by E. N. Joy
The gym teacher then turned her attention back to Kennedy. “I have you on my try out list. It’s last call. Have you had a change of heart?” The gym teacher knew about the girls losing their father. Kennedy hadn’t played in any tournaments since his passing. The gym teacher had been surprised to even see Kennedy’s name on the try-out list.
“A change of heart?” Kennedy repeated. She looked up over at her mother. “Heart…I guess you could say something like that.” Kennedy looked back to the gym teacher. “I guess I won’t be trying out after all.”
“Okay then.” The gym teacher crossed Kennedy’s name off the list and then walked away.
Kennedy stood up. “Let’s go, Mom. I don’t want to be here. I knew this was a mistake. The only man we could ever depend on was Daddy. I don‘t know why you think that’s ever going to change.”
Kennedy’s words stung Sammi. And at the same time, she wondered if perhaps she was wanting this thing between her and Bo too much, to the point where her girls could possibly get hurt. First, there was the incident at the zoo that she was still iffy about in regard to Bo accusing the girls of faking. Now there was Bo not being there for Kennedy, after she put pride aside to make a mends with him. Maybe God was trying to give her a sign; that Bo was not the right man to allow into her and her girls’ lives.
On cue, Daryn and Joy approached Kennedy and their mother.
“Hey, Kennedy, aren’t you trying out?” Joy asked knowingly.
Kennedy looked at Sammi. “Mom, can we just get out of here?” She then took off walking while her two sisters and mother followed behind her. Three o’clock was right around the corner. She had to hurry up and get out of there before Bo showed up and Sammi tried to talk the teachers into letting them go ahead and try out. The last thing she wanted to do was be in that stupid Father-Kid Basketball Tournament with her mom’s boyfriend. He wasn’t even a stepfather but just some guy, is how Kennedy saw it. Their lives didn’t have room for just some guy. Their lives didn’t have room for Bo Hart.
“Sure, honey, we can go” Sammi replied to Kennedy. “I parked in the back lot. The front lot was full when I got here.”
Yes! Kennedy shouted inside. The gods were on her side. Now there was no way they’d bump into Bo. Surely, with a majority of the try-outs over with, parents had left, leaving ample parking for Bo out front.
“Who wants ice-cream?” Sammi asked the girls as they piled into the car.
“Me!” each girl shouted, including Kennedy. The girls knew their mother was taking them out for ice cream to make Kennedy feel better about Bo being a no-show and forfeiting her chances of being in the tournament. But the girls wanted ice cream for different reasons. They had to celebrate their victory. Maybe their celebration was a bit premature, but how they saw it, surely they’d gotten rid of their mom’s New Boyfriend this time…forever!
Chapter Seventeen
Triple Threat
“I still can’t believe the way Mom told Bo off,” Daryn laughed as she walked on one side of Kennedy while Joy walked on the other. “She didn’t let him get a word in edgewise. And lucky for you, Kennedy. I’m not sure Mother wouldn’t have believed him when he told her you’d texted him a new time to show up for try-outs.”
“Yeah, but Mom didn’t even give him a chance. She went right in and didn’t come up for air,” Kennedy bragged.
“And then the way she slammed the phone down in his ear,” Joy added. For affect, she slammed her hand against Kennedy’s locker.
“Yeah, that was something else,” Kennedy said as she put in her combination and opened her locker. She then shook her head in awe. “We did it, girls. We got rid of mom’s new boyfriend.”
“Yeah, we did it,” Joy said and then added, “I kind of feel like Dora the Explorer.” She began imitating Dora’s theme song after she and her friends accomplished something. “We did it, yeah yeah, we did it!”
All three girls laughed, but their laughter soon came to a halt.
“That must have been some funny joke,” Lilac said as the Triplets walked up to her locker.
“I knoooooow,” Vanilla then cooed.
“Yeah, that must have been some funny joke,” Hennessey repeated.
Kennedy buried her face in her locker as she retrieved her books.
