Crossroads-Book 1

•Chapter 1•

[Trevor]

I noticed something weird from the first day I moved to Arizona and started at Cedarwood High.

Seeing red flashes of light first thing in the morning as soon as you wake up was totally normal right?

I was walking through the empty hallways with my backpack slung over my shoulders and my hands tucked into my pocket.
I was late to school but I didn't really care. I don't usually like first days of school anyway.

I was thinking of finding my way to class but just then, the bell rang.
People began to file out of classes and soon the hall was packed with students.

I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head and disappeared into the dense crowd.

As I walked along the hallway an interesting looking poster caught my eye. The letters were big and bold so I read it without much effort. "Basketball tryouts after school. Sign up in the auditorium before then."
Cool.

I went ahead and signed up.

A few hours later, after the last bell rung, kids began to walk into the auditorium.
I noticed that a good percentage of the students were there, I guess to watch tryouts.

Apparently, it was a big deal for the whole school.

A tall, brown haired guy stood behind a table.
He was making an announcement.

"Alright everyone, settle down. I know you all came here for the tryouts.

"Well, I know some of you just came to watch but a few came to try out for the basketball team. Be quiet so we can get straight to it.

"I don't think everyone's gonna play today so I'm just going to call out the names of people who will. The remaining people will play tomorrow or next. Ten people would be selected in total so...try your best."

The guy wasn't sounding like he wanted to be in the room at that moment but he went ahead and called out the names that were playing today. I thought my name wouldn't be called early because I signed up pretty late but it was among today's list.

He told all the people whose names were called to go to the locker room to get changed.

When we were done, he selected six people who would be on his team. The remaining seven of us took random positions.

When we were all set on the court the guy asked, "Ready?"
He didn't wait for a reply. He blew the whistle hanging from his neck.
The crowd began to cheer.

The guy's team won the tip off. Immediately, he got the ball. He passed the ball to one of his players and the player passed back.

The guy dribbled two off my team's attackers and made a three pointer. My teammate took the ball and made a sloppy pass. The guy's teammate got the ball and dunked.
People applauded and cheered.

I grabbed the ball from my teammate and made an overhead pass to another of my teammates. He gave me a shoulder pass back, I dribbled three players from the other team, ran to the net and dunked.

Cheers erupted from the audience. I caught a glimpse of the other guy's face. Apparently, his team doesn't usually lose.

The rest of the match was tough. The other guy's team played more vicious than they did initially.

We were tied thirty-thirty. The guy seemed tense. Thirty seconds to the end of the match, a player in the other team fouled me. I quickly stood up to take the free throw.
My chest rose and fell heavily as I aimed for the hoop and threw the ball.