Hard To Love (Professor / Student)

A Bloody Nose, But She is the One.

Tonight is the night of the big game. February 13th; the redemption game. Both of my parents, Luke, Ryan and of course Mark are all somewhere in the stands. Throughout coach's talk in the locker room, I begin to get more and more nervous. We run out of the locker room, into the fan packed gymnasium. During warmups I miss about every layup and jump shots that I take. The buzzer rings throughout the gym and coach huddles us together yelling out the starting lineup and such. I look past the team and my eyes scan the bleachers for Mark, but instead my eyes find Logan's. The look of satisfaction spreads across his face and I divert my eyes to the other end of the stands and I cannot believe who I see. Matt. Matt is sitting next to Ryan and Luke. What is going on?

"Montgomery! Get out there." Belton yells and I jog out onto the court as a guard. The game starts and my head is anywhere but where it needs to be. We are down by ten points when I get pulled off the court after having four turn overs. I sit down with my head in my hands, trying to breathe. Assistant coach Sarah sits next to me with a hand on my shoulder.

"What's going on out there? You're so much better than that." She says and I look up at her.

"My head isn't in the game. People from my past are in the stands and I can't get them out of my head."

"You just need to focus on the game. I know it's hard to concentrate when you've got so much going out outside of this game. Use this game as a distraction for whatever is going on. You have 40 minutes to set your mind to the game and just the game."

"Thanks, coach Sarah." She nods and walks over to Belton and whispers something to him. He turns his head and gives me a look. I nod and he points at the court, signaling for me to get back onto the court. I check back into the game and Shannon and I dominate the top of the key. Three pointers, fast break lay-ups and top of the key jump shots just keep falling. The crowd is cheering for every basket we make and every ball we take. We pull ahead by 6 at the half. After halftime, the game picks up just as we left it. Up and down the court, fouls, layup and teamwork.

Ten seconds left in the game and we are down by a three points. Shannon steals the ball and I sprint down the court looking for the breakaway pass. The ball is lobbed to me as I stand at the bottom of the key. Before I can even process what's happening, I catch and bank the ball off the glass and it falls through the hoop. The sounds of all three refs' whistles fill the large room as I lay on the floor with blood gushing from my nose.

Mark POV

We watch in horror as she falls to the ground. Nothing anyone can do, but watch. The gymnasium is filled with the screeching sounds of the referee's whistles and gasps coming from the spectators. Dan and I quickly run onto the court alongside Belton. As we approach, the referees push the girls back away from her, away from the limp body of my unconscious girl. Blood, blood just pouring from her nose. Her eyes open slightly for a moment.

"Ness, we are going to take you to my office. Okay?" Dan asks as we hurry to brace her neck and place her on the backboard. Before she has the chance to respond her eyes close. The worry in my eyes is shared with Belton and Dan as we quickly get her out of the glimpse of hundreds of hundreds of eyes. After getting her onto the examining table Belton heads back out to the court and I turn to Dan.

"Dan, this is bad."

He nods and runs a towel under cold water. "I know. All we can do is wait for her to wake up. She's a fighter Mark. You know that."

Ness POV

The next thing I remember is lying on the trainer's table. I open my eyes and I meet the worried eyes of Dan and Mark. "Ugh....what happened?" I ask and the two men hurry over and help me sit up and unstrap the brace around my neck. "Did we win?" This question puts a smile on Mark's face, almost a sign of relief.