more life / b.simmons (2)

11

3 years later

kyra storms out of the gym and meets amari in the hallway. "ready?" she nods and speeds past her mom out of the gymnasium doors. amari cocks her head back at her daughters attitude, but doesn't say anything, just follows her to the car.

kyra walks into the parking lot and to the direction of where her mom always parks, and stops at the car once she reaches her destination. because she stormed off without talking to her, amari waits until she gets to the car to unlock it.

throwing her bags into the backseat, kyra sighs and then reclines her seat. "whats wrong with you?" amari asks, putting the car in reverse and backing out of the parking lot.

"i'm about to quit basketball," kyra says frustratedly.

amari glances at her and runs her tongue over her teeth. "girl, what?"

"i'm quitting basketball."

"no you're not. what happened?" amari asks, looking at her as they come to a red light.

kyra sighs. "i asked coach if i could play a guard position—id even play a small forward—and he said no! i've asked him 4 times, and each time he said he'd think about and clearly he hasn't! i'm so tired of that team, mom!" she says, sitting up and leaning over her knees. amari pats her back before the light changes and then she takes off.

"baby, you're 6'1''. not a lot of girls are as tall as you and they need you as a post. i know you don't like it, but that's the way it is," amari says and kyra digs her heels into her hands.

"morgan is 5'8, and i could easily take biancas spot because she's an awful point guard," kyra mumbles.

"you're only saying that because elisa isn't there."

"so?" elisa moved to the UK three weeks ago, because of her moms job, and she's coming back to the states after senior year. but kyra has had the hardest time dealing with her because she can't stand the idea of going into high school without one of her best friends. at least she has jada, avery, and daniel.

"so, bianca is a fine point guard. and you're just mad right now," amari says. kyra huffs leans her head against the cool glass of the window.

"one of these days, i'm playing a guard position."

-

ben pays for the shoes and hands adrian the bag. "you sure kyra will like those?" ben asks adrian. he just bought her a pair of aunt pearl KD 7s, and they're white. he's never seen her play in white shoes.

"positive. she stays talking about these damn shoes," adrian says. "i just can't wait to wear mine." he says with a smile. he got a pair of white, black, and red jordan 13s, his favorite shoe.

"you playing in them?"

"of course."

they walk out of the footlocker and towards the parking lot. "you hungry?" ben asks. adrian nods and they reach bens car and hop in. "you want chick fil a?"

"mhm," adrian replies, pulling out his phone and connecting it to the aux. he scrolls through his music and shuffles gunna and him and ben rap along to the song.

adrian taps away on his phone and checks his snap chat. he smiles once he sees a notification from her, and quickly replies back to her question: how was practice?

ben notices adrian smiling at his phone and asks, "who you texting?" like the nosey parent that he can be sometimes.

"nobody," adrian says quickly, losing his smile and his face going blank and neutral.