by RH Tucker
“I got this.” He ignores me, getting the ball from the referee to toss it in.
Throwing it to Lucas, he takes the ball down the court. He passes the ball to Matt, who drives to the basket. Jeremy steps to the side to throw a block for him but isn't in position in time. Instead, Jeremy grabs the defender's arm, pulling him down. A whistle blows and the referee motions, calling a foul on Jeremy.
“That’s bullshit!” Jeremy yells at the official.
“Calm down, man,” Lucas says, running over to him.
Over the PA system, the announcers for the game relate to the crowd it’s Jeremy’s sixth foul, which puts him out of the game.
He's still complaining, while Lucas tries to move him off the court.
“Damn it,” I grunt, walking over to him.
“That’s a shit call, man.”
“You grabbed the guy’s arm. It was blatant.”
"Whatever." He blows me off, waving a hand in my face as our coach comes over.
"Hopkins, you're in," he says.
The rest of the quarter is tight. Oceanview gets the ball back after the foul and outscores us for the next five minutes, cutting down our lead to three points. With ten seconds left in the game I hit a three-pointer and bump our lead back up to six points, before the buzzer rings, ending the game.
Back in the locker room, the coach says a few things about the game, tells us good job and lets us shower.
“Way to go out there.” I shoot Jeremy a sarcastic look.
“Whatever.” He pulls off his jersey. “We won, didn’t we?”
“If that was another team, we might not have.”
“Okay, guys,” Matt says next to me.
Jeremy raises us his hands, looking around at everyone. “Okay, my bad. My bad.” Looking back at me, he gives me a cocky grin. “Maybe I should’ve gotten whatever you took to turn your shooting around from this afternoon.”
“What?”
“What was it? Sarah come over and blow you. Or you rub one out?”
“Screw you.” I scowl at him as laughs.
It's times like these I wonder why I'm even friends with the guy. Sometimes he can be an absolute ass, and it's hard to remember why we're even friends at all. Honestly, I think we're only friends because we're in the same school and on the same team.
My mom greets me from the living room when I get back home that night. She usually works until seven or eight, so she doesn’t get to attend many of the games.
“How was the game?” she asks.
“It was good. We won.”
“That’s great.” She smiles at me. “Hopefully, I can make your next home game.”
“Yeah, that’d be cool. Hey, I’m gonna go to bed.”
“Okay, g’night, honey.”
“Night, Ma.”
Lying in bed, my usual nightly habit is scrolling through Instagram or Twitter. But tonight, I’m anxious. Even though I sent the last text, telling her I had to go for a bit, I wonder if she texted me back. Or maybe sometime during the game.
Turning on my phone, I see no new alerts and frown a little. But we did talk a lot during that hour earlier. I wonder if I should send her a text. Is it too late? Would she be asleep? Why would I text her this late? What would we talk about? I close my eyes, letting out a long sigh. I can’t believe I’m acting like this over a girl I haven’t even met.
BigBaller27: You awake?
I drop the phone to my chest, wondering if she's asleep or if she'll reply. Closing my eyes, I try to calm my nerves. Even if she's sleeping, she'll still see the text in the morning.
Emerald22: Yes :)
I know I shouldn't read anything into it, but she added a smiley face. She could've typed yes and waited for my response, but she didn't.
BigBaller27: I’m about to go to sleep.
Emerald22: Oh, ok.
BigBaller27: Just wanted to say goodnight :)
My chest tightens as I wait for a reply. Was that too much? Was it too soon? It’s like a first kiss, I guess. You don’t want to try and make out with the girl the first time you guys talk, but what if you wait too long? Then you lend yourself over to possibly being in the friend zone. What am I saying, friend zone? She technically isn't even my friend. She's a texting buddy. But still … there's something about the way we've texted so far.
