“Ew, ew, ew, ew,” she danced in circles, “they are still sweaty.”
Everley laughed with a hand clutched over her mouth.
“Just put them on!” she said again. “It’s for like two seconds and over your clothes. You’ll survive.”
Whitney picked them up again, scrunching her face as she used both hands to slide the damp shorts over her leggings.
“Take the picture!” She ordered Everley who was struggling with her 2005 flip-phone.
“Use my phone!” Whitney opened the camera and held it out.
Everley took a slew of pictures and Whitney ripped the boxers off, leaving them on top of the basketball shorts where she’d found them.
They snuck out of the room, peaked over the landing at the top of the stairs and happily found the boys all still involved in themselves. At the bottom, Everley peaked around the stairs, holding one arm behind her to keep Whitney there. After a couple seconds of watching she moved swiftly to the door, opened it and they both slid out before Everley closed it quietly behind her. Then they ran!
They finally slowed a block from the girls’ house and immediately erupted in laughter.
“That was awesome!” Everley said.
“My heart is beating so fast,” Whitney said. “I’ve never done anything like that.”
“Get out your phone. I want to see the picture!” Whitney pulled out her phone and flipped through the pictures herself first before handing it to Everley.
“That was so gross. They were literally damp with sweat still. Ugh.” Whitney shook the imaginary sweat from her body.
“Pure awesome!” Everley said as she looked at the pictures. “Did you send one to Eva or Jasmine?”
Whitney took back her phone and sent one of the pictures to Eva, Jasmine and Beth.
“I don’t want to go back,” Whitney said. The salty air filled their senses as they walked leisurely through the small coastal town. “That was crazy and fun and the house will be lame.”
“I know. They are not going to be happy we succeeded,” said Everley.
“No, they are not.” Whitney said, realizing this would mean more hatred directed at her. “Oh well. It was worth it.”
The girls bounced into the house with smiles expecting to be greeted by a room full of their teammates waiting to hear their exciting story. Instead they found just the three seniors, all on their phones, pretending to not notice the girls’ entrance.
“Did you get the picture????” Everley asked.
“Yeah,” Eva said.
“Too bad you were supposed to send us the picture while you were still at the boy’s house, which you didn’t do,” Beth said.
“Too bad you never said that,” Whitney said.
“You guys are the stupidest people on the planet and you are beyond annoying. Just go away, and don’t talk to us. Ever,” Eva said.
Whitney and Everley looked at each other and then headed for the stairs. They didn’t speak until they reached their room.
“What the hell happened?” Brynley asked.
Everley sprawled across the end of the bed. “Oh my Gosh! So much,” she said.
“Why isn’t anyone downstairs anymore?” Whitney asked.
“The bitches received a text message like 15 minutes ago and became super angry and told everyone to go to bed because we have an early game tomorrow,” Brynley said. “Did you do it? Did you get the picture?”
Whitney pulled up the picture on her phone and handed it to Brynley who immediately screamed sending the other two into fits of laughter.
“What is going on in here?”
The girls froze, only relaxing when they saw Kristi poke her head into their room.
“They did it. They snuck in and got the picture!” Brynley stuck out the phone for Kristi to see. Kristi entered the room with a squeal followed closely by Jenn and Jill.
Jill crossed the small space cautiously, stepping over Everley’s things that had somehow taken over the entire floor in just 24 hours. “Your room is really small!”
“Um, yeah!” Brynley said.
The girls passed around the picture while Everley told the story as only Everley could. There were arm movement’s and sound effects and she even made Whitney stand up and act out a part for maximum understanding by the group. Beyond her required participation, Whitney sat on the bed going back over the night in her own head while Everley babbled on. It had only happened thirty minutes ago, yet already it felt like a movie she’d watched, not something she’d taken part in. She smiled as she remembered each close call and shook her head looking at the picture again.
“The seniors are pissed,” Whitney whispered to Brynley.
“I know. It’s hilarious,” Brynley said. Whitney smiled weakly. She honestly wanted them to like her. That seemed out of reach though.
◆◆◆
The next day was the first day of bracket play in the tournament. The gym was thick with increased pressure from the coaches, and increased tension among the players. The freshman tried to steer clear of the seniors and when they failed, evil glares or shoves reminded them. Whitney knew how to leave the drama off the court. Unfortunately, the other girls didn’t. Eva refused to pass the ball to Whitney, Beth refused to set a decent screen for Brynley and the whole team fell apart. By half time they were down by 12. When the game ended the score board read 62 to 40, not in their favor.
“22, you guys just lost by 22 points to one of the worst teams in the tournament. I’m too flabbergasted to even discuss this with you right now.” Coach Turner yelled as he paced the front of the locker room. “This is unbelievable! One night of team bonding and you forget how to play as a team? You all went blind and couldn’t see our top scoring post wide open in the key? I’m gonna guess this has something to do with stupid girl drama and you know I don’t do that. We play our first game in the LOSERS bracket in the shitty gym across the way in 45 minutes. You better cat-fight it out and be ready to play as a team in 15.”
