Could This Be Love?

The crowd was going crazy, and I was standing at the boundary line. The score is tied at 66. I look at the clock, it reads 13.5 seconds. The referee places the whistle in his mouth. By this time, my heart is pounding. He hands me the ball, I slap it, and the point guard, Kelly, receives a screen. I pass her the ball, and she begins to dribble up the court. The defense of the opposing team is the best we have ever faced. Dribbling up the court, Kelly finally makes it pass the half court line with 9.3 seconds remaining. She dishes the ball to a post player, Emily, and receives a screen from the other post, Jennifer. Jennifer is trying to create space for the shooter, me. The ball gets passed to me, the trailer. I stop at the three-point line, at the top of the key. I shoot. SWISH!!! The crowd goes wild. With 3.8 seconds left, a time out is called...

It's a full time out. We get to the bench and everyone is congratulating me. We sit, and Coach reminds us, "The game isn't over girls. We have to get back and play strong D. No fouls, no shot."

The buzzer goes off. It's time to play smart strong defense. I thought to myself.

We huddle up. "Defense on 3," Emily says "1....2....3"

"DEFENSE!" We yell.

We are back on the court with a full court press. The other team takes their position. The ball is passed onto the court, and the receiver dribbles towards half court. 1.4 seconds, she shoots from half court, the gym gets quiet. The ball is up, hits the rim and bounces out. WE HAVE WON! 2009 CHAMPIONS!

Everyone rushes the court to congratulate us. We had never won a championship trophy. We celebrated with our classmates, our family, and friends. A voice came through the microphone announcing a party in celebration. "Party at Gabe's."

After the gym cleared out, our team met in the locker room. When we got in there everyone was screaming and hollering. Hitting lockers, and jumping for joy. A few minutes later Coach Spencer was at the door prepared with his post game speech. He was so excited, he was short of words. "Great game tonight ladies. I'm proud of each and every one of you. You each hustle and played to the best of you potential. Have a great time tonight celebrating. See you all at school tomorrow."

He kept his speech short and sweet, and then released us. We, as a team, celebrated our victory in the locker while we got dress. We discussed the post game party, and we had all planned to go.

Each one of us was so excited. I changed, packed my bag, and headed out the locker room, where I met my parents. They congratulated me as we walked to the car. The whole drive home was commotional. We discussed the game, the party, curfew, and dinner. "Congratulations Elizabeth!" mom told me. "We are so proud of you. I bet that was the most nervous you have been in a while."

"Thanks mom. I was a little frightened, but I had faith in our team and our defense. I knew we could pull it off."

"So about this party," Dad interrupted.

"Don't worry dad. There will be no alcohol of any kind. The whole school is going to be there. I had to go to celebrate our first championship."

"Okay sweetie. Just be careful, and be safe." My dad always worried about me.

Even though it was Thursday night, my parents, shockingly, were still going to allow me to attend this party, so long as I promised to be home by midnight. I wish I could have stayed later, but it was a school night, and I did have math class early in the morning.

When we got home I ran upstairs, and I jumped in the shower. When I finished, I went to my room to decide on what I was going to wear. I searched through my closet, but didn't really like anything that I owned. I promised myself that I would go shopping this weekend. I ended up wearing a pair of dark blue faded jeans, and a nice top. The top was black with purple lettering. The lettering read, Where's the party?. I grabbed my purple flats and slid them on. I then went back into the bathroom to do something with my hair. I decided to go casual and wear it down. I filled my hand with moose and spread it throughout my hair. I quickly brushed my teeth, and headed downstairs.

When I got downstairs, mom had dinner ready. She quickly whipped together some spaghetti. "Here you go Lizzy."

"Thanks mom. It smells great."

I sat at the table and ate with my parents. I glanced at the clock which read 8:00 pm. "Thanks for dinner mom, but it's getting late, and I don't was to miss anything."

I kissed my mom and dad bye then headed out the door. Dad reminded me, "Midnight, don't be late."

I yelled back, "Don't worry, I'll be on time."

I rushed out the door and jumped into the front seat of my shiny red corvette. I reached across my chest for the seat belt. I started the engine and backed out of the driveway. On my way I stopped by Emily's house. She had been my best friend ever since I could remember. We go way back to the 1st grade. I pulled into her driveway, honked my horn, and she was out in no time. "Hey Em."

"Long time no see." Emily replied back with a chuckle in her voice.

"So what are you expecting to happen tonight?" I questioned.

"To be honest, I really have no idea. I hope there are a lot of people, and it's a great turnout."

"Agreed!!"

