Chapter 13
Mary quietly approached Matt's bedroom, only to notice that the door was closed.
"Matt, hurry up. I need to be there in fifteen minutes," Mary shouted through the closed door.
"Would you keep it down, there are nine people in this house, seven of which are sleeping," Matt told his sister, walking out into the hall.
"Six actually," Mary confessed, "Lucy's up." Just then, Lucy came out into the hallway dressed.
"Can I go with you?" Lucy asked her brother and sister.
"Go where?" Mrs. Camden asked; she was woken from all of the commotion in the hallway.
"Nowhere," Lucy quickly said.
"And where are you two going?" Mrs. Camden asked, eyeing both Matt and Mary.
"I was just going to the library to study some more," Matt told his mother.
"And I was just going to the library with Matt to work on a project for school," Mary said, thinking fast.
"Fine, go," Mrs. Camden said, too tired to argue. With that, Mary and Matt went on their way, while Mrs. Camden followed.
"Where are the children off to this early in the morning?" Reverend Camden asked as he watched his two eldest children race out the front door.
"Matt said that he needed to go to the library to study for a test and Mary said that she had to go with him to work on a school project," Mrs. Camden told her husband.
"And do you believe them?" Reverend Camden asked suspiciously.
"Well, Matt I believe, but Mary… Our children are very bad liars," said Mrs. Camden.
"It's that obvious?"
"Oh, yeah," Mrs. Camden replied. With that, they both burst out laughing.
Meanwhile, across town at Kennedy High, Matt headed to the library, as did Mary. She didn't want Matt suspecting anything different; she would just sneak off to the gym later. Mary checked her watch, "6:20", she had to be at practice in ten minutes, but first she needed to come up with a good excuse to leave the library, and fast!
Mary quickly went to the many shelves of books and started picking out random books. She needed to at least make it look like she was doing research for a school project, because the truth was there was no school project. After she had gathered a number of books from the shelves, she went over to a table and sat down. She then proceeded to open the book and start reading, glancing over at her brother from time to time to see if he was watching her. As she read who knows what, she tried to think of a ligament excuse. I could say that I need to use the bathroom, Mary thought to herself- no that would be too obvious and Matt would knew that something weird was going on then.
"Think Mary, think," Mary quietly whispered to herself, as she rattled her brain for more ideas. She was having no success and she had to be at practice in three minutes, Mary realized as she checked her watch. Yikes she needed to think of something and fast!
Maybe, just maybe, I can sneak out without Matt noticing. Yeah, that will work, there are so many people that Matt won't even notice that I am gone Mary finally decided. With that, she quietly gathered her books and book bag that rest on the back of the chair in which she was sitting. She started to make her way to the exit of the library, but she was too late. Matt had spotted her.
"Where are you going? I thought that you were going to work on your school project," Matt said.
"I did and now I think that I am going to go and walk around for a while and then head to class," Mary told her brother, coming up with the quickest answer she could think of.
"Fine, I'll see you later," Matt told Mary.
"Yeah, later," Mary meekly responded, flashing her brother a fake smile. With that, she went on her way to the gym.
Once she got to the gym, she saw coach Cleary already waiting for her.
"Camden, there you are. Where have you been?" coach Cleary asked, once he heard Mary enter the gym; she was already five minutes late.
"Sorry I am late. I was working on a…" Mary started.
"Let's just get started," coach Cleary said firmly. With that, Mary set her stuff against the nearby wall and hustled over to where the coach was standing.
"First off, I want to start by having you just shoot around a little. Just for you to warm up. I want you to take about twenty-five shots," coach Cleary said. With that, coach Cleary bounced a ball to Mary, signaling for her to start. She then proceeded to take the 25 shots from all different areas of the floor and at different angles. Coach Cleary watched her closely and kept track of her shooting percentage.
"How did I do?" Mary asked, after she had finished.
"Well, you did pretty well considering how early it is," coach Cleary told Mary. Mary chuckled before continuing.
"And good for this early in the morning would be," Mary urged.
"Try, eighteen out of twenty-five," the coach told her.
"You're kidding me, really?" Mary questioned; she was really tired and was not concentrating much.
"Yeah. You did great," coach Cleary told Mary, as he patted her on the back, showing that he was proud of her.
