Street Smart

Chapter 42: Sam

Never

    I've never lied to Benny. Benny's one of my closet friends, he would always be honest. He truly knows I've never lied to him. Why would TJ think I lied to him? I don't get it. It makes no sense!

    TJ has been avoiding me all day. He won't talk to me until I can prove that I'm not lying.

    But...   

        I don't have a way to prove it.

    Why is this so complicated? Why does it matter to him so much? All I did was not show up to study with him. Don't get me wrong, I really wanted to study with him. It's the witch that haunts my house, my family, my life. She just happened to stroll by on her broom stick, catch me, and put me in her "get smart" stew.

                I HATE THE WITCH.

    My mind took a step back as I entered the driveway to my house to see two men from the Whose Got Sports? store taking down the banged up basketball hoop from the top of our garage.

    I threw my skateboard in the grass and ran towards them. Standing below one of their ladders, I yelled,
     "What do you think you're doing?!"
    They both looked at each other, but then continued working without answering me. They were both in their mid thirties, I guessed, with beards. I yelled louder. The man farthest away answered without ever looking down at me,

    "We were told by a women named, Kelly Bridge, to take it down. If you have a problem, you need to talk to her, not us."

   

                I HATE THE WITCH.

    I ran inside yelling my mother's name. I found her in the kitchen making some sort of vegetable loaf that reeked of steamed asparagus, seems like I won't be eating dinner tonight.

    "What's the matter, daughter dear?" She even spoke like an evil witch.

    "Are you blind? They're taking down the basketball hoop?"
    I could have said more. I could have said worse. But I held all the other words in my head because nobody wants to make an evil witch explode. It's best to simply pour water on them 'til they melt away.

    "I noticed. Why is this such a problem, daughter dear?"

    Daughter dear? Only creeps would say such a phrase! I mean, seriously, who is she trying to trick?

    "A problem? You know I love basketball, and it's a basketball hoop!" I rudely said while pointing out the window at the hoop.

    "You do not seem to use it that much, honey dear," the evil witch said as she chopped carrots. She tried to convince me she was "totally confused and had no idea what was going on," but she is an awful liar, like Nick. Her "I'm confused" frown, slowly turned into a "this is exactly what I wanted to happen" smirk.

    "I use it! Maybe I would use it more if it were in better condition, but I use it."         I'm not gonna lie, pouring water on a witch is a little hard.

    "I've never seen you use it," she said as she mixed chopped up vegetables, including the carrots she just cut, into a fowl smelling sauce bowl.

    "I used it. Nick used it before you brainwashed him. And I used it until one day I got home and it was screwed up, no net, scratched up and broken backboard, and paint falling off. I know you did that thinking," I mocked her using a high, squeaky, incredibly annoying voice, "Oh, I'm Mrs. Perfect! Everybody has to do what I tell them to do, when I say, even if they don't want to," I stopped mocking her, "You screwed this family up! But, the worst thing is you don't even realize it!" 
    I don't care about pouring water on the witch at this point, I am ready to see her explode. I want her to explode. The expression on her face changed from, "I have no idea what you're talking about," to, "OMG! Did you seriously just say that!?" She calmly put down the spoon she was using to mix the sauce and turned towards me.

    "We made a deal. Do you not remember? Your grades would go up or no basketball." Her eyes like demon eyes, she locked them on mine. I was about to butt in, but she gave me no chance.

    "Your test score came today," she continued. I couldn't have done that bad, the wacko studied with me for an entire century, "You got an eighty."
    I was completely shocked, that's the best I've done on a test my whole life.

    "Thats great - "

    "Great? It's terrible, you only moved up to a C, a C!"
    Her faced turned red, her eyes tried to intimidate me. She wanted to make me feel small. Then, she would have all the power, but I would never let that happen.

    "I'm actually at a B minus now stupid," I muttered, "I moved up, so, I get to play more basketball. So, tell those creeps," I pointed outside to the men, "to stop!"

    "I don't believe you, how in the world do you have a B minus? I just checked the portal this afternoon."

    "He hasn't put the grade on yet, but I was partnered up with the class freak genius for a project, he did the whole thing and put my name on it. So, hah! Look who's winning now."
     She looked worried, probably because she knows how much she underestimated my strength, my will to win.

    "It doesn't matter, your grades have to go up. I'm not satisfied with anything lower then an A plus."
    She flashed her evil smile, turned around, and went back to her cooking.        

            She is officially an evil witch.