Hustle Vs Muscle

Chapter 8: A "Friendly" Conversation

The first cut is today. I know I'll make it. They want height on the team. Not to mention we beat Christina. I don't think she's going to make first cut. If she doesn't get cut, I'm going to scream at Coach Anthony. A girl on the team would cause problems. Everyone would go easy on her. Plus, a short girl can't exactly dominate. And dominance is what we want on this team.

"Christina isn't going to make the team." I say to Aiden in the locker room. "Bet." "I don't know, man." Aiden responds. "I mean, she's pretty good. She's super fast and literally dribbles at the speed of light. Also she gets them rebounds and she's got good D." "What, you think she's hot?" I say, wheeling around to face him. "Hell no." says Aiden, lightly. "I'm just saying she could make the team."

I dress out and storm out of the locker room. I walk into the gym. Christina is already there, with Chase. They're talking about something. For the life of me, I can not understand why any boy would talk to her. She's so short and she's not even hot. She will never be the pretty girl, because she's the athletic girl. Girls don't belong on our court. It's that simple.

I'm going to go rough on Christina. I'm going to teach her a lesson about what happens when someone challenges me. I don't hit girls, but as I stride towards where Christina is, the thought of roughing her up a little is satisfying. Chase leaves to go to the bathroom. I keep striding towards Christina. When I reach her she looks up, almost staring into my eyes. Then a thought enters my mind. If I lay a hand on her, she will snitch on me, just like a girl would. But I get the feeling that Christina is not the type who would snitch or even back down when someone gets in her face.

I give her a shove. She takes a step back but holds her ground."What the hell are you tryna do?" I say. "You don't belong on the court with us." "Are you sure about that?" says Christina. Heads turn in our direction. Chase has just entered the room and is watching. "Yeah." I say, feeling even more angry. "What happened to yo white daddy?" I say. "Did he really die in a car crash or did he kill himself because he couldn't live with you and your mom's pathetic, ugly ass, shorty?" Christina is a whole foot shorter than me, but she can really shove. Christina shoves me so hard that I slam backwards into the wall. I am about to let her really have it, but Coach Anthony interrupts our argument. "What is going on here?" says Coach Anthony. "She just shoved me into the wall." I say truthfully. "Her?" says Coach Anthony, like he can't believe it. "She's a foot shorter than you." He turns to Christina. "Did you?"

"Yeah." Christina replies. "Well, Christina. You can't just shove people like that. I will have to give you an after school detention." says Coach Anthony. I smile triumphantly. "D'amato, wipe that smile off your face." says Coach Anthony. He blows his whistle and tells us to get into layup lines. I flip Christina an obscene gesture and jog to the front of the line.