Borrowed Time

Chapter Eighty

God, basketball games were loud... They were worse than football games, at least some of the noise would dissipate when it was outside, it had somewhere to go... But it echoed in the gym and it made Juliette's hair stand on end because she was hearing everything. She dug her nails into her thighs as she took a deep breath, feeling Esme's hand rub across her back. It was comforting, but it wasn't enough.

Fucking hell, she still should've brought her headphones even if it would've looked weird, it was too loud when she wasn't focused on cheering, but she hadn't thought to bring them... Which was ridiculous.

"So, what position does Shelby play?" Esme asked, clearly trying to distract from the overstimulation... and it would've helped more if she knew what she was going to say. Juliette had to think about that... Fuck, she should know what Shelby plays, she played basketball with Shelby for three years... Uh... Oh!

"She's a point guard. Really good at it too." There we go, Smith. You've got it. Esme let out a sigh and chuckled, leaning back on her hands as they looked over at Juliette.

"Is there anything she can't do?" They asked, and Juliette shrugged. Not that she was aware of, she was pretty sure that Shelby could find the cure for cancer if that was what she was after. Her intelligence, her ability... They knew no bounds.

"When I find something, I'll let you know." Esme gave her a look, but she was telling the truth. Shelby was the coolest person she knew, Juliette found herself envious of her almost constantly... Which didn't sound healthy, but she was working on it. "I'm serious, she's amazing at everything she tries, it's almost unsettling." She said, and she watched a smile spread across Esme's face as they leaned over, placing a hand on her thigh lightly.

"You're so proud of her, aren't you?" She asked, like it was the sweetest thing in the world, like it wasn't something everyone should do... But in Juliette's opinion, every fucking person should be impressed by Shelby, everyone should be proud of her.

She was oddly perfect, it was almost unsettling.

"God yes... She's so impressive." Juliette sighed. Esme nodded along with her, looking back down at the court where the team was warming up... Juliette was certain that Shelby was the only person alive who could make their god awful basketball uniforms look good. Hell, she'd look good in a plastic bag.

"I know." Esme glanced over at her, clearing her throat. "Are things getting better with how she's been treated?" Juliette grimaced and shrugged... She wasn't sure, she knew that people would shit talk on the team and she'd heard murmurings from parents, but no one had hit her so far this year, so that was indeed better than the year before.

"Uh... Mostly? There's always gonna be shit, but like... Not as much shit as it could be." Juliette said, and Esme's face fell as they sighed, shaking their head. What? Nothing that Juliette had said had technically been wrong, she just had no way of knowing exactly how things were going.

"That's so vague." Yeah. Shelby was vague sometimes, therefore Juliette had to be vague when talking about what she was talking about what she'd been told.

"Well, when Shelby goes into detail with me, I'll go into detail with you." She promised... Because really, that was all she could do, right? She had to wait for Shelby to feed her pieces of information and hope that it was enough to string together.

"Cool." They were both quiet for a long moment, and Juliette's mind drifted to the homework she'd neglected... She'd had every intention of finishing her essay, but she'd gotten distracted by so much shit today, she was only half done... Granted, she had a few days, but she was trying to be prepared for once...