Overdosed on Love

Chapter 17: First of the Last

Hunter

The locker room was hot with the heat of fourteen high school boys all antsy about their first game of the season.

If you're not anxious about a game then you have no business being on that court, a firm lesson rattled in my brain. It wasn't from my father. Most of his "lessons" I took with a grain of salt from early on, before I completely disregarded them entirely. You can be as good as the greatest basketball player in history, but you gotta remember you're not on that court alone, you're a part of a team, and anything can happen from the tip-off to the final buzzer. Just gotta play your best for each game.

Closing my locker I looked around at my teammates and saw Isaiah with his back against the lockers and his AirPods in as he got "in the zone" as he called it. Tyler was bouncing his leg in a way that made him look nervous, but that was just him getting the jitters out before the game began. This was our last first game (as confusing as that sounded). There would be no more first games, and every game from here on out was numbered until... the final game finally came upon us.

I looked and saw that one of the freshman players looked like he was two breaths from a heart attack. I walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder and he almost jumped out of his skin.

"Chill out," I laughed to put him at ease, "You're making me nervous, you're acting all jittery."

"S-Sorry," he apologized frantically, "It's just... I mean... I really don't want to let the team down."

"You won't," I smiled, "You got a whole team at your back. It's gonna be fine."

"All right, team!" Coach Price's voice echoes throughout the locker room and all heads turn to see the coach who's in the same dark green as our jerseys. "Jordan High School is boasting a lot of spry players who feel like hot stuff after they stole our championship title last year."

I grimaced at the thought of last year's loss. I had given it my all trying to score as many points as I could to close the gap that had formed early on in the game, but the damage had been done, we'd lost, and I had to hear an earful from my dad the whole car ride home, not to mention the crazy "extra training" shit I'd had to endure for like three months post-season.

"Don't wanna see any sour faces," Coach snapped me from my unhappy memory, "We're gonna show Jordan High that a lot can change in a year. Starting with tonight! Would our captain like to say a few words?" Coach Price looked at me and I took a deep breath as all eyes looked to me to do my role of "captain". My eyes landed on Isaiah and Tyler and the three of us exchanged a smirk.

"Let's go kick ass and take names guys!" All the guys roared and rose up from the benches filing out of the locker room to go onto the court, and I saw Coach Price shaking his head, but he was trying to hold back a smile. He was far from mad at me.

"You do good out there, Thompson," he said to me as I was the last to file out of the locker room.

"Of course, sir," I nodded.

"And enjoy the game," the game he insisted, "No matter who is on the bleachers." Coach looked at me more seriously and I. Dodged knowing exactly what he meant. Coach Price had helped me learn that despite what my father yelled from the sidelines it was me who was playing, and that was all that mattered. They were my moments, not his, and I was going enjoy every second of it.

Going out of the locker room I heard the roar of the crowd already from the tunnel, and heading out into the bright lights of the massive West Gym the crowd exploded into even louder cheers upon seeing the team.

Music began to blare, and the cheerleaders led the home side of the court in a chant. Zoey was of course leading the cheer and had Kate and Penelope flanking her. Their cheerleading uniforms matched our green jerseys and black shorts while they waved their white pompoms. Looking out past the cheerleaders at the crowd beyond I saw some teachers, some classmates. There was Taylor and Mia waving excitedly to Isaiah and Tyler, they were dressed from head to toe in spirit gear and waving foam fingers and noise makers. Their energy was virtually palpable.