“But you know what was really funny, girls?” Lilac asked her two sidekicks. “Kennedy showing up at the Father-Kid Basketball Tournament tryouts. I mean, I know Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead and all, but did she really think He was gonna go through all the trouble just so her Daddy could be at some basketball tournament?”
The triplets roared out in laughter.
“I mean, did you see her sitting there waiting, watching the door like her father was going to walk through it at any moment?” Lilac laughed.
“I knooooow,” Vanilla chuckled.
In between laughs, Hennessey managed to get out, “Watching the door….like he was going to walk through it.”
The slamming of Kennedy’s locker quickly ceased all laughter. The Triplets were startled by the loud noise.
“What’s your problem?” Lilac asked Kennedy as she scrunched her face up.
Kennedy didn’t say a word. She moved in nose to nose with Lilac. She still didn’t speak. The look in her eyes said it all. Kennedy’s eyes watered and her bottom lip quivered. The dam was about to break, but just then the bell rang.
“Come on, girls,” Lilac said to Vanilla and Hennessey. “Let’s get to home room.” Lilac closed her own locker and then walked away, exhaling with a look on her face that read, Saved by the bell. Vanilla followed right behind her. “Hey, you coming?” Lilac called out to Hennessey once she noticed that she wasn’t walking with her and Vanilla.
Hennessey was still standing at Lilac’s locker looking at Kennedy with regret in her eyes. By the expression on Hennessey’s face, she looked as though she wished she’d had no part of Lilac’s little joke. Making fun of the fact that Kennedy’s father was no longer there for her seemed to be exceptionally cruel. That seemed to have pushed the envelope of joking around for Hennessey’s taste.
“Hennessey, you coming?” Lilac asked her once again with aggravation.
“Uh, yeah, sure,” Hennessey answered. She cast her eyes down from Kennedy and then slowly walked away. She walked two steps behind Lilac and Vanilla the entire time, looking over her shoulder at Kennedy. She never said a word to Kennedy. The look in her eyes said it all.
“Are you okay?” Daryn asked Kennedy, putting her hand on her shoulder.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Kennedy yanked away from Daryn’s touch with an attitude. “Anyway, the operation is over. Our mission is accomplished. We said after that things would go back to normal, right?”
Daryn and Joy looked at each other before saying, “Well, yeah.” They didn’t know exactly where Kennedy was going with this.
“Good, then you two scram,” Kennedy scolded.
“But-” Joy started before Kennedy cut her off.
“But nothing. We agreed. Now go!” Kennedy pointed in the direction of Joy’s classroom.
Joy put her head down sadly after looking at Daryn. “Okay then,” she finally agreed, then headed off to class. “Back to normal it is.”
Kennedy watched Joy walk away and then she shouted, “Hey, Joy, wait.”
With a gleam of hope in her eyes, Joy turned around. “Yes, Kennedy.”
Kennedy stared at her for a minute. “Isn’t that my sweater you have on?”
Joy looked down at the pink hooded sweater she had on that zipped up the front. She didn’t really need it. Her outfit looked just fine without it. Nevertheless, when she saw it hanging up in the laundry room while ironing her clothes, it seemed to be calling out her name. “I guess it is your sweater,” Joy answered as she began to take the sweater off.
Kennedy slowly approached her. “I thought so.” She looked Joy up and down.
Joy was nervous as her big sister’s eyes seemed to be burning a hole through her. But
if Joy wasn’t mistaken, she suddenly saw what looked to be a slight part in Kennedy’s lips that almost looked like a smile was trying to force its way through.
Kennedy took one step closer to Joy, touched the sweater and then said, “It looks good on you,” then headed off to her own class.
Joy, shocked, looked back at Daryn who was still standing by Kennedy’s locker. The two smiled at each other and then went their separate ways. Yep, things were back to normal. Almost anyway.
Chapter Eighteen
The Game Must Go On
“Well, look who’s here,” Lilac said as Kennedy walked past her and her father. It was the evening of the basketball tournament and all the players were warming up.