Next, coach Cleary told Mary to stand at the free throw line and take about 100 shots.
"You're goal is to hit as close to one hundred shots as you can," he explained to Mary, as she stood at the free throw line with the basketball in her hands. With that, Mary got in the stance to shoot the ball and started to take all one hundred shots. As Mary shot, coach Cleary tallied her missed and made shots.
"Good effort, but your game's a little off. You only made forty out of one-hundred shots. That's not even half," coach Cleary told Mary, disappointed.
"Yeah, my game's been off lately. I haven't had much time to practice," Mary explained.
"Well, I want you to at least try and practice some more between now and championship time," coach Cleary told Mary.
"Sure, I'll try," Mary told him, even though she knew that it would be nearly impossible to do without someone seeing her and then questioning and lecturing her about how she's not allowed to play yet; she defiantly didn't want that to happen, but she'd try and practice non-the least.
Following, coach Cleary told Mary that she was to play "around the world", which meant that she was to take shots while circling around the perimeter of the three point line. Coach Cleary bounced the ball to her and she took the first shot, which she made.
"Good," Coach Claery told her, as he retrieved the ball and bounced it back to Mary once she had advanced to the next spot. Once she got the basketball, she took the second shot and made that one also.
"Nice job Mary," the coach commented. This went on for a while until Mary had gone around a total of three consecutive times. She managed to keep up her strong start by sinking all of her shots.
"Very impressive," coach Cleary commented, acknowledging Mary's good efforts and hard work. Mary, herself was beaming with a feeling of accomplishment. It felt good to know that her game wasn't totally off, only in certain areas.
"Okay, Mary, we are done for now because school's about to start," coach Cleary told Mary.
"Okay, thanks coach. I'll see you at practice after school," Mary told him, just to let him know that she had not forgotten that they had practice after school. She was glad that she was done because her side was really bothering her.
"Bye Mary," coach Cleary told her. Mary than gathered up her stuff that she had placed against the wall of the gym and headed towards her locker to get her books and be on her way to class.
Later that day, during her study hall, Mary gave the note that Matt had signed to her teacher and after giving her the go ahead, she headed to the gym to practice. She was going to concentrate on free throws, since she didn't do so well with them earlier, and then just practice her shooting. Once Mary had reached the gym, she went and found a basketball. Once she found a basketball, she started shooting around just to warm up. Halfway through, her side began to hurt her so she decided that she would rest for a few minutes. After she was feeling better, she decided that it was going to concentrate on her free throw shooting. She practiced for a while, and the next thing she knew the bell had rung to signal the end of class. Mary quickly put the basketball away in its respective spot and then headed towards her locker to get her books.
Just as she was about to get her books and then head to her last class of the day, the last bell rang. She was late for class AGAIN. That was the second time that week that she had been late for that class. She quickly hurried to class, even though she knew that it didn't make any difference; she was going to get ANOTHER tardy slip, in which she would have to get signed by her parents and as a result, she would get into more trouble then she already was. Once she got to class she quietly slipped in the door and took a seat, hoping that the teacher hadn't noticed she had arrived late.
"Nice of you to join us, Miss Camden," the teacher told Mary, as she handed her the second tardy slip that she had received that week. After Mary had taken the tardy slip from the teacher, she took a seat.
Finally, the bell rang, that signaled the end of class and Mary made a quick exit. She went to her locker to get her stuff that she needed to take home for that day. As she was putting her stuff into her book bag, Lucy approached her locker.
"Hey, how was school?" Lucy asked her sister.
"It was okay," Mary told her sister.
"And you?" Mary asked Lucy.
"It was good," Lucy told Mary.
"What's that?" Lucy asked her sister, noticing the piece of paper that was in Mary's hand.
"Oh, this, it's a tardy slip, my second one this week," Mary told her.
"Mom and Dad are going to freak," Lucy said.
"I know, that's why I am dreading showing it to them," Mary said, as she flung her book bag over her right shoulder.
"Look, I need to get to practice. Let Matt know that I will get a ride home and remember not a word to Mom and Dad about where I am," Mary told Lucy.
"Okay," Lucy said defensively. With that, Mary went on her way to the gym, while Lucy went to find Matt.