The heavy metal door of the locker room slammed shut as the coaches exited. Whitney continued staring at the harsh cement floor below her. No one spoke. Stale sweat and cheap body spray assaulted the air around them. Everley chewed on her fingernails behind Whitney making a horrendous sound in the silence otherwise filling the room.
“They’re right,” Jasmine said, “We have to play as a team to win.” Her voice gave away that she was saying it more because she had to than because she wanted to.
“She’s a spoiled rotten snobby bitch who thinks she’s a female Kobe Bryant. I won’t feed into that,” Eva said.
“She’s good.” Brynley said.
“Of course Robin thinks Batman is good,” Eva said.
“They’re both good,” Ally said. Ally was a plain faced junior who was usually quiet, thus the fact that she spoke up now got everyone’s attention. “Everyone knows it. You don’t have to like them personally to admit they are good players. You aren’t hurting them by keeping the ball from them, you’re hurting the whole team. It’s stupid and petty. I hope coach benches you all. We’ll lose, but at least we’ll lose trying.” And with that she was gone. The others sat in shock for a moment before gathering their things and leaving the room. When Whitney left only the seniors, Kathy and Olivia remained. Whitney hoped they’d be late to the game and get benched.
Unfortunately they made it to the gym just as coach called for the girls to start warming up. The second game of the day went better, not good. They hung-in with a team half as good as them with Whitney and Brynley still receiving very few passes. In the last five minutes of the fourth quarter, down by 5, coach benched Eva and Beth and filled the floor with Whitney, Brynley, Olivia, Jasmine and Ally. Together, those five scored more in the last five minutes of the game than the original line-up had in the whole second half before the switch. The girls celebrated their win, well all of the girls except for Eva and Beth.
Their win secured them a third game for the day, which was attended by the boys’ team. Whi
tney tried not to let it shake her, she already had enough shaking from the seniors. By the second minute of the second quarter Eva had four fouls and earned herself a spot on the bench. As she passed Whitney on her way out she threw an elbow into Whitney’s side, hard. Before coach could even say anything about it Eva was going off.
“She won’t help me out there. It’s like I’m playing by myself,” she screamed as she kicked a water bottle under one chair and threw herself into another. “They keep sending that girl right up the middle and Ms. Spoiled brat won’t move to save her life. I’m left guarding their whole team. She’s doing it on purpose too. And now I have to sit!” she continued on even after the game resumed and Coach Turner walked away. Everley sat awkwardly beside her unsure of what to do.
At halftime they were up by 12 and Whitney had 10 points on the board. In the last minute of the second half she’d blocked a shot and then scored a basket only a few seconds later. The crowd loved it! As she headed to the locker room, she swore she heard Leif congratulating her specifically.
Eva was back in for the second half, but she hadn’t cooled down. Only a few minutes in, Whitney found herself double-teamed underneath the basket. She struggled to break free and somehow got off a shot that swished through the net as she fell to the ground and the whistle blew. They boy’s team went crazy.
“That’s abuse out there!”
“They threw her to the ground! That’s a technical!”
“You’re awesome Whitney!”
“Eject those girls! They nearly raped her.”
“That was intentional!”
“Don’t worry Whitney. I’ll make it better later.”
The last was followed by roaring laughter from the team and Whitney couldn’t help but smile, even though she had no idea who it came from. Eva glared at the crowd as Whitney sunk her foul shot. Whitney threw a smile at the boys as she hustled up the court brushing past Eva as she went. She was okay with this. Eva could hate her if everyone else liked her.
Whitney stood under the basket as the other team’s point guard brought the ball up the court. Eva was guarding her, and not well Whitney couldn’t help but notice. The point weaved quickly past Eva and drove straight up the middle, Whitney crossed over to help but not before the girl got off a jumper and scored two points. On their next possession, Whitney came off her player too early, she knew that but was trying to cover some slack for Eva, and the point passed low allowing Whitney’s player to score. A third play ended with the point scoring again sent Eva into a frenzy. Bringing the ball up the court, Eva misjudged her steps, dribbled onto her foot and pretty much gave the ball to her defender. The girls hustled down, but it was too late. As Eva came up the court again her eyes were a mix of fire and tears. For a second Whitney felt bad for her. She looked to the crowd quickly and saw Leif. He appeared to either not notice, or not care. That made Whitney feel even worse.
Looking back up the court she saw nothing but a flying blob of purple (their opponent’s color) and blond hair. Whitney never saw the shove, she’d have it retold to her many times after, but the projection of the defender proved it had been intense. For the next few minutes Whitney heard more than she saw. She heard the defenders’ head smack into the shiny wooden gym floor. She heard the collective AHH from the crowd who stood in shock. She heard the ball swoosh through the net after Eva, oblivious to her ridiculousness, drove past the carnage and shot a three. She heard the ball bounce on the court at her feet, everyone’s attention turned to the middle of the floor. She heard the whistle blow and returned to reality. The ref called a flagrant personal foul and Eva lost it.
