Seven

four: failure

reading this chapter and being like ^^

thanks for being there when i wrote this failure of a chapter, mad. ill add you in later

Oh. My. Gosh.

That was basically me the entire week of the basketball tournament.

Okay, so the seventh grade team didn't make it, which totally sucked. The team was really bad, so we didn't expect them to make it, but it would have been nice if they did. The eighth grade team, which amazing seventh grade baller Luke Alan was on, did. That was my chance to actually speak to him.

So, if we flash back to chapter one, you remember my friend Adri ruining my life with him. I'm actually glad she did that because it was a perfect conversation starter. As you already know, I found out his brother has a heart defect. I could also sneakily mention it. My perfectly scripted conversation was supposed to go like this:

"Hey, Luke, right?" I say, kicking his back lightly with my cheer shoes. He'll turn around and say, "Yeah?"

"You know, I'm really sorry about the whole dance fiasco."

"It's okay."

"And this is totally irrelevant and random and maybe I'm just going crazy, but I saw a picture on the Camp Taylor Facebook that totally looked like you're little brother."

"Oh, yeah, Max. You have one?"

"No, but my sister does."

Then we continue to talk until he gets put in the game as a sub.

My plan. It was perfectly thought out and could not fail. On the first day, which were the qualification rounds, I sat right behind him. I tried what seemed like billions of times, but each time, I chickened out. And when I finally got the courage, he got put in the game as a sub. The next day, Alyssa and I bought a ton of candy and I was eating like crazy. I obviously wasn't going to talk to him like that.

So it was the last day and the championship games arrived. I had to make my move. I had spoken to him when my friend Taylor gave him his food for Basketball Buddies, but it wasn't a "just us" conversation like I wanted. It was more of a "Hi. Go kill 'em" conversation.

I sat right behind the boys for the first two tournament games, but I had to cheer during the championship. And that was when I was going to talk to him.

I walked with my friend Taylor for the last time to give him his stuff for BB Buddies, but he was with his friends and I couldn't do it. Some cheerleaders held up a poster while the others put their poms together, forming a bridge. The players were to run under our poms and rip through the poster. Hanna giggled and said I should spank Luke while he ran through. It would cause him to look at me, but touching people's butts wasn't exactly up my alley. The basketball players ran a lap around the court and then came to sit by the cheerleaders until the game actually started. We took pictures of the boy with the perfect butt and cheer roll stance, Austin Waters. Hanna kept asking when I would talk to Luke. I replied with a simple answer of "When the game's over." When we won the championship, some of the boys were crying, and I told him that he did a good job. I had chickened out once more.

And then came the fatal day when I decided to say my scripted conversation to him.

It was the staff versus eighth grade basketball game, and being a seventh grade cheerleader, I had to cheer for staff. In my head, I was rooting for the eighth graders. Luke jumped on this really hot assistant coach, Caleb, and basically rode him piggy-back style until Caleb dropped the ball and Giddy, Caleb's little brother and Luke's best friend, stole the ball. When the game finished, (the eighth graders won, of course) I walked up to my crush.

"Hey, Luke, right?" I said.

"WHAT?!" he shouted over the roaring crowd.

"Good job," I muttered.

"Thanks."

I failed. Big time.

So, I although that did not turn out the way I wanted, I would not stop. I would make him like me even if it took a knife to his throat. I'm kidding, guys. But I did do something that any regular love crazed girl wouldn't do: I talked to his mom.

"You're Luke's mom, right?" I asked Mrs. Alan.

"Yeah," she said.

"Have you been to Camp Taylor? You look really familiar," I said.

"Oh, yeah! I knew I'd seen you before. We haven't been in a while, but we love it. Max here is our heart camper," she explained.

"Cool! My sister is our heart camper," I said. Mrs. Alan nodded. "Well, gotta go cheer!"

By the end of the game, I had won over his mother and his brother by playing basketball with Max. He said that I was nice and gave me a high five. Yes, guys, I failed, but at the same time, I won.

My friends have officiated our ship name: #madeluke

YOU BETTER SHIP IT!!

Failure much, guys? Anyways, thanks for reading and keep voting and commenting! Hopefully #madeluke will work out. Comment your thoughts! I am going to start updating once a week on whatever happens in my stupid seventh grade life (I'm still a seventh grader). Also comment if you want a sequel to what happens in the summer and in eighth grade. I don't think anything worthwhile will happen next week, but if something does, stay tuned!

your favorite failure

maddylion