March 2, 2020.
It was Monday, three days after Friday's game. It felt weird with basketball season over, but I had realized after the game that I didn't have any regrets. In my book, that was a great season. I had thought a lot about how I hadn't even wanted to try out at the beginning of the year, and so I had made a mental note to find a time to thank the people who convinced me to join the team—Austin, Cam, Narhan, and Max. Cam was doing much better, although he had been advised not to do anything that would be too stressful on his back in the next few weeks. The rest of us were back to being friends again, which was great. It was nice to know that I hadn't lost any friends over the course of the season, I had only gained some. Just like what I finally realized about my middle school basketball years, the best part of the season was the relationships I had made. There were still some people on the team that I didn't know as well, but I had made a good friend in Wesley and began friendships with Jackson, Finn, and Xavier as well. I had even made up with Luke during the season. The only people that I wasn't on good terms with was Chance and...
"Mind if I sit here?"
I looked up to see who had interrupted my thoughts—Harper. Since the incident when she came to my house, she had once spoken to me once to congradulate me for winning the game against McArthur, the one that I had practiced for instead of spending time with her. After that, she had been avoiding me in classes and in the halls and hadn't come to the game against Southridge as far as I knew. After trying and failing to talk to her for the third time, I had decided to just give her some time alone. But here she was now, asking to sit with me again in art class.
"Sure," I said. I wanted to bring up what had happened between us, but I didn't want to push her away again so I didn't mention it. She simply sat down and continued her sketch of the branches of a tree. She had finished her semester art project the previous week when she was sitting in her old place, so I hadn't gotten to see it. Now she was doing daily sketches until everyone finished. I had finished mine, too, but I hadn't shown it to anyone yet.
"So I heard about the game last Friday," Harper said, keeping her eyes on her paper. "About how you didn't play the final quarter so you could make sure Cam was okay."
I cleared my throat. "Oh." I didn't really know what to say to that.
"They might've won the game if you had been in the final quarter," said Harper.
"Maybe," I said, "or maybe not."
Harper shrugged, never looking away from her drawing. "How many points did you have?"
"Not sure," I replied, trying to catch her gaze to no avail. "I wasn't keeping track like I usually do. I was more focused on the team as a whole."
"Ah," said Harper, "so why'd you do it?"
"Why'd I do what?"
"Take Cam to the nurse and call his mom. I mean, you could have given the number to someone else and let them take him to the nurse. But you took him yourself."
"I just..." I faltered for a moment, and Harper looked over at me for the first time. "I wanted to make sure he was okay. I had some time to think about things that happened and my priorities and stuff and I realized that no friendship is worth risking for something like winning a stupid game."
I made eye contact with her and she smiled, the first time I'd seen her do that since the day at Sweet Shack.
"Hey, you wanna see my painting?" I asked suddenly.
"You finished it?"
I nodded and stood up, going into the closet room to retrieve it. I flipped through the different projects until I found mine and then I brought it back to my seat. I turned it toward Harper slowly to give it the full effect. Her eyes widened and she grinned at me.
"I thought it was going to be about basketball," she said.
"Oh yeah, well there's the basketball goal in the back," I said, pointing to it. "But in front of the goal is everything else. Everyone and everything in my life that's more important to me than basketball."
I had changed the painting at the last minute to still include a basketball goal, but very small and toward the back of the work. In front of it, were people. There was me front and center, and around me was everyone that had made me who I was. My sister, Austin, Harper, some of my closest teammates from both my middle school team and my new high school team. Even my dad, my dog Otis, and the manager of the local Sweet Shack were drawn. Everyone who I felt had made a lasting impact on me, or that defined who I was. Everyone that was more important to me than the game of basketball. I had decided that I wasn't going to be so emotionally shallow as to be defined by some silly game that I was good at. I would be defined by the people around me.
"Oh Blake..." Harper pulled me into a hug.
"So, you want to come by my place later today?" I asked her.
"Won't your dad be home?"
"And my sister," I agreed. "We can play a game of Monopoly."
She laughed and nodded. "Sounds great, I'll be there."
Basketball season was over, but I didn't go straight home after the final bell rang to end school. Instead I sent a text out to Austin, Cam, Nathan, and Max asking them to meet me outside of the school. Once they were all there, I invited them all to Sweet Shack and we walked over. The walk took longer than usual, what with Cam's back still being sore, but we made it there all the same.
"So why are we here?" Cam asked when we sat down in the bar chairs. "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful of you buying our food and all, but why exactly?"
I shrugged and glanced to my right to Cam, Nathan, and Max and then to my left at Austin. "It's just my way of saying thank you."
"Thank you for what?" Max asked.
"For convincing me to try out for the team this year," I explained. "If it hadn't been for the four of you, I would have quit basketball. You guys were the ones who told me not to give up on myself. And you were right."
