Don't Let Me Fall

Chapter 2: I Saw What I Saw

Chapter 2: I Saw What I Saw

Hannah's Point of View

I could barf right here on the floor. Just all over someone's shoes, particularly Jordan's. All we did was conditioning. Mostly suicides, and then we ran laps around the outer edge of the court, for like 20 minutes. Then we did sprints. It was exhausting, especially for some of the other girls. I felt bad for the girls that did actually throw up. But me, I only felt like puking my guts out.

The team was bigger than past years. 25 girls in total. There were 6 freshmen, 9 sophomores, 8 juniors, and 2 seniors. It felt great to be in highschool basketball, I felt like I was involved in something bigger than just Junior High basketball. I felt like I belonged here.

I decided that I was going to stay awhile after and work on my free throws. It was my weak spot, I was probably the Shaq of the team. I couldn't hit a free throw if my family depended on it. Everything else had already been perfected. My layups, fade aways, three's had all been mastered. You name it, I drain it. I was by far the best at three-pointers. Once in an eighth grade game I swished 5 three's, which rarely ever happens, in our school district anyway. That's how I expected to get on varsity, to be the best perimeter on the team. Which wasn't likely to happen because Sam Shoey was a great shooter, and a freshman wasn't going to just take over her spot.

Instead of going to the free throw line I walked over to the racks of basketballs and grabbed three balls. I placed them on both baselines, and then one at the top of the key. Then I went back to the rack and grabbed three more, placing them in the holes in between the other basketballs. I reached for my phone in my pocket. I went to the timer and set it for 30 seconds. I placed the phone a few feet away from the first basketball, then started it. I ran over to the basketball on the baseline, making sure not to loose any time.

I positioned the ball, then launched it.

Swish.

I went to the next ball. The ball quickly rolled off the tips of my fingers. I left my follow through until the ball was through the hoop.

Swish.

I was now at the top of the key. It was spot sweet spot, I could hit every single shot from this spot.

Swish.

The next three times went just as smooth as the first three.

Swish.

Swish.

Swish.

The timer went off a few seconds after the last shot. My breathing had quickened since the beginning, but not a lot. All my conditioning before season had paid off, considering I'd been running for a month already.

The gym was already deserted.

"Wow." A husky voice said from behind me.

Instinctively, I slowly turned around to see who it was, even though I already had an idea. It was Sam Shoey. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun, and she was changed out of her shorts and into a pair of jeans. She was so pretty.

"What?" I asked her, curious to why she was saying 'Wow'.

She smiled.

"Well it's just that I couldn't even shoot like that as a freshman, and I was on starting varsity, that was great." she said.

I nervously started biting one of my fingernails. That meant a lot to me. I mean seniors usually are stuck up, because they think that they are better than everyone, which they are.

"Thanks." I finally said.

"We need someone that can shoot like that on varsity."

I shot her a confused look.