The Brighter Side of Things

Chapter 12

After days of mental debate, and with Mama's advice in endless loop in my head, I finally decided to sign up for basketball tryouts.

"What do you mean you didn't sign up for volley?" Lexi looked at me like I had just committed the gravest sin on earth as soon as the bell rang signaling the end of lunch time. Confident that she was going to back me up, I told Lexi about my last push. I was thankful that North wasn't with us to overhear things.

Since that afternoon at the food park, things had been awkward between us. Err, make that only applicable to me. I was afraid that someone must have seen us together and that a rumor about us dating would circulate around the campus. So I tried to avoid him especially outside the classroom. I was so relieved I didn't have to explain anything to him. By the looks of it, North got the message.

Lexi nudged my arm with her elbow. Right. I shouldn't be concerned about North at this point. He did say he went solo.

I heaved a deep breath and headed towards the bulletin board following my best friend's lead. I was going to show her how determined I was to join the basketball team by writing my name on the basketball sign-up sheet with her as my witness. But this conversation made that difficult.

"Lexi, we both know volleyball and I don't mesh well. I had committed more violations than attack points! I have the track record to show you that. I couldn't drag your name down—"

She stopped on her tracks, grabbed my arm and swung me around so I'd face her, a finger to me. "You are not dragging me down, Seven. You do not drag me down, understand?"

"Okay, fine. I'm not dragging you down," I exhaled, rolling my eyes, and we resumed the walk. "But I want to be somewhere I could be useful. Let's face it. I'm not even a tad helpful in volley."

Stubborn that she was, Lexi shook her head again. "It's not that you're useless. You just need to put your mind into it," she urged. "Just think about it. With your height, you'd be a legend in the world of volleyball in no time. Like the Santiago Sisters, or...or KYK of Korea!"

I really admired how my best friend gave me too much credit. Sometimes I wondered what she saw whenever she looked at me because it seemed like she was staring at a different person. Still I didn't want to disappoint anyone anymore, Lexi most specially. I wasn't deaf to what the others had been saying that I always made it into the volleyball team because I was best friends with the star player. My glaring mistakes in volleyball games in the past years had been what sparked most of the name-calling. It was time to put an end to that. I wanted to make things right in senior year. Mama was right. It was high time for me to carve out my own door from the wall.
Besides, my heart simply was not into volleyball no matter how much Lexi would love me to be part of it.

"If I were you—"

"That's the point, Lexi," I cut in, frustration creeping into my voice. "I'm not you and you're not me. It's time I do something I'm passionate about."

"You already tried that. Since time immemorial, in fact," she scoffed. "But where did it get you? Did they form a team you've been hoping to get into? No, right? No matter how many times you tell them they should gather girls and form a team of female basketball players, we both know that's not going to happen unless there's a good number of girls in this school who'd like to play that sport. And we both know that in this entire campus..." for effect, she looked back at me, pity apparent in her eyes. "...it's just you."

There was truth in her words and damn it. It hurt. "Well, I don't care!" I retaliated, her words burning a hole in my chest. "Why can't you just be supportive of me and stop shoving your opinion down my throat for once?"

With the way Lexi gaped at me like I had just slapped her with my words, I knew I hit a nerve. Well, good. Now she knew how I felt too.

"Fine," she spat out and took a step back. "Do it your own way, then. I bet you're so sick and tired of people who want nothing but make you shine."

Before I could even ask her what that meant, Lexi had stomped her way up to the opposite direction.

Great. Just when you needed all the support you could get from the only person you thought would back you up, she walks out on you.

With a heavy heart, I dragged my feet to the bulletin board to do just what I had intended to do with or without Lexi.

But to my utter horror, the sign-up sheets were nowhere to be seen! Because of my dallying, I freakin' missed the deadline!

Great. Just. Great.