Jack+Corcoran

Four knuckles across the face. Bottom knuckles connecting with the upper lip. Upper knuckles connecting with the cheek bone. It was solid contact, fast, hard, powerful, and painful. Left a fat lip, cut up gums from the braces, black eye, soar, and the beginning of the end.
 * CHAPTER ONE: **

I moved to Middleton when I was 12 years old, going into the seventh grade. We moved to Middleton for my parents business. My dad got a promotion and they needed him to move to help out the company. He started out as a delivery man for FedEx , but he was promoted to a delivery man supervisor. He basically organizes the mail the delivery men have to deliver. My family was thrilled to hear our father was promoted, but it meant moving and seeing our father less. He works longer shifts now and has to go to business meetings far away. We see him a lot less, which none of us enjoy. We all love him; he is the nicest guy, supportive, helpful, friendly, and loving.We use to play basketball out in the yard all the time before we moved. He would help me work on my jump shots; lay ups, and free throws. Every since we’ve moved, he hasn’t been able to spend time practicing basketball with me. It has been hard, working on my game lately without him. I never practiced alone; I couldn’t imagine being separated from him. When we moved, we weren’t able to bring out our basketball hoop with us. I would have to find a local court to practice at if I wanted any chance at making the seventh grade town basketball team.

**CHAPTER 2: ** School was only a day away. I was excited to start and meet new friends, but I was a little nervous. I went school supply shopping with my mother; I got all the supplies I needed plus a new basketball. Now all I needed was a hoop to shoot on. I was just about done organizing my school bag for the first day of school when my father walked in, through the front door at roughly8:30 PM from work. “Dad, Mom got me a new basketball today. Wanna test it out with me tomorrow after school?” On any given day back home he would have said yes enthusiastically.“Ugh”, he sighed, “I wish I could” he replied. My head dropped as my heart sank.“It’s alright” I said“Josh, you know I want to, but I have work”.“I know Dad, I know”. I could tell it was hard for him, not being able to spend time with his son. But it was also hard for me. He was my best friend; I didn’t have any friends anyway, which wasn’t too bad because I also had my Dad to lean on; until his promotion.Now school was only minutes away, I stepped onto that big, old, yellow, bus that read “Middleton Elementary School”, I got onto the bus, staring down the aisle. I was looking for an open seat, the seats were not completely full yet, I wanted to sit next to someone that looked nice, or athletic, like me or maybe even a girl, a cute girl. I couldn’t find an empty seat next to a guy, an athletic looking or friendly looking guy, however I spotted out a real cute girl. Six rows down to left, blonde hair, blue eyes, sky blue dress, and a blue ribbon in her hair, to hold back her pony tail. Her head was tilted upward and to the right as she looked out the window, she was beautiful. I made my way down the aisle to sit next to her, I was only one row away when I ask, “Pardon me, may I sit with you.” Right when I asked her if I could sit down, the bus jerked forward as it accelerated, and I tripped and fell square on my face. The kids laughed and laughed and laughed.“Clumsy, doofus, Dweeb, dork, loser, queer, idiot, stupid”, those were the names I heard between the uproar of laughter coming from the rest of the kids on the bus. I looked up from the ground at that pretty little girl in the sixth row, she sat there smirking and giggling. I blew it, my one chance to find a girlfriend, or even a friend. I embarrassed myself before the first day of school had even begun. And on top of that my new school clothes were dirty from the disgusting, filthy, bus floor. I got up and proceed to the back of the bus. No empty rows, but an empty seat next to some nerd that would have let me sit next to him if I hadn’t begged him first. The bus ride sucked, it was so awkward sitting next to the nerdy kid. I could not believe that that those kid up front would not let me sit next to them. What jerks they were. I wasn't excited for the next six hours ahead of me. And if I didn' find any friends in the next si hours then I would not be lookin forward to the next 180 days coming up ahead of me. I was already looking forward to the summer. This was pathetic, kids were not usually suppose to look forward to school, but one minute into the first school bus ride I was looking forward to getting out of here.

