That same night, across town...
Jerome was coming in from training, and watching the walk-on's try out for the team. His eyes were bloodshot and his shoulders sagging. He was exhausted. What would usually be a boys night out with the others, wound up just being a night alone. As he dropped down to the couch that resides in the small living room of the apartment that he shared with Rudy, he sat looking out towards the Seattle skyline.
He was immersed in his thoughts. So much so, that he was still running on autopilot when he decided to open his laptop. He went to his media player and clicked on "Avril the 14th" by Aphex Twin. He began to click around his desktop, going through all of his old files. He found a number of Word documents, containing various papers and personal writings. He continues to click around and go through more files, unsure of what he's actually looking for. As he continues to click around, he finds a folder marked memories. He knows that he shouldn't click on this one but, something inside of him is compels him to do just that. He is presented with all of the memories of him and Diana.
He found old pictures from his high school basketball courts, after Jerome's basketball games. He looked at others that were taken after her games. Both of them smiling brightly and even being a little silly sometimes. There were pictures from trips the school would have them take. As well as pictures from times when she would accompany him on family trips of his.
They were good times indeed. He thought with a sigh.
He tried to scan over each of these pictures pretty quickly. For the most part, he succeeded; to some degree, but there was one special picture that stopped him.
He stared at the picture of Diana. She was about to eat one of the dishes that he had helped her make. He remembered that it was a Tuscan dish called; Arista Alla Florentina, a roast pork dish. Most would look at the picture and just see another photo of a pretty girl. But it was much more to Jerome. It was a photograph of the past that he could never forget. It was a picture of what he once thought would be and what he still hoped could be. It wasn't just another night with his girlfriend like many would perceive it to be. This was the night that Jerome knew he was in love.
June 4th, 2009; Brooklyn Terrace Apartments
It was a balmy, June, night in Brooklyn. Which, usually indicates that the Summer is creeping closer. In addition to the heat, he was running late. With the Elevator out, he was forced to take the stairs and Diana was expecting him over thirty minutes ago. Luckily, he was wearing a dark blue, button down shirt so the sweat didn't show as much. He took off his blazer and held it in one hand. In his other hand he had the ingredients that Diana told him to bring so that they could make tonight's dish. He didn't seem to have any sweat on his khakis at all.
He made it to Diana's apartment, 5B, and he can hear the RJD2 Mix blasting through her door that he made for her. The mix had everything from: his early work the "Your Face or Your Kneecaps" Mix CD, to his last album to date, "The Third Hand". He gave himself a once over. Satisfied with his appearance, he knocked on her door.
He heard Diana's voice ring through, "Its open!" He walked in and made his way to the kitchen in the back room.
"Ciao piccola Italia!" Jerome yelled over the music.
Her wavy long brunette hair whips as she turns her head to stare at him with a bright smile. "Finally, you understand its 'Italia' not 'Italiano' " She said as she turns back to her Roast Pork, she turns down the music a little so they can use their inside voices.
They have been the closest of friends since they were in the seventh grade. He rounded a corner and ran into her 5'9 frame. He had stayed by her side ever since. Even when puberty hit him and he reached high school at a height of 6'2, and the girls started to come on to him, he decided to just be with her instead. As hard as the girls tried, it was always Diana Cassano whom he would have the most fun with. He didn't want to lose that.
"Well you could have been more understanding on the topic, you know?"
"Are you serious?" Diana retorted not turning around. "You are looking at a proud Italian American that ended up spending an entire Saturday afternoon with you, learning AND teaching you the language."
"You know… I am getting better with it. Maybe it will catch up with my game. When that time comes, then you should be worried, D'."
"Bastardo arrogante." she breathed with a smirk.
It had started out as just something to do. Diana wanted to learn Italian to 'be a bigger part of her heritage'. Jerome, being the tagalong that he was decided to learn it as well. At first they used it as code for pick-up games in the local parks. They'd always make quite a haul off of the suckers they'd find. Eventually, though, it turned into something special. Eventually, it turned into their thing.
"Oh really?" he slid up behind her and took her by the hips and lay his head on her shoulder as he watched her cook. "Is that what you really think of me?"
Diana's smirk never left her face, "Tell me, what you think of me, se mi conosci così bene?"
The confusion on his face just showed how perplexed he was. "You suck. You know that?" but the Smirk was too playful to go through the whispered fib.
"Please, I bet what you're really thinking of is how much you want to kiss me."
"What if," He started kissing her right shoulder, "you're," then her left, "Right?"
