The Letters

Junior Year

"Is it raisins?" I gag "You noticed, I thought you wouldn't." Mom whines as her plan to feed me raisins went down the drain.

 "Yeah I noticed, I bit into a huge one . . . Ughh I'll stick to my cereal," 

 We eat in silence and after dumping my bowl into the sink I head out as fast as I can from this stupid silent movie. "Wash the bowl, Ashleigh!" Mom yells afar.

I am halfway from school and I hear Lily's voice from behind. I pull over at the stop sign and Lily catches up with me on her bike. "Why can't you just take your car, Lil?" I ask her sighing in exhaustion because it's not the first time I am asking. 

"Oh, no, no, no I am not driving the car that stupid bitch gave me." She scowls.

 "Well, she likes to be called Mom," I say as we pad our bike away.

 Lily and her mom have issues well a lot of issues since her mother left his dad without giving her an explanation. As a gift on her 16th birthday, her mother surprised her with the car all the way from London. And Lily didn't really respond well. Nobody knows why her mother left except his dad because he got no problem with her ex-wife visiting. Lily always confronted her father about the truth but he denied to speak. Maybe it is so bad that Lily will hate her even more than she does now.

"Feels like ages ago," Becca says as soon as we enter school halls. "Does it?" I reply and Becca glares at me with her murderous eyes. I roll my eyes at her while I look over at Jordan to find him giggling and I take a swat at his arms. We go separate ways to our lockers. 

 "I probably have to stay back after school I have tryouts, so don't wait up," I say piling books for Chemistry. 

"Okayyy . . . I'll see you at lunch," Lily says and walks away.

Mrs. Diaz enters the class with her dark hair down, meeting the shoulders and her baby bump. She is getting big. "Today we are going to conduct an experiment called Mystical Cloud which represents Exothermic reaction and you have to write it on this piece of paper what you observe and how did you do." She announces and hands over a plain sheet to take notes. I look over the instruction manual and start reading until . . . "You are going down today, Carver!" and when I look up to see. Gianna Rodriguez my so-called Arch-nemesis the only thing between me and my scholarship.

She was benched for the whole game last year because I accidentally stepped on her foot while practicing and she was not allowed to play the game the next day made me the acting captain. To date, I tell her that it was purely an accident I never meant to hurt her but she went around the team behind my back and made people hate me. Unfortunately, because of the poor coordination, we lost last year. 

"What do you want Gianna?" I roll my eyes at her. 

"Revenge Bitch!" She threatens —her face basically inches away from mine. 

I lean back and my eyebrows knit in confusion by her Psycho vibes. I touch her shoulders and push her over to her space "Oh . . .kay Good luck." I say shaking my head "Nuh . . . uh Maybe you need luck not me" She sounds irritated. I take another look at her and back to the manual. I sigh.

 "It's the same as Gianna's, come on Ashleigh you don't have to copy you could have asked me for input" Mrs. Diaz scolds. My jaw tenses and I glare at Gianna for copying my work. "Too slow Ash-Ash." she taunts and leaves. I hate when she calls me that, I hate her stupid baby voice, I hate her stupid grin. Arghh . . .

At lunch, Lily and I sit together. Victor with his team and Becca sitting on his lap biting an apple. Halfway through the meal, Jordan slams his tray on our table and takes a seat across us. He is furious. "What is it?" Lily asks while I take a bite of my burger. 

"Tryouts are postponed to 5 and I am going to miss work and that stupid bald-head won't listen to me." He scowls "Why don't you ask Victor to help out with that." I speak with my mouth full. "I did, but the coach won't budge." He sighs in defeat and bites on his burger. 

"Hey Lil, I might need a ride after tryouts, Can you wait?" He asks lily. 

"Oh sure, if you want to share the sat on her bike," I answer on Lily's behalf as some of my food spits out of my mouth. "Still not using the car?" Jordan asks while chewing on his bite and he also spits some food out while holding a laugh. "Nope, I am not using that bitch's lame-ass car." She says and slides away from us. 

"Hey, Where are you going?" I ask swallowing the bite. 

"Because you guys are spitting your food rather than eating it." She scowls. I look over at Jordan's side and we both burst into laughter.

at the tryouts...

I change into Orange basketball shorts and an orange muscle T-shirt with Dolphins written at the front and the number 14 printed back with my last name. I put my shoes on and pull my hair back into a ponytail. A heavy pound on a locker beside me startles me. Gianna. 

"You are going down." She threatens again with those psychotic eyes wide open. "You said that already," I say shutting my locker door and I walk away ignoring her dumb threats. "Well, you are going downtown." She yells. What? 

Nevertheless, she is really a good player, and competing against her is tough but I really need this scholarship to get into the Ivy League. 

I run across the court to grab a bottle of water. I finish two bottles in a row and I look over at Gianna she is also exhausted as I am. We both slouch down gripping on our knees to calm our breathing. As the coach announces the names I stare at him with my tired eyes waiting for my name and so does Gianna. Finally, he calls my name out and adds Co-captain at the end but instead of being happy about it I sigh and close my eyes because that means Gianna is also a fucking Co-captain. 

She taps on my shoulder "Suck it bitch!" I stand upright "Wha . . . why?" My voice is low and weak. I never get this girl. I lie on the breacher to catch up on my breath and drink from another bottle of water. I decide not to change into regular clothes and head home carrying my bag over my shoulder. I open the front door to head out and groan at the thought of paddling my way home. "Dammit!" I exhale and unlock my bike.

 And from Nowhere a Hey pops up. I look straight up. I know this voice, what's he doing here. I frantically turn around and . . .