Jump Shot

When Disaster Strikes

"Expelled?" I ran my fingers through my hair and let out a deep breath. Thornton on the other hand mindlessly tapped away at his laptop, as if the words coming out of his mouth weren't going to be the end of me. I thought back to every minor mistake I'd ever committed, I mean a couple of parking tickets and one fight couldn't possibly be enough to get someone expelled. Right?

"Ms. Harred," he began as he leaned back into his chair, sighing deeply as his oily black hair fell from their place atop his head which he in turn lightly flicked them away with his pencil, "I'm afraid I must remind you that you are a scholarship student, and that we did however warn you that should you be incapable of following school policy you would be unable to attend this academy."

"But Mr. Thornton," I leaned forward, a tentative hand placed itself on the mahogany desk, "you can't really have expected me to sit around and do nothing." I leaned back, crossing my arms over my chest. " I mean honestly, the kid provoked me."

"Provoked or not-"

"He called me a penny pusher and said he saw my mom digging through the trashcan on 288th before asking if she was looking for tomorrow nights meal"

He sniffed and typed a little more into his laptop before continuing.

"As I was saying, provoked or not Ms. Harred, you, my dear, were treading on very thin ice. Ice that you so happened to break!" He stopped his mindless typing and faced me once again. "We here at Ruston High gave you an opportunity to pursue your education, and you yourself are seeing the result of your actions. Now move along." He said sharply before ushering me out of his office. I snatched up my bag and stormed out of the room, towards the front entrance of the school.

"I WILL SUE" I screamed as I walked out of the building to the nearly empty street below.

"Stupid, useless, waste of an education, idiotic, good for nothing school" I kicked a garbage can out of the way as I strode furiously down the road. For the first time in my life, I was pissed off to not be in class and even more mad to not have all of the staff breathing down my neck, watching to see me make the first mistake.

Since my beginning at Ruston, everyone had been ready for me to fail. Being the scholarship student it was already pre-decided I wouldn't fit in. However, despite the constant accusatory glares of teachers when things went awry, or the displeased looks of other students, I'd somehow managed to make it to the third year of high school. That was until now at least. I kicked myself mentally as I continued down the street. The chances of me getting into Ruston in the first place were unlikely, and of course I'd ruin it before I reached the end.

I glanced up and noticed a group of boys plays basketball in the parking lot of the closed down Enderson building. Apparently they used to manufacture wooden chairs but had a termite infestation and had to shut the whole thing down. A couple years after it had closed, a group kids decided to venture inside, probably with the intention to find a new drinking spot, but they ended up leaving with a few missing fingers and toes after one of them had accidentally turned on a log splitter and fucked up. But today, Enderson's had a less ominous feeling and the steady sound of the ball bouncing on the pavement seemed like just the thing to calm me down. I ran across the street, narrowly avoiding a car that for some reason had no intention of slowing down, before approaching the group of guys.

"Mind if I join?" I asked as I jogged up to them. They looked up and nodded in my direction.

"Sure, you can join the skins." I looked over and realized that once again, I had been mistaken for a guy. Quite honestly it wasn't their fault, with my black hair cut short and straight set body, the differences between me and the other guys were lacking. I blame my parents for my insufficiency of femininity to be honest. They were so insistent that they would have a son, and when I was born you can only imagine their disappointment. So they gave me a gender neutral name, raised me in pants and sweats, and never let my hair grow any further than my ears. Lucky them that I couldn't care less about my own appearance otherwise they'd have been dealing with a full scale, teenage riot by this point.

I sighed and tugged my t-shirt over my head, revealing a black sports bra underneath. I heard the sharp intake of breath when they realized they'd misgendered me, and then the sharp whistle from a boy who'd decided I'd wanted his opinion. I picked him, a blonde haired, blue-eyed boy who was at most a solid six who thought he was a nine. I rolled my eyes and walked over to him and set up for defense. I recognized him, he was Oakland Heights' all-star point guard, captain of the number one team in the state. I'd seen his face a couple of times on the front page of the Elderwood Times and I was feeling excited to wipe the smirk off his face. He dribbled the ball a couple times with his right hand, and I took in a deep breath. Eyes locked on his I counted each bounce of the ball.

One, two, switch.

Three, four, switch back.

Consistent.

He picked it up and passed it to the right wing and cut across to the left side of the court. I followed after him, the pounding of sneakers slapping the hard pavement beating like a drum and pulsing through my veins. He abruptly stopped and I felt the toe of my shoe dig into the ground before I stopped in front of him.

I watched his eyes, shifting as they tracked the ball and saw as they widened, signaling that the ball was coming his way. I flipped around and snatched the ball in the air before dribbling back to the top of the court. I reached the top of the three point line and passed to my left before cutting cross-court and down to the right.

"Here!" I called out, putting my hands up as I anticipated the pass. Blonde boy stood in front of me, his long arms blocking my path. I ducked underneath him and caught the ball before faking a shot and driving to the basket. My guard was back, standing before me, hands up high in the air, ready to block my shot. I pummeled into him, forcing the ball past his freakishly long limbs, and watched it bounce off the backboard and into the hoop. I also simultaneously watched him fall to the ground beneath me due to my excessive use of force, and looked down just in time to see my foot land rather harshly on his left ankle.

There was a sickening crack and I watched as his ankle twisted into an unidentifiable shape. The ball that had just made it's way through the basket came down, and landed directly on his face with a resounding bounce, and a thick river of blood came sputtering out his nose.

"SHIT" He yelled, grasping his ankle with one hand and using the other to staunch his leaking nostril.

I grimaced and crouched down beside him.

"Are you alright?" I asked, placing my hand on his shoulder to offer condolences. I mean honestly, what was I supposed to do in this situation? He smacked my hand away and glared furiously up at me.

"Call a police?" he screamed in my face, and I watched out of the corner of my eye as one kid ran back over to the pile of bags to find his phone. I rolled my eyes.

The police? Really?

"I'm really sorry," I began, trying to find some way to relieve the tension of the situation.

"Damn right you are, whats your name cuz you're paying the hospital bills."

I breathed in deeply. I've Lost my Ruston High scholarship and now I broke the foot of a division one prospect all in the last thirty minutes. Fuck.