**CHAPTER 3: ** I after the first four classes of the day, I had still not found a friend. I walked into the cafeteria, looking for somewhere to sit. Everyone knows that sitting alone is the worst thing to do, if you are attempting at popularity. So, I was scouting out the cafeteria for a group of kids that looked like me, or interested in the same things I was interested in. Right in front of my eyes I saw an empty seat next to the basketball players, “perfect” I said to myself. “Hey guys”, it went silent and no one acknowledged me, “This seat empty?” Five out of the six kids gave me a strange, un-accepting look.But the sixth kid said, “Yeah sure buddy, sit down”“Thanks man, I’m Josh by the way”, as I extended my hand.“Billy”, we shook hands.“Nice to meet you”“So Josh, you the new kid?” he asked“Yeah…that’s me”“Heard you had a rough morning?”“Uh yeah, I guess I did. How’d ya hear about that?” I asked“Word spreads quick, my man”, we laughed and talked some more. We seemed to kick things off quite well. Maybe this would be my first friend in Middleton.Lunch ended, and the next three classes went by pretty quickly, the only thing I could think about was having a new friend, Billy. The final school bell rung at 3 o’clock for dismissal. I walked outside to the bus, “Josh, Josh,” I heard, it was Billy screaming for me, “wanna play some hoops with us?”“I can’t, I gotta catch the bus”, I replied.“Where you live?” He said“Down past the supermarket”“Same, what road?”“Corner of Buckner Ave and Wolcott Drive”“No way, I’m on Wolcott. C’mon lets play some hoops, then walk home after”. I knew my parents would be worried if I didn’t take the bus home without telling them, but I really wanted to play basketball and more importantly find some friends.“Yeah, sure, I’ll play”. I think Billy and the other kids were expecting me to be bad because I was the new kid. I guess people think that if you’re the new kid, you don’t know anything. They tried to explain the rules of basketball  to me, “ Billy, I know how to play basketball. Just because I’m the new kid doesn’t mean I don’t know anything”.“Oh sorry man, just checking”. And then the game started. We played 3 on 3, half court , one point baskets first to 21. The teams were Me, Billy, and Ian verse Will, Bobby, and Steve. It was an evenly matched game, allow we were just playing for fun. I didn’t shoot the ball often, I was more of a fast, quick, running kid. I had endurance and agility. I used my agility to cross in and out of the paint, collapsing the defense and then quickly passing it out to one of my teams for an open shot.My agility also helped out a lot when playing defense. I could get up and down the court, quickly, and cover a few different players at a time because I could jump from one player to another quickly. But, I couldn’t shoot. I couldn’t shoot for my life. I used to practice shooting with my Dad before he got his promotion.We played for hours, and hours. It was fun, I hadn’t had so much fun in a while. It was the most fun I had so far in Middleton. It felt real nice meeting new friends on the first day and playing with them.Billy, Ian, and I began to take the lead. I would drive into the paint, collapsing the defense, then tossing it out to Ian or Billy to shoot the wide open 3-pointer. Will, Bobby, and Steve also began to notice that I never shot, so they double covered Billy and left me wide open. I had the ball and no one covering me, shoot it now and win the game. I shot it alright, did it go in? nope. Air ball. “Hahaha how do you miss on open shot like that?” Bobby chirped.“Air ball? No ones covering you, that’s pathetic”, Will said. I was embarrassed, my head hung low, but at that time I noticed my watch read 5:47 <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">.“Oh god, I’m so late. My Moms going to kill me”, I said“What’re you talking about Josh?” Billy asked“I gotta go. My parents are probably worried sick about me coming home late from school” I said as I grab my backpack from the ground and began to leave.“Wait up Josh”“Yeah?” I said, turning around to see who it was.“I’ll walk home with you” Billy said as he too picked up his backpack and began walking with me. It was really nice of Billy to walk with me, he really did not have to. He did convince me to play basketball after school and miss the bus, so th least he could do was walk me home. Our walk home was coming to an end as we reared off into separate directions.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">CHAPTER 4: ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">“See ya tomorrow Billy”, I said as I walked in the front door. “Dad?! Dad?! Dad?!” I said, trying to find my father so I could tell him, “I meet some new friends today, and we played basketball after school”. There was no answer coming from my Dad, but my mother responded.“That’s great Joshy!”, she said enthusiastically, “I’m real happy for you, but you can’t do that anymore. You can stay afetr school to play, just make sure you are home before dark, ok?""Thanks Mom, love you!""Now, go wash up", she said as I walked up the stairs to the bathroom. I didn’t have much homework because it was the first day of school, so I spent that night thinking about friends and basketball. I was so excited for the basketball season coming up, but I knew that I had to work on my shooting first. My Mom sent me to bed early that night. Dad hadn't come home from work yet, but my house was small, so I could hear the front door open and close from my bedroom. Around <span class="yshortcuts" style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">8:30 <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;"> that night I heard the door open, "Hey Honey", my Dad said"Hi", Mom responded, "How was work? Late night huh?""Yup", he sighed and yawned, "Late night. So, good first day of school for Josh?""Yeah, he seemed pretty excited. He met some friends and played basketball with them after school?""Good, good, good for him""However, he said something about his shooting being bad and he wanted to work on it with you.""Oh yeah, I’ll try and get home a little earlier tomorrow so we can practice.” The conversation continued and reared onto another topic, but I didn’t listen anymore. I was real excited that my Dad would get home early tomorrow to hang out with me. I hadn’t hung out with my Dad in a while, because he has been so busy with his work. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">Chapter 5: ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Back at school the next morning at eight o’clock, the bus ride went a little smoother then yesterdays. The next 7 hours flew by fast thinking about finally spending time with my Dad. I walked out to the bus immediately after school. “Josh wanna play?” Billy yelled out from the <span class="yshortcuts" style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">basketball courts <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;"> about 50 yards away.“I can’t today, I gotta go home. But maybe tomorrow”“C’mon man, just play for a little while”“Billy, I want to, but I just can’t today”“Stop worrying so much and just play, you sissy!”, he shouted. That was a little embarrassing so I quickly ran over and said “Billy, I can’t play today, but I promise I’ll play tomorrow”“C’mon Josh!”“I gotta go”, I said as I turned around to see the bus pull away. I ran to catch up, but I couldn’t. I was ticked off at Billy for making me miss the bus, but I ran home so I wouldn’t miss playing with my father too. I got home around 4:15, “Hey Josh, how was school?” my Mom asked as I walked through the front door. I responded with a one-word answer because I wanted to play with Dad before it got dark.“Good”, I replied as I looked around, “Where’s Dad?”“Oh good boy, how come it took you a while to get home?”“Uh, I missed the bus, but whatever…Dad around?”. I think she was trying to avoid giving me an answer.“I’m sorry Joshy. Did Billy walk you home again?”“No, I walked alone, but I ran cause I wanted to play with Dad. Is he here?”“Oh Josh, please do not walk home alone again, that’s dangerous. You could’ve been kidnapped or something. What if you got hurt and no one was there with you to help?”“Ugh, Mom I’ll be ok. Dad’s not back from work yet is he?” I finally said.“Josh, I don’t want you walking home alone ever again. That’s dangerous. Either take the bus or walk home with a group of friends.” I understood the point, but she wasn’t answering my questions, which meant he wasn’t home.He finally got home around <span class="yshortcuts" style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">6:30 <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;"> as my mother and I were setting up the table for dinner. “Dad, Dad, wanna play ball now?”“Uhh yeah,” he said as he put down his things and kissed my Mom.“Honey, dinners almost ready. Playing now isn’t the best time”, my mother added. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">“She’s got a point Josh, let’s plan on playing tomorrow”. I didn’t even bother arguing because I knew there was no way I was going to change my Mom’s mind. After dinner we both ran outside to shoot around for a few minutes. The sun was setting. We only had a few more minutes before it was dark.We shot around, passed the ball back and forth, we played a little one on one too. My Dad played hard, but always let me win. It was getting began to get dark, but we played on. My mom popped her head out the window and told us it was getting dark and that we should come inside soon. My dad grabbed the ball and whipped one hard chest pass to me counting down “five, four, three, two…”, I shot it, up in the air and down towards the hoop as my Dad finally counted down to “one” and he made a buzzer like sound. The ball hit backboard, then rim, and then bounced out. “It’s OK Josh, we’ll work on shooting next time”. My head hung low as we walked in the door, it was only a shoot around in the yard with my Dad, but it was disappointing. I was never a good shooter, but it would’ve been nice to make it for once. I didn’t want to wait for another time to practice basketball with my Dad, I wanted to play now. Weeks went by where I would go home directly after schools, do my homework fast and sit around waiting, hoping, wishing, that Dad would walk through that front door before dark. Maybe we could play basketball out in the yard, but he never did. As the year progressed the day grew shorter and darkness came earlier. Hope of a day where my Dad would come home from work early to spend time with me, grew slimmer and slimmer.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">CHAPTER 6: <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">It was the end of autumn and it began to get cold. Winter was coming up, which meant basketball season was around the corner. I hadn't practiced too much, not enough to make the Middleton travel team. I played with Billy after school a couple days a week. Whenever we played for long because the sun would set early, plus it was cold. We didn't have access to an indoor court, so we would play outside in the cold for an hour or so before we had to walk home.Every now and then if I was lucky I would get to play some ball with Dad on the weekends, but some saturdays he would work overtime or just rest from a long week of hard work. Sundays were church days. Sundays were not typically fun days. On sundays we would wake up, have a nice breakfast that my Mom made, walk a little over a mile and a half to church, come home, do chores around the house, homework, eat dinnner, then finally watched the Bears of our little 12 inch, black and white TV. We weren't big football fans, but Chicago sports fanatics. My Dad and I were big sports fans, but basketball was our favorite. Back at our old house, when my Dad's work hours weren't so ridiculous we played every sport in the yard, again: basketball was our favorite. I miss those days."Dad", I said one day, "Tryouts are in two weeks""Thats great Josh, I'm excited for you"."What's there to be excited for? I haven't practiced in a while. My shooting is horrible. Can we please practice someday?", I said in an upset tone."Yeah, I'd love to, but I have work", he responded."Well, can't you come home early someday?""I'll do my best". To my surprise, there he was, standing outside the front door of Middleton Elementary School. We went to the local basketball courts. We only had a little over an hour before it got dark, but it was the best hour I had spent in months. I had so much fun being with my Dad again. Not only was it fun being with my father again, but it was productive. We worked on defense, passing, lay ups, and shooting. He just fed me ball after ball from the free throw lie, whether I missed or not, the ball was coming right back my way. It's great practicing with somebody, the company is great, but being passed a ball is awesome. Practicing with somebody makes you feel like you're in the NBA in pregame warm ups, after every shot the ball boy tosses you another, you never have to go retreive it. It is a really effiecient way of practicing, you get to shoot the ball a lot more.I took shots, after shots, after shots. Shooting a basketball doesn't take too much technique, but a lot of practice wi get you to perfection. Knowing that, I shot and shot and shot. Eventually, I was making shots one after another. Seeing the smile on my father's face as he fed me another ball was priceless. I knew he was proud of me. He was impressed with my improvement in my shooting, I asked him if we could practice again before tryouts and he gladly said yes. **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">I got home immediately from school that day. Dad took the day off from work. He deserved it, he was a hard worker. I was expecting to find my father to be relaxing at home, enjoying his day off. I wouldnn't be surprised to find out that my parents were not at home, maybe they would treat themselves to lunch. I wasn't the only one that didn't get to spend time with Dad. Maybe Mom and Dad went out to spend sometime together like married couples should. I was hoping to find Dad at home and possibly convince him to practice basketball with me from a little while because Middleton 4th grade Travel Basketball tryouts were just around the corner. Mother was sitting on the porch when I got home, "Hey Mom", I said. She didn't respond, nor did she move position to show recognition of me. Her head was drooping down, she wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, and then she sniffled a few times. "Mom...you OK?". A few awkward seconds past before I finally stepped closer to pat her on the back to repeat myself. "Mom, is everything OK?". ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">She finally looked up at me and said, "Umm, not quite". ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"Wa, wa", I stuttered, "What do you mean 'not quite'?". She sniffled somemore, then began to cry. I was scared. I've never seen my mom cry like this before. "Mom", I said forcefully, to grab her attention, "Whats up?" ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"The doctor said he only has a few more weeks", she said under her breath. ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"Who? what doctor? a few more weeks of what?" I asked very confused. ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"We didn't want to tell you...thought you'd be to devasted that you wouldn't be able to settle into your new school. Sorry you had to find out this way", she said looking into my eyes as tears rain down her cheek. I didn't now what to say, how to respond, I didn't understand. ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"What are you talking about?" ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"He's been coming home late every night not because of his job, but because he's been at the doctors office. He has cancer Josh" ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"Nooooo", I said, sighing, under my breath as my heart sank and my head hung down with tears pouring out from my eyes and dripping off my face. ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"We thought it would be better if we didn't tell you Josh." ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"This can't be happening!" I yelled as I slammed my bag down on the porch steps and stormed inside to my room. My mom chased after me. ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"I'm sorry Josh, I should've told you." ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"No, no, not dad, no!", I said turning around looking at Mom. She grabbed me and hugged me. "Why Mom? Why?" **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">CHAPTER 7: ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">Mom and I walked into the hospital that afternoon, I didn't know what to expect. I've never been through a family tragedy before. We got off the elevator onto the second floor, walked down the hallway, around the corner, and took a left into room 273. There he was, lying down watching the Bulls and Celtics game in his Johnny, under a blanket. He was the man, just with a couple weeks to spare. ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"Hey Dad, how are you feeling?" ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"Good, good", he moved over in his bed and patted the side of the bed with his right hand signaling me to come over a sit with him "Im sorry we didn't tell you Josh" ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"It's OK, I love you". We talked for hours that evening, It was nice being with my Dad. It was sad too, I couldn't imagine life without him. ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">I didn't go to school, the next day. My mom called me out sick and we visited Dad again. Matter of fact, she called me out of school for that entire week to be with Dad. He passed away that weekend. It was sad, but I bet it was a nice way to go, spending the last week with your family. The funeral was nice, we didn't know too many people in Middleton so not too many people attended. But, our cousins came up from Maryland to visit. It was nice seeing them, we don't see them often, even on holidays. ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">For something so devastating, I felt like I dealt with it pretty well. I cried, but not as much as I thought I would've. Although his death came as a shock, I had a full week spent with him on his way out which was nice. ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">My mom called me out of the next three days of school, and I returned to school that Thursday. I hadn't been to school in eight days. In those extra three days off, My mom started applying for jobs, to bring in some money now that Dad was gone. That was pretty stressful for her, but we also adopted a puppy, to bring someone else into the family. It was my responsibility to take care of the dog. We were going to name him Thomas or Tommy after Dad, but we decided that that would bring back memories of his death, so we named it something that Dad would name it. Dad and I were huge Chicago sports fanatics, so Mom and I named the new puppy Wrigley, after Wrigley Feild where the Cubs play. Being in charge of taking care of Wrigley meant coming home immediately after school to feed and walked him. ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">My Mom contacted the school and told the Principal and all my teachers that Dad passed away and thats why I was was absent for eight days straight. However, she didn't tell my friends or more importantly the Middleton Travel Basketball Head Coach. I didn't realize it until I got to school that day when Billy said jokingly, "Where've ya been? Skippin' school and basketball try outs?" ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"Oh no", I said as my heart stopped for a second, "I missed try outs" ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"Yeah...where were you? Haven't seen you in over a week" ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"My, uhh", I cleared my throat and said sadly, "passed away" ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"Oh that's awful man, I'm sorry 'bout that bro" ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"I appreciate it." ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"Wanna hang out today after school and talk about it? I'm here if you need someone to talk to". Billy was one hell of a kid, great kid, nice, smart, and caring, mature too. Thinking back on it, he was way more mature then any of the other fourth graders. ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"Nah man, I gotta get home after school. I got a dog when my Dad died. I think my Mom just wanted another figure in the house, so she wouldn't get too lonely." ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-weight: normal;">"I understand bro, but I'm here for you if you need it." ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">“Thanks man”, I sniffled as I felt like crying thinking about Dad but instead I tried to move on by asking Billy questions, “So, I missed try outs huh?” ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">“Umm yeah, I thought that I was better than some of the players that made it, but I guess not”, Billy said shrugging. ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">“Wait, you didn’t make it?” ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">“Yeah, whatever, maybe next year. You would’ve made it if you tried out”. ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">I laughed and said, “No way, you’re the best outside shooter I’ve ever played with. I can barely make lay ups, if you didn’t make, then I have no shot”. ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">“Thanks, but seriously they already had shooters on the team, Coach wasn’t gonna take another shooting guard. There weren’t many good point gaurds at try outs, you woulda definitely made it” he said nicely. ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">“Well, maybe next year. You and me starting point and shooting guards.” ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">“Yup, let’s do it" **

