Airball

Chapter 17 - Getting Thoughts Straight

January 8, 2020.

I watched as the Hialeah defender jumped up with me and his hand landed on my wrist. I collapsed on the floor and the ball made it into the basket and our bench jumped up in excitement. I smiled and paused the YouTube video of the game. The video had almost a thousand views, with most of them being from people at my school. The clip of my game-changing falling jumper and my missed free throw shot was all over the school, as well as Wesley's game-winning put-back.

Wesley and I had been the most popular kids at school that day. Of course varsity won their game too, but they blew Hialeah out of the water, which wasn't as interesting to watch. A good old-fashioned comeback, however, was on everyone's lips. It benefited the whole team, actually, since now more people knew that the JV team actually existed.

After Chance's episode that game, he was demoted from being a starter and was put on the backup team in my place. And you guessed it, that meant that I got Chance's old spot. After seeing me and Jackson work well together and me not embarrass myself, Coach Hendrix had decided to promote me to the starting shooting guard position. I was excited about the promotion, even though it only made Cam, Max, and especially Nathan resent me even more.

"This is crazy!" said Austin, who was on a Facetime chat with me. "You have an actual fan page on Instagram!"

"A what?" I laughed.

"A fan page!" Austin repeated without losing the enthusiasm. "An Instagram account dedicated to showing your top plays."

"Well there's not much to show," I said.

"Not yet maybe," Austin pointed out. "But eventually. And they're even posting some of your middle school plays."

"How do I know that it's not you that owns this 'fan page'?" I asked him.

"Of course it's not!" he insisted.

"Okay," I said, laughing, "if you say so."

I had decided to skip the extra training after practice after a suggestion from Coach Myers. He thought I should take an afternoon to relax and enjoy the results of my hard work. I had reluctantly agreed, but now that I was home I really didn't know what to do. I had finished my homework before 10:30 for once and I didn't know what else to do. I decided to finish the call with Austin and watch some Netflix before going to bed earlier than usual for the game tomorrow, which I would start in. I said goodbye and went downstairs to grab a snack before watching. When I returned to my room, however, I noticed something odd. My door was all the way open, and I could have sworn I had pulled it to.

I walked in and saw that my dad was sitting in the chair at my desk, watching the YouTube video of me.

"Dad?" I said cautiously.

He didn't bother finishing the video and instead turned to face me. "This is you. Playing basketball. In a town that's an hour away from here."

"Yep," I said bluntly, trying to read his face haplessly.

"I don't remember telling you that you could continue playing," he said.

"Well you never told me I couldn't play," I retorted, "and I don't see anything wrong with playing a sport. I played in middle school."

"Middle school is over," he growled. "It's time for you to start thinking about your future."

"Basketball is my future," I insisted.

"No," he replied, shaking his head. "Basketball is a hobby, not a career. Focus on doing something useful with your life. I'm not paying for your education for nothing."