Rivals Pt. 02

"Why is it always a competition with you two?" Solette sighs.

"It makes it fun," Cat smiles.

"Only for the winner," Solette says.

We do a few more drills before we start scrimmages. Once again, Danielle and I are against each other. Sarah's on my team and so is Usha. As we sub in, Danielle takes the inbound pass. I am not letting her win this time.

I meet her at the half-court line and she tries to cross me over. There's no way I'm falling for any of her stupid tricks. She fights me tooth and nail to the top of the key. I don't give her an inch. She crosses over and then goes to cross back but only does an in and out as she steps back and pulls up. She drains it. You've got to be kidding me! I won't let that happen next time.

I take the inbound pass and push it up the floor. As Danielle goes to press me, I give her a little in and out juke and then a cross over. She overreacts and then I follow it with a behind the back dribble and speed by her. She's not nearly as good on defense as she is on offense. I drive it down the lane. The defense crashes the board as I go up to shoot. Vishay meets me and goes to block my shot. I dish it out to Sarah who's wide open for the three and she puts it in.

She gives me a high five as we make our way back on defense. Time to put Danielle in her place. She's not going to score on me this time. As she takes it up the court, I pounce on her. She dribbles it between her legs and drives it to my left, then spins to the right before stopping. As I try to adjust, she crosses me over and dribbles it into the lane and pulls up for another basket.

Come on, Marcela! I can do better than that. I take the inbound pass from Maly and meet Danielle at the half-court line. I stutter step her and continue to drive it up the court before dribbling it between my legs and switching directions. Maly comes up for the pass and I bounce it to her. Then I set a pick for her and she takes the lane as Salenna tries to barrel past me. Maly manages to get off an easy jumper and makes it.

"Marcela!" Usha calls out as she subs in for me. Not now! Give me at least one more chance to take her. I let out a sigh and rush off the court.

"Good job out there," Coach Melina says. I wish that were true. Danielle still managed to beat me on defense. That just means I need to work harder.

I watch as Danielle tries to cross Usha over and she smacks it loose. Usha snatches it up and takes it up for an easy layup. She gives Danielle such a devilish smirk. I'll admit watching that was very satisfying. I just wish I could've done that.

Kennedy subs in for Danielle and they duke it out. As practice comes to an end, I rush up to Usha and whisper under my breath. "How did you anticipate what Danielle was going to do?"

"Well, Danielle is a classic ball hog and will always do what's in her best interest, but to answer your question, I don't anticipate her moves, I just keep my feet moving and out-hustle her. If I work harder than her, she'll make a mistake eventually. Although, she always goes for a second move, so I kind of expected it," she says as I take mental notes. "Your problem is you think too much. You can try to anticipate her moves, but that's like trying to count cards. You're also reacting instead of taking action. You know what type of player she is. She shoots first and never passes. So lure her into a trap. Give her what she wants. Let her take the side she wants and then cut her off. She'll try to cross you over, that's when you snatch the ball."

"Wow! Thank you! I totally get it now. I'll work on it and try it out on her once I mastered it," I smile.

"No problem, Dandi. Anything to make her look bad," she smiles, putting her hand on my shoulder. "Now, I've got to go. I'm working on a new art project. I'll show you it later."

"Okay, thanks again," I say. She gives me a smile before leaving.

"Dandi, we're getting smoothies. You want to come?" Cat asks as she and Kennedy walk over.

"Thanks, but I've got a few things I want to work on before I finish," I say.

"Oh come on, you know you want one. I'm buying," Cat says.

"Thanks, but I can't. I really need to improve my skills," I say.

"Suit yourself, how about you Peaches?" Cat asks Sarah.

"I think I'll pass. If Dandi's going to work on her skills, I should too. I can't let her get better than me."

"Okay. Don't make us regret leaving you two alone," Cat smirks, winking at us. God, I wish she wouldn't do that. I'm not gay. At least I don't think I am. Right? I mean. I have never been into girls before. Although, I've never really been into guys either. I don't know. Why is everything so confusing all of a sudden?

I grab the ball and start practicing my three-pointers. I know it's not a priority, but I want to be able to rely on my three-pointer. I just don't feel confident in shooting a three. Then I need to work on my defense.

