Airball

Chapter 29 - Art Project

March 2, 2020.

It was Monday, three days after Friday's game. It felt weird with basketball season over, but I had realized after the game that I didn't have any regrets. In my book, that was a great season. I had thought a lot about how I hadn't even wanted to try out at the beginning of the year, and so I had made a mental note to find a time to thank the people who convinced me to join the team—Austin, Cam, Narhan, and Max. Cam was doing much better, although he had been advised not to do anything that would be too stressful on his back in the next few weeks. The rest of us were back to being friends again, which was great. It was nice to know that I hadn't lost any friends over the course of the season, I had only gained some. Just like what I finally realized about my middle school basketball years, the best part of the season was the relationships I had made. There were still some people on the team that I didn't know as well, but I had made a good friend in Wesley and began friendships with Jackson, Finn, and Xavier as well. I had even made up with Luke during the season. The only people that I wasn't on good terms with was Chance and...

"Mind if I sit here?"

I looked up to see who had interrupted my thoughts—Harper. Since the incident when she came to my house, she had once spoken to me once to congradulate me for winning the game against McArthur, the one that I had practiced for instead of spending time with her. After that, she had been avoiding me in classes and in the halls and hadn't come to the game against Southridge as far as I knew. After trying and failing to talk to her for the third time, I had decided to just give her some time alone. But here she was now, asking to sit with me again in art class.

"Sure," I said. I wanted to bring up what had happened between us, but I didn't want to push her away again so I didn't mention it. She simply sat down and continued her sketch of the branches of a tree. She had finished her semester art project the previous week when she was sitting in her old place, so I hadn't gotten to see it. Now she was doing daily sketches until everyone finished. I had finished mine, too, but I hadn't shown it to anyone yet.

"So I heard about the game last Friday," Harper said, keeping her eyes on her paper. "About how you didn't play the final quarter so you could make sure Cam was okay."

I cleared my throat. "Oh." I didn't really know what to say to that.

"They might've won the game if you had been in the final quarter," said Harper.

"Maybe," I said, "or maybe not."

Harper shrugged, never looking away from her drawing. "How many points did you have?"

"Not sure," I replied, trying to catch her gaze to no avail. "I wasn't keeping track like I usually do. I was more focused on the team as a whole."

"Ah," said Harper, "so why'd you do it?"

"Why'd I do what?"

"Take Cam to the nurse and call his mom. I mean, you could have given the number to someone else and let them take him to the nurse. But you took him yourself."

"I just..." I faltered for a moment, and Harper looked over at me for the first time. "I wanted to make sure he was okay. I had some time to think about things that happened and my priorities and stuff and I realized that no friendship is worth risking for something like winning a stupid game."

I made eye contact with her and she smiled, the first time I'd seen her do that since the day at Shake Shack.

"Hey, you wanna see my painting?" I asked suddenly.

"You finished it?"

I nodded and stood up, going into the closet room to retrieve it. I flipped through the different projects until I found mine and then I brought it back to my seat. I turned it toward Harper slowly to give it the full effect. Her eyes widened and she grinned at me.