She turns her head, and stares at him and the room turns deftly silent, except for the mix that is still playing
"Un modo per scoprire," she whispered. So, he leaned in, and got closer. Diana began to close her eyes. With his eye on the prize and so close to claim...
CRASH!
They jumped apart to see that a pile of pans had fallen over from the countertop on the other side of the small kitchen. "Uh… Let me pick it up." Jerome uttered silently, once he noticed both of their red faces, He went to pick up the pans that were on the floor and she went back to tending to the roast pork.
After that was done she went to back to the authoritarian side she usually displayed. "You get the stuff I asked you about?" She asks.
"Sì, l'ho fatso" he replies, then he pulled out a small box of garlic cloves and put it on the counter near to her.
"Not bad, but its 'fatto'," she corrected. She then proceeded to start giving out orders. "Now I can start dicing the Rosemary and mince the Garlic, you look after the roast pork."
They switched sides and started on working on the rest of the dish. As he tended to the pork that was on the skillet, he glanced over to see her mince and dice. It amazed him every time he saw her work. It was crazy to see her cut with such precision and accuracy as she quickly started dicing the garlic. She did it like a pro. It had been like this for over a few years since she cooked for him the first time. He had wanted to learn ever since. He looked up to her eyes and saw how focused she was.
He became bored watching the pork rather quickly. He wondered who taught her how to cook. Whoever it was, he was sure that they got a great student when they got Diana. She always was a fast learner. He was impressed at how quickly she caught on to things. Even on the courts, when he taught her how to play basketball, she picked it up really fast. She, eventually, turned into a top prospect at Small Forward, Shooting Guard, and Point Guard. She was working on a third straight District Title and their first State Title in the FDR High School Basketball history. He couldn't be more impressed and most of all proud, with how well she developed.
Twenty Minutes later...
They were in the dining room at a small round table sitting side by side looking at their finished plates. They saved the rest for; Diana's mom, who worked the night shift as a Registered Nurse at a Hospital in Manhattan, and her Grandfather, who owns a grocery store that is two blocks away.
Admiring their work and taking in the smells of pork, rosemary and garlic, Jerome finally decides to break the silence, "Think we 'fatso bene'?"
"Si," She laughs lightly, then adds, "and again, its 'Fatto'," She would correct as she lightly tapped him on the cheek twice "You're getting there, Jerome." She looks down to her food and declares "Lasciaire di mangiare!"
"I still feel that is too much just to say 'Lets eat!'" he quips with a chuckle. He sees that she is about to take her first bite and gets and idea, "Wait!" he shouts. And Diana stops with the fork half-way to her mouth, "Stay just like that." He takes his cell and activates the camera.
"You gotta be kidding me Jerome." Diana mumbles, slightly annoyed that Jerome is preventing her from eating.
"Don't you want to keep this moment forever? I mean, this looks to be your best dish yet!" Jerome explains to her.
"Make it quick!" She declares, now visibly annoyed, wanting to enjoy the dish that is on her plate.
He points the cell phone up towards her face and says "And... Sorriso."
FLASH!
*Ends Flashback*
It was such a great night for him. They swapped stories, and enjoyed the Tuscan style cooking that she made. He smiled, remembering that night so well. But in the following two years, his rivalry with Morgan took Diana on an emotional joy ride that she wanted no part of. Those words on prom night said it all...
"You and Morgan can't seem to stop putting me in the middle of all of the crap you two get into when you go up against each other, and you know what! I! AM! SICK OF IT!, I thought that I could at least get away from the drama that my family gives me about going to college in the states rather than back in Italy, but you proved me wrong. You ALWAYS prove me wrong." She stormed away from the hotel and out of his life. She turned to address him once more, "You seem to be getting better and better at that. Bastardo Arrogante!"
With those words she was gone and out of his life. She didn't even come to the schools Graduation, as she picked up her diploma days before. As she would turn out to be gone out of his life physically, she never was out of his mind. All of those years of being friends and going out even through that Junior and Senior year, down the drain in the end. Ironically, like the way he plays in his high school basketball tournaments, start brilliant but just couldn't finish. He shakes his head at that memory. He continues looking at pictures. Once he's finished, he closes
the laptop and lies back on his couch and stares out towards the bright Skyline. And as he drifts off to sleep, the last words he breathed out for the night came out of his mouth is a slight...
"Damn..."
Four days Later, somewhere in the woods of Spokane, Washington. Spokane Hills High School Gymnasium...
