Chapter one:
“Two seconds left on the clock. Will she make this last shot? Will she make a win for these Carolina dolphins?” Then the announcer backs up and stumbles very gently. Her shot goes in. The crowd goes wild. “Well folks that's another win for the Ross dolphins.”
“Nice game tonight.” Lucy says. I see her walking over from the corner of my eye. She’s my power forward. I’m her point guard. She walks up to the center of the gym. Pulls me close, slides her hands down my back. Then kisses me. “Stop your going to get us caught.” I try to say it in a way that won’t hurt her feelings.
I follow Lucy to the locker room. We have to be more careful if the coaches or anyone found out about us we could get kicked off the team. So I should explain. Me and Lucy have been friends since third grade. We’ve been dating since sixth grade. Now we are Juniors in highschool. We are both the best on the basketball team. Also the best “Friends”. When I say that I mean Girl friends.
On my way home I couldn’t stop thinking about the game. I mean that last score. It could have cost me the whole game. Also Lucy is on my mind. We have a winter formal coming up for school. We hate dances because we have to act like we are friends. I mean our parents know we are dating. Not even our friends know though. So dances are rough. I have a cute way I want to ask her.
“Hope” I hear my mom calling my name from the living room. “You should get to bed, you have school tomorrow. Then you and Lucy have practice.” “Okay I will” I say with a brief acknowledgement.
A shadow is holding me down. Not letting me breathe. I can’t breathe. It’s as if I am paralyzed. Then suddenly I wake up with rapid breathing. I can’t catch my breath.
Chapter 2:
A call comes in on my phone. It’s from ‘Cup cake, Sun shine, Apple pie, Love of my life’. “Hi Lucy.” I say with great excitement, “Meet me in the locker room. I have a surprise for you.”
I’ve spent all morning setting up and planning out this. I’m ready. Then she walks in. She has her hair down in a mess. Those glasses that make her gorgeous light brown eyes pop. The way she smiled at me when she walked in. It just made me forget everything I rehearsed. I must look like an idiot right now. I thought to myself
I grab her hand. I look at her in those pretty eyes and say. “Every time I see you I fall over and over again. You just walked in this room and I fell even harder for you. You don’t realize how much I love you. God though Lucy I love you. So Will you take a fall with me into Winter Formal?” “Do I even have to answer that?” “Yes” “Then well Yes!!!”
Then the bell rings. I have to get to class. That is not what I had planned at all. I seriously must have looked like an idiot. Only later would I have known that would be the least of my problems.
I get to literature class. We are assigned to write anything about how we feel inside. Whether it be a poem or a memoir. This is what I wrote:
Dear Shadow,
Chase me, hurt me, and pin me.
Seriously go ahead and do your worst.
It won't affect me.
Bruise me, watch me turn black and blue.
Slam me, Throw me, Hit me.
Stare at me till I can’t breathe.
Think I’ve had enough guess again.
-asleep
Then I got called down to coach Wilson’s office. He says “Hope please take a seat.” “This morning when you and Lucy were in the locker room I was in there too. The principal wanted me to make sure there wasn't any equipment left in the showers. Well I decided to stay there and listen to your conversation. Now I haven’t told the other coaches. I ain’t planning to. Especially since you two are my best players. I ain’t going to call Lucy down and tell her so tell her I know okay.”
As I’m walking back to my class I can feel the darkness creep in. I need to find Lucy and tell her everything. Instead I do what I always do. I walk into the bathroom and sit on the bathroom floor. I put my back up against the wall and then drop. I can feel tear after tear stream down my face. The darkness consumes me and my demons drown me.
Then guess who walks in. Lucy. She runs over to me and just holds me. I tell her everything. She picks me up off of the floor. We get ready for practice. Then we walk together into what are now our biggest fears.
Chapter 3:
Three point shot after three point shot keeps falling. As if that is what she is meant to do with her life. This game has to be her hardest yet. I get stuck in a corner. So I do a quick fade away. Which was weak. Then when I get trapped, I do a bounce pass over to Lucy. She cuts and makes a layup.
Now the score is fifty-five to twenty-three. The game is almost over. When I hear a snap and then a yell. I know that yell from anywhere. It’s her. It’s Lucy. Coach hasn’t called a time yet so I’m supposed to be playing still. I freeze. I was like a frozen sculpture in the pacific ocean waiting to melt to save her.
Suddenly I unfreeze and run over to her. Her ankle started swelling. “I think I broke it.” Lucy was crying. “It’s going to be okay baby, I’m here for you.” I say and then quickly cover my mouth when I realize where we were at.
I pick her up and carry her in my arms like a princess being careful not to bump her ankle into anything. Even when she’s in the most pain she is still the prettiest person in my eyes. I lift her onto the ambulance bed. “I’ll come visit you in a little bit okay.” I say in a weak tone trying not to cry. “Okay Hope, I love you.” She says.
After I walked back into the gym all my other teammates had already left. There were only three people in the gym. The coaches. Coach Wilson, Coach Rocky, and Coach Lili. Lili yells “Hope what the hell had gotten into you, dating your teammate. Are you even lesbain? You know you could blow you and Lucy’s future careers in basketball.”
I take a step back. Then I quietly said, “I’ve been dating Lucy since the sixth grade. We have been on this basketball team since seventh grade. No one ever noticed that we were dating. We play fairly with any other girl on the team. So what does it matter if I’m dating her? Are you even lesbian? Don’t ever say that to me again.” I walk out and put my middle finger up towards Lili. I’m going to be pissed if I get kicked off the team for dating Lucy. If I get kicked off the team for Coach Lili though I’ll be just fine.
To be continued...
