"Mama I'm home" I holler from the doorway as Georgina helps me remove my coat and Merida book bag.
I happily skip towards my parent's bedroom and I hear Georgina's faint chuckles behind me.
"Mama—" I begin but stop outside the door when I hear the soft sniffing and clinking sounds of ice moving around a glass.
I press my ears against the closed doors and try listening more but the sniffs and quiet sobs are the only things I can hear.
I turn the doorknob and swiftly open the door. The room is dark and dingy, some expensive clothes lie haphazardly on the floor and the faint smell of vanilla and sweat wafted through the air.
"Claude? Is that you?" I hear my mom's melodic voice and relief fills me.
"Mama...It's me, I'm back home" I say happily and move towards the place where her voice came from.
Just as I reach the small corner of the room which has a round table, I hear the loud crashing of glass. I scream out of panic and call out for my mother.
"Sasha, honey...Go to Georgina...Don't come here now" she says in a broken voice.
I stand there, still not able to make out her face because of the darkness, and tears roll down my eyes. I ran out of the room, still crying frantically, thinking that something bad was happening to or with my mum.
I wake up, my body drenched in cold sweat after I relive the last memory I had of my mother before she left us and much before she died.
It wasn't a very pleasant one as you can tell.
Panic sets in on me, like every other time when I see her in my mind.
I call out for my dad, out of habit, but I hear no one. I call out for Georgina but quickly realize that she's at her own house.
My mouth suddenly feels dry and my throat hurts. It seems like I've been screaming while going through that memory. The darkness of my room suddenly makes me fearful and so I turn on the small lamp on my bedside table.
The amber light from the small yellow lamp allows diffuses throughout the room, giving me a small sense of relief.
All tiredness and sleep within my system evaporates and my body is alert and jittery. And I hate it.
My heart is beating in my chest at an extremely fast cadence and my breathing becomes heavy.
I have no one to call out, no one to talk to, no one to comfort me at this time of the night.
I've never felt more alone than I do now.
"Detention?!" Sam yells and I wince at the loudness.
"Jeez, baby...Would you calm down? It's only detention" Nathan says and pulls Sam a little.
"You don't get it, Sasha's never gotten detention." Sam says and dread immediately fills me.
"Say something," Anne says while looking at me like I've grown two heads.
"What do you want me to say?" I croak, my voice sounding a frog 'cause of my sore throat.
"I don't know, maybe why you got detention in the first place?"
"I told you...I kinda didn't pay attention in class."
"But that doesn't make sense, you've been getting straight A's in every single quiz!" Sam says with a little jealousy.
I smile a little, feeling slightly proud of my new accomplishment.
My lack of sleep has allowed me to study for a lot longer at night, making my grades improve tremendously.
"Sasha, what's happening to you?" Anne asks.
"I'm fine Anne. I think getting good grades for once is something to be proud of." I say and huff.
"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it. It's just that—It's just that you've been acting a lot different and you're looking really sick sweetie. All the time. If something's bothering you, you can talk to us." She says and gives me a look of a disappointed mother.
"I'm fine Anne. Don't worry, I'm all good" I say, puff out my cheeks so I can look like a chipmunk, and give two thumbs up.
Anne takes a deep breath and sighs but doesn't say anything further.
"Could one of you settle on who's going to drive the car? I'm going to have to stay back longer cause of, you know, the detention"
"Hell no. I'm going to wait with you" Anne says and the others nod in agreement.
"You guys don't have to do that. I'll walk back home, don't worry." I say, feeling grateful.
"Nope, we're going to stay muffin. You are the designated driver so..." Matt says playfully and I smile a little.
"What will you guys be doing?" I ask, feeling bad for them.
"Homework," Sam says and the others groan.
"Try again," Jacob retorts and we laugh.
"What do you suggest?" Sam asks and rolls her eyes.
Jacob shrugs, and Anne suddenly taps Jacob's shoulders rapidly; "What?" He asks with his mouthful.
"How about we play basketball?" Anne asks, looking hopeful.
"Whaaaaa?" Sam asks, clearly unhappy with the suggestion.
