The Forgotten Sister

1

I lay on the couch watching Friday. I almost fell asleep until heard some one open the front door, which made me jump.

"I'm home!" My oldest brother Lonzo, yells as he bursts through the front door. "Anybody miss me?"

Lonzo is a freshman at UCLA. He's ranked 4th of the freshman class and is averaging 14.9 points per game. Lonzo always comes back home on the weekends to hang out with us.

"Awww, my baby's back." My mom comes running from the kitchen to flood my brothers cheeks with kisses.

"Get outta here nigga. Don't nobody want you here." My older brother LaMelo, joked as he and LiAngelo came down the stairs.

I get up from the couch and walk over to the front door to say what's up to Lonzo.

"LANI!" Lonzo practically yells and runs over to me.

He bends down and starts hugging me to the point where I couldn't breath.

"Okay Zo, calm down. It's only been a week since we last saw each other." I said out of breath trying to depart from his hug.

Lonzo releases me from the hug and begins to dap up LaMelo and LiAngelo. We all go to the living room while my mom goes back into to the kitchen and does whatever she was doing before Lonzo came home. When we get to the living room we all sit in silence for a few minutes.

"Hey Zo, y'all really lost to Arizona." LaMelo said laughing, and breaking the silence that filled the room.

"Boy, shut up!" Lonzo got up from his seat, making his way over to where LaMelo was sitting. "That's why yo ugly ass lost to Mater Dei"

"Hey! You guys need to calm down over there." My mom called over from the kitchen

"Aye, but shout out to my boy Gelo though. A cool 52? That's how we do it in the Ball house." Lonzo playfully punches LiAngelo in the arm.

"52 was slight work." LiAngelo said shrugging. "If anything Lani's the real deal out of all of us. She dropped 79 in the semifinals a couple days ago."

"79 was slight work." I said, trying to imitate LiAngelo.

"79?" Lonzo's eyes widen. "That's crazy! How come I never heard about it though?"

"Cause girls basketball gets no attention." I said trying not to sound mad. "And even if they do say something about me dropping 79, they'll just mention how Melo got 92 or how Gelo dropped 72."

"Turn on the tv to ESPN!" My mom runs into the living room.

I do what I was told and turned the volume up on the tv.

"Did you know that the Ball brothers have a younger sister? LeiLani Ball, she's completely dominating the game of high school basketball." The anchor, John Anderson said to the other anchor, Matt Barrie.

"Yes, in fact I did. She's only in 8th grade and she's averaging 45.3 points per game. Yup, you heard me right, 45.3. She's currently leading the country in points per game." Matt Barrie said to the camera. "She also got 79 points in Wednesday's semifinals game against South Hills high, leading her team to state."

"Wow! She is definitely going to be something. Just like her older brother LaMelo who got 92 points and LiAngelo who got 72 points, and he also got 52 points last night in his team's win against Birmingham" John said.

"You know Lonzo, didn't have that much of a good game a last night. Only 8 point and a loss to Arizona." Matt said, changing the subject from me to brothers.

"And what about freshman Lauri Markkanen, Arizona's 7'0 center with 29 points."  John said.

"Ugh! I have had enough of this!" I yell. "Every time, this happens every time!"

"What?" My mom is confused. "What are you talking about Lani?"

"Haven't you noticed that every time they talk about me on TV that they talk about me for two seconds, only two seconds then they go on and talk about Melo, Gelo, and Zo." I said to my mom.

"Lani, in my opinion you shouldn't be worried about the press right now. As long you're putting up numbers, getting offers and having fun, you should be good." My mom said assuringly.

"Yeah, whatever." I muttered.

"At least you don't got people commenting cherries on your Instagram." LaMelo said, trying to brighten my mood.

"Man, fuck all this talk. Who's tryna go outside and hoop?" Gelo asked

"Bet! Y'all gon' catch this work." I get up making my way to the backyard, as my brothers followed behind me.

We ended up staying outside till my mom called us to come inside to eat dinner. It's always a good time when Lonzo comes back on the weekends.