The sound of my email chimes while I brush my teeth. Checking it, I find that Lena has officially accepted.
“YES!” The shout erupts from me, but I quickly cover my mouth. Libby and Jaylin don’t seem to stir from my loud excitement. Dancing my way to bed I mutter to myself, “One down and four more to go.”
Tossing and turning, I can’t seem to fall asleep. My mind races with the possibilities. Once sleep finally comes, worry filled dreams come with it.
I wake up in a panic from an awful nightmare where every single person we interview declines their acceptance. We don’t have any new members.
I leap out of bed toward my computer, checking my email to make sure I didn’t dream up Lena accepting the offer. Sifting through my crowded inbox, I finally find her acceptance and relief washes over me.
My jaw drops at two new email replies. Both the other girls accepted too! A happy dance takes over my body, three out of five.We are so close! I twirl and groove to my bathroom where I fill my empty water glass from the bathroom sink.
My eyes meet my tired reflection, but the bags under my eyes won’t keep my excitement away. “You got this, Laur,” I whisper.
Laying back down, I quickly drift off to sleep.
“Laur, you are going to do great,” a soft angelic voice whispers to me.
“Laur.”
“Laur, you are already doing amazing.” The voice is still faint, as if it’s far away.
“Laur, I am so damn proud of you.” The voice becomes clearer. It’s Nick.
“Laur.”
“Laur.”
Sitting up in bed, I realize the sound of Libby calling to me morphed with my brother’s voice in my dream.
“I’m up!” I shout back. Heart racing and adrenaline pumping, I jump out of bed realizing I’m late and quickly throw on clothes. “Give me five minutes!”
I make sure to thoroughly brush my teeth. Thank God, I took a shower last night. Beaming from ear to ear, I rush down the stairs. The knots in my stomach finally untangled from the words I heard from my brother in my dream.
Kat taps her foot as we approach the meeting room in the arena.
“It’s my fault!” I explain, sprinting to meet her. “I slept awful last night.”
Libby loudly bursts in from the end of the hall, unable to contain her enthusiasm, “ On the plus side, all three girls accepted last night!”
“Wow!” Kat’s sour pout turns into a gleeful grin. “That was fast!”
“Are we ready?” Delight dances in Libby’s eyes.
I breathlessly agree, panting to catch my breath from running down the hallway.
The first interview goes quicker than anticipated.
“If you can’t come up with an answer for how you would handle a player forgetting about an in-game interview, then you probably can’tcover the in-game interview yourself,” Libby frustratingly huffs as soon as the call ends.
“That’s a little harsh.” I cross my arms. “She doesn’t have much experienceandwould be a freshman”
“But it’s accurate,” Kat agrees with Libby, “even girls from your last round that we cut had better answers.”
“Okay, she’s a ‘no,’” I concur.
“Raven’s next?” Libby practically bounces down in her seat, looking at the printed out schedule in front of her.
“Yeah, I’m really looking forward to talking with her!” Kat exclaims with just as much elation as Libby.