"Oh come on Sammy, don't you want to kick your boyfriend's ass by showing him how wonderfully you can play?" Anne asks and Sam only responds by shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
"Why are you suddenly interested? I've offered this in the past but you just wave it off every time I bring it up" Jacob says, looking at Anne with amusement.
"Well now I wanna play, got a problem?" Anne responds and squints her eyes.
Jacob just raises his hands in mock surrender but has a giddy smile on his face.
"I don't want to play Anne," Sam says and Nathan scoffs.
"What?" Sam asks Nathan with raised eyebrows.
"You're just scared...You little shortie" Nathan says and Sam opens her mouth in offense.
"Oh, you didn't just call me a shortie," She says in a warning tone but Nathan just shrugs.
"Now I'm going to come and play," Sam says and Nathan just smirks.
"I'm looking forward to it Dawson..." Nathan says taking Sam's hands and kissing the back of her hand.
The rest of us, including Anne and Jacob, mutter a series of "ewws" at Sam and Nathan.
"Such drama queens" Nathan mumbles and we chuckle.
"So it's settled then, we'll be playing basketball until you come back and we can leave after," Anne says and I nod my head, slightly sad that I won't be able to play with them.
"You can throw some hoops after we're done muffin," Jacob says looking at my sadness.
A huge smile takes up my face and I nod my head happily.
Today's going to be a good day.
"Okay, you guys can leave. Hopefully, I won't have to see you guys soon" Mr. Samuel says and dismisses everyone in the detention room.
I practically jump out of my chair and bounce out of the room in anticipation of playing basketball with my friends.
I hear the squeaky noises of sneakers on the wood floors, the dribbling of the ball, and laughter as I near the basketball court.
"Anne is the loser! Anne is the loser!" Sam's voice carries through the court followed by the laughter.
I lean on the entrance door frame just looking at them with a small smile on my face.
"Like hell, you clearly pushed me onto the floor munchkin...Don't get too cocky" Anne whines and drops the ball which Matt picks up.
"No way, I earned that point fair and square"
"No, you didn't...Baby, say something!" Anne looks at Jacob.
"Well..." Jacob starts but hesitates.
"Hah. See? Even your boyfriend can't say anything against my immaculate basketball skills! I'm even better than Matt." Sam says. At the mention of his name, my eyes immediately dart around to see where he is.
And there he was, in all his glory, hugging the basketball to the side, breathing heavily, his chest moving up and down at a constant pace, some of his brown curls stuck to his forehead because of the sweat, his light blue shirt sticking to his skin making him look irresistible.
Oh dear god.
"Muffin!" I hear and I immediately wake up from my trance.
"H-Hey," I say and move towards them.
"How was detention?" Anne asks and I just shrug.
"Wanna throw?" Matt asks, handing the basketball to me.
"Oh god, I'm not going to play anymore...I'll die of fatigue," Sam says and jogs to the bleachers. The others follow her and so now it's just me, right in the center of the huge basketball court.
"Go on...Throw it" Anne says.
I chuckle nervously and throw the ball, only for it to go miles away from the hoop.
"Okay you guys, I suck...Let's leave" I say and sigh defeatedly. My confidence plummeted after that one shot.
"Oh come on muffin! Don't lose hope...It wasn't that bad, just try again" Matt says and gives me an encouraging thumbs up.
I throw it again and nope. Nowhere near the hoop.
"Are you even aiming for it?" Sam says and I just roll my eyes.
"Oh shut up you, you happen to shoot once into the hoop and suddenly you become LeBron James," Anne says and Sam just glares at her while the others laugh.
I try again, this time I throw it with a lot more momentum only for it to go way over the hoop.
"Just so you know, we're not gonna leave until the ball makes it through the net," Jacob says and I groan.
"That's too much pressure for me, Jacob. We're not going home anytime soon if you make up such ridiculous goals" I reply, already feeling exhausted.
One thing I've learned from this is that I suck at basketball.
Along with my inability to play soccer, baseball, volleyball, badminton and so many sports that involve running.
I try a few more times but not once making the basket. I fling the basketball to some random corner and run over to the bleachers.
"I give up...It's not for me" I say while trying to catch my breath.
