Spikeball Love Story

We challenged our Collegiate Ambassadors (become one here) to write their best Spikeball love story they could imagine.  Hunter Poole Bell takes the cake with the submission below:

"It began like any decent love story would, on a beautiful summer's day at the beach. My youth pastor introduced us, so I figured she was a good girl. At first, all I saw was a pretty figure with those endless curves, but it didn't take me long to realize there was so much more to her. She had a personality; she was fun, exciting, and a much more complex individual than I initially gave her credit for. We swam over to the sandbar, a little island in the middle of the sound, to spend some time together, but like she was the new kid at school, everyone wanted to be around her and we didn't get much time alone. While we all played together I could tell the two of us had something special. We stayed out there for hours until the sun started to fall behind the marsh. On our way back to the house she balanced herself on the front of my kayak and I may have paddled a little slower, not wanting that afternoon to end. As she headed home, we made plans to see each other the next day. It would be her last day before heading back home and the thought crossed my mind that it might be the last time I ever saw her.

The next day we started right where we left off. Again, everyone wanted to spend time with her, but I didn't let it bother me. I was just happy we were together. The reality began to sink in that this was just a summer fling. I was almost sure that we had something real, but then again, I realized this must be what everyone thinks. That afternoon I waved goodbye as I could see her pulling away in the back of my youth pastor's mini van. She was gone. Sure the rest of the summer was fun, but it just wasn't the same. My brother and I played golf, surfed the waves, and spent time out on the boat, but something was missing. My thoughts never strayed far from those amazing hours spent out on the sandbar.

That August I set off for college. I wasn't straying too far, only about an hour and a half away from home. As I settled in to a very unfamiliar setting I still hadn't let go off the possibility that maybe, just maybe I would run into my summer love somewhere on campus. She didn't have a Facebook page and all I knew about her background at this point was that she was from a little town in Illinois. With this in mind I gave up on finding her, knowing the chances were slim she had ended up in a college in North Carolina. After about two weeks of trying to move on I decided to take action. I simply decided I couldn't go the rest of my life without her. Sure, things might not work out, but I had to know I had given it a shot. I posted a search on Craigslist for my lady. In less than a week I received a response. No, it wasn't from her, but it turns out she was looking for me, and a stranger came upon both of our posts and connected us. We caught up on the phone and in less than a week she flew herself to North Carolina and we reunited. It was like we never skipped a beat. For the next three months we were inseparable. We spent every waking moment together; playing on the quad, hanging out by the Old Well, and even spending time on the basketball courts. Life was great.

As winter approached and the leaves disappeared form the trees we started seeing less and less of one another. I finally confronted her. "What's going on?" I asked. She told me she just felt like I didn't want to see her anymore. Ironically enough, I had been getting the same vibes from her. We realized there was really no reason we had stopped spending so much time together. Maybe it was the chill in the air or maybe it was because we simply forgot how much fun we always have together. Whatever it was, we decided to put it behind us and just like that we were a couple once again. Over Christmas break she came home to meet my family and they fell in love with her just as I had that summer before. She immediately became one of the family.

At the start of the next semester class was cancelled for three consecutive days and we spent nearly all of our free time out in the snow together. Even though she was from Illinois I didn't know how she would fair in the harsh conditions, but she absolutely loved it. She started meeting more and more of my friends and, as always, everyone fell in love with her. To this day her popularity continues to grow like wildfire on campus, (she has even joined the Campus Recreation Intramural program) but fortunately we still get to see lots of one another.
I am forever grateful for my youth pastor introducing us on that beautiful day at the beach. Little did he know he had sparked a fire that would continue to grow until this very day. My lady and I are closer than ever and I don't foresee that changing anytime soon. I guess you could say things are getting pretty serious. Oh, her name, you ask? Her name is Spikeball."