Only Fire

Chapter 3

Sarah

The last bell of the day rang and Sarah was about to bolt out the door before her teacher called her. Rolling on her heels she turned around glaring at the inconvenience.

"I have detention to get to Ms. Sanders. If I'm late for detention with Mr. Harvey for being late to class I'll be in even more trouble."

"Alright, I'll walk you, I need to speak with him anyway." She gathered her laptop and a piece of paper before following Sarah out the door. I need you to just let me get to detention, old lady. Sarah thought fuming over the sudden interest her teacher had in her. Luckily she wasn't late for detention and walked into the room just as Mr. Harvey was walking to close the door. Looking around she saw three other kids sitting at different desks. Weighing her options, Sarah decided on the desk closest to the door hoping for a possible escape.

Ms. Sanders nodded her head to the door and Mr. Harvey followed her out. They're probably in a secret relationship or some shit why else would she want to talk to him. Sarah continued to think insults as they talked outside. She saw Mr. Harvey glance at her a couple of times before entering back into the room.

"Come here." For the millionth time today she resisted sticking her tongue out at him.

"Sarah, we have an issue to discuss." She just raised her eyebrow in a sign to continue.

"Are you wanting to graduate and go to college?" Again she just stared at him.

"Okay, here's the issue, Ms. Grey." Oh great, we're talking with last names now, this must be serious. Sarah thought.

"Your grades are honestly horrible. At the rate you're going, you will have to repeat senior year."

WHAT?! There's no way I'll repeat senior year. These teachers need to seriously think about who they're talking to.

"Tomorrow morning I'll be speaking with your school counselor as well as your parents to try and figure this out. You are close to halfway through your first semester and you cannot fail any classes or you will not be graduating with your class this year. You will also be ineligible for basketball games starting next week." And there it was, the stinging behind her eyes, the threat of tears. NO! You will not cry about this. To prevent herself from shedding a tear she just clenched her jaw and walked back into the classroom. Basketball was Sarah's life, her dream, her passion. She couldn't lose the game. She would do anything to make sure she could play.

"Alright guys, go home and have a good rest of your day." Mr. Harvey ushered them out before shutting the door. Sarah booked it down to the indoor gym and found the girls already finishing up with practice. Rochelle gave her a small smile but that did nothing to lighten her dark mood.

"Hey, coach wants to talk to you." One girl said as she ran past. Sarah hadn't bothered to learn her other teammates' names - If they were important enough to make an impression then they're important enough to know their names - Was the motto she lived by and there was no one that had been that important.

"You wanted to see me, coach?" He nodded and pulled her aside.

"Sarah, we need to discuss your future on this team."

"Look, I know my grades are bad, I'm -" He held his hand up before she could finish.

"It's not just about your grades, Sarah. I've gotten a few complaints from the other girls over the last few weeks about how you've been treating them. Apparently they were scared they wouldn't make the team if they came forward and talked with me. Now, I'm not going to make any changes as of right now. You're a good player and from my standpoint a good person but sometimes I think you made some bad choices.

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm giving you a month to get your grades to passing and to change your behavior and treatment to the other girls on the team. By the end of the month we'll come back and talk about your options then. You are not going to be playing any games this month but you must still attend practices. Your Captain title is revoked for now but we will revisit it as well later this month.

I know you're a good kid, Sarah and you want to do well too. This isn't a punishment, just a re-evaluation okay?" Sarah nodded weakly. First her teachers and now her coach had turned against her. He patted her on the back and headed out the door to the gym leaving her standing alone on the court.

~~

"SARAH DINNER!" Maddy, her little sister yelled up the stairs. Sarah groaned as she pulled herself up from the bed. Why must everyone break up the relationship between me and my bed?

"SARAH!" She heard again even louder. "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT I'M COMING DOWN!" Her mom was just placing the last dish on the table as she walked in. Maddy barreled into her with a hug.

"Jesus Maddy calm down." Her mom gave her a hard glance. "Hey, she's missed you all day, give her a hug." Sarah just rolled her eyes and sat down at the table grabbing a piece of bread on the way down.

"How was your day?" Her mom asked. "Fine. Great." Her mom just raised her eyes before filling her plate with food.

"Maddy how was yours?"

"It was so great! I learned about the Earth today. Did you know that there's this hot substance in the middle of the Earth? It's called Lava and sometimes it flows to the surface?!" Sarah's mom gave a small chuckle at her enthusiasm. Maddy was 7 and the most boisterous kid in the world. Her favorite sport was softball and she wanted to play on the USA team when she was an adult. With dark brown eyes and waist length hair even at 7 Sarah knew her sister would be beautiful as an adult.

"Sarah, do you want to take me to the park this weekend? Maybe we can find Lava!" No, no I do not want to take you.

"Maddy no, I'm busy." Maddy pouted eating her food. "You're always busy." Somewhere deep in Sarah's heart a twinge of guilt took over...somewhere deep, deep down...deep enough that Sarah didn't care enough to change her mind.

"Oh, Sarah when is your next basketball game? I'm going to take off some time from work to watch." Sarah nearly choked on her food. "Um, not for a while. You don't need to take time off for my games, you never have anyway."

"Now Sarah you don't need to be rude. You know I have to pull shifts at work, and anyway this is your Senior Year I want to see you play again." It was at that moment the front door opened revealing her father. Now she didn't have a hateful relationship with him, but he was always away on business trips and she never had a chance to really bond with him. Resentful. That's a good word for it, she thought. All these stories she heard from her friends about their father's and spending time with them. She never had that in her life.

"DADDY!" He laughed as she ran into his arms and swung her around. "How's my little munchkin?" Maddy was too busy giggling to respond. I'm glad she has somewhat of a relationship with Dad. Not wanting to deal with another set of drama Sarah just pushed past him and headed up to her room ignoring his call behind her.