"Awww...One thing that our little muffin not good at?" Jacob teases and I flick his forehead.
"Shut up asshole. I'm tired, let's get going" I say and pick up my bag.
The others get up and we begin moving towards the entrance.
Suddenly I feel warm fingers wrap around my arm and turn me towards them.
My eyes widen with shock when I see Matt.
I don't know what came over me but I decided to do this.
When I saw her lose confidence each time that ball didn't make it through the hoop, I felt quite bad. I remember feeling the same way when I used to play when I was younger.
But the satisfaction I got when I make the basket at least once, makes it all the more worth it.
I wanted her to feel that.
And I know she can do it.
Her beautiful blue eyes widen in shock noticing my brave move.
It's just an excuse for you to touch her.
I pull her towards the centre of the basketball court and she doesn't even bother fighting me back.
"What are we doing?" She asks with an amused expression.
"I want you to try throwing the ball and I know you'll make it in the hoop," I say and even though the exhaustion in her face is evident, her expression softens a little.
"But I already tried so many times, I'm not trained Matt..." she says and shrugs.
"Just trust me," I say and move closer to her. Confusion and a faint blush takes over her face with each step I take towards her.
"W-What a-are you d-doing?" She asks as I gently hold her shoulders and turn her toward the direction of the basket.
I quickly jogged over to the basketball that was in a corner, picked it up and jog back to her. I notice her wringing her hands, a frequent habit of hers when she's nervous.
I turn back to see that the others have a playful smirk on their faces.
"Are you sure about this?" Sasha asks, her eyes monitoring every movement of mine.
"Absolutely, you need to calm down though," I say and place a hand in between her shoulder blades. I don't miss her stiffen when I touch her and a small smile makes its way onto my lips.
"Okay," she says meekly.
I place the ball on her hand and gently take her arms, enjoying the feeling of her soft skin on my calloused hand, and position them the correct way to get maximum range with little pressure from her hands.
Her eyes follow my hands with the utmost focus like a curious student.
"Try now" I whisper in her ear and I feel her shiver.
I move back reluctantly removing my hands from her arms.
She nods and throws the ball. My eyes follow the ball and...
Makes it through the hoop...
Huh.
That happened much faster than I expected.
"Oh my god!" Sasha exclaims and begins jumping up and down.
"Did you see that?!" She asks looking at me with excitement, I nod excitedly and she turns to the others.
"Did you guys see that?" She shouts and the other holler all kinds of encouraging words.
The look of pure happiness on her face is completely unlike the half-hearted ones she's been giving us the last couple of weeks. Her smile brightens up the whole place making a huge smile form on my own face.
I am trying my best to not just pull her towards me and kiss her.
Wow...
Man, I'm falling really really fast for her.
"Did you guys see that?" I ask excitedly and my friends encourage me.
I look at Matt and push back the strongest urge to hug him right now.
Get a hold of yourself.
Though I'm well aware that a hug can be completely friendly, I don't want to tempt myself more than I already am.
"See? I told you..." He says after coming to my side and smirks a little.
"I think that's just beginner's luck," I say but the smug smile on my face refuses to leave.
"Thanks a ton, Sasha," Sam says sarcastically and my brows furrow in confusion.
"Huh?"
"Jacob and I owe 5$ each to Nathan and Anne. They thought you'd make a shot and we, Uhmm, didn't"
"Sam you big blabber mouth...Can't you just shut up for once" Anne scolds Sam but the latter only shrugs.
"I don't lie to my best friend," She says and I roll my eyes.
"Some best friend you are, you just admitted that you thought I wouldn't win..."
"Can you blame me? You sucked for the first fifteen minutes and suddenly lover boy gives you a pep talk and you're playing like a pro" Sam says and my eyes widen at the mention "lover boy". Sam's eyes also widen catching the mistake she made.
That's Sam's nickname for Matt when we girls are in private.
I hear Matt choke and cough, having caught the little "slip"
This is so embarrassing
Suffice it to say that Sam and I are going to have some problems, privately.
Heyy there!
What did you think of this chapter?
Question for the day! What is the most embarrassing secret that your friend "accidentally" spilled?
Anyways...
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And as always
Love you all! ❤️❤️