"That's what friends do," Austin said.
"Yeah, he's right," agreed Nathan. "That's what we're here for. Don't mention it."
"Besides, you'd do the same for any of us," Cam said.
"So what are you guys going to do now that basketball is over?" Austin asked us.
"We are going to be Blake's personal protection system," said Max. "To make sure that his arm sustains no injuries during the offseason."
I laughed and took a bite of a fry. "You sure you guys are up for that? That's a fulltime job."
"Well it's that or having to nurse you back to health again," Cam said. "So I'm in."
"We all are," said Nathan. "From now on you won't be lifting so much as a feather with that arm."
We laughed and enjoyed our junk food as we caught up. With basketball out of the way for the time being, we could talk about other stuff going on in our lives. Entertainment, videogames, and girls, for example. Since before the year even started, I had tried to distance myself from dating and all that drama, but it was interesting hearing my friends' stories. Cam told us about earlier in the year, when he had starting texting a girl at our school named Nancy. Apparently things were going strong with the texting until Nancy realized that she had mixed up names and faces and thought she was texting someone entirely different. Nathan told us that he had thought about asking Maia out before hearing rumors that Jackson ended up hating anyone who dated his sister. Neither Austin or Max had any good or funny dating stories for us, so it was my turn.
"What about you, Blake?" Cam asked, turning on me. "Things any better with the ginger?"
"Yeah, actually," I replied. "Harper and I sort of cleared the air today, and she's coming over to my house later today."
"Score!" Cam exclaimed. "That one is a dime piece."
"Man..."
"Relax, you know I wouldn't try and steal your girl."
I just shook my head. "Anyway that reminds me, I've got to get going before too long. I don't want to miss her."
"Ah, come on," said Nathan. "You've got some time to spare, right?"
I checked my phone and didn't have any messages, so I just shrugged. "Why not?"
So I hung out with my old friends for a little while longer. It was nice to just chill with them and talking about normal teenage things. There wasn't anymore basketball games to worry about, no bullies that were coming after me. Things were back to ordinary for the time being. I was excited to just live for the moment. I didn't have to worry about tomorrow. Not yet anyway. I'd leave that for tomorrow. For now I would live stress-free. I would step back and enjoy each and every little thing that came my way. I would be happy.
I texted Harper to see when she would arrive and then went on a quick jog before returning home. She had said that she would come after dinner and so I took a shower and then ate with my dad and Liv. Afterward Harper came over and we almost escaped upstairs before my dad caught us.
"Hold on, hold on," he said, walking up. I had let Harper in the door and was leading her up the stairs when my dad approached. We walked back down the stairs and my dad paused to look Harper over. "So this is the girlfriend, huh?"
"Oh, well we're still kind of working that out," I explained to him.
"Well work it out quickly is my advice," my dad told me. "Don't want her getting away."
Harper raised her eyebrows and glanced at me.
"Thanks Dad," I said. "Can we go now?"
"Woah, woah, woah," he said. "I don't even know her name yet."
"Harper," she introduced herself, holding out her hand. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Manson."
My dad shook it approvingly. "Pretty, polite, and a little fierce too if that was you I heard at the door the other day."
"Yeah, that was her," I said as Harper sent me an apologetic glance.
"Okay well have fun," my dad said. "Oh, and keep the door open."
"Yep," I replied, and we went up the stairs and into my room.
We got into the room and sat down on my bed.
"Wow," said Harper. "Your dad is..."
"He comes on a strong," I admitted, "but he has good intentions. I think."
Harper laughed and shook her head. "No, I like him."
"Really? That's—"
"Ooh, who's this?" my sister peeked her head in my room and her eyes widened when she saw Harper.
"This is Harper," I told her.
"You brought a girl over?" she asked. "I'm telling Dad!"
"Dad's aware," I replied.
"Hi!" said Harper in a tone more friendly than she'd ever used with me. "You must be Blake's sister!"
My sister nodded her head, and I introduced them. "This is Olivia, my sister," I told Harper.
"Hey Olivia," said Harper.
"Hi!" my sister replied.
"Alright Liv, you better scram unless you want to help with Biology homework," I said. "Or maybe you want to be here when we start confessing our feelings for each other."
"Ew, no!" Liv said and she fled from the room, leaving me and Harper laughing.
"I like your sister too," Harper told me.
"Well then I guess you fit right in," I said.
Harper stayed for a little over an hour. We did a little bit of work for our Biology class, but we mainly just talked with each other. We covered what we liked to do, what foods were our favorite, what movies we were in to. When she left I sat on my bed for a while, thinking about things. I didn't know where my relationship with Harper would lead or where my relationships with any of the people in my life would lead, but I was ready to figure it out.