The Bond; Stronger Together

Chapter 6: Change

After school was over I went directly home. I was way to tired to do anything else. It's Thursday and we have tomorrow off so I don't have to do any homework. I got on the bus and almost nobody was on. At least for now. I decided to put on headphones and listen to music. I love music, it brings people together. That sounds way too cheesy, but it's true! Whenever I'm in a concert and hear other people singing too it makes me really happy. Then Shane got on the bus along with Gracie. Nobody really said anything so I'll say something.

"I'm so tired"

"Same, I'm glad we get to sleep in tomorrow," said Shane.

"Yeah," replied Gracie.

"Hey guys, want to play a game?" I asked.

"Sure," they both replied.

"Okay, so you have to do something in ten seconds. For example, impersonate a mouse. Got it?" I asked.

"yeah," they answered.

"Gracie, you say something first," said Shane.

"Okay... Shane say the entire alphabet in ten seconds,"

"A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z,A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z"

"Great, now you tell someone to do something," I said.

"Okay, um... Winter! Name three things that you can find it your binder," he replied.

"Um... Pencils, papers, and uh... a calculator?" I said in a rush.

"Okay great," said Shane.

"Oh wait, the next stop is mine," I said as I started to gather my things to get off the bus, "I'll see you guys Monday."

"See you," said Gracie.

I got off the bus and ran to my house. I had basketball practice at six o'clock. So I had four hours to do whatever I want. I wanted to sleep, but I know if i fell asleep I'd probably never go back to sleep when I had to. When I got inside the first thing I did was lay on my bed and grab my iPad. Today I just wanted to watch videos. Well that and go to basketball practice. While I was watching the videos I started to get tired again. Well if I'm going to go to basketball practice I might as well be rested. Then I drifted off to sleep.

"Winter?" called a voice.

I didn't want to get up, no actually I refuse to. The door then opened.

"Winter! You have to get up, we have to leave to go to your basketball practice in five minutes," said the voice.

I bounced up. I looked at the person that was talking to me, my dad.

"Okay, I'll be ready by then," I replied.

"Great, I'll come back up to check on you when it's time to leave," he said.

"Okay," I said.

Then he left the room and I put on shorts, a t-shirt, and some sneakers on.
I loved basketball, but compared to the rest of my team I'm terrible. Then again they've been practicing for years. Today I decided that I was going to try and not hesitate. I know that sounds weird, but because I know that my teammates are about 100% better then me I hesitate whenever I face them in basketball. I'll give up on dribbling just because I know someone really good at defense is defending me. So today I've decided to conquer one of my lame fears and just go with whatever comes.

"Dad, I'm ready!" I yelled.

"Okay, I'll meet you in the car," he yelled back as I heard a door shut.

I ran downstairs and to the car.

"So dad how was your day?" I asked trying to break the silence.

"It was good, what about yours? Have any tests?" he asked.

"No, I didn't have any," I said then after a few minutes he put on the radio.

I didn't like his music so I just played on my phone. When I looked up I saw my school which was where my practice was.

"So I'll get you at eight?"

"Yup," I said as I got out of the car.

I walked in and the younger girls are practicing. I guess I'm early.

I saw my friend Hailey and went over to her. Hailey went to a different school, but we met at camp a while ago so we stayed in touch.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey, so what's up?" she replied.

"Nothing much, anything happen at your school?"

"Nope, nothing really happens at our school," she said while laughing.

Then a bunch of girls on my team walked in along with my coach.

"Okay, today we're going to do a drill. Two people will be on defense while one person is dribbling the ball down the court trying to make a shot," said the coach.

Nobody said anything, but I think our coach knew we understood.

Hailey and April were going to guard me. I was nervous, but I knew they were nice. They weren't going to hurt me. I also promised myself that I wouldn't back down.

I started to dribble down the court. They started come toward me trying to guard me. I kind of wanted to give up the dribble like I usually did. I didn't and kept going. I didn't make the basket, but I didn't care. I was proud. Even when they were trying to guard me, I did my best defense while dribbling the ball.

Once I'd left practice I got in the car with my dad.

"Hey dad," I said.

"Hey what'd you do in practice?" he asked.

"I just did some drills and shot some baskets," I replied.

"Nice did you make a lot?"

"Like 40% of them"

We sat in silence. I decided to go on my phone and play games. I was still proud of myself. I did things that I normally wouldn't do.

When I got home I went straight to my room to watch TV. When I found something on my bed.