Crush

Game

Oliver

Weaving in and out. Dodging hands. Ducking around bodies.

I dribbled the ball. Jumped high. Shot the ball straight through the hoop.

The crowd cheered loudly.

We scored again.

Jenson came running up to me, clapped me on the back as we jogged together back towards the centre of the court.

The time read two minutes.

Two minutes till the end of the game.

We were winning, but not by much.

Just one more.

Just one more and we would secure our win. Move on to the next game.

We got this.

Finn took the ball. Dribbled. Threw it to Mason.

Mason sidestepped players, quick on his feet and passed the ball to Jenson.

Jenson raced towards me near the basket, evading players trying to steal the ball, ducking, weaving, spinning around. He tossed the ball at me.

I caught it with one hand and launched myself at the basket. Hurled the ball.

Yes.

Scored.

The buzzer sounded.

The crowd erupted.

The noise was deafening.

We won.

Players on the court started running about, jumping up and down in glee or hanging their heads at their loss.

I felt the rest of the guys around me, clapping my back, ruffling my hair, squeezing my shoulders.

Jenson grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a quick hug. "You did good, captain." He grinned at me.

"You didn't do so bad yourself." I bumped my shoulder into his as we turned our attention to the losing team. They were a team from a neighbouring school and they were good. They gave us the runaround. We needed it. After a few practices, I'd noticed some of our guys were looking a little rusty. A good game against a good team was what we needed to get us back into it. Back on top form.

I shook the hands of the other team players, nodding at them. I felt their pain. We'd lost games in the past. It sucked.

I sought out their captain of the opposite team. He was a good looking guy, with brown hair, big brown eyes and muscular arms. Very muscular arms.

Careful not to stare too much at him, I shook his hand and offered him a smile. "Good game, man."

"Thanks," he smiled back. "Your team really put us through our paces."

I shrugged his comment off. "We needed a good workout. You guys did great."

He looked me up and down.

I shivered slightly.

Was he ... what was he doing?

Mason came up behind me and squeezed my shoulders, breaking the strange moment.

"Coming, captain?" He motioned towards the rest of the guys.

"Sure." I turned back to the other guy. "See you around."

He looked me up and down again, then smirked. "Yeah. Uh, see you around."

Frowning, I turned back to Mason to see if he'd noticed, but he was already walking towards the rest of the guys.