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">CHAPTER 9: ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">I got home from school that day with a smile on my face, I don’t know why, my father was dead, missed basketball try outs, and I couldn’t play after school because I had to take care of Wrigley. Now that I think of it my life sucked. How did I put up with with my self? I guess thats a good thing in a wat, no matter how down it can get I kept moving. So, I knocked on the door twice, no answer, twice again, no answer. I lifted the door mat up and picked up the spear key, put it in the lock and turned. I opened the door and the new Puppy jumped all over me. He was a friendly young pup. I shut the door behind me and said loudly, “Mom” I knew she wasn’t home, but just wanted to check again, “anyone home?”. There was no answer. I walked into the kitchen and saw a piece of paper on the counter with a dog leash. It was a note that read: ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">Joshy, ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">I’ve gone out to lunch with our next door neighbors Sam and Julie McLaughlin. I’ll be back by 2:45-300. If you could feed Wrigley and take him from a walk around the block that would be great, thank you. Also if you are hungry, there should be some left over meatloaf in the fridge that you can put in the microwave if you want. ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">Be back soon. Love, ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">Mom ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">Ugh, I hate meatloaf, I made myself a bowl of Lucky Charms cereal, made Wrigley his dinner and we ate together. When we were both all through with our meals, I put on my jacket and boots and took Wrigley around the block. When we got back from our walk, I took off Wrigley’s leash and took off my jacket and boots. I got started with my homework, because I was expecting mom to come home soon. I wouldn’t have started my homework, if I knew my mom wasn’t coming home for a while. I wanted my mom to think of me as a responsible, studious, smart, good kid. I sat at the dinner table and started my homework hoping that mom would walk in at any second and comment on how responsible, studious, and good of a kid I was for doing my homework.I started with math homework, I worked slowly, so that mom could catch me doing work. Half an hour went by and mom hadn't came home yet, I finished my math. So, I quickly got started on history homework, another half hour went by and still mom hadn't came home yet. I started to get curious of where she could've been, it was now 3:30 and mom said she would be home around 2:45-3:00. I no longer had any homework, and I went out into the yard to shoot some hoops before it got too dark. I shot around for a few minutes, it was nice to shoot, it reminded me of my dad. I kept on shooting, determined to get better, thinking about my father and how proud he would've been if I made the travel team. I counted down out loud, "three, two, one" and shot the ball from the other side of the drive way. Swoosh, nothing but net, I scored the game winning shot in my imaginary game, I put my hands up in celebratory as a noise coming from behind me said, ** "Nice shot". I turned around and saw my mother standing at the top of the drive way. "Mom!" "Your father would've been proud of you kiddo", she said as I ran over and gave her a hug. We both began to cry as we hugged. We were now crying, hugging, and standing out in the cold in the drive way. She released fromt the hug amd walked me inside to tell me about her day. I think she wanted to tell me about her day, jsut to get dad off her mind.We walked inside as we talked. She told me about her lunch with the neighbors Sam and Julie. They heard about my father's death and felt bad, so they treated her to lunch. They also talked with her about being hired for a job and Sam McLaughlin's business. I guess there is an opening for a secretary at Mr. McLaughlin's office and they would love to have her fill in. She was so happy to begin working. Bringing in some extra money now would be such a huge help financially. I was happy for her, it was nice to see her smile again. Seeing my mom smile made me smile.

