Shelby and Toni

Chapter Two

*Toni's POV* 

Similar to everyday, I woke up to the loud and obnoxious alarm coming from my phone. I blindly reached over tapping on different parts of screen till the horrible noise stopped. I sat there for a minute, contemplating going back to sleep, but knew I needed to start to get up, so I let out a groan and sat up in my bed and rubbed my eyes. I grabbed my phone and unplugged it from the charger before going through my socials for a little bit to help wake up eyes up more, having to concentrate hard in order to read what the words on my screen said. 

After about five minutes, there was a knock on my door, followed by Martha's mom, Jackie, saying "Toni you awake?" 

"Yeah, Mrs. Blackburn, I'm up," I said and the door opened up to reveal Mrs. Blackburn smiling, already fully dressed and ready for the day. 

"I made some breakfast if you're hungry and want to eat something before your game, it's a smoothie since I know you don't like to eat big meals before playing," she said while standing in the doorframe. 

"Aw thank you, I'll head down there in one second," I said while standing up and making my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth. "Oh you guys really don't have to come today, it's just a scrimmage, not even a real game." 

"Don't be silly, of course we're going," she said and then walked away before I could protest anymore. Martha's family has always came to all of my games, whereas for my foster fam, its the opposite. I just hope they don't feel like they have to go, but it is nice to have someone in the stands for you besides your friends. 

I brushed my teeth quickly and headed down the stairs and into the kitchen, where my smoothie was sitting on the counter with a metal straw, you won't find a plastic one in the Blackburn's house. "Thank you Mrs. Blackburn," I said as I grabbed the smoothie and made my way to the living room. 

"No problem, sweetie, and oh, could you go see what Martha's doing? I told her to come down to eat ten minutes ago," she said. 

I made a turn to head back up the stairs and said, "you got it." I looked at the family photos on the hallway wall leading to Martha's room, and smiled when I saw a framed photo of me playing basketball. I did a quick knock before opening Martha's bedroom door to see her sitting on her bed on her phone. "Yo, Marty, your mom wants you to come eat," I said and she snapped her head up and got up. 

"Oh shit, my bad, I got distracted on my phone," she said as she walked past me and down the stairs. "You excited for your game today?" She asked as we walked to the kitchen. 

"It's just a scrimmage, but yeah I feel like I haven't played in ages," I said sitting down at one of the bar stools they have up against the counter. 

"You played like two weeks ago didn't you?" Martha asked as she grabbed the milk carton out of the fridge and filled a glass. She was eating eggs, toast, and bacon, which looked delicious but last time I ate too much food before a game I felt like my body weighed an extra ten pounds. 

"Yeah, that's ages ago," I said, taking a sip from my smoothie. Martha laughed and shook her head before sitting down next to me. We both took out our phones and scrolled through socials while eating. After I finished, I rinsed my cup out in the sink and headed up stairs to get ready for my scrimmage. 

I brushed my hair before putting it into a ponytail, then changed my clothes into a t-shirt and basketball shorts, and put on some socks before sitting on my bed, having a few extra minutes to kill time. I grabbed my phone from off my nightstand and saw I had a text from Shelby. 

Shelbs: hey t, what time is your game thingy today

I made a face, since I hadn't told any of the girls except Martha I had a scrimmage today. 

Me: how'd you know about that? 

Shelbs: Martha mentioned it to me yesterday

Me:  well its just a scrimmage, shelbs, none of the other girls are coming 

Shelbs: and? I wanna see you play

I felt a pit in my stomach as I read that, not a bad one though, like an excited one. I'd felt it before but have been trying to control it since it's Shelby, my straight best friend.

Me: well its in about thirty minutes at the school, but really shelbs, you don't have to go

Shelbs: shut up ill be there

I smiled, even though I know I shouldn't, and set my phone down and went over to my closet, put my slides on, grabbed my shoes and ball and threw them in a bag. I grabbed my phone and headphones before walking down stairs, where Martha's parents were sitting on the couch. 

"Ya ready?" her dad asked. 

"Ready," I replied back as they stood up and gathered their things. 

"Martha! Let's go!" Mrs. Blackburn yelled up the stairs, throwing her purse over her shoulder. 

"I'm coming!" Martha yelled back as she walked out of her room and made her way to the stairs. We all walked to the garage and got into her dads blue pickup truck and made our way to Edison  High School, where we attended. We arrived about ten minutes before the scrimmage was set to start. We all walked in the school together and took a right to get to the gym. 

"Alright, go knock em dead," Marty said as her and her parents made their way to the fairly empty stands. 

"I mean, I'm playing against my own teammates, but if you say so Marty," I replied which caused her to roll her eyes. 

"You know what I meant," she said and I laughed and made my way to my teammates on the court. 

"What's up guys" I said as I sat down and opened my bag to put my shoes on. A few girls replied "hey" or "what's up" before returning to putting their shoes on and listening to music. It was only a scrimmage but my team was always 100% focused and ready to bring their best game, whatever we were doing. I got up and made my way over to the water fountain to get a drink, as I started to lean down I felt someone run up and hug me. 

"Toni!" Shelby yelled as she wrapped her arms around me. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------merry Christmas Eve ya'll and happy Thursday if you don't celebrate. hope y'all are staying safe, will upload another chapter or two tonight