"No, because this is utter torture." Farrah groaned as we ran through the halls of the town sports complex where the basketball game was happening.
Before we got here, we were at one of the rival's school campus where the Table Tennis Tournament was being held. I stood on the front lines to support Ivy and cheered her on. My throat was on its last straw.
This was the worst part of this whole school district competition was the activities and sports weren't held in one place, but rather all around the city. Take for an example right now, we were at a different school watching Table Tennis but now we're running faster than a cheetah to catch up with the basketball game.
This was the last game before the finals and to determine if our school's basketball team will get in the finals. They have come a long way to get here, so I'm almost positive that they will get a spot in the final game on Friday.
One thing that Stonewall High has a huge pride on is the basketball team since that's one of the sports we're strongest in, even more so than American football.
Together with a few schoolmates, we took a quick bus ride to arrive here at the sports complex. Basketball was one of the most anticipated game everyone was looking forward to. I'm pretty sure that the place will be packed and it does have a limit on how many people can fit inside, so we need to be there on time.
Since the schedules clashed, I wasn't able to see the first two quarters of the game, but I was determined to at least make it to the last quarter to watch Dev play. He made me promise that I would watch and cheer him on. I'm not planning on breaking that.
When we got to the court, the place was packed with people cheering and screaming for their perspective team. Since there was no available seats on the bleachers, we had to stand on the sides to watch the game.
"Look over there, Gabriella," Jordan nudged me by the shoulder. "It's your Troy Bolton." She pointed to Dev, who was now running across the court.
My gaze lingered on him. This was one of the few occasions I have seen him play on the court. He looked good in the blue and gray jersey he was wearing even tough he was dripping in sweat from all the movement. The look of seriousness on his face made me feel something inside I can't pin point.
I nudged her back. "He's not my Troy Bolton."
"I would beg to differ." Farrah chimed in. "I think he would like being called that."
Jordan said something in reply but was cut off. "Yeah, he would- GET THAT FUCKING BALL BACK, LENNON!" She screamed loudly as if the place wasn't already loud enough.
I continued to watch in anticipation, my eyes trained on Dev most of the time. I can tell that he was one of the best players in the team. He was calculated with what his next move will be and in commanding his team mates what to do. I'm surprised he's not the team captain because he was wasting his potential. He would make a great one team captain if when that happens.
"Hey, that guy's obviously traveling! That's a violation!" I exclaimed, frustrated.
The referee caught on to it and blew the whistle to stop the game. The crowd on our team cheered when they got a penalty for it. And I guess I cheered loud enough that I captured Dev looking at me from the court, a huge grin creeping on his lips.
"You're here." He mouthed, barely containing his smile.
I shrugged my shoulders and mouthed back, "I told you I would. Now, go!" I shooed him away with a hand gesture.
He nodded his head in response before going back to his game.
The scores were 89-87 with our school being the lead by one point. I can tell that everyone is getting anxious as we enter into the fourth quarter. Coach was turning his head left and right, wherever the ball was, and it looked like he was going to break off his neck any moment now.
Jordan cursed out loudly when the other team just made a shot causing them to be tied with us. I was rocking nervously on my feet as there was less than two minutes left on the clock.
After the shot was made, Dev who was the closest to the hoop got a hold of the ball and made the run for it, passing it along to the others while making sure the rival doesn't get to steal the ball.
I know all too well that I'm going to lose my voice sooner or later with all the yelling I've been doing. I almost ripped my poster in the process because of my emotions. But it's all worth it because we won and we placed a spot on the finals this Friday!
All the students of our school got up from their seats and shouted for joy when we made the last shoot before the timer ran out. Someone even brought a few party poppers and blew it up right after we won. Then all of us raced to get to the court to celebrate with everyone.
I immediately too the bee line to find Dev and congratulate him. And also the others, too, of course. I had a hard time finding him due to my lack of height, but I managed to find him glancing around and our eyes met.
I raised a hand and waved. He was surrounded by a group of people talking to him, but he excused himself and started walking towards my direction. Instead of waiting and standing, I met him halfway.
His beaming smile was the first thing I noticed.
"Dev, good job on the game!" I said, joyously. "I'm proud of you."
"Thank you, Bri." His cheeks flushed with a pinkish hue. "I'd give you a hug, but I'm disgusting right now."
He really doesn't.
"Maybe later then?" I half-heartedly joked.
"I'll hold you to that." He replied, pointing a finger at me.
Shortly right after, my friends joined me. Farrah and Jordan said their congratulations to Dev, along with two thumbs up. Farrah, at the same, was taking pictures with her camera for the school paper.
"Devaun, stand still and pose." Farrah ordered him which he obliged.
I was standing beside him, so I moved to the side to get out of the camera frame.
"Get your ass back there, Cambria. I'm taking a photo of both of you." Farrah barked. I did what she told me, leaving a good amount of space between Dev and I. "Bri, stand closer to Dev. Be quick about it, I don't have all day."
Jordan seemed to be quite entertained with me being ordered around.
I inched closer to him while giving my friends subtle warning glares and made a promise to deal with them later. Jordan complained about it not being close enough and pushed us together, our shoulders pressed against each other.
"Perfect!" She said in a sing-song voice. "Now give me your best smile."
I put on my best smile as Farrah clicks away on her camera then showed us the picture. It was a cute photo of us. Both of us were smiling while standing closely to each other.
"Dev, come here for second." A voice called out his name as we were looking at the pictures.
"I'll come right after." Dev replied without even bothering to look up who it was and continued to look at our photo. "I'm called to somewhere, so I'll see you guys later. Send me a copy of that later, Farrah."
That was the last thing he said before quickly leaving.
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(Not edited)
Author's Note:
Bri is me when I used to watch my past crushes play basketball.
Sorry for the long wait, school has been hell both literally and figuratively.