Chapter 25

By the time I got home it was already 10:15. My mom and Lucas were already in bed. Im kind of surprised the she didn't wait up for me. Or even call me. She was probably too tired and distracted by the boys. I felt like I was sleep walking. Like I was there but I wasn't. What just happened?

I couldn't sleep all night. I laid in my bed staring at the fan. I kept replaying the moment over and over again in my mind. Kissing her felt unreal. It felt different. I felt as though everything I'd ever wanted wasn't good enough. I had dreamt of kissing Kris for as long as I could remember, until it wasn't her I was dreaming about. I loved Kris. I know in my heart that I did love her. But now it felt hollow, empty. It was a hollow feeling with nothing backing it anymore. I shifted my thoughts from Kris to Sara. Sara had been there for me through all of this. Every late night, all my ranting, all of the fights with Kris. I thought about all the times she made me feel better. She has been with me through everything. Everything was so confusing. I didn't know how I felt about Sara. But I knew one thing for sure, I wasn't in love with Kris anymore. That kiss proved it. It felt wrong. The whole situation felt wrong. She was upset about Mack and was only using me. At this realization I got angry. Not because she used me, but because I let her. I contemplated my thoughts and feelings until I finally fell asleep.

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Sitting through class was hell. Today was game day, and I would be riding the bench for the first two quarters because of the mishap last week. I was supposed to be suspended the whole game but Braddock worked it out somehow that I would only miss the first two quarters. Fine by me. It meant I didn't have to deal with Kris on the court, and I still hadn't told Sara about any of it. Is it considered cheating if you're not actually dating?

"You alright?" Said a familiar voice. I lifted my head from hands and looked up to see Ollie. He sat down in the desk in front of me.

"Not really." I replied. And I honestly don't know why I answered honestly. Everything just seemed so easy with him.

"Whats going on?" He asked sincerely. With that I laid out the whole story from beginning to end. The words just kept pouring out of me. And it felt good to get it out, and not worry about the consequences or feelings or anything similar. He just nodded in the places he needed too. Every once in a while he would give me a side ways grimace of sorts, like he understood what I was feeling. Towards the end of it I was getting so frustrated I wanted to cry. At that point he just wrapped his arms around me in an awkward hug, seeing how there was a desk between us.

"I dont know what to do." I said barely audible.

"Well if you ask me," he said " Kris doesn't deserve you. And you know that now. After all the shit, you realized that. And thats good. Now you get up, and move on. It thats with Sara then so be it. If not then tell her. But it sounds like you like her, a lot." He said it so calmly and casually.

"It doesn't matter how I feel, she's never going to forgive me for what happened with Kris."

"If she really likes you back then she will. But its going to take time." He said.

"God how do I even tell her." I ran my hands through my hair, in a frustrated manner.

"You're on your own for that one." He smiled his crooked smile.

"Oh shit, we have a game tonight." I practically screamed. The thought had just reoccured in my head.

"Oh yeah, you do don't you. But I thought you couldn't play." He asked while pointing at his lip which made me remember mine. It was healing and had a scab now. It looked gross as hell.

"I can play the second half only. But that's fine with me; I don't have to deal with Kris during the first half. Its the part where I actually play that worries me. She doesn't play right when she has a lot on her mind. And me being one of the problems isn't going to help."

"Well at least you're playing Oso. They suck." He laughed.

"Yeah thats true." I laughed nervously.

"Don't worry. I'm going to the game anyways so you'll have my support." He said while raising a thumbs up at me.

"Good, you can be my get away driver when shit hits the fan." I laughed a nervous laugh.

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Sitting on the bench was torture. Kris was fucking up so much that the rest of the team was too. She kept turning the ball over and missed about 80% of her shots. She was too complacent, too slow. Ana had taken my spot and was fucking up royally. She was doing worse than Kris. Her defense was shit and her offense was sloppy. I was so jittery on the bench that Dana gave me a look like 'chill'. It honestly made me mad but I ignored her. Braddock was just as pissed as I was. He couldn't take Kris out because I was riding the bench and Sara doesn't play point. And he couldn't switch out Ana because Dana and Heather were worse than her, and Ava wasn't even here, she was sick. During the break between first and second quarter Braddock was furious. We were ahead by at least 10 points, but that doesn't mean shit when you're playing this bad.

