Teenage baller Kaden Hastings has a fit when his family moves to California. He can handle the new medical diagnosis that slowly eats away at his life, but when his parents separate him from his teammates and girlfriend to move him to California to...
I walk into the gym where the J.V. team is warming up on the court, along with the team they're playing-the Warriors from Cleveland High Portland. This is going to be a huge game for varsity later tonight; the gym's already packed.
I spot Kaden in the front row bleacher right behind the team bench, and I head down the rows to sit next to him. "Hey Kaden."
Kaden doesn't answer me. He's staring off into space, completely zoned out. I lean over and get right in his line of sight, but he stares through me. His lips are twitching.
I poke his shoulder just to be sure-he doesn't respond. This is the fifth time this has happened, and that's just when I've seen it. I'm always with him, but still, that means it's probably happened ten times, maybe more. At least I know now that he'll be okay in a few minutes.
The first time this happened, we were watching a movie at my house, and I almost ran to get my mom once I figured out that he wasn't joking around. Last time, we were in science class doing a lab, and nobody else in class even noticed, including Kaden.
Kaden's mouth stops twitching. His eyes open and close lazily, flutter open, and focus straight ahead. Then he spots me out of the corner of his eye, and it makes him jump. "Jeez, when did you get here?"
"I've been here. You zoned out again."
He puts his elbows on his knees and hangs his head.
"You okay?" I lean forward so I can look him in the eye.
"Yeah . . ." Kaden stares out at the court with a frown on his face.
"You sure?"
He shrugs, trying to downplay the whole thing. But he noticed it this time, like the first time it happened. I can tell that it bothers him.
"We should tell someone-"
"Don't."
"Kaden-"
"Jake, just don't."
I clench my jaw and fight the urge to storm off. After a couple big breaths I say, "You know I'm just worried."
"Well don't. I'm fine."
You've got to be kidding me. He was so far gone, I could have pushed him off the bleachers, and he wouldn't have had a clue what happened when he snapped out of it.
"So I space out sometimes. No one else even notices, so what's the big deal?" Kaden stares at me, but it feels like he's not telling me to keep it a secret. Now suddenly he's begging me not to tell anyone. His eyes flick down. "My whole life people have been labeling me. For once I finally feel like I'm not the tard or the loser or the freak, so can you just . . . ? Please, don't tell anyone."
This sucks. He's my best friend, but even if I told someone about this to help him, he'd never look at it that way. And if I blab and Kaden gets pulled off the team, and it turns out it's really not a big deal, he would never forgive me. "Okay, I won't tell anyone, alright?"
Kaden sighs with relief. "Thanks Jake."
I've got a label for him—control freak.
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