Emerald22: Thx. Sweet dreams ;)
Chapter 10
Emma
The moment my eyes open I reach for my phone. A small frown curves over my lips, as I see no new texts. Then I remember about last night and smile. He texted me to say goodnight. It was the sweetest thing ever! There was a small part of me nervous about telling him sweet dreams, but only a little. I debated with myself right after I sent it, thinking it might've been a little much, but he initiated the goodnight. Sweet dreams was a proper response.
The smile doesn't leave my face the entire morning. When I get into Jen's car, she looks at me confused, sipping a Frappuccino.
“Wow, what’s got you all frenetic?”
My eyes dart over to her, as she hands me a drink she got me. The smile’s still on my lips as I sip my mocha frapp’. Opening my text messages, I show her the screen.
“He texted me last night to say goodnight.”
Jen’s mouth drops open as she grabs my phone and stares at it. “Oh, that is too cute!” She starts scrolling through my messages. “Holy hell, Emma. How much did you text yesterday?”
"I know." I take my phone back. "We messaged each other for, like, a whole hour, before he had to go do something. We kind of set up some ground rules for our …" I look at my phone, debating on the right word. "Situation."
“Ground rules, huh?” She takes another sip of her drink and pulls out onto the road. “Explain.”
I go over everything that we covered, and by the time we pull into the student parking lot, I'm almost bouncing up and down on her seat.
“Next time, I’m getting you decaf.” She smirks at me.
My phone chimes.
BigBaller27: Morning ;)
My mouth drops and the warmth I was feeling yesterday as we exchanged messages is back, starting in my chest, spreading out through my entire body. Jen looks at me and then at my phone.
"A good night and a good morning text? Okay, if this guy is hot, then you better find out who he is stat!"
I giggle as I get out of the car and make my way to first period.
And that's how it goes for the rest of the week. I try to contain my excitement, but it's difficult. He'll text me a random, annoying thing one of his teachers did, and I'll laugh. I'll text him, asking what I should get for lunch, and he'll suggest something. That's how I find out we both like Pepsi.
As the week passes, I start to wonder more and more who he is and what he looks like. Does he play sports, or is he all about studying? Is he overweight? Would I mind that? I shake my head whenever thoughts like those start entering my brain because the more time passes, the more I realize, I'm starting to like this guy. And like him for who he is on the inside, learning about his likes and dislikes. Not some outer, physical appearance. This isn't a typical, high school relationship forming, where the homecoming king is dating the popular cheerleader girl. This is something more. Something real.
BigBaller27: U know, if we knew each other, I’d invite you to a beach party I’m getting dragged to this weekend.
I'm blushing brighter than a tomato for two reasons. First, he's talking about inviting me out somewhere. Like a date. Like an actual, real-life date. I hadn't thought about something like that since my epic-fail of being able to put words together with Paxton. But secondly, and more distressingly, I believe, is that he's throwing it out there. Meeting. I wasn't sure if he'd bring it up again, when I freaked out the first time, and remembering how I reacted is not helping anything. It's not exactly like he's bringing it up again, so maybe he didn't even mean anything by it, or perhaps he's just, like, trying to feel the waters out, or maybe he's just … Breathe. Just, breathe, Emma.<
br />
I put my phone in my pocket and stare at my sandwich.
“Okay, that’s it,” Lana says, eyeing me suspiciously.
“What?” My eyes shoot up to her.
“You’ve been acting funny all week. What gives?”
I snort out a laugh as I look over at Jen, who just raises her eyebrows. “Nothing.”
“Yeah, right,” Micah says. “We noticed it Wednesday but didn’t say anything. And yesterday your eyes were glued to your phone for almost the entire lunch.”
“No, they weren’t.”
“They kinda were,” Jen says. My mouth hangs open at Jen in betrayal. “Emma, it’s time.”
“What’s time?” Lana asks.
“No, Jen, it’s not. It’s only been a week.”
“What’s been a week?” Micah raises his voice.
“Nothing.” I wrinkle my nose, looking down at my sandwich.
“Yes, something,” Jen counters. “A lot can happen in a week. Hell, a lot has happened in a week.”
“Are you guys gonna tell us what’s going on?” Lana exasperates.
