The Photograph (Eastbrook 1)

Chapter 14

Rachel arrived at school a half hour before the bus was scheduled to leave for the night’s game, the championship game in the Independence Holiday Tournament. She wanted time alone on the basketball court to practice and to clear her mind. The Badgers had played two games the previous day—one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Eastbrook won by double digits in both games, propelling the team into the championship game. 

Even though the team had played well the day before, Rachel had played her worst basketball of the season in the two tournament games. She was careless with the ball and turned it over eleven times. She missed two easy lay-ups early in the first game and lost confidence in her shot for the rest of the day. Defensively, Rachel couldn’t keep up with her assignment; she was always a step behind. Coaches Davis and Myers had noticed her poor play, and they gave her a chance to turn around her momentum for the day by starting her in the second game. But she hadn’t been able to put the pieces together, and she’d ended up benched for most of the second half. 

Rachel was determined to put that game behind her. She knew she’d played badly because she wasn’t focused. Her family situation rattled her, but she believed every day was a new day—a new game. 

She entered the gym to find it occupied by the boys’ freshman team. She walked along the baseline to the opposite side of the gym and opened the door to the auxiliary gym. Inside was pitch black, and Rachel smiled; she would have a court to herself. Rachel put her bag just inside the door and traced her hand along the wall next to the door. She knew the light switch was somewhere on the wall to the right of the door. She took another step and felt a switch. The giant fluorescent light bulbs on the gym ceiling began to emit a faint glow. Rachel took off her sweatshirt and started with lay-ups. The lights took several minutes to warm up to their complete brightness.

As Rachel started her shootaround routine, her mind retraced the past three days. The conversation with Kate on Christmas had triggered a swell of hurt and anger in Rachel that grew in size and magnitude each day. The anger was focused at Kate, Papa, and Nana for the years of lies that left Rachel believing her mother had left her behind and had never returned. She’d believed her mother didn’t want her for some reason. But there was more to the story, and Rachel didn’t understand why her family had lied to her.  

Rachel hadn’t spoken with Nana or Papa again about her mother or meeting her. Kate insisted that Rachel give Papa a few days to process. But Rachel was tired of waiting; she’d been waiting almost her entire life to meet her mother. She would bring up the subject again that night.

Rachel’s shootaround began with lay-ups and progressed to difficult shots. She made twenty right-handed lay-ups and twenty left-handed lay-ups before moving to jump shots from the wing and elbow. She attempted to channel her anger into positive energy on the basketball court. The first few wing jumpers rimmed out, but by the end of her wing and elbow cycle, her shots fell consistently, and she moved to three-pointers.

Her three-point routine was different. Rachel rarely shot a three-pointer off the dribble during game play. Instead, her open three pointers arose from a teammate’s pass. Her three-point drill mimicked the catch and shoot pattern. Instead of dribbling to a spot and shooting, Rachel put a backward spin on the ball so it bounced back to her. She caught it and took the three-point shot, rebounded her made-or-missed shot, and ran to the next spot behind the arc to repeat the routine. 

Rachel completed her three-point shot drill by making eighteen of twenty-five attempts. She glanced at the clock on the wall. The bus wouldn’t leave for another ten minutes. She went to the free-throw line and shot ten free throws, making eight.

Rachel put the basketballs away, turned off the lights, and returned to the main gym with her gear in hand. She felt confident and focused on the game ahead of her. All of her hurt, anger, and questions were pushed out of her mind. She greeted her teammates and walked with them to the bus.