But Who's Counting?

Chapter Twenty-three: "Basketball and Ice Cream."

One of her teammates ( Who's jersey says Johnson) runs after it. Johnson grabs the ball before chucking it down the court. The ball lands near a child with the last name Ellis, he takes the ball and shoots.

He scores.

The whole crowd chants for Ellis as he takes out the ball and passes it to Maya.

"Concentrate, baby!" Alexander calls out. Maya visibly nods her head before putting up two fingers. The other team and I watch in confusion as all the boys go off to the side, except the ones on the opposite team. They all scatter to find a player and one comes to guard Maya. Maya attempts to shoot the ball but as soon as the ball released, the boy brings his hand onto Maya. She falls to the ground at the same time the ball goes inside the basket. The crowd is applauding while Alexander is standing in worry.

Alexander begins to walk down the bleachers but I hold him back as the referee calls a foul. Maya gets up, giving a thumbs up to the crowd. She then wipes her eyes before walking to the free throw line.

Alexander sits down at this but a frown is etched onto his face. He crosses his arm as Maya shoots her three free throws.

The crowd cheats after each one, Maya just added six point to the board while the other team was losing.

As time goes by, Maya has scored 15 more points and her team is winning by 10. The other team has the ball now, all the kids are in formation as another one brings the ball down the court. Maya is quick to guard them, moving her feet in perfect stance. The guard doesn't know what to do so he throws the ball over her and it lands in our teams hands. Maya's team races down the court, tossing the ball up and making a point.

The crowd goes wild.

Alexander claps his hands before taking a sip of the water her bought during halftime. He looks at the scoreboard before looking at me.

"If our team scores 6 more points, the other team had to forfeit. Once one team hits 50 points, the other forfeits if they are down by more than 10. They are down by 12 right now." He whispers. I nodded before sitting back against the wall and watching Maya take a sip of her water. They were on a timeout but I could tell from the way Maya's coach instructed them with such passion that I knew they were about to bring this game to an end. The teams scramble back onto the court, Maya's team getting the ball. Jackson took the ball out, passing it into Howard who dribbled it in. Maya was standing in the corner with a smaller boy on her. They both subtly fought with each other, it seemed as if he was elbowing her but you could barely tell. I see her whisper something to him before he turns around, giving Maya the chance to surge forward and be given the ball. She catches the ball on the air and turns once before shooting. The boy try's to block her shot but ends up jumping on her, causing them both to fall. He got up a lot quicker than Maya did, which alert both Alex and I this time. Alexander was halfway down the bleachers by the time the gym got silent. Maya was still on the ground and her coach was now running over. She was clutching her ankle and was now crying for Alexander.

"Daddy!" Her voice echoed throughout the silent gym, which prompted me to start to find my way down the bleachers.

Alexander was already with Maya, the physical trainer, and coach. They all stood above her while Alex sat next to her on the floor. Her head was in his lap.

I had just stepped foot on the court when Alexander was standing, digging in his pocket. He threw the car keys my way before picking a crying Maya up. I tried my best to jog over to wear the keys landed before going towards them. As I got closer I heard Maya chanting quietly, "I'm sorry, Coach Howard! I'm sorry!"

Her coach reassured her and the referee called a tech on the boy. We stayed long enough to see Ellis shooting the three points for Maya - making them all.