In a Blink of An Eye

Making Dumb Decisions

I couldn't hold it in anymore. 

"I wanna join the basketball team,"

"You dumb fuck. Why? Just why?"  I pulled Sierra aside so she could clearly hear what I'm saying. 

"I think I'm not exactly straight," That sounded retarded coming from my mouth, but it was exactly what I was feeling at the moment. Retarded as fuck. She tilted her head sideways, as if she had trouble comprehending this new piece of information.

"Who though?"

Should I tell her? Ugh, we've been best friends since I was a freshman so she was the number one person I trusted.  I gave her that Don't-you-fucking-tell-anyone-or-I'll-kill-you-face and whispered Parrish's name in her ear. She braced her neck back, took aback, and started to laugh.

"Hee-hee-hee, you be crushing on a freshman. Boi, you a junior! ajdkslfjsdlkfs," she cackled. I blinked twice, and immediately, my feelings were retarded. Just why? Of all students in the gymnasium, why did I develop feelings for a girl? An iNnoCent fReShMan? I looked up at the sky. God really must be playing games with me. I remember in the Bible, there was a man named Job and God basically tested his faith in him. I feel like that was the same thing. I shook my head. This couldn't wait till I was in college. It just had to happen now, when school was the most important priority. 

" Don't care. I wanna join the team," I say, standing upright.

Sierra raised her eyebrows. "Ummmm, have you ever pLaYed basketball before? Correction, have you dribbled a ball in the right direction?"

"No, but I'm a fast learner,"

Sierra sighed. "Ok, I give up. You do what you gotta do," She slapped my arm. "Go get your girl! That is, if she ain't steered straight,"

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"Okay, y'all, we got a new girl here, and she never played basketball before. She probably won't play in our games, prolly just here for moral support because we never win. But anyways, that don't matter because we have another player in our team. I want y'all to treat her with respect or else, if I find anything else, I'll molest you and make it look like an accident," He looked around the room. "I was joking," he whispered. Dead silence. 

"Well, anyways, here's your workout for the session. When everyone's done, we'll head back to the gym," Every girl grabbed the sheet and started to do their own thing. I looked around the room. Most of the girls opted the weights to do some abs and squats. Then, I looked at Parrish. She was the only team mate who was actually following the workout step by step.She wasn't using 5 lb weights, but instead, 20 lb to 25 lb. Impressive for a freshman.Even more for a girl. Afterwards, my eyes followed her as she moved from the weights to a machine. I watched her change the weight amount, and she started to tricep pushdowns. I swear, my imaginary jawline nearly dropped to the floor. She looked so....perfect. Like that was the word to describe her. Her eyes were small, but full of determination to finish a workout. Heck, most of these girls here weren't even doing the workout. I kind of silently admired the that she kept on going, despite the fact that no one else was doing it. But there was this other side that I saw in her. She was doing it because she liked it, and not just to complete it. Suddenly, the fact that I was setting myself up for failure didn't even matter anymore. I just wanted to see her and maybe be a part of her life for the time being. Then, her gaze went from the mirror to my eyes. I wasn't really aware that she was looking at me until after that 3 second rule. My eyes widened, and I immediately starting doing some torso twists. I shook my head in shame. Does she know? That was the only question bugging my head the entirety of the session. I was only focused on doing the workouts so I didn't have to think about the possibility. All of a sudden,  the loud music stopped playing from the speakers.

"Yo, guys, Coach isn't here. Let's do something fun. I'm kinda done with these workouts," a blonde girl with a sturdy complexion said. Everyone in the team seemed to nod in agreement. I started to pick off my skin. What do they mean by "fun?" Drugs?

"Dance off! Dance off! Dance off! Dance off!" they chanted. I laughed. Oh my god, did they really mean a dance off?! This may not be the nightmare of my life after all. Maybe I may actually like it here. I raced up.

"I'mma try," They looked at me with shock, then all of them cheered.

"New girl wants to dance! LEt's goooooo!" They started to get really hype with it, jumping all around. As the music started playing, I knew exactly what the song was: A remix of BILLY by my sugar-daddy 6ix9in. 

I really thought I was on drugs. I had no idea what I was doing. I never even danced before, so it must have looked pretty bad on their end. For some reason, I wanted to get her attention, so I made my dancing look as bad as possible. As the beat finally dropped, I started dabbing on both ends, and even popped in a little bit of Fortnite dances. At the end of it, everyone was laughing so I joined with them. I sneaked a look at Parrish and she was smiling and laughing along with the rest of them. My heart warmed. She looked kinda cute when she smiled, not gonna lie. If this was just a phase, it was going to take a lot more effort to de-crush having a crush. 

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"Alright folks, so today we are going to be practicing our shooting. Cuz we really need it. I've seen y'all shoot and y'all got some weird ass shooting forms. Becky look like she be chucking a watermelon. Sabrina be shooting with two hands. Jolissa, we don't shoot with feet. That's soccer. And Lele's an exchange student from North Korea. Bottom line is, I'm only here for my pension," And just like that, our coach left the gym. We watched him get into his black Mercedes, and fled from the scene.

"Is that what practice normally is like?" I ask Sabrina. She laughed, then shrugged it off.

"Yeah, but we grow to love the team. We just wanna get better, and Coach doesn't have to be there to see it. Last game, I scored a foul shot. For the past 2 years, I always airballed that,"

I widened my eyes and tried to stifle a laugh. Then again, I never played basketball before and she had more experience than me.

"So I guess we better hop to it,"

"Yes, indeed"

She went one side of the court and I went to the other. I found a hoop that was somewhat empty to use. I grabbed a ball and attempted to shoot a free-throw. It didn't hurt to try. Instead of that smooth progression, the backboard got severely molested. After a couple of unsuccessful shots, I heard a familiar voice.

"That's not how you shoot a free-throw,"

Oh fuck. She must have been looking for a while.

"Huh?"

She came closer. She must have been like a good 10 inches off from where I was . Then, she took another step closer. Another step. 

"Your foot has to be in line with the basket," Her eyes blended into my soul and I felt attackonized. My stomach clenched for a good 3 seconds, and only got worst.  

But then I remembered. I had to look like I knew what she was talking about so I'd seem smart.

"Ah. Yes. El basketo," Yeah, that sounded fucking retarded.

"No, you have to put your foot so that it's with the rim." She did exactly was she was saying. "See?"

I did see, but I also felt my cheeks going red. I think it was more of a mental thing because my family never really had rosy cheeks. 

"Yes, yeah I kinda see how it works. Thanks," I said hurriedly, then resumed whatever I was doing. One thing was for certain. Basketball was not my thing.