"I know we don't have our starting five but this is ridiculous." He was trying not too yell too loud.

"Kris I don't know whats going through you're head but whatever it is you need to get into the game. You're being too complacent." See I told you. "Kara if you rebound don't bring it down, thats how it got stolen the last three times." He critiqued them all a bit more, then told them the play and finally said,

"Get out of your heads and have some fun. This game should be fun. They suck" we all laughed to ourselves. It was a good pep talk. It really was, but it didn't do anything, because in the second quarter Oso's point guard managed to score 9 points on her own with 3 assists. While we managed to score a total of 5 points. At the half the score was now, 45-40 with Oso ahead. I wanted to scream.

In the locker room we waited for Braddock to walk in. When he did he slammed the score book on the floor and all of us jumped just a little bit.

"How?" He said angrily. He rubbed his short beard with his hand. No one looked directly at him.

"Their point, number 15, she scored 9 points by herself. Our defense is sloppy, and on offense I call a play and no one knows what the hell is going on." That was mostly because Ana didn't know all the plays. Idiot.

"There is absolutely no reason we should be losing to a team like Oso." He said pacing back and forth. His tone was calm and low. It scared me more than when he was yelling at us. Kris was looking at the floor the whole time. She knew she was fucking up, but at the same time she knew she couldn't do any better than this. Her emotions showed when she played. If she wasn't okay then neither was her playing.

"When we get back out there Avery you're going in for Kris." This shocked me, and Kris too for that matter, because when he said that she looked up immediately. I thought I would just take my place and get Ana the hell out of there.

"Now get out there and do what you're supposed to do." was all he said.

Waking out Kris gave me a look I couldn't read. I just kept my head down and walked out with Sara.

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Stepping on the court felt amazing. I finally had control of this game, and there was no way we were going to lose. Not if I had anything to say about it. Sara was at half court on the side line. The ref gave her the ball so she could throw it in to me. Number 15 was guarding me. She had this cocky look on her face that made me want to hit her. She was trying to play tight man defense while her team was back in a zone. I just looked at her and smiled. When Sara had the ball I ran behind half court and got the ball. 15 was playing hard defense, but she was slow, sloppy. I drove in left handed and as soon as she followed me I did a reverse spin more back right, took a dribble or two, set my feet and shot a 3 pointer. 15 was still going left. 43-45.

Back on defense I was at the top of the three point line waiting for 15. She came to the top of the key. She dribbled slow and steady. I watched her eyes move from player to player. When they landed on one I knew what she was going to do. She was looking to her right, my left, she was going to pass. As soon as she stopped her dribble and went to pass the ball I hit it with my left hand down court. I grabbed the ball and ran down court. I heard someone say "behind you." Then I head a "Never mind." I was so fast they didn't come close. I went in for a left handed layup and scored. 45-45.

After the third quarter the score was 54-45. I had shut down their point guard completely, and the rest of the team was useless. At the beginning of the fourth quarter Braddock put Kris back in, but I was still point. I had control of this game, and I was not about to let emotions get in the way of that.

Back on the court I let my mind zone out and my instincts take over. I took the ball down the court. I ran the play Braddock had told me, so I passed to Kris and ran to the opposite side. Sara ran through the lane and Kris passed it to her for an easy lay up. 56-45. The rest of the game was simple and easy give or take a few mistakes here and there. The final score was 82-53. I had a total of 24 points.

After the game Ollie ran up to me and shook my shoulders saying

"You did freaking amazing! Freaking MVP!!!" he shouted.

"You're gonna give me brain damaged." I laughed, "But thank you."

"Dude that was awesome. You were everywhere and making threes like nothing." He shot an imaginary ball and held his hand up. "that was awesome." He looked past me and his face got a little more serious.

"Now its time for the hard part." He said nodding in Saras direction. She was talking to some people I didn't know.

"Yeah, easy parts over." I said.

" Good luck Avery." he said as he walked back to his group of guys.

"Thanks, I need it." I said to no-one in particular