Rumor Has It (Rumor Has It #1)(14)

We get off to a hot start, and we're moving the ball around pretty good. By the end of the first quarter, we're up by seven points. Things get better in the second quarter, when we nearly double our score, and keep Oceanview to only nine points, increasing our lead by seventeen.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Jeremy shouts as we make our way to the locker room for halftime.

"Don't get cocky," I say, as he slings his arm over my shoulder.

“Dude, we got this!”

“No, Dixon’s right,” Coach says, stepping in front of us. “You’re playing solid defense. Moving the ball around great, but don’t let up. You may have a big lead now, but if you mess around, they will come back on us.”

Coach goes over a few plays we'll be running to start the third quarter before he head out back to the court. Things start out good, scoring a quick six points, but Oceanview begins mount come back.

Lucas drives to the hoop, trying to split between two defenders, but has the ball stolen. Jeremy chases them down, but he isn’t fast enough. Instead of letting the guy score, Jeremy fouls him, sending him to the free-throw line. They add another point, and now our seventeen-point lead is only a nine-point lead.

Coach calls a timeout, drawing up a play, as we prepare to get the ball back.

“You’re on your last foul,” I call over to Jeremy.

“I got this.” He ignores me, getting the ball from the referee to toss it in.

Throwing it to Lucas, he takes the ball down the court. He passes the ball to Matt, who drives to the basket. Jeremy steps to the side to throw a block for him but isn't in position in time. Instead, Jeremy grabs the defender's arm, pulling him down. A whistle blows and the referee motions, calling a foul on Jeremy.

“That’s bullshit!” Jeremy yells at the official.

“Calm down, man,” Lucas says, running over to him.

Over the PA system, the announcers for the game relate to the crowd it’s Jeremy’s sixth foul, which puts him out of the game.

He's still complaining, while Lucas tries to move him off the court.

“Damn it,” I grunt, walking over to him.

“That’s a shit call, man.”

“You grabbed the guy’s arm. It was blatant.”

"Whatever." He blows me off, waving a hand in my face as our coach comes over.

"Hopkins, you're in," he says.

The rest of the quarter is tight. Oceanview gets the ball back after the foul and outscores us for the next five minutes, cutting down our lead to three points. With ten seconds left in the game I hit a three-pointer and bump our lead back up to six points, before the buzzer rings, ending the game.

Back in the locker room, the coach says a few things about the game, tells us good job and lets us shower.

“Way to go out there.” I shoot Jeremy a sarcastic look.

“Whatever.” He pulls off his jersey. “We won, didn’t we?”

“If that was another team, we might not have.”

“Okay, guys,” Matt says next to me.

Jeremy raises us his hands, looking around at everyone. “Okay, my bad. My bad.” Looking back at me, he gives me a cocky grin. “Maybe I should’ve gotten whatever you took to turn your shooting around from this afternoon.”

“What?”

“What was it? Sarah come over and blow you. Or you rub one out?”

“Screw you.” I scowl at him as laughs.

It's times like these I wonder why I'm even friends with the guy. Sometimes he can be an absolute ass, and it's hard to remember why we're even friends at all. Honestly, I think we're only friends because we're in the same school and on the same team.

My mom greets me from the living room when I get back home that night. She usually works until seven or eight, so she doesn’t get to attend many of the games.

“How was the game?” she asks.

“It was good. We won.”

“That’s great.” She smiles at me. “Hopefully, I can make your next home game.”

“Yeah, that’d be cool. Hey, I’m gonna go to bed.”

“Okay, g’night, honey.”

“Night, Ma.”

Lying in bed, my usual nightly habit is scrolling through Instagram or Twitter. But tonight, I’m anxious. Even though I sent the last text, telling her I had to go for a bit, I wonder if she texted me back. Or maybe sometime during the game.

Turning on my phone, I see no new alerts and frown a little. But we did talk a lot during that hour earlier. I wonder if I should send her a text. Is it too late? Would she be asleep? Why would I text her this late? What would we talk about? I close my eyes, letting out a long sigh. I can’t believe I’m acting like this over a girl I haven’t even met.

BigBaller27: You awake?





I drop the phone to my chest, wondering if she's asleep or if she'll reply. Closing my eyes, I try to calm my nerves. Even if she's sleeping, she'll still see the text in the morning.

Emerald22: Yes :)





I know I shouldn't read anything into it, but she added a smiley face. She could've typed yes and waited for my response, but she didn't.

BigBaller27: I’m about to go to sleep.

Emerald22: Oh, ok.