CHAPTER 10: The next few days went by slowly, wasn't a bad thing though. I got all my homework done, all my chores done, and spent a lot of time with my mother. Spending time with my mother was exactly waht both of us needed. Spendin time with a a famil member can be the cure to any given problem. We were both starting to fell a little better about the whole dad pasing away thing. I also spent a lot of time with Wrigley the new puppy, I taught him a few tricks. Not any good tricks, come here, turn over, oh yeah and fetch. Fetch is a great one. Walking dogs can be boring, but when you play with them its can be a lot more enjoyable. I was walking Wrigley around the block one day, tired from playing fetch, when he ran off. I wasn't paying close attention to the road ahead, just going thourhg the motions of walking. I looked up immediately Wrigley left my side and took two hard, powerful, quick, explosive strides to chase him down. In mid-stride I saw this beautiful girl about 50 yard away. I slowed down to a jog now as Wrigley and the girl met in the middle, she got down on her knees and began to pet him. I just arrived to her huffing and puffing, but still able to speek. She looked up at me with her saphire blue eyes and asked, "What's his name?" I was blushing a little, smiling, and replied, "I'm sorry about that, I should've kept the leash on" She giggling, smiled, read Wrigley his tag, looked up at me again and said, "No no its fine...Wrigley? That's a cute name. Like the Cubs ball feild?" I was surprised by her knowledge of sports. It was impressive, especially for a girl. I blushed some more and said, "uh, yeah umm, yeah, hahaha", I dont know why I laughed. I bet I looked like an idiot, so I quickly came back with a, "D-d-do you you ummm live around here?" She laughed too, probably laughing at me, but said, "Yeah I do", as she continued to pet Wrigley, then finally stood up, extended her hand and said, "Yeah I live down the street. By the way I'm Katie" "Nice to meet you Katie", I said, shaking her hand, "I'm Josh. So, you new around here?" "No, no, no I'm not. Been here all my life." "Really? How come I haven't seen you before?" "I dont know. What grade you in?" "Seventh", I said. "Oh, thats why", she replied. "Why? What grade are you in?" "Eighth grade." "Ohh", I was bummed. There was no way I was going to have an eighth grade girlfriend. Guys have a hard time getting girls in their own grade, so they try to date the grils in the grade below them. How was I suppose to get a girl older then me. It was nearly impossible."Oh yeah, thats why we haven't met." "Yup", she said as she looked down towards her feet, she kicked the dirt and said, "So...my parents aren't home right now. If you want you can come over and watch a movie or something." I was exhausted, the last thing I wanted to do was go over some random girls house to watch a movie, but I said, "Uh yeah. I'm just going to drop Wrigley off at home and tell my home im going out, ok?" "Oh yeah, of course I'll see you in a few" "Yeah see ya soon", I said as we departed ways and I turned around. I walked a good three steps before I realized I didn't know where she lived, "Katie!" "Yeah Josh?" "Where exxactly do you live?" "54 Madison Road" she replied "Gotcha, see ya in a few", I think I know where that is. I believe Madison is just off of Norfolk Drive, but I wasn't sure. When I got home I went right into the living room where my mom was sitting silently reading her book, she always read and never watched TV. "Mom..." She put her book down and took off her glasses, "uh huh?" "I bumped into Billy walking around the block. He invited me over for dinner, can I go?" I made up a little white lie, besides how was she going to know I was lying. "We already had dinner honey..." There was no way she as going to let me go now, so I just manned up and told her the truth hoping that she would be nice enough to let me go, "Ok Mom, I lied" "Lied?" "Yeah. I bumpoed into a", I said look down at my shoes as a mumbled, "a girl" "Im upset you lied to me, but if you promise to tell the truth from now on I'll let you go." She suggested. I would never have guessed she would let me go without any hassle, "Yes! Thanks mom, love you!" I ran out the door as my mother chased me. "Don't stay out too late sweetie, you have school tomorrow." "Yup, I wont! Thank you!" I yelled loudly as I ran the other way.

CHAPTER 11: The next day of school wasn't bad, well I wont know because they entire time I was thinking about Katie. Classes actually flew by fasy as I thought of Katie. I started to wonder if that was pathetic of me to be thinkin of her so much, but I convinced myself she was doing the same. Although she probably was not. I wanted to tell Billy, but there wasn't much to say. We only watched a movie, I was too nervous to make a move. I tried to 'yawning then arm over the shoulder trick' but she got up to get some popcorn as soon as I yawned. I wasn't going to tell Billy that I didn't get with her, I wasn't going to tell Billy that I went over her movie for nothing, nothing but a movie...nope. So did I tell him? No. Did I tell anyone? No. Did I think about her all day long? Yes. I couldn't get her out of my mind, oh Katie. She was so pretty, so nice, so perfect. I couldn't stop thinking about her.

I went immediately went home after school again, walked Wrigley at 2:45 hoping to bump into Katie. Walked Wrigley at 5:00, again hoping to bump into her. And again at 7:15, I walked slowly, a 30 minute walk around the small block, crossing my fingers that I would bump into her, but I never did. Matter of fact I didn't bump into her for a few weeks. However, I bumped into her one day as I was checking my mailbox. Technically we didn't bump into eachother, but I saw her from a distance, called her and ran over. She did no seem like she was too excited to see me, but I was excited to see her. I needed to talk to her, well actually I wanted to talk to her not necesarily needed to, so I ran over.

"Hey Katie, haven't seen you in a while. Hows everything?" "Um ya know, same old same old." "Oh yeah, same. So, wanna hang out sometime?" "Well...I'd love to, but I kinda have a boyfriend and umm if he knew we were seeing each other then.." I was heart broken, "Oh yeah, of course. Hahahah, I was just talking about hanging out as friends", thats what I told her but not what I meant. "Yeah Josh, I know. But he'd be real made at me" "Oh, oh ok yeah I guess I'll just see you around"

I never saw her around and it took me three weeks to finally catch up to her, but the funny thing was I saw her that very next day holding hands with Jim O'Reilly. Jim was a tough Eighth grader, stayed back a year, should've been a freshmen. He was a big guy, wide built, and strong. I never talked to him, but he just looked like a mean fellow. The one thing I did know about him was that he was one hell of a basketball player. I saw him play one time outside of school. He drove hard into the paint, knocked a kid on his ass, and layed the ball up. He jumps high too, he got his hand up by the rim, but chose to lay it up instead of dunking because it was easier. He just looked like a bully, a tough kid, the sterotypically kid that stayed back a year and now rules the school. He is good at ball but it helps that he is a year older, bigger, and stronger then everybody else. He played for the Middleton 7th and 8th grade Travel Team, the team Billy and I should've been on. I'm glad we didn't make it, becasuse then we would have to deal with Jimmy's bullshit.

I invited Billy over to my house that day after school, we were going to play basketball in the yard. I wasn't any good because I hadn't played in a while. Wasn't like I was any good before, but I was worse now. I didn't even try shooting the ball after I noticed I did nothing but air ball it, so I just practiced lay ups with my right and left hand. I even practiced passing to Billy who would shoot the ball from three-point range. He was good. I don't know where he gets his time to practice, but whatever he is doing, its paying off nicely. It is fun to watch Billy shoot, it is lke watching Ray Allen in pre-game warm ups shoot millions of three point shots. He did it so casually, jus catch the ball, step back, arms up, jump back, pushing the ball off his fingers, and the next thing you knew the basket ball was swoshing through the netting of the hoop. We didn't say to much when practicing, after someone made a shot maybe we would say, "Wow! nice shot." but we didn't have too many conversations.

I threw a pass over to Billy and he stepped back, faded away, and tossed it up in the air. As Billy fell back, the ball swooshed through the netting of the basket. "Oh my god Billy! That was incredible. How did you not make the travel team?" "Hahaha thanks, but I guess I wasn't shooting as nicely as I am now" "Well, I'll tell you one thing, if you played this way in any tryouts I couldn't imagine youi being cut, You should try out for the Bulls" I suggested as we both laughed. "Haha no, I thought I played pretty well in try outs, but I guess he just didn't want me." "They way you shooting now, we could take on the Eighth graders." "Yeah, we should play them some time" he said facitiously "No man, I bet we could." That was the end of that conversation. We kept on playing though, I would lay it up or pass it out to him at the side of the drive way and he would shoot it. We played for another half hour or so until the game was ended when my mom pulled into the drive way blocked the hoop. "Thanks Mom", thats what we were both thinking but would never be so rude to say. We greeted her and went inside, I offered Billy a seat at the dinner table if he wanted to stay but he said it was getting late and he didn't want his parents to worry about him. He left and my mom and I sat down for dinner. Mom and I sat down to a nice home cook meal she made.

