Our Story

Rock Bottom

The next day was terrible.

I got up at 7:30, which was way too late, since I usually got up at 6:00. To make it worse, I forgot my backpack in my room, which contained my English assignment, my History assignment, and my gym clothes. The only good part to my day so far was that my dad was coming by the school on his way to a meeting for work, so he could bring my bag.

At lunch, I tripped, dumping the contents of my tray onto a shy girl named Sidney Wellers; she was self-conscious enough already. I was more excited than usual to get out of school, which i thought wasn't possible.

And to make it the absolutely awful, I fell on my way out of the school, tripping a high schooler who already wasn't fond of me.

But I had to keep my head high, because we had an important game tonight, and we had to win it. We were playing our number one rival, Knox County. It was a huge game, the biggest game for middle school sports, and as many people came to it as any regular varsity game. But, the rivalry was biggest for me. My worst enemy, Spencer Ross, played for Knox.

Spencer and I were best friends from Kindergarten up untill Third Grade, the year her parents divorced and she moved to Knox with her mom. I tried talking to her constantly after she moved, but for some reason she suddenly hated me. I had no clue why we hated each other so much, but each year, it seemed like we hated each other more than the last. I had to beat her; it was the most important game of the season, for me anyways.

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The buzzer went off on the score board, telling both teams the game would start in less than a minute. Coach finished up telling us what offenses and defenses we would be in, and we shouted 'RAMS' on three. The starters were Kate, Addison, Melissa, Reese, and I; Melissa was jumping. Knox got the tip, but when they attempted the layup, Kate hit it out of her hands and Reese caught it. She dribbled down the court with her incredible speed, and when she reached half-court, made a long pass to Addison. She shot, and it went in, of course. Addie never missed.

When there were only 0:16 seconds left in the first half, the score was 18-13 and we were down. Addison was point guard, so she had the ball, and was dribbling it down the court. When there were only 0:09 seconds left, Knox got a good trap on her, but she managed to get a good pass to Alex, a girl that had just moved here this year from Georgia, but was an excellent basket ball player. With only 0:04 seconds left, Alex passed it to me. I was just outside the three-pint line, so i looked to pass it in to Kate at post, but the defense down there was really giving her troubles. I looked up at the basket, focused on the backside of the rim, and shot just as the buzzer went off.

Swish!

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The second half was about to start, and the score was 18-16 and they were ahead. I didn't start the second half, so i just sat watching the game while I chugged an entire gatorade without even tasting it.

Dan put me back into the game after only three minutes had passed in the second half; there were now 4:34 left in the second half, and the score was 27-28 - we were ahead. We had been ahead since the first minute of the second half, thanks to Addison's incredible shooting abilities, but only by three points at the most. I was having a good game, as I had already made 11 points - my new record - which is good in a middle school game, so I was really surpriesed when Dan took me out with 3.5 seconds to go and the score was 35-34, only to be replaced with one of our backup players, Desiree.

When I got to the bench, I sat next to McKenna - who looked as if she was ready to forget about her knee and jump in the game - and leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"Why did he just put in Desiree?" I asked, my voice filled with annoyance and anger.

"Haven't you known all along that Dan is stupid?" was all she said in return.

We were ahead by one, and we only had three fouls, so the plan was to foul them as soon as they got the ball in, but I was out so I had no control over whether or not the plan was executed. We were in man-to-man defense, and everyone was denying the out-of-bounds pass. Finally, of all girls, Spencer got a pass on the baseline and shot it. I watched the ball go up, make an arch in the air, and gently fall into the basket, just after the buzzer went off.

I sat there, stunned, for a few moments while I processed what had just happened. I heard muffled screams of joy coming from the section of the bleachers holding all of the Knox fans. I even heard when one of the moms stood up and shouted,

"Suck that, Green!"

When we were shaking Knoxs' hands, Spencer whispered to me,

"Good game, Lydia," and you could almost taste the sarcasm in her voice, so on our way back, I purposely tripped her and said,

"Sorry," in a sarcastic tone, and then continued to walk into the locker room.

And that, was when my day hit abosolute rock bottom.

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Author's Note :) I just wanted to say thank you so very much for reading. I'm just starting to get into writing, so please leave any suggestions you have for my in the comments - every little thing helps! And, if you have questions or just something you want to say please leave it in the comments because I love to hear what you guys have to say!

-Lib