The Red String | ONC 2024

11. The Basketball Game

The whistle blew, and the crowed erupted into a series of boos and taunts. Emma jeered right along with everyone else.

"Oh, come on!" Abby yelled down at the court. She turned to Logan. "You really should be down there helping them out."

"Yeah, well, for some reason, they won't let me on the court." Logan told her.

"Huh. Can't imagine why." Abby replied, grinning.

"Something about not wanting me slamming this into anyone's nose, I think." he said, raising his arm slightly.

"Oh, you'd be terrible anyway." Jackson told him dismissively, eyes never leaving the court.

"You think so?" Logan raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I do. What— are you going to dribble with that thing?" Jackson asked, turning to point at Logan's cast. "Because actually, I think I'd really like to see that."

"So would I." Abby said.

"Yeah? Gee, thanks, guys." Logan rolled his eyes before adding, "...It is kind of weird not to be down there though."

Emma nodded vaguely; it was kind of weird not seeing him down on the court too. As much as she'd always liked to pretend he didn't exist, even she had to admit he was one of the best guys on the team.

She and Abby had gone to the game, just like they had every single week since freshman year. They'd met up at after school and decked themselves from head to toe in the school colors. Emma had even found red and gold streamers to tie around her ponytail. Abby, like half the students here, had a stripe of deep red makeup under each eye.

Usually, it was just the two of them— at least, this year it was just the two of them. Abby's older brother used to be the one to take them when they were younger. But he'd graduated last year and had moved out of state for college. Still, just because he wasn't here any more didn't mean that Emma and Abby had stopped the tradition. Now, they just drove themselves. Today, it had been Abby's turn.

The two had gotten there almost half an hour before the game was supposed to start— it wasn't even completely dark yet. But they wanted to get there early, especially since this was one of the last games of the season, and the bleachers were almost guaranteed to be packed. Their team, The Bulldogs, were one of the best in state, making the games an almost-requirement for any self-respecting student or alumnus. If they wanted to have a chance at a decent seat, they couldn't afford to come waltzing in at the last minute. They showed their tickets at the door, got their basic, yet required first-half snacks of sodas and popcorn, and found a spot on the bleachers not too far from the court. They sat down, making themselves comfortable.

Emma hadn't really thought much of it when Jackson showed up next to her on the bleachers just before the start of the game; they'd been friends for years, and he found himself sitting with them as often as not. Most of the guys he hung out with were on the team, so he didn't have a ton of other people to sit with. Though as Emma thought about it, she guessed there was nothing in particular that caused him to sit with them. But he'd been doing it for long enough at these games that it just felt kind of natural at this point.

But she did raise her eyebrows when he was followed by Logan. Emma knew he'd broken his arm. And she knew he wouldn't exactly be playing in today's game. But somehow, it still hadn't dawned on her that there was even a chance that he'd be sitting up here with them. She'd thought he'd sit down on the bench with the rest of his teammates, as a show of support or something. As soon as they approached, Abby had immediately stood up and made room for them, a strange gleam in her eye. Emma had said hi to the boys, but not much more than that; she'd been too focused on the game.

"Oh my god, we're going to lose." Emma mumbled to herself as she watched an incredibly tall kid on the away team steal the ball from a guy in her English class. He dribbled it all the way down the court, making his inevitable shot look way too easy. Then, someone else scored three points. The ball hadn't even hit the ground before Emma was turning around to face Logan. "Abby's right— you need to go down there."

Logan laughed. "I'll get right on it."

"Good." Emma told him, the corner of her mouth rising just a little.

Emma watched as the other team scored again. She let out a groan, rolling her head back so that she was staring at the ceiling. They were supposed to be ranked in the top five— so what was going on?

"I can't watch this," Logan muttered. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him put his head in his hand. Emma found herself snickering despite herself. At least Dean, one of the juniors on the team, stole the ball before the other team could do any more damage.

"Yeah! Go, Dean!" Logan yelled. As soon Dean scored, Logan was jumping out of his seat, fist in the air. Emma leaned away slightly, avoiding the cast that he'd also raised in his excitement.

Fortunately, it seemed to be the spark they needed to turn the game around. Dean scored, and then one of his teammates did it again almost immediately after. Emma and her friends breathed a collective sigh of relief.

By halftime, they'd managed to make up considerable ground, but The Bulldogs were still down by nine. Still, they managed to keep the ball away from the other team, and it was clearly starting to frustrate them. When the giant on the away team finally fouled out, it seemed like it was the beginning of the end for them.

Of course, The Bulldogs won. It was fairly close— way closer than it should have been since the game had been practically guaranteed to be a blowout. But that didn't matter; they'd won, and that was the important thing. The crowd erupted into cheers, Emma and Logan joining in. She was so glad that they'd won, she didn't even really mind it when he wrapped her in a hug in front of the entire school.