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April 13-16, 2015: Redemption

It was the second quarter. We were facing the Voodoo tonight and we had a big surprise waiting for us. After winning five games in a row, the Voodoo seemed determined to stop it tonight. The first quarter was over and Sarah was just killing us. She already had 12 points with her killer jump shot, but the game wasn't over yet. We all gathered around the coach, who was fuming mad.

"Alright look!" he said. "We have to do a better job on defense. We're allowing to many shots inside. We gotta deny them in the paint and slow them down. Toboso! You got that?"

T-Balt nodded.

"Good. Now, don't worry about the offense right now. Your shots will come, but right now we need to get them off their rhythm, alright?"

Everyone agreed. Then coach got up and sent the players out. The horn rang and the stating five was back on the court.

The quarter wasn't starting off too good though. We were close, but Voodoo was still leading. Now Bobby was starting to make some. Then, coach called me up. It was my time to go in. I stepped on the court and passed the ball to Holland and we went down the court. We passed the ball quickly and got Holland his first points. I ran back on defense as soon as I saw Sarah with the ball again. I went to guard Tobias. Sarah passed it to Tobias, I ran up to him, then he passed it back. They were getting comfortable, I could tell. Thankfully, Josh stole a pass and threw the ball to me and we ran down the court. Josh was trailing right next to me. He gave me "the nod" and I knew what to do. I felt someone coming behind me, but I quickly threw a bounce pass to Josh and got out of the way. Then, Josh had the floor to himself and he slammed it down.

"WOAH! That's it Josh!" I yelled.

Josh ran back with me and gave me a hi-five.

"Good pass Tex." he said.

Soon, my shot was coming to me. Got the ball right on the foul line, threw it up, and it swished in. Then, a few possessions later, I went for the layup. Moki was in the kettle waiting, but he wasn't paying any attention to me, so I drove in. I jumped up for the layup, but Moki soon caught me. He jumped up for me, but his arm hit me right on the muzzle. He blocked the shot and it hit right off my arm. I fell to the floor. No foul. The ref just called out of bounds on me. I was pissed. I got up and yelled:

"Foul! That wasn't a foul?!"

The ref just kept walking, but I kept going.

"How could you not see that?!"

Josh quickly grabbed me and pulled me back. I was pissed, but Josh at least helped me stay quiet.

"Freakin' idiota" I whispered.

"Just let it go." Said Josh.

We lost. It was a pretty disappointing game, we all knew it, but either way, we still had playoffs to think about. The media was pretty annoying tonight too, but I didn't give them anything useful.

"So, how do you feel now that the win streak is over?" One said.

"Well, it had to end sometime, we all knew that. We're just happy that we could win those games and now we'll just look to the future." I said.

"Do you still feel like you got fouled by Moki Ixtlahuac? Do you feel like you need to control your temper more when the game is this close?"

"Hey, the call was made and I just kept playing afterwards. Sometimes you just don't get the calls you want. You just have to keep playing."

Sarah got thirty tonight. Damn. I know that coach is just going to kick our asses in the next practice, but I wouldn't blame him. I had a terrible game any way. This can't happen again.

I met with Josh after I got all my stuff together and my regular clothes back on.

"Hey, thanks for stopping me back there." I said.

"No problem." He answered with a smile. "You seemed pretty mad back there. More than usually."

"It was bad call. Nothing to get all emotional about."

"Tex, You looked pretty ticked off. You alright?"

I paused, then I said.

"Just want to get ready for the next game."

I left so there would be no more questions. I'm fine. Really, I am. I just want to do better. That's all.

Tuesday practice was done. Lots of running today. Coach Howard really kicked our butts, but now, it was nighttime, no more practice, and me and a few of my teammates are going out for dinner. It was kind of a team bonding thing, but only T-Bolt, Todd, Telki, and Josh came. We were joking around with T-Bolt and trying to get him to pay for the whole dinner.

"Come on rookie, it's nothing personal, just your rookie duties." I said.

"Yea, the hell with that. I'm not paying." He said.

Couldn't get him to budge. Ah well, I still have money for my salad. Yea, I said salad. Our trainer Wei has been getting on my case. So no burgers tonight. We all sat down after finally getting a seat. T-Bolt had to sign a few stuff, but whatever. The rookie is having a great season. We're gonna need him in the playoffs. Suddenly, I felt something on my tail. I twitched it back and looked behind me. It was a little kitten holding a picture of the whole mayors team and a marker.

"Excuse me, miss Cloricia Teixeira?"

She was just adorable and she was wearing a mayors jersey. It was like a scene from a movie. I turned around in my chair and said

"Hello little one." I noticed the marker. "You want an autograph?"

"Yes please." she said. I took the picture and then she said. "Can you get Toboso to sign it?"

Welp.....cute moment over. My ears drooped. It made it worse that I was sadly trying to get the moment back.

"I think he'll sign it. Do you want my autograph?"

She thought for a while, then said. "Uh...sure."

I signed it right quick and gave it to T-Bolt.

"What's this?" He said.

"Ask her." I said.

Thankfully, there were no more autographs and we got to eat.

"Hey Telki." I said. "How's your nose doing?"

"It's seen better days, but I'm good." She said.

"Well, next time someone hits you like that, you should..." Then my phone rang. I grabbed it out of my pocket and looked at the screen. It was my dad. A part of me was thinking about not answering. I know that a call from papa this late at night isn't a good thing. I got up from the table and said.