"how was school Josh?" she asked with a mouth full of lasagna in her cheeks "Oh same old same old." I said as I picked at my food wh my fork "Did you get any test, quizzes, or projects graded and handed back?" she added "Nope, not today" I said. I was not trying to act like I was in a bad mood with the short answers, just those wre the answers I was giving her I guess. "Oh umm you haven't talked about that girl lately...how is everything?" "What girl?" I replied, but I knew exactly what she was talking about. "Oh come on Josh...the only girl you've talked about since we've moved here." she added in a goofing around tone. I played dumb and replied, "Oh, Katie?" "Yeah Katie! You haven't said much about her lately. Hows everything between you two?" "What do you mean 'between us'"? I knew exactly what she was saying but I continued to play dumb "Josh...stop playing dumb" she called me out, she knew exactly what I was doing. "Umm I dont know, I haven't seen her lately" another white lie, I didn't say much because I didn't want to talk about it. My mom didn't really respond to that and keep eating her dinner. I successfully avoided another conversation. With parents, kids jut want to avoid any opportunity to talk with their parents. It is kind of sasd that kids do not want to be with their parents, but it is true parents can be annoying sometimes.

CHAPTER 12: Another a month went by with me going to school, coming home, walking Wrigley, play basketball in the yard, and hoping to see Katie out around I finally had enough. Enough waiting, dissatisfied with life. I wanted something exciting, something fun. Making the travel basketball team would've been perfect, but obviously I missed try outs. I was fed up with my boring life, so I began to stay after school to play basketball with Billy. I came home after a fun day of basketball to dog crap on the rug. Wrigley pooped on rug, it was my fault, I didn't come home in time to walk him. I didn't tell mom because she didn't come home until later, so I had time to clean it up plus I didn't want her to know that I stayed after school. Although I knew that I would come home to dog crap on the floor if I stayed after school, I continued to do it. Another few days went by of me not coming home immediately after school and returning to a smelly floor. It sounds like staying after school wouldn't be worth it, but it was a lot of fun playing ball after school with Billy for a change. We played a lot of basketball that week, everyday after school. We played alone and played against friends and even challenge random people. It was fun, we acted like we were Michigan's fab five or the Celtics Big Three, except there was only two of us. I really enjoyed playing games against people. usually I would just shoot around, but it was nice to have competitions.

We played a lot of two on two games. Billy and I verse two other players. We won every game we played. We were undefeated. We were not any kind of basketball court bully, just a couple of kids looking to play some basketball. And we happened to be playing very well. We even had plays set up. For example I would drive into the paint and if the lane was open I would lay up if not I would pass it out to Billy who would shoot the wide open three-pointer. It worked like a charm, that play worked nearly every single time. We usually played games to 21. Depending on the defense of the other team, these 21 point games were over quickly. Billy's three-point shots really helped defeat our opponents quickly. Sometimes 21 point games were over in seven shots, Billy lived at the three point line. Nothing got in Billy's way of sinking a jump shot. He as by far the best shot I have ever played with.

We ended up playing two or three games a day, crowning ourselves the Two on Two Champions. We even beat a few kids who played on the Travel Basketball Team. That was nice and assuring that we beat someone that was supposedly better then us. I was happy for Billy, he was playing well that week. He didn't show too much emotion, he was humble, but I could tell at moments that he was thrilled after draining a long three-pointer. I showed a lot of emotion. After a lay up I would fist pump and scream and slap Billy high five. But Billy never react to our success as much.

That Friday it was getting dark and Billy and I just finished up our third game of the afternoon. We walked off the courts with our school bags beginning to walk home, when we heard a, "Hey, wanna play?" as we looked around and we saw the two big, strong, mean, tough, "Middleton Travel Basketbal Team" jacket wearing jerks. Their names were Micheal Connor and Jim O'Reilly. They were not great players, but both solid, hard playing big guys. I wouldn't think we were going to beat him anyway, but it was getting dark so we were forced to decline the challenge.

"Uh it's getting dark Jim" Billy said "We gotta get home" I added as we turned back and continued walking. A few seconds later we heard, "What are you chicken?" This ticked off Billy and he said loudly in an angry tone, "Jim we're not looking for a challenge right now! We have to get home. We'd love to take you down some other time!" Jim wasn't too happy to hear this and shouted back, "Anytime punk, anytime!" "Monday! You're going down" Billy replied. "You're on punk!" we heard in the distance as we continued walking.

The walk home was long and quiet. Billy didn't talk much, I think he was upset at Jim. Billy was not too much of an emotional guy, so it was quite interesting to see Billy ticked off for once. I was also interested to see how thins would play out monday. Were we really going to challenge two of the starters from Middle Travel Basketball team? They both seem better then us. I was kind of excited to play, a little anxious. I also think Billy was anxious to play as well. I was weirded out by the silence so I broke it and said, "you think we can beat Jim" I was half way done with saying "Jim" when Billy interrupted and sad angerly "Hell yeah! Were so much better then those assholes!" "But they're on the travel team..." "Fuck the travel team" that was the first time I heard Billy swear, I knew he was getting into it now. I didn't respond to that and just nodded my head. He went on to say, "All they do is drive to the hoop, if we can get a hand on the them then we can definitely take them down". Another few seconds went by and Billy added, "they're really not that good". This is when I knew he was really into it. He kept on bring it up. Every few seconds he would bring something up, something different though. But always on the same topic, such as "they suck" or "we are a lot better then them". I never responded, I was actually a little nervous.

As our walk home came to an end I said goodbye to Billy and we departed ways. I walked inside, cleaned the messy, stinky, gross, dog crapped off the rug, washed my hands, grabbed the leash and walked Wrigley. But this time we didn't go around the block, we went to 54 Madison Road, Katie's house. I needed to talk to her. I rung the door bell and no one answer. I rang the door bell again, a few seconds went by and I began to walk off the porch. I was a few steps off the porch when I heard the door open, I turned around and it was Katie standing at the door way, "haven't seen you in a while, whats up?" she said friendly and flirtatiously

CHAPTER 13: Katie invited me into her house. We went to her room and sat on the edge of the bed. She repeated her question she asked on the front steps, "So Josh, long time no see. Whatcha been up to?" "Not too much, you?" "Nothing, absolutely nothing. We'll I guess there is something..." and then she broke down into tears. I was confused, why was she crying I put my arm around her, leaned over and asked "Are you ok?" "Yeah" she replied, but obviously she wasn't so I asked one more time, "Are you ok? Do you want to talk about it?" She continued to cry and said, "he broke up with me" "huh? Jim broke up with you?" "Yeah" she said sadly "Single and ready to mingle?" I asked trying to lighten the mood. Our conversation and I continued to crack jokes unsuccessfully, but they made her smile. Our eyes locked as we stared into each others eyes. While we were looking into each others eye, I slowly leaned in for the kill when I heard a knock on the door. Katie jumped up and said, "Ugh I'll get it" she said as she walked out of her room and down the stairs. I wondered who it could be, her mother wasn't home at the time so it could possibly be her. I heard the door open and a manly voice say, "I'm sorry baby, I miss you!" "Jim, why are you here?" I was frightened to hear that Jim was here, so I quickly looked around the room for a hiding spot. I was scared out of my wits. I didn't hear the rest of the conversation, but I did hear the footsteps coming up the stairs. My heart was beating faster then the nine o'clock express. I took a deep breath, looked around, and slipped under her bed.

They entered the her room shortly after, if I hadn't hidden I would've been dead meat. I couldn't see much from under the bed but I saw little bare feet with purple nail polish on the the toe nails and big, clumsy, timberland boots. My first thoughts were, doesn't he have respect for the rug, what an asshole he was for wearing his dirty boots in her house. But never mind that, my second and most important concern was him finding me under the bed. He was known for being a bully and I couldn't imagine what he would do to me if he found me under the bed hiding. Their conversation continued and he said, "Katie, I want you back" "Jim you really hurt me, I don't know if I can take you back after this cruel break up" "But I love you" he said raising his voice "Don't yell at her" I screamed out of pure impulse "Wheres that coming from? And who the fuck is that?" "Ahhhh" Katie screamed runnning out of the room, "he has a knife!!! he has a knife!!!" I rolled over and out from under the bed. It was probably a bad decision for me to roll out from under the bed. He was standing right above me as I layed on the floor. "Sup Joshy? Couldn't get enough of me?" he said as he grabbed me by my feet and tossed me across the room. I slammed into the wall and got up quickly. I knew if I hadn't gotten up then, I wouldve been tossed again. I was a little shaken up and I knew I if I stayed there for any longer I would be severely beaten up. So, I ran out of the room as fast as I could. He wasn't far behind, only a few steps behind me now. He was faster then me, and I could feel him catching up. I ran down the stairs as fast as I could. Five steps left and I jumped down. Jumping down created some breathing room for me. I turned the corner, into the kitchen. Hopped over the kitchen table, I wondered for a second where was Katie, but then I returned my thoughts to survival mode. I was just landing from jumping over the dinnner table and Jim went around, this also created a bigger gap, but still not by enough.