“Emma’s got a boyfriend.”
“What?” Lana and Micah both shout, almost both in the same high pitch.
“I do not.”
“No?” She gives me an evil smirk. “Okay, I’m sorry. He’s not your boyfriend. You just talk to him about everything, always exchanging texts and you tell each other goodnight and good morning.”
“That sounds like boyfriend stuff to me.” Lana eyes me.
“No, he’s—” My words cut off.
I never thought about it the way Jen says it but is that what's happened? Has he become my boyfriend? How can a guy become your boyfriend if you don't even know his name? Or what he looks like? And if you haven't even kissed?
“No,” I say again, trying to find my confidence. “He’s not my boyfriend. We’re just friends.”
As if on cue, my phone chimes.
BigBaller27: Hey, no worries, though. OK? I was just thinking out loud. Or in this case, thru text ;P
Of course, he’d add that. I already freaked out on him once before. But even the small embarrassment of how I acted before, is soothed by warmth, as I read how he’s trying to be considerate. He really does seem like a great guy.
"Is that him?" Lana asks this time more intrigue in her voice.
“Yes.” I blush.
“Emma!” Micah smiles. “This is awesome. Who is he?”
“Yeah, Emma. Who is he?” Jen teases. Lana and Micah look at her strangely.
“Wait a second. Jen, you said it first. How do you not know who he is?”
Jen doesn’t say anything. She just shoots a look at me, waiting for me to spill the beans. Micah and Lana’s faces turn toward me, waiting for my response. I drop my head to the table in defeat.
“I don’t actually know him,” I mutter.
“Wait, what?” Micah says. “You don’t know him?”
"You said you've been texting every day," Lana says.
"We have," I answer, my face still on the table. "But … we don't know each other. I don't know his name, and he doesn't know mine."
“I don’t understand.” Micah drops his head onto his fist, staring at me.
“It’s a long story.” I finally look up at them, not wanting to go over it but everyone’s eyes, including Jen’s, are locked on me.
So, I explain what happened with the wrong number text message and how everything escalated from there. I go over the goodnight/good morning texts, and everything we’ve been texting about since. Well, not everything, but the highlights.
“Ooh.” Lana swoons, wrapping her arms around one of Micah’s. “This is so cute. It’s like writing love letters or something. It’s so romantic.”
I’m finally able to release a smile, happy that Lana isn’t freaking out about it. She genuinely seems excited for me. I’m not sure if it’s because they know now, or I’ve given myself a chance to calm down, but I thought of the perfect reply to his text message. It’ll have to wait though, so Lana can get our girl talk out of the way.
Before it starts, Micah turns and looks at Lana like she’s growing a second head. “This is so weird.”
Chapter 11
Carter
“Dude, that is so freaking weird,” Matt says, as we walk to history class after lunch.
We went the entire week without him bringing up the subject of why I was acting weird at practice, probably because I've been in a great mood all week. I'd taken the chance on the goodnight text, and it worked out. The next morning, I decided to swing for the fences and text her good morning.
Ever since then we’d been texting each other every day, multiple times throughout the day. I’d learned stuff she likes, like art. Her favorite foods and band, which was another plus because we both love Empire of The Sun. She told me about this great family vacation she went on with her parents. I told her how I love basketball, and I’ve been to over a hundred Clippers games since I was little. How none of my classes are my favorite, but if I had to choose, then science would be my favorite subject. I can’t deny that it’s insane, but it feels like the best possible way to be insane.
I've thought about what she looks like, but the more we've talked, I'm beginning not to care. This girl is real. She's genuine and sweet. Then I had to go and screw it up about possibly meeting her again.
I know I want to tread lightly. After I brought up the idea of possibly asking her out the first time, it seemed like she freaked out. Maybe she didn't know what to say, or she had to ask her friend. I don't know, but it didn't seem like a good sign. After this entire week, I thought maybe we were past that. Maybe, just maybe, I should take a chance on bringing it up again. But I didn't want to freak her out.