"Hey Luce," Matt said, once he spotted his sister among the crowd of other high schoolers.
"Hey," Lucy responded, giving her brother a weak smile.
"Where's Mary?" Matt asked her.
"Uh, she went to a friends' house to study," Lucy lied for her sister.
"Okay, well does she need a ride home?" Matt asked.
"She said that her friends' parents would bring her home," Lucy lied again.
"Okay, you ready to go?" Matt asked Lucy.
"Yeah," Lucy responded as she started to follow Matt towards the car.
All the while, in the gym, Mary and the rest of the Wildcat team were warming up, waiting for practice to begin. After about ten minutes of the team warming up, coach Cleary blew his whistle, to signal the start of practice. The girls' hustled to quickly put the balls away. After that, they all meet coach Cleary in the middle of the gym, where he would explain what they were expected to do at tonight's practice.
"I knew that we usually do drills during practice but today we are going to do something totally different," coach Cleary started.
"Instead, we are going to work on endurance. I want each of you to run two miles," coach Cleary told the team. At that moment, groans were heard throughout the gym.
"But first, lets start off by stretching," coach Cleary told everyone.
After the girls' had finished stretching, coach Cleary blew his whistle.
"Two miles, lets go," he shouted as they began running around the gym.I can't do thisMary thought to herself. They hadn't been running that long and already her side was beginning to hurt her. How was she supposed to run two miles if her side hurt her? Just then, Corey ran up beside her.
"Hey Mary," Corey said.
"Hi Corey," Mary greeted her friend.
"What's up? You seem a little out of it," Corey told Mary.
"Yeah, I don't know what's up, I think it's from all this practicing," Mary said.
"Practicing?" Corey questioned.
"Yeah, I had to get up at 5:30 this morning because coach Cleary wanted to work with me for a while before school and then I practiced during my study hall," Mary explained to Corey.
"Wow, your going to be up to speed in no time if you keep practicing that much," Corey told Mary.
"I know. It's just I don't know how much physical activity I can handle right now," Mary stated.
"How are you doing?" Corey asked Mary.
"Well, as we speak, my side is killing me. I think it's because I am not supposed to be running and the fact that it's infected," Mary said.
"Why don't you tell coach?" Corey asked.
"I can't. I mean, basketball is my life. If it weren't for basketball, I don't know what I would do; I can't not play," Mary said firmly.
"I know what you mean, but it's different for me though. It's hard to be a teenage mother and play basketball at the same time," Corey said.
"I knew, but you sill do and on top of that you are a great mother," Mary told Corey.
"Thanks Mary," Corey said, as they continued running.
After they had FINALLY finished running their required two miles, couch Cleary told them to go and get a drink and then to meet back in the middle of the gym. As soon as everyone was gathered in the center of the gym, he told them that they were to go and lift weights for a half an hour and then they were done with practice. Mary was not to fond with the idea of having to lift weights after she had just ran two miles, as was no one else. Mary's side was really hurting her and she knew that lifting weights would only make it hurt more. Beside the point, she did as she was told and lifted weights for a half an hour, even though the pain in her side when she finished was almost unbearable.
"Bye Mary," Corey told her friend, as she got ready to leave.
"Wait Corey, I hate to ask you this, but would you be able to give me a ride home? I told Lucy that I would get a ride home, so that Matt didn't have to come get me," Mary explained.
"No problem. Let me just call my mom quick and let her know that I'll be home a little later. She is watching Bernadette," Corey explained, as she reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. After Corey quickly called her mom, she and Mary headed towards Corey's car. The girls talked the whole way to Mary's house.
"Thanks Corey," Mary said, as she climbed out of the front seat of the car, swinging her backpack over her shoulder.
"No problem, see you tomorrow," Corey told Mary.
"Tomorrow? But tomorrow's Saturday?" Mary questioned.
"Yeah, but the tournament game is tomorrow," Cory said, astonished by the fact that Mary had forgotten about the game that weekend.
"Oh right," Mary said, as she smiled weakly at her friend, "see you tomorrow than," Mary said, as she shut the door to the car and waved good-bye. She had just made a complete idiot of herself; she was so embarrassed, how could she have forgotten the most important game of her high school basketball career?