The Valley of Kings and a Queen

Chapter 9

The rest of the week flies by between basketball practice and practice with Finley. Our first home game arrives, the girls will play first today then the boy's game will follow right after. I'm pretty nervous for my first game. Finley's working with me so much, so that I don't perform too well and stir up too many unexplainable questions. But honestly, I'm more afraid of playing poorly than playing too well. I have butterflies in my stomach as we are warming up. We practice free throws and run through a warm-up routine before the coach calls us over to discuss our game plan. Coach assigned me my position. Before the game starts, they call the starters onto the court over using a microphone, and it's fun running down the line high fiving my teammates as I head onto the court. It reminds me of home a little bit until they start playing the British national anthem. I feel kind of awkward standing there listening to a song about saving the queen so I kind of start staring off into space when I notice that Olivier and his friends are sitting in the crowd waving at me. I guess they didn't want to waste the time going home before their game or they are here to actually see me play. I feel as though I guess maybe we have moved from the acquaintance zone to the friend zone. I wonder what they would call me? A friend? The girl who happened to show up in the British history museum with them and end up wrapped in an Egyptian frenzy with them? I laugh imagining Grey describing how we became friends in a few years well if we stayed friends that is.

The game starts, and the other team isn't quite great. They have one good shooter, so their offense isn't that strong. It's just hard to beat their defense. The girls are a lot larger than me, Annie, and the rest of our teammates. Annie's able to make breakaways to earn us a few points, but we're struggling offensively, or should I say I'm struggling offensively. I keep going up to shoot a three and just getting knocked. Luckily, the ref calls technical on the defense here and there, and I am sure to make all my free throw shots. I need to have more breakaways to guarantee I can make my three pointers. At the end of the half, we are up only by a few points too close for my liking.

The next half, I concentrate on using more of my strength on defense. I think I concentrated too hard, and Isis definitely gave me more strength then needed. Next thing I know, I'm knocking the ball out of the other team's hands' which I would never be able to do on my own. I'm having breakaways left and right and making every shot. I feel confident that if I tried to make a half-court shot, I would be able to with the strength and help I'm receiving. The girls on my time are in awe, and the small crowd in the bleachers are going wild. Especially, when I break away, and am able to almost dunk the ball into the hoop. I turn to the bleachers to see the boys have gone silent and seem to be praying that I get a hold on myself. The ref calls the game, and I just scored over thirty points – a school record to say the least. When we go to shake hands, the girls mutter their amazement about my performance – wondering where on earth I transferred from?

I do homework while watching the boys' game afterwards. They easily win by twenty points, Finley leading the scoreboard with Grey following as a close second – he seems to fall more in love with himself with each basket he makes. It must be fun playing with your best friends like that. I had to give them credit, they were an amazing team together. When one had a breakaway, the other knew where to go in case it failed. If one lost the ball, the other raced for coverage. It's as though they could read each other so well. Plus, their support for one another clearly went beyond the basketball court. I couldn't help but be jealous of their friendships. They had this unique bond. I never really had all that great friendships. Yeah, I was close with Jenna, Molly, and a few girls from home. We were close because we had grown up together, but when I reached high school, I was more involved in sports and working hard to secure a future scholarship to play basketball. I missed out on the parties and sleepovers where friends ate pizza, cried over romcoms, and talked about their most recent crushes. My move didn't help me either causing me to feel no longer close to my once so- called friendships. I wonder what would happen if I returned back to California? Would I be welcomed back so warmly by them or would I be foreign again, forgotten thanks to the time and distance? I shake all of that out of head as I attempt to finish my calculus homework in the bleachers and the noise from the game luckily prevents my mind from becoming too lost in thought.