Returns

Chapter 4: Basketball

Within a couple of weeks, the excitement at school surrounding Benjamin had died down significantly. He was keeping a surprisingly low profile, not getting into any fights or mouthing off to teachers. He was fading into the background, so much so that the only words uttered about him were the occasional bets regarding when his next incarceration would be. JJ couldn't say she minded much, she was finishing up her challenging courses this year to ensure that her senior year was smooth sailing, so she needed to focus on school. The two of them did, however,  share one class, and that class was gym.

Toward the end of October, the weather had taken a turn for the wet. Sadly, this meant that the students' days of playing outdoor games was over until the spring. For winter they would had to settle for a monotonous rotation of basketball, dodgeball and capture the flag. Thursdays were always basketball days, and basketball was JJ's favorite.

One particularly dreary Thursday, the class gathered in the school's cinderblock gym. Their teacher was a dainty athletic woman who reminded JJ of a gazelle. Ms. Gertz quickly took roll for the day and instantly began separating the class into two teams. JJ was happy to be on the same team as June, his height made him great on defense, but Ryn ended up on the other team. This wasn't so bad, however, they tended to fuel each other's competitiveness. Also on JJ's team was Benjamin. This was not ideal because he was never any help, he just didn't care enough. JJ made up her mind to simply act as if he wasn't there, he might not contribute anything positive to the team, but at least he wouldn't purposefully hinder them either.

The game started, and JJ instantly had the ball on the other team's side of the court. She easily dribbled around Ryn who was very short and more of a soccer player, and with June's help they were up three points within two minutes.

They celebrated with a high five and JJ turned to Ryn smirking, "Sorry shorty, didn't see ya there."

Ryn unceremoniously flipped JJ off before retorting, "You know this is just a gym class game ya psycho."

They both laughed and the game was back on. JJ and June were unstoppable. They were practically carrying their team, which was fine because no one else was particularly invested in the game. The important thing was that they were having fun.

Half-time was coming close, and JJ faked Ryn out, making the small girl fall on her ass. One of her teammates, a nice girl named Marisa, helped her up.

"Thanks Marisa, you interested in taking JJ's spot as my best friend?" Ryn said loudly. This earned a hearty laugh from June across the gym.

Unfortunately, the laugh distracted June and he didn't see JJ pass him the ball. It hit him square in the face, hard enough to give him a nose bleed. Ms. Gertz pulled him out of the game against his will and walked him down to the nurse's office. Unfortunately, this left JJ to her own devices. The other people on her team were decent at best, and so she had to begin to focus her energy on playing defense. The opposing team slowly began to catch up. However, her enthusiastic spirit somehow seeped into her teammates, and after a few minutes they were trying their best. Benjamin, however, continued to be absolutely no help. There were multiple times when the ball bounced past his indifferent figure, and the other team quickly grabbed it up. JJ became increasingly frustrated, but what really boiled her blood was when he carelessly passed it to Ryn, and she managed to shoot a two-pointer. JJ became so agitated that before she could think about what she was doing, she was up in his face.

"So are you actually going to try or would you rather just go hang out in the nurse's office with June?" JJ spat.

The gym stilled slightly, all eyes focusing on the two.