Love Me Tomorrow

Chapter 9

TREY:

I sat and watched Kevin as he tied his shoelaces. I could hear the roars coming from the stadium. This is it, the ACC Championships. This game means so much to me. I want to give Miami basketball their 2nd ACC championship. I want to silence the haters, and I want to stop Duke in making them think they're the best. "You ready, man?" Kevin asked as he took a sip of water from his water bottle. "Yeah, I think so. I done peed this already." I joked. Both Kevin and I laughed our butts off, but I was serious. I already peed twice and I think I might once more before we head to the court.

Coach stood in front of all of us with the biggest smile on his face. I haven't seen him smiling like that in a long time. And he deserves to smile, especially all the shit we've put him through. "Well this is it. We can possibly become ACC champs." Coach said as he eyed each of us. "I'm so proud of this team, this has to be one of the best I've coached since I've left the NBA. I'm proud of each of you that is sitting in my presence. I sad that some of you guys will be leaving us, but I'm hella excited for the new bunch that will coming our way." Coach pulled out a blue dry erase marker and began drawing out two plays. "This is the offense play, Green. Our defense is man to man. Duke likes it tough and we're going to bring it to them. Any questions?" We all shook our heads no as Coach erased the board.

We all surrounded Coach and Johnston stood in the middle. "Okay guys we got this. We're not going to let some arrogant team like Duke come and ruin our shine. We've worked so hard and we can't give up on each other. 1..2..3.. Canes!" "Canes!" We all repeated and ran out to the court. We were met by shouting by the spectators and evil glares by Duke players. I looked to see Alfred and Devin, but not my mom. I know she's pissed about Keira's health scare, but damn I didn't think she wouldn't show. Devin pointed me out to whoever he was sitting next to. Devin. I hate him with a passion. I hate the Carruths in general with a passion.

The buzzer went off, 2 minutes until the game begins. Coach yelled for us to come to our bench. I'm use to having my mom bring me a gatorade or something, but I was surprised to see Alfred give me one. "You might get thristy." He told me. "Where's my mom?" I asked him. He shrugged his shoulder. "I'm here, don't worry." I rolled my eyes as I tucked in my jersey. "So how's your girlfriend?" Alfred asked with a suspicious glare. "She's due in September right?" "How do you know?" "I know everything, you can't hide shit from me. We're going to talk after the game about this grandchild of mine on the way." Once again I rolled my eyes as I hurried onto the court and got into my position for the tip-off. How did Alfred find out about Keira?

~

17:30. The score was 5 to 0. Duke lead. I dribbled up the court. This is embarassing, we've yet to get a rebound on defense or offense. I'm so desperate to see us up with some points, I'll try any shot I can. I passed my defender by doing a crossover between my legs and was about to go up for a floater, but I noticed Eli opened and passed to him. Eli lost the ball and another turnover. Fuck! I could hear Coach yelling as the forward for Duke, Jabari Caldwell dashed down the court and dunked over Johnston. Johnston shot me a look, as he stood embarassed.

~

12:01. The ref blew his whistle as Coach called a timeout. He had his hands on his hips, with sweat all over his forehead. His eyes said murder, but maybe he won't be too harsh on us. "What the hell is going on inside of those brains!" Coach yelled. I sighed as everyone else stood quiet. "I thought this was the same team that wanted a championship?" Coach asked as he drew a play on the whiteboard. "Get y'all damn heads in the game now!" Coach said as he clapped his hands in our faces. The assistant coach held out the whiteboard and showed the play 'Cane'. "Start doing this offense, and Trey?" "Yes Coach?" I answered standing up tall like I was confident, but I'm really a nervous wreck. "I never wanted to say this, but let loose, go wild." Let loose, go wild? I haven't heard that since I was in the 8th grade and I scored 45 points. With a confident smile, I replied. "I will do so, Coach." I'm about to be Duke's worst nightmare.