Long Lost Ball Sister

19

The day that Lonzo and I were waiting for was finally here. It's finally signing day! We were currently waiting in the gym with our family and both of our current head coaches. A reporter from the local news paper approached us

"Excuse me, can I get a picture for the paper?"

"Of course."

The reporter snapped a picture and then walked off.

"10 minutes until we make it all official. You excited?" Lonzo asked as we waited at a table with a FCHS table skirt around it. Both of my jerseys were folded and slightly hanging off one side and his were slightly hanging off the off the other.

"Yup. You?"

"More than you know."

"Attention all seniors, if you would like to witness Seniors Lonzo Ball and Aaliyah Ball-Taylor sign their contracts, please report to the gym at this time."

Coach Walton, Coach Davis, and Principal Walker stood beside the table. while our family sat on the front row of the bleachers directly, in front of us.

The marching band started playing our school's fight song behind us as students started to coming in and filling up the bleachers. As soon as everybody is in the gym, Principal Walker grabbed the Microphone  from the stand.

"Thank you all for joining us today to celebrate the signing of these two talented athletes. They are great kids and amazing students. Now I'm gonna turn it over to Coach Frank Walton."

"Thank you Mr. Walker. I've known Lonzo for only one season but I've known him long enough to find out that he is an unselfish, kindhearted young man. It's been a pleasure to be able to coach him. I wish him nothing but the best in his future. "

Everyone claps and Lonzo stands up and hugs Coach Walton. Coach Walton hands Coach Davis the mic.

"Aaliyah Ball-Taylor is one of the greatest Athletes that I have ever had the honor to coach and I've been coaching for a long time. I've coached her for four years and I've never seen anyone like her... And I got to coach her mother too. She has had a historic season, breaking a scoring record previously held by her mother. Not only is she a gifted athlete, she's a brilliant student and the kindest girl that I know. I've never once heard her say anything bad about another student. No matter how bad of a day she's had, she's always come to practice with a smile on her face, ready to get to work. She's one of a kind and I'm so glad that I got to coach her. These two kids that are before you are really special. I wish them nothing but success. Now if these two have something to say?"

Coach Davis handed me the microphone.

"First and foremost, I want to thank God. I would not be in this position or who I am without his guidance, grace, and love. Now, I want to thank everyone for being here, even though you didn't really have a choice. Today is one of the biggest days of our lives and we appreciate all of you for sharing this with us. I want to thank my family and my friends for always supporting me although I didn't always make it easy. I want to thank my mom for always supporting my dreams and always keeping me in hers. To Coach Davis, I'm so thankful that I got to play for you and It was truly an honor to win 4 state championships under you. I wish I could personally thank everybody I wanted to but I'm trying to keep it limited. So....here it goes. "

I handed the microphone to Lonzo and picked up my pen. I signed my contract and the gym started cheering. It's now official! Took the mic back from Lonzo and said my final thoughts.

"Thank you for your support. "

I gave Lonzo back the mic. He said what he had to and then signed his contract.

Everyone was dismissed back to class but us.

"I'm so proud of you guys! " my mom said as she came up to us and hugged us.

"Thank you mama."

"Congratulations Zo and Liyah!" Tina and Lavar said.

"Thank you!

"Hey, we're gonna have a party tonight. Invite your friends."

The 8th block bell rang and I was free to go home.

"Aaliyah, I'm cancelling practice for today."

"Okay. I'm gonna go home."

"Okay."

We all walk out of the gym and Zo, Melo, and Gelo go to Class while the rest of us walk to the front. I have to go grab my pass first before I can leave. I get the pass then walk back to my car.

I pull in the driveway at the same time they did. I just went upstairs. They wouldn't let me go outside and help set up. So I stayed up here listening to Pandora. I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in!"

I Heard my door open but didn't look up from my phone.

" You're not gonna look up?"

I snap my head up and seen my current boyfriend, Markelle. I jump off my bed and run to him. He picked me up in his as I kissed all over his face. He put me down and I shut the door and walked over to the bed. We met when he came down to see Lonzo, Lamelo, and LiAngelo play. We hit it off immediately and we've been talking ever since. Sure we've facetime and Snapchat each other but we don't get to see each other.

"I've missed you too." He chuckled as we sat on my bed. I turned the music down and just looked at him, taking in his features.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well... Lonzo messaged me and told me about this party and I couldn't just miss an opportunity to see my girl."

I blushed when he called he his girl. We sat back against the headboard and I turned on a movie. I cuddled into his side.

"So.. UCLA huh?"

"Yup"

"Too Bad it isn't Washington."

"It'll be a sweet Victory when we beat the girls team because I know you play for the boys."

"It'll be a sweet victory when we beat UCLA because I know your brother plays."

"Never that. How long are you here for?"

"The week."

"Thank you for coming. "

"Anything for my princess."

He kissed me on my forehead and I buried my face into the crook if his neck. I left light kisses on his neck before turning my face back towards my TV as he let his left arm lightly drape over my shoulder.

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The party was lit, My mom and dad approve of Markelle and I, and I'm officially signed to play college basketball. My dreams are coming true, one step at a time.

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This has been in my drafts all night but I had to drop this chapter to let y'all know that I'm still awake and I'm still working on finishing this book. I'm running low on ideas.