@freewritehouse March Madness Chapter 15 ”Turn Signal”

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I'm am taking part in March Madness by the @freewritehouse! This is the first attempt from me and I hope I can see it through! I will try. If you would like to play along please check out more here.

Thanks for reading these free writes and I hope to one day edit them all! I am open to constructive criticism.

Word count: 1,820

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Chapter 15
Turn signal

The gigantic yellow bluebird school bus turned into the parking lot, turn signal blinking, of the St. Marys Middle School biggest rivals South Lake.

It was a decades-long rivalry and this Thursday night the Pine Grove kids were hoping to take down the division champs. Grant was sitting in the front seat of the bus going over offensive plays with Coach Navis.

”Grant let's seen that play we went over in practice yesterday, Badger two-two.” Coach Navis was preparing.

Grant was flipping through a clipboard filled with laminated sheets of paper. ”Here it is coach, that's the one.”

”Good, we are gonna run this right away and we aren't going to give them a break. We have some great substitutes on the bench today so we will keep them fresh. I need you to help me keep on eye them. Let me know when someone needs a break.”

”Yes, coach. I think we will have them today. They didn't look very fresh against Glenn Falls, I think the starting forward is suspended from his grades.” Grant was feeling the pregame excitement and even though he was not playing in the game he was really invested in winning.

Grant was naturally competitive and had a very athletic build. Grant enjoyed basketball but he was by no means obsessed with it. He did not really think about it during the offseason, but when it was time to play he loved it. It was a great way for him to be in shape and have fun doing it. There were times, where he felt the punishing workouts of were a little redundant and unnecessary but he enjoyed watch other kids struggle. It gave him the strength to do better.

Inside the locker room, the visiting team of Pine Grove was feeling the anxiety of the game ahead. Even though he really wanted to talk to Luke, Grant stayed near the coach as the players got ready for the game.

The coach was going over the starting roster and making some final play adjustments.

”Okay guys, listen up.” Coach Navis call the boys in for the pregame middle in the locker room.

”I don't have to tell you that this is going to be a difficult win. We are going to have to work our butts of for this one. Luke, Jake, Ross, Kevin, and Micheal these are our starters for today but we're are going to keep them fresh so everyone is going to have plenty of game time today. I want to run man to man defense so I don't want anyone standing around, never stop moving and always stay between your guard and the hoop. Come on now bring it in.”

The team huddle in really tight as they did before every game and bowed their heads.

”Lord, bless these young men out on the court today. Keep them safe and just maybe you will give us a win huh? Amen. On three win. One. Two, Three....” coach yelled each number louder.

”Win!” the team screamed.

Normally, the prayer added to the intensity of the pregame speech, today however was different. It sounded ridiculous to Grant. He was a little disgusted seeing this grown man who was supposed to be a role model for the boys praying to an invisible man.

The team was pumped up and didn't seem to even notice the prayer, or they did not care. They made there way out of the locker room performing a sort of skip/jog as they made their way to the gym.

Inside the gym, the warm air added to the smell of perspiration and old wooden bleachers. It was not unusual to have a full house for these types of sporting events in small towns of eastern Wisconsin and today was no different.

Watching his friends and teammates warming up on the court released adrenaline into Grant's bloodstream and at that moment he really regretted not being in the game. He wouldn't miss another season.

Luke was the star of the team. He had scored most of the points and was facing off against the best player of the conference. It was almost like it was a one on one game. Luke was an early bloomer and easily had a foot on most of the other players. He was even talked than the opponent he was matched up against. Not only did he have height he also had skill. His ball handling capability combined with his accuracy shooting layups made for a deadly combination on the court. Everyone knew that he would drive the baseline for a layup but no one could stop him.

It was a close game and Pine Grove was only up by a few points. South Lake was beginning to play a little more aggressive and the referees did not seem to mind. The boy covering Luke was getting really grabby and pushy committing obvious fouls and the referee was still turning a blind eye. Luke was getting frustrated and it was clearly throwing off his game.

This infuriated Grant. His larger than life best friend seemed so helpless out there unable to defend against fouls.

”Come on, ref!” Grant yelled. ”Open your eyes!”

