Shut In || jjk

01: Unlucky

I didn't plan on any of this happening tonight, or any night for that matter. These types of things only seem to happen in some cheesy teen romance novels, but rather than being stuck with an arrogant jerk from their past the protagonist would be faced with the love of their life. That's definitely not the case this time.

I guess I'm just unlucky. In fact, that's how I've been feeling all day.

I was supposed to be meeting up with my friend Devyn while she was at work to go to dinner after closing, but when I showed up her boss told me she suddenly went home sick. I was upset that she hadn't thought to text or call to let me know before I made the 20 minute drive, but I was more concerned.

I pulled my phone from my back pocket to send her a quick text asking how she's feeling. Slipping my phone back into my pocket, I looked around. Devyn works at an indoor trampoline park but with a little extra excitement. There are your standard trampoline activities, but there's also a massive arcade as well as a rock wall and a laser tag arena downstairs.

The building closes in just over half an hour and since I made the drive over in the pouring rain it's only right that hang around for a few minutes to jump around. Maybe I'll play some arcade games as well, after all I did get the jackpot twice in a row in the ball drop game last time I was here. I ended up with enough tickets to buy a stuffed giraffe who I named Jared. 820 tickets for a medium sized stuffed giraffe, sounds reasonable.

I decided to pay for 30 minutes of jumping and slipped my sneakers into an empty slot on the shelf. It'll be nice to take a break from worrying and just have some fun.

Recently I've had a lot on my mind. With this being my last year of high school it's pretty much up to me to figure out what I want to do with my life, and fast. The pressure sometimes feels like too much, but I owe it to myself and family to be as successful as I can in life, no matter what it takes.

As I make my way through the chaos I contemplate on what I should do. I passed the foam pit and dodgeball area before stopping at one of my favorites. The basketball station.

I used to have so much fun at this station when I was younger with my old friend, though I was never very good at it. Every time I'd try getting a running head start, and every time I would either trip over my own feet before even making it to the hoop or just miss the shot completely. My friend was always pretty good at it, he'd tease me the whole day after we'd play together. But I'm not friends with that boy anymore, I wouldn't even consider us acquaintances.

I shook my head to clear my mind a bit, now is not the time for dwelling in the past. I grabbed a basketball and stepped up to the trampoline. Since it was so close to closing I didn't have to wait in line, which is a big relief. It'd be quite embarrassing to play this in front of other people, I'm that awful at it.

Nonetheless, it's still fun. I attempt to dribble the ball, forgetting that there's a mat under me so it didn't bounce back up. I bent down and picked the ball back up before jumping on the narrow trampoline and making my way closer to the hoop. I was lined up with the shorter hoop knowing that there's no chance I could make it into the one higher up. When I finally made my way close enough I jumped up straight and attempted to dunk the ball, but I still couldn't quite reach the rim. You'd think they'd make these hoops shorter seeing how many children play at this station. I'm not even short, I stand at an average height of 5'4 and I'm comfortable with it. Well, until I'm in situations like this.

I go back to the mat and line myself up with the hoop before bouncing my way back over, this time jumping sooner towards the hoop. My fingers just barely grazed the rim as I nudged the ball forward a bit more before it fell through the net. I put all my focus on getting the ball into the hoop that I lost concentration on my balancing and lost my footing before stumbling and falling onto the trampoline and face planting. Saying it was painful is an understatement.