away; b.e.

Chapter 26

4 days till championship

My alarm starts blaring. I quickly shut it off before it wakes Lily up. I check the time to see it has 5:00 AM plastered on it. I go into my bathroom and turn on my shower.

~

I get dressed into compression pants with basketball shorts over them. I put on a black sports bra with a black muscle shirt.

I put on my Jordan 13's and put my cleats into my bag. I grab everything I need and head downstairs.

In 4 days, the championship game of Beverly vs. South Crenshaw is going down. Jordan, Spencer, and basically everyone on the team is relaxing a bit since they've beat them before. But, that doesn't mean I will.

I grab a shit ton of water bottles from the fridge and throw them into my bag. I grab my airpods, keys, phone, and bag and go outside to my car.

~

I run out onto the field to see the Coach there talking to the assistant coach. It was about 5:45 AM.

I walk over to the bleachers and but my bag down. I grab my airpods and start playing 'Narcotics'.

As I warm up, I start running up and down the bleachers.

After, I go into the weight room that's part of the locker room and workout there. I do different types of push ups, sit ups, and weight work. I grab one of the many bottles in my bag and chug it.

I run out onto the field and I see Coach setting up a jug machine. He starts the machine up and I start running long. he buts the ball between the two disks and the ball launches. I jump up and catch it with one hand.

~

I'm on my way to the nearest cafe. I always keep a spare change of clothes in my locker so I changed into those after my shower. I park in front of this cafe that Lily showed me a few weeks ago. It was empty except for the few people littered around the place. I turn off my car and walk into the cafe.

"Hi, I'll just have a regular iced coffee," I say to the barista. She takes my order and tells me to go wait over in the waiting area.

~

"I have an iced coffee for Emilie," the barista announces. I run up to her and grab my drink thanking her.

The academic part of school is over but things like clubs are still going. I take a seat at the bar table. I pull out my phone and scroll through Instagram. That was until I felt a presence beside me.

I turn and see Julian standing there.

"Holy fuck," he caught me off guard.

"Oh shit, sorry," he says.

"No, no, it's fine. What do you want Julian?" I ask.

"They want to meet you," he says.

"Who?"

"Mom and dad," he answers. I freeze up.

The people who brought me into this world who left me alone for 17 years of my life just now want to meet me? Fuck no.