Over the Line
A/N: I'm not really one to write for High School Musical, but the types of people that I write about tend to fit with it. Please review, because I accept anything. Compliments, suggestions, flames, whatever you feel like writing (but please make it relevant).
Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical, I just own Kayla Bolton (Troy's sister), Shauna (a teammate) and the not much of a plot of this story.
To her, basketball wasn't just a sport. It was a religion, it was a pastime, it was a job, it was a chore… To her basketball was life. And it's been that way as far back as she could remember. There were times when she thought about quitting, but just the feeling you get when you're out there, it's indescribable. And that's what kept her going all these years. And it's amazing how much her emotions swell just by taking one step over the sideline onto the court. It's amazing how her feelings change by being in the game, feeling that rush of excitement, and the exhilaration of it all. Every time she stepped onto that court, she never held back. She left it all on the court. That's all she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Just play basketball.
But right now, she couldn't be at this game. She just couldn't. She couldn't just sit here and watch while all her friends played the game she loved. Everyone, even she knew, that being in a wheelchair wouldn't stop her from playing, I mean there was wheelchair basketball. But it's not the same. Everything she lived for, everything she's built up just came crashing down. She especially lived for the contact of the sport. She lived for the people, the tournaments, the championships, everything. She lived for basketball. And now she has nothing to live for anymore. But then again did she ever?
Basketball was supposed to be her sport, her thing. But then her older brother had to go and ruin it for her. It's not that she disliked her brother, it's just she couldn't understand why he couldn't let her have this as her thing. He got everything else anyway. He was always everybody's favorite. She was just "Troy's little sister". Troy didn't even like basketball half as much as she did. And no matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried, he was always the one that got the praise and recognition, especially from their dad. And when she was paralyzed in the accident, he didn't let up on his road to stardom. He played twice as hard, and got twice the recognition, all because I wasn't in the picture anymore. I wasn't a threat to him anymore.
As much as it pains her, she stays for the whole game. Her team wins 52-51 with a buzzer beater. A buzzer beater that could've been hers. Not that she wasn't glad Shauna made it, but she missed that tense feeling on the court between he players when the ball flies through the air, and the loud cheers from her team and the crowd when it swishes through the net.
After the game is long over and everyone has left the gym, she grabs a basketball, wheels over to half-court, and puts up a shot. It sinks through the net effortlessly. She doesn't notice her brother standing in the back doorway of the gym, watching her put up that shot. And it suddenly occurs to him, that her shot was the feeling she always said he would never understand. And he suddenly understands her a little more. He now knows that before she steps over the sideline, during the game, and even after she's left the court, to her, even in a wheelchair, basketball is life.
A/N: For those of you who are confused, Kayla is Troy's younger sister. That's who most of the story is about. She loved to play basketball, until Troy started playing and left her in the dust. Then she was in an accident (I don't know what kind, so just make up your own accident) that left her paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair. Throughout the story she is watching her team's basketball game that she can't play in because she's paralyzed. While she's watching, she's thinking all these things about her brother, her love for the game, and the loss she's suffered because of the accident. Shauna is Kayla's teammate who made the buzzer beater that won the game.