"Hey," Sarah says.

"Hey," I say. "Don't you have drills you need to work on? You don't want me gaining an advantage, do you?"

"I... I just wanted to see if you wanted to train together," she says, scratching her shoulder.

"Really?" I ask. She wants to practice with me? I can't help but wonder if there's some ulterior motive. We've been rivals all throughout high school. I've always hated her. And yet, it feels like we've become close. Closer than I've ever been with anyone. That's not really saying much, I've never really had a lot of friends... My family clearly doesn't get me at all. But Sarah and I actually seem to have a lot in common.

"Yeah." She takes a breath before throwing up her usual confident smile. "Besides, you could use the practice."

"Ouch," I say even though it doesn't quite carry the same sting.

"Train all you want, but neither of you will beat me," Danielle says as she walks out of the gym.

"God, I hate her," Sarah says.

I nearly fall over laughing. "At least we can always agree on that."

Now she's cracking up. "So why are you working on your three-pointer?"

"It's definitely one of my many weak spots. And I want to feel confident shooting a three. So I'm just going to practice until I can't miss. Then I should probably spend some considerable time working on my defense. I will not let Danielle continue to beat me again."

"Well, here, let me help you. I'll rebound for you."

"Really?" I raise an eyebrow. "Why? What are you getting out of it?"

"We're teammates, right? We've got to put the team first."

"Wow. I'm sorry, you're right. I've still been caught up in our rivalry that I forgot the number 1 rule," I say. I can't help but look at Sarah in a new light. She reminded me of the one simple fact that I forgot. I was too focused on beating Danielle and being better than her, that I forgot about my teammates. My focus should be on being the best teammate, not the best player.

"We're rivals?" she asks.

"I thought we were," I say. Does she seriously not consider us rivals? Why does it always feel like she's targeting me and singling me out for?

"I'm just kidding. Of course, we're rivals," she giggles.

"Oh," I start cracking up now. She was so convincing.

I shoot the ball and brick it. "Relax. You look like you're about to take a final test. Just breathe."

She passes me back the ball and I shoot again. It bounces off the back of the rim. "You're not getting your arm underneath you. You'll get more distance if you stop bending out your elbow."

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah, at least that's how the best shooters always shoot," she says.

"Thanks," I say.

She smiles with those oceans in her eyes. I pull up and let loose. The ball sails well over the hoop. "Now you're not even paying attention."

"Sorry."

She passes me the ball. I take a breathe and then take another shot. This time it goes it in.

"Nice, that's how you do it," she says.

I shoot until I hit 9 out of my 10 shots an hour later and Sarah didn't complain once. Maybe I should rethink why we lost against her team. Maybe they won the State Championship because they had her on their team. If she's willing to work with them like she is working with me, then who wouldn't succeed?

"Do you have anything you want to work on?" I ask.

"Maybe some dribbling and Just my signature move of course. I didn't really get a chance to try it at practice. But you did give me an amazing look. Thanks for that."

"You were open, it just seemed logical," I say.

"And that's why I think you're an amazing player," she says.

"Quit joking." I cross my arms and roll my eyes.

"No, I'm being serious," she says.

"Is that why you always seem to single me out?"

Her cheeks heat up like a bonfire in the middle of the summer. Her eyes seem to avoid mine as she rubs her shoulder. "Yeah. Obviously."

She takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out before meeting my gaze... "If you want to be the best you've got to beat the best."

I can't help but smile. "Well, thanks, and thanks for all the help. You're not so bad either."

"Okay, Dandi."

"Peaches!"

Her cheeks go a deep scarlet, like a hot coal. "Do I really have a big butt?"

"Yeah, but it's not like it's a bad thing."

As if her face wasn't red enough. She looks like she swallowed a ghost pepper. Believe me, my cousins always try to see who can eat the hottest peppers. It's a contest in my family.

"So, do you want to grab smoothies? I'm not going to lie, it sounded really good?" she says.

"Sure," I smile. "But we should do a few more drills first. Since you have to work on your dribbling, it gives me a chance to work on my defense. You can do dribbling drills against me and I'll try to guard you."

