Her Freshman List

Chapter 6: Oh, the Stress of Basketball

9.   have James kiss me!

This was the most recent wish added to Ginny's list will her special blue pen (used only on special occasions).  She added this to her list as soon as James dropped her off at home.  She was day dreaming throughout the rest of the weekend and almost forgot to finish her homework for Monday (which was the start of the second quarter of school).

          "Virginia!" she dad called at her from the bottom of the stairs "Did you finish your homework?  You don't want a bad grade as your first grade of the new quarter".  "I just finished it, Dad!" Ginny yelled back.  She had just finished her homework and thought back to the first quarter.  The first quarter went by REALLY fast!  Oh! I hope I did well!  I think i did O.K. but I'm not sure.  If I at least made it on magna for the honor role, I will be very happy.  Ginny did not really remember much of the first quarter except for cross country... and Homecoming, of course.  

          The next day, Ginny got ready for school and made sure that she actually had her homework.   

          When she got to school, she and Emily found Liz and told her about their dinner and some of their dance stories.  Liz then told them that she went with a boy from another school.   "I still can't believe that James asked you to the dance!  Still, wouldn't you of rather gone on a date with him...alone?  Liz said to Ginny, raising an eyebrow.  "Well, I really enjoyed having it be the six of us.  It was a lot of fun, and it made conversation easier.  We had some great conversations that we could not have had if it was just the two of us, right Emily?" Ginny said, turning to her other friend.  "Yes, it was fun, but your avoiding the question.  You really wanted it to be just you two, right?".    Ginny turned red, knowing that there would be no way to avoid the question now,"Well...yes and no.  I really like him, so yes; but I like him so much that my brain fries when I try to talk to him now, so no".  Her friends had no rebuttal to her claim so the three of them just finished getting ready for school.       

          Ginny was not surprised that school did not change at all with the arrival of the new quarter.  The students still complained or just dozed off in class and the teachers still assigned ridiculous amounts of homework.

One thing that did change was the sport seasons.  Cross country was over and basketball had started.  Ginny knew that she wasn't much good at basketball, but decided to do it as a way to stay fit and get her mind off of school.  Lucky for her, only eight other girls signed up, so she got on the varsity team; unlucky for her, she had to wear these goggles with her glasses prescription in them so she could actually see when they played...and the goggles looked ridiculous, but at least they worked.

          The first few pratices were tough because they did a lot of sprints and drills and more sprints.  They lost their first few games and Ginny was lucky if she got to play for more than the last 20-30 seconds of a game.  Mean while, Ginny felt like she was literally drowning in homework.  It also seemed to her that they had a test every week!  And on top of that, the weather was getting really cold and Ginny just seemed to never be warm.  Poor Ginny was so stressed that her hair was falling out, she could not sleep well, and she started to snap at her parents much more than before.

10.   have more patients

11.   get better at basketball

           Finally, Ginny received a small pleasant surprise in the mail.  "Ginny, come here please", her mom called from the kitchen table.  Ginny saw her mom holding an envelope from school.  Ginny panicked.  What!  I'm in trouble, but what for?  Bu why else would the send something home?  She then saw that her mom was smiling and handed Ginny the envelope.  Ginny opened it, and found... that she had made Summa cum laude last quarter!  Not only that but she got a 4.0 GPA. She was surprised, but very pleased and could not wait to tell her dad.  she showed her dad and he gave her a very enthusiastic high-five and a big hug.  "Ginny, I am so proud of you!!", he exclaimed in a very loud voice.  Ginny was very glad that her dad was so pleased, But now I have to do it again this quarter...and next quarter....and every year.  Her own thoughts made her victory bitter sweet, but she pushed these thoughts away and instead thought of the ice cream that her dad just promised to get her.

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         "Ugh!  Morning basketball practice", Ginny climbed out of bed and got ready for practice.  She almost forgot her actual school clothes and bag in her rush.  The one good thing about morning practice was that practice was half an hour shorter and her afternoon would be free...to finish more homework.  "Is this season ever going to END!" Ginny said to herself after practice.  It was just a circle of school, practice, homework,school, practice, homework, etc., but she could always count on Emily, Liz, and James to help her with homework and to just motivate her.

         Christmas came as a very welcomed break from both school and basketball.  Her grandparents came for the holidays.  Ginny's family didn't do anything super special for Christmas except for homemade Cinnamon roles.  Ginny got clothes, candy and a Harry Potter wand pen (she was most excited about the pen).  Ginny practiced basketball for a little while over the break but mostly Ginny just stayed inside and hung out with her grandparents that she rarely got to see except at Christmas.  Sadly the break ended (all too soon for Ginny) and it was the start of the third quarter.

          She was getting better at basketball and more agresive but the coach seemed to still have the mindset that she still sucked.  They had won their last 6 games and they were constantly reminded by their coach that they had to win 8 more to be district champs and 4 more games after that to win state.

          The basketball season seamed to fly after that and the next thing Ginny knew, it was the day of their district game.  "I am really nervous for the game today", she told James.  "You'll be fine.  Besides, I'l come and watch if you like!"  "I would love it if you came to the game!  Thank you so much, James", Ginny said giving him a friendly hug.  "And I know you don't have a game next week, so...would you like to go to dinner and a movie?" he asked her quikly.  "I would love to!  Just be sure to tell my dad, I'm sure he will say yes, but just make sure".  "I will", James said with the biggest smile on his face.  Gosh, he's so cute when he smiles! *sigh*