Although Kennedy was glad that her and her sisters’ operation had been successful, that they had gotten Bo out of their mother’s life for good, a part of her almost regretted not being in the tournament with him. As she dribbled her basketball to her seat, there was nothing she would have liked to do more than take on Lilac and her father, walking away with the trophy. Well, actually, there was one more thing she would have liked to do more. A smile spread across her lips as she envisioned her basketball hitting Lilac right smack in the middle of her face. Kennedy chuckled just imagining it in her head. She knew she’d never do anything like that, so the image alone was satisfying enough.
“Hey, Vanilla and Hennessey,” Lilac said to her partners in crime who were also warming up. “Looks like Kennedy’s back to watch me take the trophy this year. She must be a glutton for punishment.”
“I knooooww,” Vanilla said.
All eyes were on Hennessey, waiting for her regular parrot routine. Surprisingly, she didn’t say a word. She just gave Lilac a quick look, practically rolling her eyes at her, and then continued warming up.
As Kennedy continued her trek to her seat, she looked up in the stands and saw Joy sitting with her friends. Daryn was a couple of sections over sitting with hers. Right before she sat down, her eyes were shocked to see yet one other person walking toward her.
“Mom, what are you doing here?” Kennedy asked.
“Mmm, I don’t know. I heard there was a basketball tournament going down at Saint Amos, so I decided to drop in and see what it was all about.”
Kennedy half smiled. She knew the real reason why her mother was there. Not only had Kennedy not played in the tournament since the death of her father, but she hadn’t even gone to the school activity to watch her peers play in it. And it just so happened that the tournament was one of the most talked about and most looked forward to event at the school. It had been too hard for Kennedy to attend, though. It was too much of a reminder of her father. Unfortunately, Lilac and her crew knew this as well, and she knew she’d have to deal with their snide remarks. It turns out things wouldn’t be so bad after all now that Kennedy had her mother there to support her.
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Don’t even mention it, kid,” Sammi smiled. There was no other place Sammi would have rather been at that moment than right there with her daughter. Like herself, she knew that it was time for Kennedy to move on with her life. She’d seen the girls in so much pain-in so much anger-since their father’s death. That’s why she excused many of their shenanigans. She knew it was their way of acting out how they felt about their loss. But things had to change.
Sammi thought Bo was going to be the person that helped her to change and that she could move on with. Sammi decided that before she moved on, she had to make sure her daughters had moved on first. Kennedy and her sisters getting through this game would be a first step.
Sammi looked up in the stands and spotted Daryn and Joy. She winked and waved at them each before sitting down next to Kennedy.
“Welcome, students, friends and family,” the gym teacher began to announce in the microphone. “We are so glad you could make it to the St. Amos Annual Father-Kid Basketball Tournament. Now without further ado, let the games begin!”
The crowd started to cheer. Just before the gym teacher put the microphone down and walked away, her assistant ran over and whispered something in her ear. A frown appeared on the gym teacher’s face as she placed the microphone back to her mouth. “Well, everyone, it seems as though already, one of our players has suffered an injury during warm up.”
The crowd sighed.
“It’s okay. She’s going to be okay. She just feels bad that she and her father worked so hard preparing for the tournament, that she doesn’t want him to miss the opportunity and the chance of taking home the trophy. So if there is anyone in the gym willing to fill in for the student…” The gym teacher’s words trailed off as her assistant, once again, whispered something in her ear. Next, both the gym teacher and her assistant’s eyes roamed over to Kennedy, who was just sitting there holding her own basketball in her hands.
“Hey, they’re looking at you.” Sammi nudged Kennedy. “They’re coming your way,” she added as she watched the two of them walk toward them.
Kennedy sat curious as the gym teacher and assistant approached her.
“Kennedy, I know initially you’d planned on participating but then decided not to,” the gym teacher spoke, “but we really need you.” She had a desperate look in her eyes. “Not just because the student doesn’t want her father’s hard work to be in vain, but if they drop out completely, that means another team will have to drop. The teams were even and we had everything balanced out. It would cause too much confusion if we tried to make changes now, ultimately providing a chance of us having to forfeit the entire tournament. Come on, what do you say?” The gym teacher had a pleading look in her eyes.
