Third Time's the Charm

Chapter 7: The Basketball match!

I wasn’t that good nor was I very athletic. It was Luke who had ignited the passion for basketball in me. I never would have played the sport and got so fond of it if it weren't to keep that i***t company and I had never played in a professional league before but at least I didn’t totally suck at it. That's gotta be something, right? Luke gave me a thumbs up and flashed me a bright, encouraging smile as I entered the court while Bella pursed her lips tightly and she had a poker face on. I tried to make sense of what her expression meant, was she unbothered by the coach's decision or was she pissed? What the hell was I thinking. She is my bestfriend, she would never want anything bad for me, of course she is not pissed, she just must be very tired and nervous because of the tryouts. Mike looked pleasantly surprised by the new addition while I looked completely uncomfortable. Well, at least thank god, I was on the same team as Luke’s. We had played together since childhood and we fit together perfectly like pieces of a puzzle. Both of us knew each other's moves, our strengths and weakness. We had good coordination too. I felt a little relieved now looking at him as I knew without a doubt that he had my back.

A part of me couldn't wait to step into the court, while a part of me, deep inside was urging me to back down and run away without looking back.

Now! This is going to be one hell of an entertaining match!

Now that the cheerleading workouts have finished, every single one of the audience's attention was locked on to us and I gulped involuntarily. My social anxiety had made me prone to stage fright. 

Wait a second! They are carrying Mia on their backs….I think she did it. I think she is the new head cheerleader. I cursed internally as Mia and her g**g joined the stadium. Perfect! this will make Mia act more high and mighty.

 Oh my god! What the hell was I thinking! Mia has been right all my life. I should really know my place. If I mess up and embarrass myself in front of them, I was pretty damn sure that she is never going to let me live it down.

“Hey! You, change into this jersey and shoes. You have two minutes to get changed and come back here.”, Mr Rupert shouted, startling me from my catastrophic thoughts and threw me a set of jersey and shoes.

I caught them reflexively and looked at them with a dubious expression on my face.

Okay! Calm down Ava! You can’t back out now. Not when the entire school and your arch enemy was watching. I took a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm myself down.

With trembling hands, I clutched the jersey tightly and took off into a run towards the changing room.

As I stood there in the washroom, dressed in dark blue jersey still desperately trying to catch my breath and calm down, I thought of myself whether I can really do this?

Okay Ava! Calm down. You are not really competing. You are just filling up the space so the others could tryout. I found myself eyeing the school jersey enviously in the mirror.

Since I was the only one without proper sports jersey, coach had given me the official school jersey of St Lawrence while everyone else was wearing their own different brands except the people who were already on the team. Though, it had someone else's name on it, I still couldn't take my eyes of it.

I sighed and decided to get it over with. By the time, I walked into the court, every player was busy doing lay ups and practicing. I joined my team nonchalantly and started doing lay ups too. 

I didn’t miss a single basket no matter how many times I did my layups, after all I was rather good at layups. I could miss a 2-pointer or a normal under basket shot, but I never miss a layup one. Luke grinned proudly at me and high fived me.

On the other side, I saw Bella watching me with narrowed eyes and I waved at her cheerfully, my nerves starting starting to settle down now after scoring a few baskets. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw that Mike was checking me out with curious eyes and I found myself wondering if he was checking me out because I was his competition or was it something else?

Just then, the head coach blew his whistle and signaled us to gather at the center of the court. Oh! The match was about to start and I have never felt more exited and more alive than at this moment. My adrenaline was surging and I was full of energy.

“Okay guys, let’s decide on our defenses”, Luke suggested and the rest of nodded.

Playing good forward and offense isn’t enough to win a game. Though no one really notices, a team with an excellent defense and a mediocre offense has the slightly upper hand than a team with excellent offense and mediocre defense. This was the ideology and strategy me and Luke had used in so many of our games against the boys in the neighborhood. Even if we didn’t score, all is well if they don’t get to score either.

I nodded satisfied at him and he flashed me a quick grin.

Both Luke and Mike shook hands and stood opposite each other, waiting for the coach’s whistle signaling that the game had started.

While they were waiting patiently for the ball to be dropped, we scurried forward to take our respective positions.

I heard the coach’s sharp whistle. The ball was in the air and the match had begun. Mike had successfully slammed the ball towards Bella and I cursed internally as I realized that she was heading straight for a basket and there was no one stopping her. I quickly did a thorough scan around me, I didn’t want to defend against her since she was my friend and she had wanted to win so badly, so I waited desperately for someone else to take defense against her but I was the closest to her.

“Ava, what are doing? Stop her”, a frustrated Luke yelled from behind me and I let out a sigh.

I bit my under lip uncertainly, then decided to defend, I sped up and successfully managed to intersect the ball and pass it to Luke, who scored within a blink of an eye. I smiled apologetically at Bella and ran after the ball. 

The next thing I know, I had already scored more than even Luke and Mike and the entire stadium was beyond itself cheering for me and I couldn’t just believe myself. What the hell had just happened?

I didn’t know what possessed me, but I didn’t even shy away from snatching the ball right from Mike’s hands. I was too adrenaline rushed to give a damn that I was going against a national level player. I still remember his surprise at my attack. Due to the high of the moment, the usually shy me had successfully snatched the ball from Mike's death grip and even winked smugly at him before scoring a layup. To say that he was surprised at my scandalous action would be the understatement of the century.

I was too fully charged with adrenaline to feel any shame, but I knew that I would feel embarrassed , not to mention horrified for winking at him after the game was over and my adrenaline rush had calmed down.

Luke punched me in the right arm and grinned at me, flashing all his tooth. I grinned back at him, still disbelieving in the fact that we had won against a national player and a state player and two district player.

Everyone was surprised with my performance, but the person who was most surprised was me myself. I grinned broadly , taking in the moment of glory, my heart beats thundering as the crowd cheers picked up pace. No one has ever cheered for me before, they have not even complimented me before....I was invisble...always a nobody...but today at this moment....I felt like I was at least a somebody.

Coach walked up to me and eyed me curiously, “I had never seen you before, are you a new transfer student?”

Seriously? I had been in this goods for a good six years.

I resisted rolling my eyes at him, after all he was the Head Coach, didn't want to offend him. But he wasn't the only one who took no notice of the little, insignificant. invisible me.

I shook my head no and he continued on, “I know that you just wanted to fill up the space, but would you consider joining the team?”

I blinked in surprise and nodded at him, not being able to utter another word.

I can’t believe this is happening to me. I feel like I would open my eyes, and it would all be a dream. I didn’t know what the feeling of winning was like because I had never won in anything before in my life. It was free as well an enticing high. It made me feel like I never want to loose again. I never knew that I could have dreams too. After all, my mom always said that it is better to have small dreams and achieve them than to have big dreams and fall short of your own expectations. But now, I feel like I should at least try before giving up something……After all, even I have the right to dream…everyone does…..