Spring

Chapter Ten

Sage Gibson

Monday morning, I wave to Natalie and Mom as I leave the house. They're driving so they can wait a while longer. Mom offered to drive me too, but I want to get in a little early today.

I make good timing too. By the time I round the building and come up to the gymnasium in the back, I can still hear the sounds of the floors squeaking. I walk in, shutting the door behind me as quietly as I can.

From what I can see, they're doing shooting drills. I walk over and climb up the bleachers, sitting in the second row and relaxing. A few moments later, I'm pleasantly surrpised when I see Aria approaching.

She sits in the seat next to mine. "Hello, stranger."

"Hey." I smile.

"What're you doing here?" She asks, eyes glancing onto the court.

"Uh, I've decided to join the team."

"Really?" Her head jerks back to look at me. A small smile graces her lips. "That's great Sage."

"Yeah." I grin. "I think so."

"Anyways, I was just sketching back in that corner when I saw you, so Imma get back to that." She opens her sketchbook, the one that is always in her hands, and pulls her pencil out from between the pages.

I lean over to look at what she's drawing and grin when I see. It's a boy playing basketball. He's jumped up he's going to lay-up, ball in hand.

"Yo, that's awesome. Who is it?"

She smiles. "Well, I don't think it's anyone specifically. I kind of mixed and matched different people's features so it doesn't resemble anyone in particular."

I nod. "How long have you been working on it? It looks almost done."

She smiles. "I still have to shade it, after I'm done with the face. I started a light sketch Friday but didn't get far, so I started back up again today. So, all together I think I've worked on it somewhere between two and three hours."

"That is really amazing."

A small blush forms and she looks down at her lap. "Thanks, I guess."

Then she starts working on it again and my eyes turn back to the court. I see Coach Brittan looking at me with a smile, when he catches my gaze he waves. I smile and give a small wave back.

I like Coach B. He seems really nice and I'm actually excited to be playing on his team. I look around at the boys on the court. Leaning over, I tap Aria on the shoulder as a question plagues me. 

"So do JV and varsity practice together all the time?" I ask when she looks up.

"Pretty much. Sometimes they separate for certain drills, or if one team lost horribly and have to do runs, but for the most part they stay together. There's even been a couple games that they've played together, not this season, obviously, but last year when Marc played JV they would play with varsity every once in a while when the other team was really big."

I nod. "That's cool."

She smiles a little. "Yeah. It'll also make it easier for you to bump up to varsity. If you're really all that good."