"Okay. That sounds great."

Sarah's Perspective

After we finish with drills, Marcela and I head over the main student center where they have the smoothie shop. As we sit down and enjoy our delicious well-earned deserts, I can't help but sneak glances at Marcela. Her eyes are better than staring into the clear night sky full of stars. God, look at me, falling for something I'll never have.

"Can I ask you something?" she says.

"Sure," I say.

"How did you know you were gay?" she asks.

"Why?" I ask.

"I don't know, just curious I guess," she says.

"Well, I slowly started to figure it out in middle school that I was attracted to girls. While all my friends were talking about boys, I was fixated on my friends. In high school, I started to really realize that I was gay. I just couldn't think about boys the same way I thought about girls. They just repulsed me. I tried looking at porn and I just couldn't do it. It took me a while to understand why I felt the way I felt. When I came to terms with the fact that I was gay, I was afraid to come out. Especially in a catholic school," she says.

"But you did come out, what was that like?" she asks.

"Scary. I had no idea how my family was going to react. My dad's not super religious, but he's catholic. My brothers are all very, like, manly I guess. All into sports and typical boy shenanigans. Don't get me wrong, I was also into that stuff. I was always desperately trying to fit in with them. So I was afraid they'd reject me or something."

"So how did you come out to them?" she asks, tucking a dark black string of hair behind her ear.

"I came out to my twin brother Harrison first. He and I are the closest. He wasn't surprised and figured I was gay. He helped me come out to the rest of my family. I sort of came out to my brothers one by one and then I came out to my dad when all my brothers were up so I had backup in case things went downhill. I just have to say, when I first came out to Harrison, I felt ashamed of who I was. Like there was something wrong with me, but Harrison made it seem so natural and he made me feel accepted. So when I finally came out to my dad, it wasn't nearly as hard."

Marcela leans in, looking me in the eyes. "So? How did he take it?"

"Didn't even bat an eye. He was like, oh, okay. It was like nothing changed. I'm so grateful to have such a supportive family. Not everyone is as lucky as me," I say.

"Cat definitely isn't," she says.

"Yeah, is it really that bad where you're from?" I ask.

"Oh, you have no idea. It's a rather small community set in traditional values. You would never believe how much I catch my family spurting out homophobic slurs. I mean, don't get me wrong, not everyone is like that, just the loud ones," she says.

"The loudest people always seem to be the ones who are heard," I sigh. "So... What about you? Did you have any boyfriends back in high school?"

"No, not at all. I was a total outsider and I got bullied a lot," she says.

"Really? That surprises me," I say.

"Yeah, there were a few girls on my basketball team that loved to single me out and talk trash behind my back," she says. "They were the meanest, cruelest girls ever. They'd probably be best friends with Danielle."

She laughs. "Can't imagine anyone being friends with her."

"Trust me, you can't imagine all the shit they put me through. It was hell," she says, taking a long slurp of her smoothie.

I put my hand on her forearm. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that."

"It's okay. I just focused on basketball and my artwork," she says.

"I didn't know you were an artist," I say.

"Yeah, that's the one thing my mama and I have in common," she says. "She inspires me. I'm actually in an art class that Usha's like a teacher's aid for."

"That's so cool. And it's kind of cute you call her mama," I say, with a smile. Her face blooms like a rose. "I'd love to see your work."

She looks up at me and there's so much hope in her eyes. "Maybe sometime. I'm always so self-conscious about it. When I paint, it's one of the few times I can just be myself and let my emotions just flow into the canvas. You know?"

"Yeah, I totally get that. I feel the same way when I write. I'll admit that I keep a diary," I say.

Marcela's eyes light up. "Really? And what do you write about?"

"Just life and how I feel about it," I say.

"Can I read it?" she asks.

"No way! That's personal. It's got so many things I'd never speak out loud about," I say.

"I'll let you see all of my artwork," she says.

"No. Absolutely not," I say.

"Okay. Sorry, I asked," she says.

"It's okay. I just. No one's ever read my diary. I've got one of those locked binders I keep it in," she says.