“Flagrant? That was flagrant? If that was anything it was blocking! This is bull-shit. She threw herself on the floor.” Eva’s rant grew worse with time. The assistant coaches tried to pull her back from the ref. Jasmine stood in front of her trying to talk her back to the bench. They all knew what was coming. The ref called a technical and ejected Eva from the game. One of the assistant coaches grabbed Eva’s arm and led her back towards the bench to get her stuff. Her head now hung low as she walked solemnly towards the rest of the team. She ripped her warm-up jacket off the chair, hitting Kristi with it in the process, and headed towards the door beyond their bench. When she reached Whitney she stopped.
“This is all your fault. Don’t think I don’t fully understand that. You will regret being such a spoiled brat.”
And with that she exited followed by their assistant coach. Whitney stood in shock, staring at the paramedics who were putting a neck brace on the girl on the floor. Brynley and Everley both stared at her, one from each side, she avoided looking at either of them, but could feel their eyes burning holes in the sides of her head. She looked across the gym, expecting Leif to have followed Eva out, but he remained in his seat. That should have made her happy, but it didn’t. She clapped as they took out the injured girl and then turned her attention back to the game.
The game finished rather smoothly. Without Eva the Bulldogs played much better and without their star player the other team played much worse. Whitney was relieved when it was over. It’d been a long day. As they headed towards the locker room Brynley, apparently unfazed, began planning their evening.
“Let’s just stay in guys. Get pizza and ice cream and watch a movie. I’m so drained,” Whitney said. Everley, Brynley and Kristi all looked at her like she was crazy.
“We aren’t staying in. This town is full of cute boys and they will all be downtown. We are going out,” Brynley said. Before Whitney could protest they were stopped.
“What are you guys doing tonight?” Phillip asked. Whitney looked up to see most of the boys team, staring down at her from the lower few rows of the bleachers.
“We’re going downtown,” Brynley said. Whitney’s unapproving look that went unnoticed.
“Not gonna go find anyone else’s house to break into?” Chris from drama asked. Whitney’s stomach twisted into knots.
“It isn’t breaking in if we walked through the front door,” Everley said.
“So you were the accomplice. I should have known,” Leif said.
“GIRLS! Now.” Coach yelled from the locker room door.
“We’ll see you downtown!” Chris said as the girls moved towards coach. Whitney hoped she could talk the girls out of this.
◆◆◆
Unfortunately, two and half hours later Whitney found herself changed into jeans and a sweatshirt heading downtown with Everley, Brynley, Kristi and Jenn.
“You know Whit, you could have put some effort into your appearance tonight,” Brynley said.
“You know Bryn, we could have stayed in and watched a movie,” Whitney said.
“There aren’t any cute boys at the house!” Kristi said. “We went over this.”
Everyone agreed with her, except Whitney. While everyone else had gotten dolled up, she’d spent the last two hours sitting on their bed browsing her phone. She’d let her straight hair air-dry after her shower and then threw it up in a simple pony tail, and refused to put on something Brynley would have deemed “cute” finally folding when Brynley required her to put on makeup. If she had to go out, she should probably put in a little effort. Plus, when they’d learned the seniors planned to stay in with pouting Eva Whitney realized staying in the house alone with them was a safety hazard. So, here she was strolling through the busy old town promenade with the rest of the girls observing the rainbow of high school basketball players filling the street.
The girls headed for the neon lights of the arcade first. Once inside, the size of the place was nearly as overwhelming as the ringing, buzzing and flashing lights accosting their senses. The girls “took a lap” surveying the scene. Cute boys filled every corner, Whitney had to admit that, and for a few minutes she even regretted not putting more effort into her attire. Brynley settled on a group of guys with the “highest average” attractive score and wasted no time flirting away. Whitney wondered if she should remind her she had a boyfriend.
After a few minutes of standing on the sidelines, Whitney snuck out the front door and back onto the busy street and breathed in the crisp salty air. She found a bench not far from the door and sat, content to people-watch while everyone else flirted away inside. A group of boys, loud and rambuncous, made their way into the arcade; a group of girls sat on the bench across the street from her whispering and laughing and then whispering again; a blonde boy passed with what had to be his parents, they seemed pleased, he did not.
“Can I sit?”
The question startled her first, and the realization that it was Leif, second. Her stomach jumped as she remembered the night before.
“Were you waiting for someone?” Leif looked around, still waiting for an answer to his original question.
“No.” Whitney said. “I mean, not waiting. You can sit.” She instinctively scooted over and Leif sat down, covering her with his perfect scent as he did. Now she was truly regretting the sweatshirt. She made a mental note to listen to Brynley a little more.
“So, you’ve had a wild 24 hours,” Leif said. A crooked grin enveloped his face making Whitney melt, or was it the statement making her cower? She tried to hide the response, whatever it was.
“You could say that,” she said.
“How’d you guys even do it?” he asked.
Whitney felt the blood take over her face. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” she said. She didn’t want to talk about this with him.
Leif pulled out his phone and flashed Whitney the lock screen. It was her. In his boxers.
“Delete that!” she cried.
“I like it. I think it makes the boxers even luckier too. I played better today than I have all season.” Leif stared at the picture holding his phone just out of Whitney’s reach.
“They made me. Well us. They made us do it,” Whitney searched for an explanation, nearly in tears.
Being Whitney (Book one of the Being Series): A Young Adult Novel Page 10