”Grant that's enough.” Coach Navis corrected him. ”Let them do there job”

Pine Grove was only up by two points now and they had the ball down at South Lakes net. Luke was driving the ball down the baseline and putting the moves on the man covering him. Luke drove the ball to the ground and did a little spin he was going for the layup. He had moved behind a crowd of played out of the sight of the away teams bench.

Wheeeeeee

The ref blew his whistle.

”Finally!” Grant screamed.

Wait a minute! It was a personal foul against Luke, his fifth of the game. He was out of the game. Luke was not ready to leave. He was arguing with the ref on the court and turning red with anger. Grant could not hear what he was saying and he felt helpless to defend Luke off of the court.

The intensity of the situation was too much. Grant began to step on the court. Without realizing it he was already over by Luke who was still going off on the referee.

”He has been shoving me this whole time! I was just trying to shoot the ball and he slapped my arm down! Didn't you see that!”

”You're outta here son, if you don't get off the court you'll be out for the rest of the season!” The referee was visibly annoyed and was hoping Luke would leave on his own.

Before he knew it the whole bench was standing by Grant and his couch was yelling at the referee too.

”You can't be serious!” Couch Navis screamed.

Wheeeeeeee

The referee was blowing his whistle.

”Technical Foul, Pine Grove” The referee yelled between screaming coaches and players.

Luke had had it he threw down the basketball and it went bouncing off the court.

Grant did not see exactly what happened but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Like go down.

He must have been rriooed or pushed, Grant thought and he went into a rage. He ran over and looked for the rirdr white jersey he could find. A boy was kneeling over Luke, he was trying to help him up. Grant targeted in on the large number 12 on the back of the bous jersey and gave him a solid shove. The boy toppled over Luke and reaching out for the floor of the basketball court gave a screeching sound and the skin of his arm slid over the surface.

Grant turned to locate his next target but before he could move an inch Couch Navis put him in a headlock and started dragging him across the court.

Wheeeeee wheeeeeeee wheeeeee

The referee was blowing his whistle.

At this point, both teams had been shoving and yelling at each other.

”Let me go! Get off of me!” Grant was yelling.

”Calm down Grant! Forget it!” Couch was genuinely trying to calm the boy down, he was furious.

The game was over. By the time the referee cleared the court and regained order, there was no play time left on the clock. South Lake made all their free throws and managed to win by two points.

The losing team was silent as they changed out of their sweaty uniforms and prepared to leave the ’battlefield’ where they had lost the day. Grant was still upset and was wondering what Luke was going to say. In a way, Grant had been responsible for the loss, even though he did not see it that way. The coach was not talking to anyone and the youngsters knew he was upset.

”Bring it in guys.” Coach Navis said in a calm tone.

”We are not going to get into this anymore tonight, okay? You guys played a good clean game and unfortunately, the referees seemed to have it out for us tonight.” Coach Navis said as he turned to look at Grant.

”I'm sorry coach.” Grant apologized.

”It was a stressful situation for everyone, lets just put it behind us and hopefully when we play them next year it will be at home.” The coach was not it the mood to discipline and he was still trying to figure out exactly what happened, but he just wanted to get the boys on the bus and get home.

”Okay boy get your stuff, let's get outta here.” Coach Navis ordered.

Back on the bus, Grant had taken his seat in front and was waiting for Coach Navis so he would talk about what happened. Grant was surprised when Luke came and sat down next to him.

”Well, I never knew a player that was so bad he could lose the game without even playing.” Like chuckled quietly.

It was already dark outside and exhaustion was hitting the players settling into the warm bus, it was only a ten-minute ride home but they were happy to be back on the bus.

”My bad dude, but you're the one who fouled out.” Grant shook his head and laughed back.

”Hey, it's not my fault those refs were so horrible. Man, they really hated us.” Luke said

Grant did not notice it, but coming to the defense of his best friend earned him a lot of respect from Luke and even from his coach. Obviously, they knew what he did was wrong but to them, he was acting the way a young man should. He was defending his teammate and Coch Navis decided to ignore the situation rather than address it.

The bus fell silent and the sound of the turning signal clicking was the only thing to be heard as it pulled into the Pine Grove Middle School Parking lot.

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