BAD TIMES • STEVE HARRINGTON

19. the sinclairs

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chapter nineteen

BY THE TIME LUCAS SINCLAIR was subbed into the game—because of another boy's on-court injury no less—there were only fifty-three seconds left in the third quarter of the game, and Hawkins was down by six points.

Diana grabbed onto Steve's gray sleeved arm. She watched dumbstruck as Lucas made his way onto the court. "Oh my god."

Steve shot up from his seat, dragging Diana with him and yelling Lucas's name in excitement and encouragement. Diana found her mom's eyes somewhere in the crowd. The older woman pointed at her with a glowing smile as if to say, I told you so.

Diana clapped her hands together, happy to see her brother get what he'd wanted for most of the school year.

Lucas immediately flowed into the game. He played like he had something to prove, which Diana supposed he did. He passed the ball with energized efficiency and he played his part during the plays with ease.

When there were a mere three seconds left in the game, Hawkins was down by one point and all the boys had gathered around the basketball goal, trying to grab the ball after her former classmate Jason's failed attempt at a shot. Lucas came out victorious, rushing out of the group to where Diana assumed he could make a three-pointer. He quickly turned on his heel and shot the ball into the air and toward the goal.

The whole gym was on their feet as the buzzer went off. Diana gripped Steve's hand tightly as they watched the ball agonizingly teeter on the rim for a second, before it fell right into the net.

Hawkins had won.

The crowd erupted into cheers, and Diana was bursting with pride. She and Steve hugged so tightly she could hardly breathe. "Didn't I say he was good?" Steve asked over the roar of noise.

Diana laughed wholeheartedly for the first time in months, nodding with a grin so wide her face hurt. She hadn't doubted her brother's skills, but she had doubted his chance to ever get to show them off. "You did. You did."

When she looked back to the gym floor, the team had disappeared to the locker rooms and people, some disappointed, most over the moon, began to file out of the building. "We'll have to find him outside," Steve, said following her gaze.

She nodded. "Let's go find my parents." She didn't give him any time to disagree as she pulled him down the bleachers and straight into the crowd. They found her parents milling around the closed concession stand. Her mother was just about bursting with joy and her father was smiling unabashedly.

"I knew your brother had it in him," he said, as he leaned down a bit to hug her. He reached out to give Steve a handshake but then turned back to her. "It's good to see you Di. How's school?"

"Not as interesting as any of this," she joked.

He chuckled. "I'm sure you just need to get out more, honey."

"Maybe," she drawled with an eye roll. She glanced back at Steve, who was talking animatedly to her mother. "I'm staying at Steve's tonight by the way."

Her dad raised his brows. "You told your mother?" She nodded. "And what did she have to say?"

"Nothing much," she tried.