I took a sharp turn around the corner into the living room another sharp turn towards the back door. I looked back, I was now abouyt 10 paces infront on Jim. "Good" I said to myself as I realized that I had enough time to open the sliding door. I opened it a crack, squeezed out, and slammed it shut. When he got to the shut door, he flung it open and chased after me. Because he had to stop to open the door, this also created another few seconds. I was running out of places to run around, but I decided to hop her backyard fence. I hopped it perfectly and when he followed, he got caught a little on the fence which created another few seconds. I eventually had a far enough lead to separate ourselves. I ran around a corner which lead directly to my house. He turned the corner about three or four seconds after I did, I didn't turn back to see but all I heard was, "You're going down Josh! Just wait till monday, Ill beat you and your friend in basketball then kick both your asses!". My heartbeat was so fast, it was undescribable. I continued to run until I got home. My mom's car was in the drive way.

"SHIT!" I said quite loudly "Josh!" my mom said right back, "how dare you swear in my presence" "Oh mom?" I said stumbling on my words, I didn't know she was there, "uh oh umm I didn't see you there. I'm sorry." She didn't respond to my swearing, but asked, "how come you're runnnig? what wrong?" "uh nothing..." "Josh..." she said giving me that look saying: you better tell me or else "Umm I was walking home from Katie's house and uhh..." I said as I choked up on my words as I remembered I had left Wrigley at Katie's house, "I was running home to see you." "How come you said 'shit'?" "Oh haha umm well, i guess i," I thought of another quick lie, "i was goin to prepare dinner for you, but you were already home so it wouldn't have been a surprise" I said looking at her with wide eyes just hoping that she would believe me. "Oh" she respond in a confused manner "Well, I went to Katie's to borrow an egg and I forgot it so...Im going to go get it" I said running off before she could respond. I cant believe I forgot Wrigley. What if Jim went back to the house and Wrigley was hurt, or more importantly hurt Katie. I ran faster. I was so pissed off that I didn't think of how much Jim would kick the shit out of me. But I ran faster hoping to find him there with his wimpy, little, knife to Katie and I would swoop right in, beat up Jim and save Katie like a superhero would. But, it just wasn't like that at all. I got there and the front door was looked. I rang the door bell and there was no answer. I had tofind out what had happened with Katie and Wrigley, so I ran around to the back door hoping it would still be open. And it was. I slide through the back door and walked around the first floor, no one was there, "Katie?", I yelled, "Are you home?" still no answer. I walked up to the second floor, "Katie, are you.." I began to asked again, but I stopped myself when I heard the sound of a girl crying. I ran into her room. No one was there. I ran into the bathroom. No one was there. I finally ran into her parents room and she was on the ground crying with Wrigley right next to her. I ran to her side and asked, "Katie, are you ok?" She cried and cried and cried. I think she was in shock. She didn't respond for like five minutes. Finally the crying died down and he sniffled and said to me, "Thanks for you're help Josh" "Yeah, no problem" I said as I put my arm around her. I hugged her as we remained on the floor sitting. We continued hugging as we remained sitting on the floor of her parents room. She finally released fromt he hug and asked, "Josh?" "Yes Katie?" "What ended up happening between you two?" "Oh nothing" "Josh..." she said just like my mother would and gave me the said mother like questioning look "Well, I ran away from him down the streeet. He didn't catch me, but he said he was going to kick my ass monday" "Thanks for protecting me Josh" she said once more as they kissed me on the cheek and got up to her feet. She asked me parents came home, she said she was scared of Jim coming back. I had no choice, I had to protect the girl of my dreams. Besides I couldn't leave some unproteced girl out to dry as the big bad wolf came to blow her house down. I was a little nervous about what my mom would say about me coming home several hours later, but I couldn't leave Katie here alone. Wrigley was sitting on the floor as Katie and I sat on the couch of her living room watching television. "He's a good boy, ya know?" Katie said pointing at Wrigley "Haha yeah thanks, I tihnk I've trained him well" I replied "Yeah, he's sweet just like you" she said looking right into my eyes, she was so close to me, I don't know what go into me, but I made the first move. I leaned in and kissed her on the lips. Our lips connected with eachother for a second or two. I quickly pulled back and said, "Oh I'm sorry, I uhh umm I don't know what" I sid stuttering on my words that split second was awkward until she pulled my head over to hers as she kissed me. Another few seconds went by before she pulled away, "Thanks Josh" she said as she winked at me and faced the televison for the next few minutes. Those few minutes were awkward. But I couldn't stop wondering if she actually liked it or was just kissing me as a way to say thank you for protecting her this afternoon. Her parents finally got home and I left her house. I walked home in the dark not even thinking about what my mom was going to do to me for being out all night, but instead thought about that kiss. My first kiss.

CHAPTER 14: Mom wasn't too happy about me coming home at 7:30 on a school night. It wasn't so much the coming home late aspect, but the lying and not telling her where I weas going to be part. She yelled at me, but I didn't really listen. My mind was on the mini battle betwee Jim and I, but mainly the kiss. I couldn't stop thinking about her. All that time that I wasn't listening to my mom tell at me I guess she said something about grounding me and if I didn't come home immidiately after school I would be grounded for the entire summer. As long as I got back before she got back from work, I would be all set. She said she was going to come home early all of this week to check on me, but I didn't believe it. How was she going to get out of work a couple of hours early five days in a row. She sent me to bed at eight o'clock on friday. I wasn't even upset. Usually when a kid gets punished he is in a bad mood, but I couldn't be mad I just hook up with the girl of my dreams. I couldn't sleep that night, I couldn't get Katie out of my mind.

I woke up late saturday morning. I did some chores around the house and my homework. However, it took forever because Katie was on my mind. Although she was on my mind the entire time I did finish all my homework. With my homework completely finish by saturday morning meant that I would have the rest of the weekend to practice basketball, so I could beat Jim monday and show Katie that im the man she really wants. So for the rest of the day I just paracticed my basketball skills in the yard. Billy came by to see what was going on, to see if I wanted to come over his house to practice. I told him I was grounded and I couldn't leave the house so he practiced over hear. He said he had heard about Jim and I at Katie's house. "You're friends with Katie? how? how didn't I know this?" he asked "Well, really were just neighbors, just friends" I replied "Just friends?" he said jokingly, "you sure youre just friends?" "Well, we did hook up" "what?!" he screamed, "I was just joking around when I said that, 'just friends', you did what?" "oh haha don't tell anybody then please. Im not trying to get into anymore trouble with Jim" "Oh my goodness, how long have you guys been a thing? like been together?" I was confused by his question so i answered, "I met her a couple of months ago..." "You've been hooking up with her for two months now and you havent told me? are you kdding me?" "No, no, no" "What do you mean no? you didnt hook up with her?" "No, I did...just yesterday was the first time" "oh what??" "first time and probably last" i added "what do you mean last time? shes single now" "I know that, just Jim's going to kill me monday, literally kill me." "Oh come on, it's not that big of a deal" Billy said trying to make me feel better "haha no seriously, you should have seen him yesterday. If he had the chance to rip my head off, he would've" "Don't worry bro, I got your back" he said confidently. "Thanks man" I replied as we continued to talk and shoot hoops. I was appreciatitive of his support to back me up, but seriously no one could get in Jim's way. Jim ws a monster, a cruel beast, when he was upset there was no backing down, you just took the beating and moved on. I was actually scared to death, but Billy didn't seem to be that afraid. Why would he be, he was just an opponent, i was the real victim. I don't even think that Jim's going to want to play basketball, I wouldn't be surprised if he forfeited the game and just kick the living crap out of me. That's porbably what I would do if I where Jim's position. But, I am still going to try to play against him basketball first, then he can kick my ass later. I hope he doesn't, but I want to play frist just to show him up some more after Billy and I beat him in basketball. I talked to a few kids already and they sayed that they were going to go, so were going to have at least a hand full of fans there to attest to Billy and my victory. Plus those fans being in attendance when we win will make it super eembarassing for Jim.