The Washington Lady Huskies was starting day three of their own training camp. Today was almost perfect for a day like this. Everyone seemed to be excited about their upcoming season. They all believed they had a chance to become great, but Samantha Puckett wasn't thinking about any of that. No, her mind instead was occupied with thoughts of why Freddie hasn't been picking up his phone or replying to the texts that she sent. It's been three days at the camp and her focus has been waning and being replaced with anger, frustration, and even a bit of worry, but just a tiny bit.
Her heart wasn't in it. At first it didn't show. She ran as well as anyone else on the team, and spiked harder than everyone else on the team, just like the athlete she was. After the end of the first day though, she had started to finish behind the other girls. She began opting to set up other players rather than spike. By the second day she began missing her spikes. And her serves began to fly out of bounds. She could hear the snickers from her teammates. Even more unlike her, however, was the fact that her anger wasn't focused on her game. Instead, it was placed elsewhere.
She couldn't believe the nerve of Freddie to not reply or call her back! He could, at least, have told her how his try-outs went. Or anything, to at least let her know that he was okay. But he decided to ignore her. But that wasn't even the worst part. Her game was suffering because of it. Why! Why was her game off? Just because he decided not to talk to her? Had she fallen so low as to need that nub to have a good game? She checked her phone for a message through those three nights, in her bed at the hotel. Her display was blank.
Unbelievable, she thought.
She drifted off to sleep, every one of those nights, thinking about what diabolical plan she would implement for her revenge on Mr. Benson when she returned to Seattle.
The next day, Sam started her day with an exercise session in which she was able to keep up with the senior starters. She also lifted pretty well in her weight training. She was back at her Puckett best. However, at lunch, she checked for anything from Freddie, in her Pear Phone...
Nothing... Again.
Her frustration was now at a dangerous level, once again and it began to show at her scrimmage against the upperclassmen.
She was at the net. She had been set up perfectly twice before. And both times, she spiked too hard and sent the ball out of bounds. The serve came once again. Sam watched as the ball was hit up into the air and sailed to the girl on her right. The girl clasped her hands together and bumped the ball high above Sam. This was it… her redeeming moment.
Sam took a step back, and jumped into the air. She swung her arm forward and hit the ball.
It was a shot that missed everyone, and including the line but the view from Sam's angle was skewed...
The Head Coach, Gina Kaplan, blew the whistle. "It's out, Puckett! Rotate!" Coach directed.
If this was the day before, she would have just let things be and rotated with little more than a frustrated grumble. However, today, her frustration with: the way she is playing, and how she thought she was bouncing back, and most of all, Freddie not talking to her, her resolve just broke. Her anger flowed like water from a broken dam.
Sam just wasn't having it. "What are you? Blind? It wasn't out! It was inside the line, I had it in!"
Coach Kaplan wasn't having insubordination at anytime. "Puckett! It was out! Rotate NOW!"
Sam was going to do just that when another freshman right in front of Sam started whispering towards another teammate. "Where in the hell does she get off, yelling at the coach like that?"
Sam heard and immediately attacked, "What the hell are you doing in my business?" Sam may not have been quite herself, but she wasn't going to take any lip…
From any one.
The red-haired teammate turn around towards Sam, face to face she was. "And just what the hell do you think you're gonna do about it?"
If Sam had any modicum of self-control, it was broken at that very moment. Her mind was flooded with angry thoughts, she was overwhelmed with an all too familiar feeling. The desire to hurt something… anything.
A sudden smacking sound resounded powerfully all throughout the Gymnasium. Students were holding Sam back from pouncing on the girl that was, now, on the floor. She wanted to finish the girl off. I don't take crap like this! Who the hell they think they are?
The assistant coaches finally ran in and pulled the red-haired freshman away from the scene. Coach Kaplan came into the circle with an aura of animosity, annoyance, and disappointment. The worst part was that Sam could see all of it in the way the caoch was looking straight into her eyes.
"Puckett! Locker room! Now!"
Since she came to be the head coach at Washington three years ago, she had an overall record of 15 wins and 74 losses. She was on the hot seat. Her job was on the line and this season could very well have been her last with the Huskies. She made a desperate plea to the school's Athletic Director to keep her job; promising a winning record and a solid showing in the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament. She knew that she had to take some risks. One of them was picking up, problem child, Sam Puckett.
She knew how good she was as a double athlete at Ridgeway High; winning state titles in both, Volleyball and Basketball. She also knew about the punch that made Sam such a risk in the first place. She was also very aware of Sam's Juvie record which was as long as Coach Kaplan's, fourteen year old daughter's cell phone bill. But she took the risk, and she brought her in. To this day, she doesn't know how. Her grades were dismal, but they were just high enough to be within legal borders of NCAA regulations.