Speechless, Kennedy looked over at Sammi. Sammi smiled and said, “Go on, Kennedy. You can do it. You and that ball of yours are practically joined at the hip. You practice with it almost everyday anyway whether it’s basketball season or not.”
Kennedy looked down at her ball. She knew how important the tournament was and how hard her fellow students had worked. She also knew how much work it must have taken for her gym teacher and the staff to put it on. She didn’t want to disappoint them. Not only that, but deep inside she knew she really wanted to be in that tournament. So perhaps this was really what the grown-ups meant by opportunity knocking. Maybe, just maybe, this right here was what fate was really all about.
Kennedy looked up from her ball and at her gym teacher. “Can I play with my own ball?”
“Sure, I don’t see why not,” the gym teacher replied, and then looked over at her assistant for confirmation. The assistant nodded. The coach turned her attention back to Kennedy. A slight frown covered her face when she noticed that she was wearing jeans. “You’ve got something you can wear in your gym locker, right?”
“Right,” Kennedy answered.
“Then what do you say, Kennedy?”
A huge grin appeared on Kennedy’s face. “I say the game must go on.” On that note, Kennedy stood up.
“Folks, we’ve got a substitute player,” the gym teacher shouted though the mic. “The tournament will go on as planned.”
The crowd cheered as Kennedy hurried to the locker-room to go get changed. After getting on her gym clothes, she sat down on a locker room bench and tightened her shoelaces. Just as she stood up, Hennessey came limping into the locker room.
“What’s wrong?” Kennedy asked her out of curiosity.
“Like they said out there, I got hurt. I can’t play,” Hennessey explained.
“I see,” Kennedy said in a suspicious tone. “So you asked if I could take your place?”
“This isn’t about you. It’s about my Dad,” she snapped, then lowered her tone. “He hates losing. I don’t want to disappoint him. So if he’s going to win, then he has to play with the best.” Hennessey looked down. “And as much as it pains me to say it…I guess you’re the best.”
Kennedy smiled. “Thanks…for the compliment and all.”
“Like I said, it’s not about you. Anyway, I gotta get changed.” Hennessey walked a
way and headed to her locker.
Kennedy headed out of the locker room but decided to turn around and thank Hennessey one last time. When she turned around she saw Hennessey walking to her locker. She noticed something very peculiar. This time, Hennessey wasn’t limping. Kennedy just shook her head, grinned, then headed back out to the gym to kick some Father and Kid butt!
Chapter Nineteen
Back to Normal
“Congratulations!” Sammi shouted above all the cheers and roaring of the crowd as Kennedy and Hennessey’s father held the first place trophy. A frowned up Lilac and her father held the second place trophy.
“We’ll, get ‘em next year,” Kennedy heard Lilac’s father say to her.
“Yeah, right,” Lilac groaned. “Maybe next time if your former ball player of a friend isn’t also an alcoholic and doesn’t show up to practice drunk all the time we might have a chance in the world.”
“I’m sorry, baby,” Lilac’s father tried to apologize.
“You bet you are.” Lilac stomped and rolled her eyes at her father.
“Hey, listen, what do you say I still take you out and get you that new cell phone that not only takes pictures, but records videos and lets you order anything you want online in a matter of seconds just by giving it a voice command?”
A smile showing all of Lilac’s teeth appeared on her face. “Oh, Daddy, you’re the best.” She threw the second place trophy down and gave her father a great big hug.
“I know, puddin’, I know,” her father said as father and daughter headed out of the gym.
Camera’s flashed as pictures for the yearbook were taken, as well as pictures by students, family, friends and staff. Sammi was amongst them, taking pictures of her own.
“Say cheese,” Sammi ordered Kennedy.
“Mommmm,” Kennedy whined.
“Come on, just one last picture.”
Kennedy obliged her mother with a huge grin, then Sammi snapped the picture.
“Congrats, big sis,” Joy said.
“Yeah, congrats,” Daryn congratulated.
