Housemates

The Game

Aaron

Waking up to ten missed calls because you've overslept when you have a major game later that day is probably the second most humbling thing. That's because the first one is getting lectured for half an hour straight about it. My teammates are laughing at me while i am being tremendously insulted by our coach and I can't help but feel betrayed by them.

Those assholes ran away as soon as they heard him yelling.

Today's the day that settles our teams fate in the championship. Either we move up to the finals or we're out. For weeks coach has been up our asses trying to get us ready which is why he is extremely pissed right now.

"How many times do i have to tell you idiots that punctuality is a major part of my team. I don't deal with tardiness. You're later you're out. Is that clear Kingston?" Coach repeats the same thing he's been on about for about thirty five minutes. This lecture took wayyy longer than what I expected and honestly I kind of tuned him out a while ago.

I sigh, "coach, we all know you won't kick me out of the team, especially today- so can we please cut this ridiculously long lecture short so we can actually practice?"

He just stares at me. "You can yell at me afterwards how 'bout that?"

He ignores me, but he does call the team back on the court so that means something, right?

We warm up before we start.

"Hey I heard the football team lost yesterday," Trevor says passing the ball to Chase who's next to me.

Coach separated us into 3 groups consisting of five people and told to just practice passing the ball to each other. He does this to punish us because of course Anders knows how much we dread doing it.

"Yeah, they're saying it was the worst performance they've played all year" Chase catches the ball and shoots it at me.

"I don't know shit about football but I am glad they lost" I admit, passing to our center, Luke.

"Why" Luke asks.

"He despises their captain," Chase answers for me.

"Who Dylan? Don't blame him that guy's a dick" Kyle chimes in throwing the ball back to Trevor.

"He really is," I agree with him. We keep going back and forth with the ball until coach finally lets us play

We practiced for an hour before heading to a place called Bob's Diner. We go there before every major game to raise our spirits. Coach doesn't let us actually eat though because "I don't want to clean up your vomit after the game".

So we settle with milkshakes and fries instead. I glanced around my teammates, feeling proud. There's not a single bit of nervousness in me because I know that we are crazy good and we will beat them. We've worked way too hard not to.

Coach Anders sat at the head of the table, a rare smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Despite his tough exterior, we knew he cared about each one of us- except David he's a freshmen and coach despises that kid with everything in him. Other than that he cares about us. Tigers haven't won a single championship since 2016, the basketball team has improved a lot since then. So today is our chance to finally prove ourselves.

"Alright, listen up," coach said, his voice commanding attention. "I know today's game is crucial, but remember what we've been training for. This game is not the end. Don't forget that. Stick to the game plan, support each other out there, and most importantly,

kick ass."

We all nodded in unison, the gravity of the moment sinking in. As we finished our milkshakes and fries, a sense of determination settled over the table. The bus was waiting for us outside once we finished and we made it back to the school. The ride back was filled with a bunch of chants and cheering, we were all so excited to finally win. The gymnasium was alive with energy as people filled the stands, eagerly awaiting the start of the game.