"Excuse me."

I walked over to the bathrooms and answered the call.

"Hola Papa." I said.

"Cloricia!" He yelled over the phone. It made me jump a little.

"Pa, is everything okay?" I asked.

"Is everything okay?!" He yelled again. "Two weeks and I don't get a call from you or nothing."

"I'm sorry papa, but you know that I'm busy with basketball and practices and...."

"Espera, no. I get it."

I was puzzled.

"You get what?" I asked.

"The big FBA star as no time for her family no more. Noooo, she is to busy making money and going out all night."

"Papa, you know that's not true. I work very hard."

"You're not even the starter! Huh? Working so hard for what? Four minutes? Lo que sea, I work all freakin' day and I'm not paid millions of dollars."

He paused. I had nothing to say. What could I say? I soon felt tears in my eyes. Then my dad continued.

"All that money....for basketball.....I bet I could still beat you."

I soon gained the courage to ask something.

"Papa?" I said. "Are you drunk?"

"So what if I'm drunk!" He yelled. "What are you doing? Huh? You think your better than me? You're probably out getting drunk too!"

I began to cry. I wiped my eyes quickly and said.

"Papa, I'm going to hang up."

"Don't you dare hang up on me!" He screamed.

"Papa, I have to go."

"Fine. Leave. But don't forget the gutter you crawled out from Cloricia. The gutter that you left me in."

I hung up. I couldn't take any more. I was already on the verge of falling to the floor in tears. Don't get me wrong. I loved my father.....just not when he's drunk, that's all. I swear, I love him. I wiped my eyes again and tried to clean myself up. Then, I felt someone touch my shoulder. I quickly looked behind me and saw that it was Josh.

"Hey Tex?" He said. Then he seemed to notice my red eyes. "Wait....were you crying? You okay?"

"I'm fine." I said while quickly rubbing my eyes again.

"I, uh....I'm gonna go home now. Um....." I quickly pulled money out of my purse. "Here. Just enough for dinner."

I then walked away, leaving Josh there to watch me try to pull myself together and leave the place. It was embarrassing.

I was game day. Tonight we're home against the Moonshiners. A good team, I'll give them that, but tonight was gonna be different. The team met in the locker room after shoot around and we were all getting ready. I put my jersey on and then my warm up sweets and then began tying my sneakers. Soon, Josh walked by me and patted my shoulder.

"Alright, lets give these fans a show." He said

"Yea, sure." I responded. By the look on Josh's face, I could tell that my response wasn't too...energetic.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Yea." I answered. "I'm good. Why do you ask?"

"Well...last night."

"Forget about last night. Lets just worry about this night, alright?"

He smiled and said.

"Got it."

Then my phone started ringing. I picked it up from my locker and looked at the screen. It was my Dad again. I stared at my phone for a while.

"Who is it?" Asked Josh.

I hung it up and said.

"Nobody. Come on, let's start heading out there."

The game started out real close. The first quarter ended in a tie. 25 to 25. Even still, Coach was amping us up and keeping our heads in the game.

"Alright, Listen up!" He said. "We're in a good position right now to really take over and we have to take advantage of that! We've been passing the ball great! Keep it up, okay!"

I nodded my head yes, only focusing on the game now. Nothing else mattered.

Second quarter began, and coach put me in to start it. It was going pretty good. I followed what Coach said and kept the ball moving. I eventually got an assist to Moon also, but my shot wasn't falling. I missed two open jump shots. It was aggravating. So aggravating that I ended up hitting Eli with a hard foul. Thankfully he missed one, but the coach sent me back to the bench.

"You gotta look for better shots Teixeira." He said.

I sat down the rest of the quarter watching the game in agony. For all I know, that could be the game for me, but then, something happened. Wendy was getting in foul trouble. Once she was at her third foul, the coach called me in to cover for her. I walked on to the court and as Wendy walked down to the bench, she only said two words to me.

"Crush them."

I nodded my head and went on to the court, confident and a little bit angry.

Every time I got the ball, the offense was moving. I kept my passing quick and made sure to get the ball to anyone who was open. I even got T-Bolt to do any ally-oop dunk. Then, I started to get my points. I made this one move where I crossed over twice, spun around and nailed the jump shot. Then, I got another one with a fade away on the left side. I was feeling in the zone. I felt like....like nothing could stop me. Then I passed it down low to T-Bolt, who then got it back to me for the three. Bang! That was 7 points. I couldn't miss. Finally, with the quarter almost over, I faked my shot and made my defender jump and drove straight to the basket. I got Eli to foul me this time and I still threw it up for the layup. As soon as I saw it go in, I was so excited that I gave the crowd a big yell. They cheered back. Finally, I made my free throw and the Moonshiners called a time out. I had 10 straight points in the third quarter and all I could think in my head was "Take that Papa."

The game was over, and we won: 110 to 99. I felt great. We all went to the locker room and had our own little celebration. Wendy then came over to me and said:

"That's how you do it! Show no mercy!"

"Yea!" I yelled back and we hi-fived. Pretty hard too. I keep forgetting that Wendy is pretty strong. But whatever, right? The team won, I had 10 points straight, this was a good game.

I then went over to my locker and started getting ready to go. Had to get ready for the press. But as I was packing up, I noticed my phone in my bag. I toolkit out and looked at it. Five missed calls. All of them were my dad.....No. This is not what I need right now. I don't need him. I put my phone away and headed out of the locker room.