The Rising Star [Varsity Boys #1]

Chapter Twenty-Three

I found myself fiddling with Jaylen's hoodie sleeves as I sat on the bleachers, nerves eating away at me, bit by bit. The game hasn't started yet and both teams were still warming up.

The incident between Seth and Jaylen earlier was one I didn't see coming. I should've seen it though since Seth would do anything to throw Jaylen off his game. What better way to do that than to use the girl who had his jersey on from high school.

Mona waited for me in the courtyard while I readied myself for the game. I deemed choosing between which shade of lipstick to use more important than my best friend who had the possibility of interacting with the rival.

When I met up with her, she was normal, at least to me. Never mentioned anything regarding Seth. She was running back the plan to me as we made our way to the gymnasium. I paid close attention to every point, making sure it was good to go.

I was completely thrown off when Seth had taken an interest in my best friend. However, he made it seem like he was talking about me which got Jaylen seeing red. At least I got there right on time. They were both on thin ice and Seth was stomping on it.

For us to execute our plan, Mona and I had to sit close to the sidelines. One of them had to keep an eye on us, whenever they could, so we could signal them which play Seth was using. After watching multiple videos, we determined his signals. We needed to watch out for which one he was going to use.

There was no sign of Jaylen's father or Gabriella. I didn't want to waste my time and look for them in the crowd. If they wanted to make their presence known to me, they should go ahead with it already. The anticipation was killing me.

Another reason why it took me so long to meet up with Mona downstairs was that I was giving myself a pep talk. Thinking of rebuttals on every possible thing they could come with. So they had an idea that I wasn't someone to be pushed around.

"Here we go," Mona mumbled beside me when the buzzer went off, indicating the game was about to start.

Both teams went into a huddle quickly before the starters of each team made their way on the floor. Jaylen met my gaze, winking at me then focused on getting into position. Kai stood on center court, alongside Seacoast's center.

I finally made the effort of remembering the other two players' names. Their shooting guard's name was Trent while their small forward's name was Nash. Both played skillfully and it made sense to me why they ended up playing for Ridgeview.

They did jump ball and Seacoast had possession first. Their power forward, Chase (as you can see, I really did make the effort on learning names), passed the ball to Seth. As he switched hands in dribbling the ball, Mona scratched her nose.

When we planned out what we were going to do, we had to take into account the other players. We hoped that one of the guys was going to give the other the rundown on what was happening. Since we had to keep it away from Coach Jackson, we couldn't practice any of the plays we prepared.