Together, We Rise

Chapter Twenty-One: We Rise

Chapter Twenty-One

Melody

I didn't think Lakemoat High would be winning anymore games in Nationals. They lost their touch ever since Luke got injured. He was captain for a reason but he couldn't play with them for the rest of the competition.

"Come on, guys!" Luke said. "It's not that hard to steal the ball!"

I was sitting in at their practice and it was not going well. Luke was trying to couch the team, but the team didn't seem to want to try.

Matt stopped in the middle of the court and faced Luke. "Maybe you should try playing," he snapped.

"I would if I could," Luke replied. "I didn't ask to be injured."

"And we didn't ask for our captain to yell at us when he's doing nothing!" Matt shot back.

Luke sighed. "Sorry. My ankle's just adding more stress to my life."

"Sure, blame the ankle," Matt muttered.

"Well, there is something else that's adding stress," Luke said. "Do you want me to announce it out loud?"

"Do you want me to try?" Matt asked. "Because I can't with a cranky captain."

"Guys," I said. "Arguing won't get you anywhere. Isn't there some way the team will work things out?"

"I doubt see it happening," Matt said. "Remember what we were like when Luke was off the team? Well, it's like that again. We can't do it without Luke, no matter how cranky he is."

Luke sighed and shook his head. "I'm not cranky, I'm just stressed. I can't play basketball and........." he made sure the rest of the team wasn't listening, "I have two kids on the way."

"I'm sure it would pass," I assured, slipping my hand into Luke's. "I know things may be hard, but I've seen you through worse."

"Like what?" Luke asked.

"Gee, I don't know," I said sarcastically. "Weren't you kicked out of your house before because of your dad? Well, not-dad?"

Luke sighed. "I get it. My life is just one big mess."

"I wouldn't say that," I said.

Someone walked through the gym doors then. "Is that........." I began.

"Annie?" Luke finished.

Annie Hudson walked into the gym doors with a big smile on her face. Briggs saw her immediately and hurried to give her a hug.

"She looks different," I said.

"For starters, she doesn't have her pregnancy belly," Luke pointed out. "Let's go say hi." I stood up and handed Luke his crutches before we walked over to Annie. "Hey, Annie."

"Hi, Luke!" Annie said.

"So what are you doing here?" Luke asked.

"It took me a while to convince my mom to come here," she said, "but she finally agreed because I just wanted to see my boyfriend compete in Nationals." She eyes Luke's ankle. "What happened with you?"

"Some jerk tripped me and sprained my ankle," Luke explained.

"So where's Julia?" Briggs asked.

"She's with my mom," Annie said. "I really needed a break from her. Apparently, being in my stomach for forty weeks isn't enough for her." I guessed Juila was Annie's daughter.

"How was the pregnancy?" I asked.

"It was okay," Annie said. "People wondered why I left school halfway through and some made assumptions, but other than that, nothing bad happened. Just be happy you aren't going through it."

I looked down at the floor. "Actually........."

"No. Way," Annie said. Her eyes focused on Luke. "You got Melody pregnant?!" Luckily, she said it in a loud whisper so nobody else heard.

"Well.........Yeah........" Luke said with a sigh.

"Is that why you're wearing a sweater?" she asked me.

I nodded. "I'm a little big for eleven weeks........"

"How?" Annie asked.

"Twins," Luke said. "I made her pregnant with twins."

"Well, good luck with the pregnancy," Annie said. "I better go back to hotel room. Coming, Briggs."

"Yeah," Briggs said. "Practice is going nowhere, anyway."

"Oh, sure," Luke said. "It's okay if you skip practice to be with your girlfriend, but if I do it, I'm a bad captain."

"See you, Lucas," Briggs said as he walked out with Annie, completely ingoring what Luke just said.

"Okay, hypocritical much?" Luke muttered to nobody in particular. He sighed and shook his head. "Wanna get out of here?"

"Don't you have practice?" I asked.

Luke sighed and looked at his team. They were all sitting on the floor, either talking or texting on their phones.

"You know what?" Luke asked. "I do have practice." Luke hopped with his crutches to his team, who made no effort to look at him. I followed him and sat on a bench behind him. "What are you guys doing sitting around? Get up and practice!"

Matt looked up at Luke. "There's no point."

"No point?" Luke repeated. "So just because I got injured, you guys won't even try? It's not like I scored every damn basket by myself! I want you guys to get up and practice right now!"

Everyone got up, muttering something I couldn't hear. I was surprise at Luke's attitude towards the team because he almost never yells. I mean, the last time I heard him yell was when he found out his mom had an affair and made him. And that was only because he was upset. He wasn't yelling at anyone in particular that day.

"If you don't try your hardest, we're going to be in here for a long time!" Luke yelled. "You are not going to be taking a single break until I know we are ready for our next game!"

The basketball team started a game as Luke sat down on the bench beside me.

"You okay, Luke?" I asked. "You never yell."

"I figured yelling is the only way to get the team working," Luke said. "It worked for coach, and now it's working for me." He gestured to his team, who were actually trying. Maybe they still had a chance of winning Nationals.