"Fair enough. Do you ever write creatively?" she asks.

"Not really. I mean, I've enjoyed some of the writing assignments in school. I've thought about it, but I just never had the time. With school, sports, and cleaning up after my family, I have zero time."

"You sound like you're really close with your family. I can't lie, I'm kind of jealous," she says as she slurps the last of her smoothie.

"It's great most of the time, but I never had a lot of privacy growing up and our house was a total warzone most of the time. You can only imagine the trouble my brothers always drag me into. We've got a giant forest in our backyard, so we were always going out there and doing some kind of stupid stunt. When my brothers got into paintball and it was a literal warzone. Of course, I was also dragged into that. God, paintballs hurt. I've got so many welts from getting shot," I say, flinching at just the thought of those memories.

She laughs and I get caught in the melody of how beautiful it sounds. "I wish I had siblings. I have an older cousin, but he's so much older than I am that he moved out by the time I was in high school. I've also got a younger cousin who's sort of like a sibling, but she can be a lot to handle at times."

"Yeah? I bet if she's anything like you," I say.

"No, she's nothing like me. Even though we love each other like siblings, we can't agree on anything. Especially politics. She and I argue constantly about it."

"I hate politics," I say.

"Really?" she asks.

"Yeah, absolutely. It's just a way to divide people," I say.

"True," she says, her eyes drift away before they return. "So what were you like in High School? I bet you were the ultra-popular girl."

"No, not really. I mean, don't get me wrong, I had a lot of friends, but most of them were guys. Since I was in the same grade as my twin brother, I would usually hang out with him and his friends. Most of the time I felt like one of the guys. And to be honest, I always felt awkward around other girls. Obviously, looking back at it, being gay might've had something to do with it," I say.

"That must've been nice. To have so many friends and to have your brother to look out for you," she says, running her hand through her hair.

"It was. But not always. My brothers can be overprotective at times. Sometimes they forget that I can take care of myself. But at the same time, Harrison and Brandon did keep other guys from hitting on me, which in hindsight was nice. During my freshman year, I had to put up with 3 out of my 4 brothers in school. Brandon is only 1 year older than Harrison and me. And Scott was 3 years older. So when Harrison and I were freshmen, Brandon was a sophomore, and Scott was a senior. And Scott was your typical starting QB slash Point Guard. Everyone fawned over him, which was rather annoying. Of course, I guess Liam was the same way. But he's 7 years older than me, so he was out of the picture most of the time. Liam felt like another parent."

"So, you had some big shoes to fill," she says.

"No, not really. I was always in the shadow of all my brothers. They'd get all the attention and I'd always be left in the dust. Well, you might be right, at least when it comes to school. All the teachers had preconceived expectations when they had Harrison and me in their classes. We were always held to a higher standard and always compared to our older brothers. I hated that. And I was always considered Brandon or Scott's little sister or Harrison's twin sister, it's like no one ever bothered to learn my name. And that's why I chose to come here. All my family went to MSU and I just wanted to get out from under them and make a name for myself."

"Is that where your brothers are going?" she asks. I nod. "That makes total sense. I wouldn't want to live in their shadows either."

"Thanks."

She looks up at me with a raised eyebrow.

"For letting me vent. You're an amazing listener," I say.

"That's what teammates are for, right?" she asks, with that heart-melting smile. God how I wish we could be more than teammates.

"Right," I smile back.

"We should probably get back, it's getting late," she says.

"Yeah, you're right," I say.

"I'll be honest with you, I can't believe I'd ever find myself enjoying a conversation with Sarah Wood, my high school arch-rival," she smiles.

"What if it was instead Sarah Woods, your college teammate slash roommate and possibly best friend?" I ask. If not girlfriend... I wish. I shouldn't get delusional. There's no point in playing around with such fantasies, it'll only make things hard on me.

"I like the sound of that. I'll be honest with you, I've never had a best friend before," she says. Wow, my heart actually aches for her.

"That's so tragic, but guess what?" I ask.

"What's that?" she asks.

"You've got one now," I smile.

"Aww, I would've never imagined my arch-rival would become my best friend," she smiles as we walk back to the dorms.

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