The secret she kept

Chapter 18 - Basketball Try-outs

I stood there in the doorway, having eye contact with my dad until someone spoke: " I think you girls got the wrong room." one of the guys said who was the team captain."No, actually, I think I have the right room, but I am a bit too late or, as I would say, fashionably late."The boy looked at me with a smirk that said I hadn't heard the last of it. Tash looked at me a bit weirdly and whispered: "what do you mean you're a bit too late."You will see, I saidI walked up towards the coach, who is my dad, of course, but nobody knew that accept us. When I reached him, I asked: "Is it okay for me to join the try-outs coach?"Dad looked at me and said, " Well, I have to discuss that with the other coach for a bit because you are late."

"Skills, what do you think?" Lucas yelled across the Gym, where another mall was standing with a whistler around his neck."Well, let me see what she can do first; even though she is late, she does have cuts." Skills yelled across the gym"Okay, you can join, but if you can't keep up, we will bench you, you understand," Lucas said in a severe tone of voice.Everybody was watching the ordeal go one while playing basketball. The guys who were the team captain decided to speak up."Coach, you can't be kidding me; we can't play with a girl. This is a boy's basketball team." Brett said.

Some of his friends were standing behind him and yelled, Yeah, coach in agreement.Then suddenly Liam appeared behind the group and said, Just let her be and see what she can do. Just be cool about it, guys." He winked at me when he said it.Brett didn't like that and said: "Well, will find you later on in the lockerroom Liam."Lucas and Skills didn't hear Brett saying this to Liam, but I did. Skills stopped this argument by saying, "Are you guys going to whine about this, or are we going to play basketball." And then he troughs the ball in the air.

I caught the ball, and the shot it straight through the hoop from where I was standing.Everyone, including Lucas, Skills, and Tash, was amazed by this.But Brett didn't give in and said "PFF Lucky shot"Melissa, get dressed, and we will see you in 5. Boys lets see who can run the most laps in 5 minutes" Lucas said

I walked towards Tash to get my sports bag out of my locker and get changed. She just whispered," What the fuck happened, Mell? Where did that come from?"I didn't want to explain to her and said: "I will explain later, I have to get dressed first."When I got back into the Gym, the boys were resting a bit, and skills were standing next to them. When he saw me coming in, he immediately entered into actions and said: "Okay, everyone lets make teams," Brett and another guy named Charles had to pick teams. Of course, I was not expecting to be selected first, but to be picked last was a bit shitty.Ohh, well, I didn't want it to bother me.

The one good thing about me being picked last was that Liam and I were on the same team. So at least I had one person who knew and trusted me. I didn't need to prove myself to him, at least.

We started to play; everything went well. We defended well, and then Liam got the ball and started dribbling towards the basket. He passed it to another teammate who passed it back to another one and that one shot from the three-pointer line. I stood under the basket, and when the ball didn't go in, I decided to go for the rebound and scored.This went one for a few rounds, and we were playing against Brett.Our team was doing a bit better than the other side, and Skills started to notice this. Not only skills but Brett started to get irritated too. How could this newby beat us, she is also the new girl. This can't be happening. Brett said to himself.

We were in the last minutes of the game, and Liam just passed the ball towards Me. I was about to score until I felt someone pushing me aside. The one thing I remember was trying to keep my balance while i was being pushed away, but then I fell on my hand. A pain shot through it, but I ignored it. I heard my dad holding his breath while he blew the whistle very loudly. My heart was beating fast. When I turned around to see who pushed me, Brett was standing there. Dad and Skills were already walking towards us. 

While Liam shoved Brett out of the way while saying:

What the hell was that, bro?"

"Nothing, new Liam just playing basketball as usual. You know how competitive i can get" Brett replied

"Bullshitt Brett, this is not competitivity !"

The conversation started to get heated, and they were walking towards each other, but luckily, skills broke it up; otherwise, it may or may not have ended up in a fight.

Dad came into my vision and asked if I was alright. He looked concerned."Yeah I am fine coach, don't worry about me. I can handle a little push." I replied.

Dad looked a bit surprised to me, calling him coach, but that was the deal we made about being professional in the school environment.

Dad offered me a hand, and I stood up. I decided to get the ball and pass it to Brett. "Your game," I yelled at him.

Dad's whistle sounded through the Gym, and he yelled: "let's play again, boys."

The game started again, and in the end, we won.

After training, everybody went back to the locker rooms. Tomorrow we will see who is going to make the team. Liam walked with me to the girl's lockerroom since Tash already left. I couldn't find her on the tribune anymore, so I assumed she went home. When we came to the girl's locker room, Liam stopped for a bit and asked: "You sure you are okay. I saw you fall on your hand, awkwardly?"

"Yeah, I am sure I am fine," I replied even though my hand still hurt, and I already saw a little blue bruce forming. I didn't want Liam to worry.I kissed him and said, "Will see you tomorrow.""see you tomorrow" he replied back

I stepped into the locker room to see it all empty. I was alone. I opened my locker, but it wasn't locked. Weird, I thought. Maybe I forgot to close it, in the end, I was in a hurry to get dressed. I got my phone out of the locker and saw a message from Tash:

"Sorry, Mell, I needed to leave. It was getting late, and I mostly help my mum with dinner. But wow, girl, you can play basketball omg. I will see you tomorrow at school. Ps. I saw a certain someone looking at you quite a lot when I was watching the training."I toke a shower, got dressed, and decided to pack up when I heard a knock on the door. "Mell, are you ready to go" I heard

"Yeah I am almost ready, give me two minutes and I will come out."

I packed my bag and opened the door. Dad was standing there already in his casual clothes. "You ready to head home?""Yess lets go home," I replied