A Few More Reasons

Chapter 11

As I press the read button on Fjord's text message, my smile is shattered.

"I'm so sorry Lance, I'm at the doctor right now. I can't do anything about that. Sorry."

My teeth start grinding as my eyes fixate on the word "sorry" on my screen. I hate this last minute false hope. Sorry isn't enough to fix this. Everything comes bursting into my mind --- my dad's punch on my mom's face, my mom hanged with a chesire cat smile on her face, Fjord saying "They hate you for being you." Now all of them make sense, the world doesn't love me. The world doesn't want me to be happy.

"Look at you lil' Lancy boy, goodbye," Gossen teases from the other side of the bleacher.

"Too bad for you," Hanz adds.

I hear coach Koko from his megaphone, "Fifteen minutes is over, you know what that means Lance, you will not play in the Divi---"

I grasp harder on my phone. Now, if the world hates me, then I hate it more. Holding on to this feeling, I stand up, and throw the phone to the court, shattering it into pieces. The arena goes quiet again, with my teammates exchanging glances.

I make my pace to the coach, with widened shoulders and uplifted chin. Upon reaching him, I grab him in his arm. "I won't accept it."

"No," he scowls. I squeeze his arm harder. He stands up in a flash to let go of my grasp. "A no is a no, and stop harassing me."

Bryle comes rushing into us. "Hey Lance stop!"

With grinding teeth, I turn around and face him. "You know, it's all your fault, if you didn't tell him that I'm a candidate to be a captain, then he wouldn't be harsh on me."

"Lance," he taps my back. "He knew it from the start, but I don't know what made him that way towards you."

"Enough with your tantrums," coach says, laughing. "You're no match for Adrian, he's far more deserving than you."

I grin, and starts walking away, "Yeah, I know."

"Wait," coach says. I halt my pace, and turn back. "Speaking of the captain, what if you and Adrian have a one-on-one battle, and if you win you'll be the team captain, and you'll play in the Division."

I look at Adrian, "What if I lose to him?"

"Then you won't still play in the Division."

"I'm in," I say. I have nothing to lose here, so I'm not gonna waste this opportunity.

"What, that's unfair to me!" Adrian shouts, eyes popping out. "He'll be the captain just like that? And what will I benefit from this?"

"You don't wanna waste your attendance here, right? You wanna play, so play," coach says.

"Let's go," I smirk. "Unless you're scared?"

"Of course not!" His fist tightens as he stares harder at me.

"Prove it to me, Mr. Captain," I grin.

I know it, he'll let me win. He said earlier that he'll do what he have to do in order to make me play in the Division. I'll take advantage of him this time.

The rule is simple, the first one to score five points will emerge victorious. It's gonna be a fast match since it's not in the plan.

The game starts. Coach Koko tosses the ball midair.

"You know the drill," I whisper to him as we're standing in front of each other.

"Lance," Adrian whispers back. "Just so you know, I won't let you win this time." He jumps and grabs the ball, which leaves me frozen for a moment. He dashes through me and run to the lane.