CHAPTER 15: It was now sunday morning. 24 hours until I would bump into Jim in the hallways at school. Roughly 30 hours until Billy and I would challenge Jim to basketball. Yes, I was nervous. I was anxious too, a liIttle excited. I was kind of pumped up, I really just wanted to beat Jim's ass tomorrow. I didn't really have any interest in fighting because he would kill me if I tried to fight back. But beating him in basketball was more realistic then beating him up in a fight. I began to think positivey, we could beat these guys besides I had endurance and agility. I used my agility to cross in and out of the paint, collapsing the defense and then quickly passing it out to one of my teams for an open shot.My agility also helped out a lot when playing defense. I could get up and down the court, quickly, and cover a few different players at a time because I could jump from one player to another quickly. But, I couldn’t shoot. I couldn’t shoot for my life. This could be a problem, I began to think. Oh no, shooting for me wouldn't matter because I had the best shooter in the town on my team: Billy. I just had to make sure Billy got the ball and I wouldn;t pass it to Billy everytime or else they would cover him strongley and I wouldn;t be able to pass to him. I wanted to go out to my yard to practice, but it was sunday. Sundays were work days. Sundays were church days. Sundays were not typically fun days. On sundays we would wake up, have a nice breakfast that my Mom made, walk a little over a mile and a half to church, come home, do chores around the house, homework, eat dinnner, then finally watched the Bears of our little 12 inch, black and white TV. We weren't big football fans, but Chicago sports fanatics. My Dad and I were big sports fans, but basketball was our favorite. Sundays were boring days. I did chores such as cleaning my room, walk the dog, do luandry, mow the lawnm and do my homework. It was a long boring day. But, the entire day I kept thinking about the game I was playing tomorrow against Jim. It was going to be intense, I was pumped up, ready to go, I couldn't stop thinking about her. I keep thinking about the game, I really wanted to beat Jim. Finally when I was done with all my chores and homework I was allowed to practice basketball out in the yard. I practiced a lot that night. I practiced until it got dark. I practiced shooting, but I mainly practiced lay ups. I practiced laying up on the left and right side. I worked hard on driving into the paint and laying up. I think Jim knew that our play was usually drive into the paint and pass it out to Billy, therefor I should just drive in and lay up to stir things up a bit. I kept thinking of what I play I was going to run to score the game winning basket. I also anxious to start playing, however I was really scared of getting the crao beat out of me by Jim. I was getting tired. Tired from a long day and a lot of hours of practice, but I continued to shoot. Usually practicing at the very last minute doesn't help too much, but I felt like it was going to take a near miracle to beat Jim. It wasn't long until I saw Jim in the halways tomorrow morning. I was wonderng whether or not he would just kick the crap out of me the second he saw me monday morning or just wait for the basketball game after school to kick my ass. It was quite the dilemma. But in the long run it really didn't matter, I was getting the crap beat out of me in both situations. And even if I didn't get the crap beat out of me by Jim, then my mom was going to kill me for not comin home immediately after school. And if I ran home after school without playing against Jim in the basketball game, then tuesday in school he would give me a sincere beating. In every situation, I was screwed. Knowing that I was screwed in every situation I should have just gave up, but I continued to practice. Even if I did beat Jim in basketball, he was still going to kick my ass. Looking back, I don't know why I continued to practice, but I did. Knowing that I was dead meat in every situation got my mind off Jim, there was nothing I could do about the whole Jim situation. However, with my mind off Jim and basketball, I began to think about Katie. With Katie on my mind I stopped practicing and went inside. It was 9:00PM and I thoght it should go to bed early and get a nice rest for a long day tomorrow. From 9:00PM-12:30AM, I layed in bed thinking about Katie, never did I think about Jim, basketball, or the fight. I just couldn't go to sleep with Katie on my mind. I eventually did go to sleep. I woke up not tired, but not necessarily rested.

CHAPTER 16: I got off the bus and walked through the front doors of Middleton Middle School. I held my head up, chin in the air, arms hanging down with my fists clenched. I scouted out the area, no Jim. I was surprised, I was expecting Jm to be at the front door waiting for me, waiting to kick my ass. I wasn't looking for him, but looking out for him. I wasn't neccesarily trying to find him, but I couldn't see him. Maybe this could be a good thing, maybe he chicken out. Who am I kidding, Jim would never backed down from a match up against two little seventh graders. Jim could take us on anyday. School seemed to go by so slowly. The second hand on the clock seemed to move nearly half the speed. I was nervous now. Although I never say Jim that day in school, I knew he wouldn't to miss any opportunity to beat kids in basketball or beat kids up. Finally when the bell rang at two o'clock to signal the dismissal of school, Billy and I walked out to the basketball courts. Billy didn't say a word and neither did I. Billy and I were ready to go.

When we got to the basketall courts we were amazed by how many people were there. We knew people knew about the game and we knew a few people were going to watch, but not this many. There must have been 50 kids standin around the court, waiting to see my ass get beat like a drum. I took a deep breath as I looked around, I saw a lot of people, but couldn't see Billy. I did see Micheal, Micheal was Jim's playing partner. Micheal was a good player, he played on the travel team an was a bit of a punk like Jim. No one could find Jim. 10 minutes went by of us just standing around waiting for the game to start. Jim wasn't there, so Billy and I began to warm up. We just shot around for a few minutes. I jumped up to get Billy's rebound and was shoved to the ground. From the ground I turned around and looked up. Standing right above my eyes was big Jim. "Game on!" he said as he stripped the ball out of my hands and walked to the top of the key. The crowd laughed and cheered as I got up off the ground and went to the top of the key as well.

Jim threw a mean chest pass that hit me hard, luckily I caught it. "Game 'till 21" he said in a mean tone. I nodded and whipped it right back at him. Jim pass the ball to Micheal who quickly shot the open three pointer. The crowd roared as Jim and Micheal high fived. I went over to Billy and said, "Cover Micheal, I got Jim" I checked the ball back to Jim again as he stared right into my eyes. I knew right away that this was going to end bad. The look he gave me was the look a tiger has before they pounce on their prey. He didn't even look at Micheal for the pass. Jim drove hard into the paint, I planted my ground and put my hands in the air. Jim drove right over me like a bull dozer. I fell straight back onto by back, my head hit the pavement hard. I would've complained, but there was no time for complaining now. I got up once more to the roar of the uprising crowd and Billy helping me up. Before I could even regain my bearings, Jim check the ball back into my stomach hard. I then put it together that Jim scored on that last driving play. "Shit" I said to myself, we were now losing my five points. It was five to nothing. This wasn't good sign. I returned the pass and Jim drove again, I got out of the way before I was run over again. Fortunately Billy was there to back me up, he didn't block the shot, but pressured him. Jim missed the lay up and I quickly hoped into the play to grab the rebound. I quickly turned the other way, away from Jim. Now on the left side of the court, Micheal tried to steal the ball. I dribbled the ball behind my back and a dodged the steal. The crowd "ooh ahh"ed as I crossed up Micheal. I turned around again and whipped the ball into the paint where Billy was. Billy caught the ball and quickly threw it up off the back board and into the hoop. Five to two was the score as the crowd roared for the first time for Billy and I.

The rest of the game was back and forth. Billy and I never had the lead, but we were still in contention. Ther score was 19-15. I drove into the paint collapsing Jim and Micheal, leaving Billy wide open for the three. I no-look passed it out to Billy, who stood on the right corner to shoot the three. Micheal saw this and jumped out to block the shot. Micheal leaped to block it, but Billy slid to the left with the ball. With Micheal in Billy's rear view mirror, Billy drained another three-pointer. The crowd went wild as we were only one point away from tying it up and three points away from winning. It was now 19-18. I check the ball again and drove into the paint. The defense again collapsed. I knew Micheal was going to read the play again and try to block Billy's shot. I faked the pass out, which opened up a driving lane as Micheal leaped out towards Billy. I jumped up towards the hoop and layed the ball up off the back board. The ball bounced off the back board and into the hoop as I was hit hard to the cement ground. Jim was standing above me again as I read the words off his lips "BITCH!". I don't know if Jim mouthed the curse or sayed it towards me, but I didn't hear anything because my head was ringing from the sudden contact my head made on the cement again. This wasn't good, I got up slowly and put my hands on my knees. I was hurting now. I would've quit on any given day, but I couldn't stop one point away from beating Jim and Micheal. I slowly regained my bearings again as I began to hear the up roaring off the crowd. I couldn't tell whether or not the crowd was cheering for me or Jim big hit on me. All I knew wasn't feeling too great now. I didn't check the ball to Jim, but some how he check it to me. I grabbed it and looked to my left and right to find Billy. I couldn't hold the ball any longer. If I possessed the ball any longer it would've been stolen, so I whipped it over to Billy. Billy faked the shot and drove to the hoop. Micheal fell for the fake and was now out of the play. It was now a two on one battle for the win. But really it was a one on one battle because my head was still ringing from the fall I wouldn't even want the shot. Billy faked the lay up and whipped it out to me. The ball was coming my way when I saw Billy get hit by Jim. This was a huge fowl. Two plays in a row, Jim knocks two different players down on purpose. They ball was on it way over to me for the wide open shot for the win.

