When No One's Watching

“No, no, no, no, no! You’re doing it all wrong,” my father scolded me, taking the ball from me and switching positions so that he was offense and I was defense, “You need to pivot the other way, that way, you can get around the defense without much effort,” And he demonstrated, and successfully, of course, pushing past me as I tried to stop him and swished the ball through the net.

I groaned and wiped my forehead to remove sweat. My dad had dragged me to the gym three hours ago. He was persistent to improve my offense. I have to give myself credit, because I have improved since when the beginning of today’s boot camp. “Can we please go home?” I asked, though it was more of a plea.

“Not until we get this drill down, Samantha,” I held back my refusal by biting my lip.

“Fine,” I mumbled, and mustering up my last ounces of energy I grabbed the ball from him and set the play into motion. I pivoted left, like he had instructed and pushed past him, shooting the ball into the basket.

“Now, that,” My dad praised, “Was great. Now if you can just do that in the games then we’re all set.” Rather than feeling accomplished I just felt annoyed. I shrugged it off and went to grab my coat from where I had left it on the bleachers. My father grabbed the car keys and we drove silently home.

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Tuesday morning welcomed me warmly and I thought to myself how I somehow made it through the weekend. Between the amount of homework I was assigned and my dad keeping me occupied with two more trips to the gym, I had little time to spend daydreaming of Tanner or wishing Kendra were here; I was plenty busy. Tanner called me twice, both times late at night due to the busyness of his days as well. Come to think of it, I hadn’t heard from Kendra at all.

I eagerly pulled on a sweatshirt and my jeans. The quicker I got to school the better. I grabbed my bag and phone and left for school. As I pulled into the parking lot, I checked my phone. There was one missed call from Kendra; it had come last night. I shrugged; I’d be seeing her momentarily. I skipped into school, keeping my eyes open for either Kendra or Tanner. Not spying either of them, I emptied the contents of my backpack into my locker and went to set my books in my first hour class.

My heart sped up when I entered the classroom. Tanner was talking to Mr. Herman, the teacher. I smiled and placed my books on my desk as quietly as possible. It looked like Tanner was finishing up the conversation, so I went to wait outside the door.

“Boo!” I shouted, jumping out as Tanner exited the classroom.

“Hey!” He grinned and hugged me tightly. Tanner’s energy always made me feel on top of the world, and this morning was no exception. I returned the grin.

“I’m glad you’re back,” I told him happily.

“I missed you too,” He chuckled, and taking my hand we began to walk around the school, dreading for the bell to ring and send us separate ways to class.