We pulled up to Gabe's and parked on the street. There were already a lot of cars out in front of his house. We got out and walked to the door. Before we could knock, Gabe was opening the door. He must have been on the look out and expecting more people.

Gabe greeted us as we stepped in, "Hey girls!"

"Hey Gabe," we replied in unison.

I went into his house first, and there were a lot of people. They were everywhere. Gabe had gotten his cousin, Rico, to DJ for the party. What's a party without music? I asked myself.

The party was rocking the house, and everyone was having a great time. I searched the living room and spotted out the rest of the team. Both the men and women's basketball teams were there, as well as the football team. It was a fantastic turn-out. Emily and I walked through a crowd of people to join the rest of the team.

"Hey Beth, hey Emily," a Kelly welcomed us to the huddle.

"Hey Kelly," Emily responded.

Kelly questioned our lateness, "What took you guys so long?"

"Sorry we had to discuss the time were going to meet," I said. "Plus, we both had to shower, and my parents made me some dinner."

"It's ok. If you get thirsty, there's punch in the kitchen," Kelly pointed towards the kitchen, which was behind her.

"Can you believe the game tonight?" I overheard a familiar voice next to me.

I turned and I saw that it was Omar. Omar is the quarterback for our football team. I had Omar in just about all my classes. We sat next to each other in each class we had together.

"Hey Omar."

"Hey Beth. Fantastic game tonight! You played great."

"Thanks! It was pretty scary."

"Yes it was. We (referring to the crowd in the stands), were all nervous when that girl threw up the shot at the buzzard."

"Oh my gosh, so were we. It's a good thing we had a lot of support there tonight. That really helped out team gain more confidence."

"I can't wait until next season. I want to see how good you girls are going to be," Omar said anxiously.

"I'm pretty excited myself. I think we are going to be good. We have the majority of the team coming back. Plus we have some freshmen that are pretty good. We will only lose 2 seniors, but they will be easy to replace."

"Great, I can't wait. What do you think of the party?"

"It's fantastic! There are so many people here. I didn't think there was going to be this big of a turn-out."

He was shocked I had even said that. "What do you mean? That was a huge win. Who is going to miss are party like this?"

"Yea true," I agreed without argument.

"Ok, well I'm sure you have more visiting to do. I'll see you tomorrow in Calculus."

"Ok Omar. Have fun!"

"You too."

I rejoined the girls, who had migrated towards the kitchen. They were talking about plans for the weekend. "I thin we should all go hang out at the mall," Jennifer said.

"Yea that sounds like fun," Emily approved. "Beth, what do you think about joining us at the mall this weekend?"

"I'm all for it." Plus I need some new clothes anyway. I reminded myself.

A few hours had passed; I looked at my phone to check the time. It was only 11:00. I started to wonder around to see what Gabe's house looked like. I came to the bottom of a set of stairs, so I decided to go upstairs. Compared to my house, Gabe had a really nice set up. I got to the top, and on the left was a big mirror, with a gold frame, hung on the wall. Straight in front of me was a window that looked out onto the backyard. There was a room on each side of the hallway near the window. I walked towards the window, and something caught my attention. It was the bedroom to the left. The door was opened slightly, and behind it, the walls were bright green. I knocked on the door, and a soft voice inside replied, "Come in."

I pushed the door open and saw a little girl sitting at her desk on her computer; she looked like she was around 14. "Hi my name is Elizabeth. What's yours?"

A little hesitant, she announced herself. "M-m-my name is Lisa."

"Hi Lisa, you must be one of Gabe's younger sisters?" She nodded in agreement. "What are you doing up here by yourself?"

"Gabe told me I had to stay up here, in my room. He didn't want me downstairs intruding in all the fun."

"I see. What you are doing, if I might ask?"

"I'm just surfing the net. There really isn't much to do up here, by myself."

"If you would like I will stay up here and keep you company?"

She nodded, "It's ok. I'll be fine."

Just then Gabe came into the room. He didn't look very happy. I looked at him, and he was glaring at Lisa. "What did I tell you?" he yelled at her.

"Don't yell at her. She did nothing wrong. I came up here to see the rest of the house. As I was walking passed her door, I saw the light on and the brightness of her room. I knocked on the door, and she told me to 'come in'," I explained.

"Well I told her to stay up here, and to stay away from my friends. I didn't want her to embarrass me."

"She seems like such a sweetheart. Just relax Gabe; she did nothing wrong."

