"Hurry! The game's already started!" Evie urged, pulling Tommy towards the stadium and into the crowd of students. The roar of sound that came from the stands buzzed in his ears, as they finally located a pair of seats towards the back.
"Do you see Abel?" Evie asked, getting up from her seat to peer over the seniors in front of her. Tommy glanced over the court, looking for a tall, lanky figure in a green uniform.
"Over there, he just caught the ball," he said, pointing towards a boy with a mop of brown hair, which swayed with every movement.
"GO BEL!" Evie cried, lifting up her neon green sign. The words, "Shoot for the MOON," were printed in gold glitter (Tommy had helped her come up with that god-awful pun).
"Come on, Bel," Tommy muttered under his breath, as Abel bent to take a three-pointer. His movements were fluid, just as Tommy and Evie had seen him practice it a hundred times before, and the shot sailed into the basket with a swish.
"HELL YEAH, ABEL!" Tommy shouted, his voice carried louder by the cheers of his classmates. Behind him, the school band erupted into triumphant music. Abel's name was chanted across the stadium.
Their school, Riverwood Academy, was playing their biggest rival, St. Andrews, and every game was wrought with tension. In particular, Abel was a target of most of their defensive plays. When Tommy hung up his jersey before their Andrews game, his coach fumed. Abel knew it was coming, of course, and Tommy had done his best to train up the younger players in Abel's year to step up to the challenge.
"He looks exhausted," Evie said, as they watched Abel resting his hands on his knees, sucking in shallow gasps of air as his teammate shot his first free throw.
"He's been doing everything," Tommy replied, eyeing the scoreboard. The game clock was stopped at 15 seconds. Riverwood was down by two points.
The crowd was in hysterics after Justin Beal made his second free throw.
"Come on, Bel!" Evie screamed. St. Andrews had one inbound play, and over the years of rivalry, even Riverwood's full-court press had never beaten it. Abel's arms were spread wide as he marked the inbounder, bouncing on the balls of his feet. The stadium boomed with the Riverwood chant, "Go go, Riverwood, go go!"
In a panic, the St. Andrews' player launched the ball high over Abel's fingertips. But somehow, in his exhaustion, Abel managed to turn around and leap forward to intercept the pass and boosted the ball towards Justin, their best shooter, for a three-pointer.
The shot fell through the net.
The buzzer went off like an alarm.
Tommy and Evie launched off of their seats.
On the car ride home, sitting in the passenger seat, Evie gushed animatedly over her favourite moments of the game. As he drove, Tommy would interject from time to time to give a passionate remark of assent. Abel sat in the back middle seat, often poking his head forward between them to reply excitedly. Evie peered back at Abel and began ranting about St. Andrews and their plays. "Ugh, they were playing so dirty. I saw Newman yanking on your shirt when you tried to make a cut," she said. Tommy agreed, "You did a good job of getting the ball to Justin when you were double-teamed."
"I wish you were on the court with me, Tommy," Abel said from behind him.
"I wish I had the time, man. I'm busting my ass right now trying to get together all my applications for law school."
Evie groaned from the front seat, making the two of them laugh. "He never has time for me anymore," she whined. "Who's going to do my maths homework for me now?" She moaned.
"Ask Bel," Tommy said, flashing Abel a grin in the rearview mirror. Abel glared at him but was unable to stop his cheeks from reddening.
"Bel? He's worse than I am at maths," Evie said indignantly. Abel sat forward and flicked the side of her head. "Shut up, I beat you in the last exam." She yelped and stuck her tongue out in retaliation.
"Children, please. I'm driving," Tommy chastised, although he was grinning widely.
Sitting back, Abel looked out the window in mock defeat, before kicking the bottom of Evie's seat.
YOU ARE READING
Growing Pains
Romance"You left me. You. left. me. You ran away. How do I know that you won't do it again the next time something goes wrong?" As kids, Evie, Tommy and Abel were best friends. Kind-hearted Evie brought Tommy and Abel under her wing. Until one horrible da...