I got out of the way of the ball and ran over to Billy. Jim was standing over Billy trash talking, it was like Jim didn't care about losing he just wanted to kick our ass. Billy had nothing to do with what Jim and I got into the other day, why was he picking on him? I couldn't take it, if he wanted to fight he should've picked a fight with me. I pulled his shoulder with my left hand, which turned his body around facing me. But more importantly, now his face was towards me. I wounded back and rocked him in the face. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">Four knuckles across the face. Bottom knuckles connecting with the upper lip. Upper knuckles connecting with the cheek bone. It was solid contact, fast, hard, powerful, and painful. Left a fat lip, cut up gums from the braces, black eye, soar, and the beginning of the end.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">CHAPTER 17: <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">I told my mom everything that happened. She wasn't proud of me, but when I told her I needed to go see Katie she allowed me to. I think she realized that I needed to figure some things out. I went over Katie's house that night to talk to her. I began to tell her what had happened, but she interrupted me and said, "I know, I know Josh. I was there" <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"You were there?" <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"Yeah, I hope this wasn't about me was it?" <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"Uhh well..." <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"Josh" she said seriously raising her voice at me, she wasn't happy now <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"I stood up for Billy, that punch had nothing to do with you" <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"But the game, why'd you guys play against eachother in the first place?" <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"We had it scheduled before he the incident on friday" <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"did what happend friday have to do with what ended up happening today?" <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"for him it did, I acted out of self defense and defense of my bestfriend" <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"tell me the truth josh, did you hit him for me?" <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"noo, oh gosh no" i said as she gave me this weird look, "well, unless thats what you wanted me to do" <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"no, no, no. I don't want another boy to be too controlling and obsessive like Jim was" <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">"well im not like Jim adn you know that" <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">she sighed and said quietly, "i know your not" as I put my arms around her and hugged her. She hugged back and asked, "so...what now?"

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">We ended up dating, Katie and I dated throughout High School and her first year of college. It just wasn't working out between us, the long distance relationship was hard to maintain. So, we finally broke up. I applied o Katie's college, but wasn't accepted. I played basketball in college though, but before every game I though of her, my first love. Basketball always brought back memories of Middleton. Katie's parents move out of Middeton and I never saw her again. Every now and then I think of her, it jist isn't the same without my first love. We have been broken up for a year now and it was time to move on. I threw out all the pictures of her. I even threw out gifts she gave me. I threw out things that reminded me of her. Even throwing stuff out that reminded me of her, reminded me of her. Going through everything Katie related brought back all the memories. ike the time we stuck out just to talk at night, doing drivers education classes together, going to the beach together in the summer, skating together in the winter, skipping class just to sit by th lockers and talk, holding hands in the hallway, going to movies together, her cheer leading at my basketball game, and even going to prom together. All those memories had to move on. My childhood was basically spent by her side and it was now time to move on. I wasn't mad at her, it was just time to move on.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">CHAPTER 18: <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">I hadn't talked to Katie in over two years now. It was a hot, dry, boring, quiet, summer day back in Middleton. I was just leaving the house to meet up with my good old pal Billy when I saw her. She was leaning up againsther car, Yellow Jeep Wrangler with the top down. She was such a Jeep kind of girl. She was fun and exciting just like the roofless Wrangler she drove. I stopped and stared, "could it be?" I said to myself. "Miss me?" she said removing her sun glasses "Katie? Katie, is that you?" "I was in town and though I should stop by an say hi" she said not answering my question "Katie!" I said jogging over to give her a hug. She pushed off from the Jeep and hugged me back. It was so nice see her again. I couldn't believe it was her. She then released her grip from the hug, and grabbed me and asked, "so, how've you been?" "great" I said with a huge smile on my face, "I've been great. And you?" "Ehh you know, not bad" Usually when some one replies 'not bad' they really meant to say 'bad', but I didn't ask her about. She probably didnt want to talk about it. So I asked another question, "what are you doing here?" "Well I was in the city for business so, I thought I'd drop by and say hello, is your mother home" "Yeah" I said directing her towards the door, "I'll go grab her, here come on in" "thanks" she said as I called out my mother to come to the front door to she Katie. My mother couldn't believe it was her, after all these years she remembered and still loved her. "It's so nice to see you again, so nice" my mother told Katie "Yeah, its nice to see you too" she replied. I walked her out the front door and towards her car. I think I was more hapy to see her then she was happy to see me. "Wanna grab a bite or something and just catch up?" "oh im sorry, I already ate and I gotta get going on my way. I gotta get home soon" that probably wasn't the whole truth, but again I wasn't going to call her out on it. If she wanted out, I wasn't going to stop her. We hugged again, said goodbye and off she went. I waved, but she never turned back again. Why would she, she was drving anyways. I will always remember that bright yellow Jeep with the top down driving off the hirozon. I watched as it disappeared.

She was gone, gone forever this time. She really knew how to make you think of her. I carried on with my day, visting Billy and what not. But I just could not get her out of my head, she was on my mind for about another month before I went back for my senior year of college that fall. Except evem school sometimes reminded me of her. She was truely the love of my life. I missed her, but it again was time to move on.

Although it was time to moved on, I thought back to the first time I layedmy eyes on her: Katie. I was walking Wrigley around the block one day, tired from playing fetch, when he ran off. I remembered that day so vividly, I remember it like it was yesterday. I chuckled out loud as I thought about my first run in with the best thing that ever happened to me, Katie. My mind quickly went through that day like a move: I wasn't paying close attention to the road ahead, just going thourhg the motions of walking. I looked up immediately Wrigley left my side and took two hard, powerful, quick, explosive strides to chase him down. In mid-stride I saw this beautiful girl about 50 yard away. I slowed down to a jog now as Wrigley and the girl met in the middle, she got down on her knees and began to pet him. I just arrived to her huffing and puffing, but still able to speek. She looked up at me with her saphire blue eyes and asked, "What's his name?"

I stopped myself from continuing imagining that day and thought to myself. If it were not for Wrigley I would have never met Katie. I looked at the picture of Wrigley hanging on my cork board in my college dorm room, Wrigley was now nine years old. Wrigley was getting old. I said to the picture quietly so my room mates would think I was a total lunatic, "thanks pal. I miss you buddy, love ya" then I resumed where I was in my thought process before. I was thanking Wrigley for introducing me to Katie. My mind wondered again as I thought of the first day I go Wrigley. He was a small little guy, just a pup. He was so cute, everyone loved him. I even taught him a few tricks. My mind wondered a little more, until it hit me...we got Wrigley after dad passed away. I then put things together; if it were not for dad passing away we would never have gotten Wrigley, if it were not for Wrigley I would never have met Katie. Then I came to the conclusion, if it weren't for dad passing I would have never met the love of my life: Katie. My life revolved around everything my dad did. Basketball was always a passion of mine, which was inheritted from my father. I was always a polite, nice, friendly, kid which I got from my father. My father was a Chicago sports fan, so we named our puppy after a Chicago Sports arena: Wrigley Ball Park. I met the girl of my dreams because of my dad. It seemed like my dad was always looking over my shoulder once he was gone. He always cared for me, looked out for me, and wanted the best for me. I felt like my father was guiding me from heaven. I wished I could thank him, I knew I would be able to some day when I too passed away.

I began to cry as my room mates got up off there beds and came over. "You ok Josh?" "Yeah, I'm fine" I said "Whats wrong?" another of my room mates added "It is October 16th" "Yeah, so?" "Today is the tenth year anniversary of my father's death".

THE END