Core Four: Freshman Year

Kiana

I bounced the ball up and down on the road in front of Debbie's home. It was my home now, at least for the time being. The South Kona roads were all downhill and my ball kept trying to roll in the southern direction. As I tried to stabilize the ball before it took a downward spiral, my own life flashed in front of me. The past three weeks had been an upheaval of change which led to a foster home placement.

"Hey, pass it to me!" A male voice said behind me. I turned back to see a skinny, pale kid, probably around my same age.

"Sure!" I responded and aggressively bounce-passed the ball to the gawky boy. If he thought he wanted to play ball with me, I was going to make him work for it. My 8 years of basketball experience and competitive spirit was alive and well in me.

"Ahh! The ball is going too fast for me!" He jumped out of the way and soon the basketball was rolling down the steep hill.

"Oh no!" I huffed and took off at full speed to catch the basketball. My long, tan legs carried her swiftly to the ball. I scooped it up and did a behind-the-back dribbling move. When I looked back to see if the mystery boy was still there, he was nowhere to be found. He lacked baller and social skills.

Tomorrow was my first day of high school. While it was the high school I was going to attend before foster care had entered my life, I still felt strange about it. I wouldn't be on a bus with my friends, nor would I know where to find them. My cell phone had been taken by the state as evidence for the trial against my parents. I took a long breath in and relived the one of the last moments with my parents. Drug paraphernalia had scattered through the living room, an extremely loud disagreement between my mom and stepdad was taking place. Eventually, the cops burst into the house. There was shouting, so much shouting, but I had remained hiding in her bedroom closet with her little brother. Except my brother wasn't there. I remembered he had to use the bathroom.

All I could recall was that I wanted my brother next to me again. It wasn't the first time drugs were in my home or my parents were coming down from their high in a combative manner. I was pretty convinced it wouldn't be their last drug overdose. Although now my parents were in prison with a pending court date. So much had gone on that night, events that wouldn't piece together in my brain. Drugs had truly ripped my family apart.

I had been caught up in my thoughts and didn't realize I had dribbled all the way to the park with basketball courts. Next to the courts were large boulders, and I was surprised to see the gangly boy sitting on one. "I've been waiting for you!" He said as he jumped up with a ball in his hand. "I've got a lay-up down!" With that admission, the boy jumped up swiftly laid a shot in the hoop. He was taller than I had previously thought, but still a bit awkward with a basketball.

"How about a jump shot?" I wanted to challenge him, and jump shots were usually harder than a simple lay-up for a beginner. He fumbled the ball to his palm and fired up a shot with two hands. The power from the ball ricocheted off the metal rim and flew toward my face. My reaction time was no match for the power of the shot, and the ball flew into my face. I noticed there was also a wasp attached to the ball, which was common when playing basketball outside in Hawaii. However, this time, the wasp flew into my mouth.

"Ahhhhh!!!!" I screamed while wildly spitting and moving my mouth in strange gyrations to remove the wasp.

"Are you okay?!" The boy was now next to me. I could see the fear in his eyes. "I'm Elijah and I wasn't trying to kill you!" His blue eyes were heavy with worry.

I continued to flail about until I accomplished the task of removing the wasp from my mouth. My lip felt foreign and heavy when I touched it with my fingers. "The wasp stung my lip," I cried in pain. "And school starts tomorrow, ugh!"

"I have a massive zit on my lip, so now we'll match," Elijah chuckled. He wasn't lying, there was a crater on his mouth the size of a dime. I started to laugh, slowly at first. Elijah continued laughing, too. We stood there laughing and looking at each other with curious eyes. I felt the familiarity of the basketball in my hands and ran to the hoop for a lay-up.

"Geez, you look so graceful!" Elijah declared.

"That's nothing, here's my jump shot," I dribbled to the top of the basketball key and gently threw in a jump shot.

"Wow, all net!" The ball had floated in seamlessly. "I've never seen you in the neighborhood before. Did you just move here?" Elijah asked.

"Yeah, two weeks ago."

"I didn't know Debbie had kids. She's been alone for a long time in that house," Elijah informed me.

"Well she's, she's..."I couldn't bring herself to share that Debbie was her foster mom. I didn't even like admitting it to myself.

"I'm sure you saw all the Jesus statues in my yard," Elijah interrupted at the perfect moment.

"I did notice the statues, especially the one where he's in the middle of a water fountain and naked." A smile whipped across Elijah's face and he started to laugh.

"My mom loves Jesus more than her own kids!" He laughed while saying it, but there was a serious tone in his voice.

"Well, I probably love basketball more than anything else in my life," I said as I pivoted and shot up another jump shot. This time it bounced off the rim and flew into a boulder. Elijah darted for the ball.

"At least you have passion and a fat lip for school tomorrow," Elijah poked fun at me.

"Oh school! I almost forgot we start tomorrow," I decided to ignore my lip for the time being and drove the ball to the hoop for an easy lay-up. I glanced at my watch and saw the time was later than I had thought. Elijah was studying my sweaty face and felt my stress.

"Let's get you home, Jump Shot Queen!"

I knew it wasn't her home, but for now, it's my reality. "Yep, let's go." I hustled back, not wanting to worry Debbie. She did actually show care for me.