I walked out of the room and left the two of them alone. Soon as I walked out, I heard Gabe yelling at his sister again. All I heard was a muffled sound beyond the door. I walked even further down the hall towards the other room. The door was opened, so I looked inside. This room was much bigger than Lisa's. It was obviously their parent's room. The walls were plain and white. There was a king sized bed in the middle of the room, pushed against the wall. The bed was neatly made. I looked passed the bed, and there was a bathroom. This definitely was the master bedroom.

I turned around and started walking towards the stairs, but it was then that I noticed another door behind the stairs. I walked in the direction of the stairs but didn't go down. I walked right passed them and stopped at the door to the left. On the door there was a yellow sign that read, Do not enter unless welcomed. Just then, I knew this had to be Gabe's room.

He stepped out of Lisa's room, closing the door behind him and said, "Are you looking for something in particular?"

"No. Like I said earlier, I was just looking around. I'm just checking out the rest of the house."

"If you wanted a personal tour, all you had to do was ask."

"You're right. I'm sorry."

"It's ok, no harm done."

We talked for a while outside of his room. We properly introduced ourselves, seeing as we really didn't know each other very well. We had both known of each other, but never really conversed before right now. "I don't know how much you know about me, but let me start from the top. You obviously know my name, Elizabeth Turner, but my friends call me Beth. I'm a junior. You know I play basketball. What about you?"

"Nice to meet you Beth. My name is Gabriel Rodriguez. I go by Gabe. I am a senior and played football. I've signed to play football for a small university in Alabama. What do you do in you free time?"

"Just recently I decided to use my free time and read different books that have been suggested by my friends. I'm not big on parties, but I am always looking for something new and creative. And yourself, what do you like to do?"

"I'm pretty much laid back, and I go with the flow of things. I could care less if I'm at home or out with friends. So long as I'm happy doing what I'm doing, I am up for anything."

"I see." I glanced at the door again, to imply that was wanted to go in and sit, but he didn't get the clue. "Great party you've hosted; the music, the drinks, the crowd. There are more people here than I expected."

"Thanks Beth. It's all because of you. If you wouldn't have made that shot, we might not be having this party."

"Yea that is true. I was so nervous when Emily passed me the ball. My heart told me to shoot. I was feeling the vibe. Next thing you know, the ball is in the air."

"That's the way it's got to be. You just have to go with you gut instincts."

I leaned up against the wall. "It's a good thing they were telling me to shoot."

"You got that right. I love last second points. That puts a lot of pressure on the other team. It makes their clock speed up in there hear; therefore, more opportunity for mistakes."

"I'm sure they were pretty nervous, just like the rest of us."

Gabe and I proceeded to discuss more of the game for a few minutes longer. I wonder what time it is. Seems like I've been up here a while.

Just then I looked at my phone and saw that the time was 11:45 pm. I thought to myself, I'm going to be late. "I'm sorry Gabe, but my parents told me I needed to be home by midnight. I better start saying my goodbyes. I hope we can stay in touch." I looked at his door again and noticed the sign had a dry eraser velcroed to it. "Here is my number," I wrote it on the sign, "call me sometime."

"Will do. Thanks for coming. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

I went downstairs and found Emily. She was still with the crowd of basketball players, laughing and having a good time. "Come on Emily. It is 11:45, and I have to be home by 12."

"Bye everyone," Emily looked at the team and waved.

They all waved back. We went to my car and got in.

"So, where did you sneak off to?" Emily asked.

"I was upstairs checking out the rest of the house. I met Gabe's little sister, she is such a sweetheart. While I was up there, Gabe and I talked for a while. He seems like a nice guy. He is a senior and played football."

"That's nice. Did you give him your number?"

"Yup. Sure did!"

I stopped in front of her house. "See you tomorrow morning. You're picking me up right?"

"Yes mam, 7:30."

"Sounds good to me. Have a good night"

I sped off when she got into her house. As I was pulling into the driveway, I glanced at the clock; 11:58. Just in time. I turned off the car, and rushed inside. Of course, my dad was sitting in the living room pretending to be watching TV, but I knew he was waiting for me. "Hey dad."

"Hey Beth. How was the party?"

"It was great! There were a lot of people there from school." I didn't want to mention Gabe to him just yet. "I'm off to bed. Good night dad. I love you."

"Night Beth. Love you."

I went upstairs and changed into my pajamas. I hung my jeans back in the closet and threw my top into the hamper. I grabbed my brush off my dresser and took it through my hair a couple of times. By this time it was 12:15 am. I climbed into bed, leaned over to my alarm clock and set it for 6:30 am. I figured this would give me time to get dressed, eat, and be ready to go by the time Emily got here. I lay down, closed my eyes, and in to time I was asleep.