So, I mentioned the beach party that Matt has been hounding me about. I immediately followed it up with telling her it was no big deal. I try to make it sound light-hearted and add a winky-smiley face. But the entire lunch period goes by, and I don't receive a text back. Now I'm over analyzing the whole thing, and Matt arches an eyebrow at me.
When the bell rings to get to class, I figure it’s time to let the cat out of the bag. This way I’ll have a finite amount of time to tell him. By the time class starts, he can’t keep going on and on about how stupid it is. Because even if he is my best friend and a good guy, I know how crazy this thing sounds.
“Yeah, I know it’s weird,” I reply. “But, I’m telling you, it’s … weird, but in a good way.”
“Weird in a good way?” He raises an eyebrow.
"Okay, just think about this for a second, Matt." I try to keep my voice down, so people passing by won't hear. "Remember last year, when you went out with Pauline for a couple of weeks."
“Yeah.”
“Okay, so remember in the beginning you were all crazy about her. You thought she was awesome.”
“Totally.” He scoffs. “Then she turned out to be a psycho, stalked my Instagram page and blew up my DMs.”
“Exactly. Now, just think if you had gotten to know what she was really like before you made out with her at Jeremy’s that night. If you’d learned that stuff first, then you wouldn’t have ended up with a psycho chick stalking you for weeks.”
“Yeah, I guess. But, dude, she was insanely hot.”
“Yeah, and?”
“And you have no idea what this girl looks like. What she sounds like. Carter, you don’t even know her name.”
I let out an exasperated grunt, shaking my head. “I know, man. It’s just … it’s different. I can feel it. She’s unique.”
“I guess,” he mumbles. “Hey, what’s the handle you went with?”
I chuckle. “Big Baller 27.”
“Okay.” He laughs. “That’s not bad. But still, bro. This is so weird.”
“I know, I know.”
Right before we get to our classroom door, my phone chirps. I let out a nervous laugh, from both the anticipation of the text message and now Matt knowing what’s going
on.
Emerald22: Sounds like fun. Hope you have a good time. Send me a selfie :)
I can’t help the grin that hit my lips. Looking at my phone, I can feel Matt’s eyes on me, as he mutters, “Oh, God.”
BigBaller27: Not until I get a selfie of u ;D
Switching my phone to silent, I walk into the class and find my desk in front of Matt's, just as the bell rings. Mrs. Yanick walks over to shut the door when Emma whisks into the room, squeezing by her.
“Ms. Sanchez, you know when the tardy bell rings.”
“Yes, ma’am. Sorry. I got sidetracked for a moment.”
“Very well. Take your seat,” she says as Emma goes to her seat on the other side of the room.
I haven't spoken to her since she bumped into me, but we don't really talk as it is. She's an artsy girl, and Lucas has a major crush on her best friend, or at least it seems like that. One thing I do always notice about her is her clothes. Not only because what she wears shows off her curves, but it's always different. Like when she bumped into me. She was wearing all this dark stuff, but today is entirely the opposite. Her hair is pulled back, she has some nice capri pants on that hug her ass, and a shirt that shows just enough of her waist that makes you want to see more. She would fit in nicely with Sarah and the other cheerleaders, the way she's dressed today. Though, I'd guess she'd rather gouge out her eyeballs than hang out with the cheerleader girls.
She turns around to take her seat, and her eyes met mine. Suddenly I realize I'm staring at her chest and turn away quickly. Shit.
Through my peripheral, I can see she takes her seat, so I dare another glance, just to see if she's still looking my way. She is, and her eyes beam hatred at me. Matt must catch the eye line encounter happen because he nudges my shoulder, and I hear a chuckle out of him.
My mind starts to roam about my girl, wondering what she looks like. Damn, I’m thinking of her as my girl. She probably isn't going to be at the beach, but what would she look like out there? Would she be in a one-piece or a two-piece bikini? I wonder if she has short or long hair. I try to shake free from the thoughts, but they keep popping up for the rest of the day.
