she somehow got a hand up in time and the ball went into our net.
     
    “Good reflexes,” Alli told her while glaring at Trey.  Issacs served a scorcher that I just couldn’t get the right angle on, my pass going out of bounds.  He served at me again, but this time, I got enough on it that Allie managed to set it up to Jonah, who smashed it into the open space between Jessica, Lisa, and Steve Randall.
     
    We rotated and our server, a quiet kid named Mark, gave them an easy serve that Steve Randall was able to set to Trey, who spiked it hard into the floor by Jonah’s feet.
     
    The other side rotated, which brought Trey directly across the net from Sarah.  He made a show of looking her body up and down with a smirk.
     
    “Sorry about the love tap earlier, babe.  I get a bit carried away.  Maybe I’ll give you private lessons later,” he suggested.
     
    I was pissed, but judging from the tense lines of defined muscle in Sarah’s back and shoulders, she was even more so. 
     
    Jessica had the serve, and she sent it directly to me in the middle of the back row.  I passed it forward, but it went at a bad angle, straight to a kid named Brian Kasinski, who was maybe our worst player.  He panicked and knocked the ball straight up over his own head.  Instead of moving out of the way, he just bent over and held his head.
     
    Sarah, whose eyes were tracking the ball like a cat with a laser pointer, leaped up, putting one hand on Brian’s back for liftoff.  She got a good three and a half feet off the ground, which gave her ample room to blister the ball right into Trey’s face.  It bounced off his forehead and nose, went into the net, and then came right back into his stomach.
     
    “Ooooooo,” I heard myself say as everyone else watched for Trey’s reaction.  He looked shocked, then his face went red with anger.
     
    “Oh sorry, babe .  I get a little carried away sometimes,” she said to him.
     
    We ended up losing by two points, but it was the best showing the outcast side had ever had and despite the win, Trey left the gym in a hell of a temper, slamming lockers and cursing at everyone.
     
    Me, I was happy for the almost draw.  It massively sucked, always losing by mega points.  Coach Bockman preferred athletes to nerds, so she never bothered to even up the teams.  Today had been one of the better gym days so far this year, but I kept going back to the moment when Sarah had leaped so high in the air, my brain replaying the sight of her hand on Brian’s back,