But for that risk to behave in the way that she had earlier, was unacceptable. Sam's actions were grounds for getting kicked off of the team. Even more than that, it was grounds for actually legal consequences. She really hoped it wouldn't come to that. Coach Kaplan believed in second chances. She received one from the Athletic director, so she could most certainly give Sam one. Not to mention it would reflect horribly on her, since she was the one who personally recruited her.
"I took a risk on you!" Kaplan's voice boomed through the locker room.
She waited for a response. Seeing the defiant look on Sam's face and hearing no response let Kaplan know that yelling wouldn't get through to her.
Kaplan sighed, "I took a big risk, but I am not willing to give up on you yet." Kaplan says exasperated, "I am a person who's all for second chances. But you need to know this is NOT Ridgeway High School, this is the University of Washington and misconduct and insubordination will NOT be taken lightly, especially on my squad." She takes a deep breath and continues, "You are now suspended from this team indefinitely. You come back on this team when I decide you can handle yourself better than what I saw out there. So you need to show it in the grades, I want you to hold at least a 2.7 Grade Point Average. You do that, your back on. Also, when you do return I want you to give the girl a written apology. If you come back on this team you will be red-shirted for the rest of the season. Am I understood?"
All Sam could do is nod.
"Good, you are to leave the premises immediately. Do you have anyone that will come up this far to pick you up?"
"Yes," Sam whispers solemnly.
"Well, you need to wait outside for them," She was about to fully walk out but turned around back towards Sam. "And please, don't talk with anyone on the team as you leave." Coach Kaplan says as she walks out of the locker room, leaving Sam to pack up her things, alone.
Sam is trying to convince herself that nothing that happened today was real. She wanted it all to be a dream. My mind is not right, that's all. I am not sitting outside, after getting suspended from the team, BEFORE my season even started, still trying to call Freddie Benson.
Everything is very real though. Her mind couldn't still comprehend what went down, just ten minutes earlier. She felt the rush of someone being pushed towards the limit and just blacked out. The next sight she remembers is: getting held back by not just her teammates, but the coaching staff as well, a girl on the floor scared for her life and being pulled away, like a cowgirl that just got thrown off by a bull in a rodeo, and an irate coach telling her that she was suspended indefinitely.
There was no one she could blame. For once she was blaming herself...
It's that dork Freddie's Fault. Okay, maybe not.
And as she was getting his voice mail for what it felt like the thousandth time she left a message...
I don't believe you. You won't pick up a single message from me! And now look where it has gotten me! I am now suspended because of all the frustration YOU caused, you bastard! Just one reply from you or a call... But nothing you dork! And I thought we were friends... But I can see what you really think of me...
She hangs up the phone. Then Sam decides to call Carly to pick her up. Sam knows she has a long wait and sits near the gym's double doors looking inside towards the players that are on the court in middle of a session. She sighs, knowing that it's not all Freddie's fault… Knowing that she may have these underlying issues, and seeing that those issues are about to hurt the people around her.
HONK!
And speaking of people around her...
It was hours later, late in the afternoon to be exact, when Carly had finally come to pick her up. She was sporting a stern look that had Sam shivering and silent as she came in the car. Her head down knowing she will get an unrelenting 'talking to' by Carly. All that was left was to brace herself for the relentless, unyielding, scathing, sound of Carly's… silence.
She was met with silence...
At first Sam found herself relieved. But the ride was a long one, and Sam could feel the weight of the moment pressing down on her. This feeling was worse than any talk she's ever received.
Sam cracked, "WILL YOU SAY SOMETHING TO ME!" Sam yelled all of a sudden to a surprised Carly.
"What you want me to say Sam? That I'm super pissed off at you? Which I, totally, am because not only do I hear that you got suspended but also that I have to come pick you up and then go back and get ready for my night with Gibby! I don't like to get ready in that short of a timeframe Sam! You owe me big time!"
"Yes I know, some is my fault but Freddie..."
"Freddie did what, Sam?"
"Freddie," Sam gave a huge sigh before continuing. "Didn't reply to my texts or answer his phone during the time I was here and… I don't know, I guess it got to me, and..."
"Wait..." Carly interrupted "So you go lash out at one person because you're mad at Freddie. The same Freddie that you love to bother and annoy… The same Freddie that you claim annoys you and bugs you and, on occasion, makes you sick… but yet, he ignores you and you just get all mad and take it out on the girl next to you?"
"Sort of.."
Nothing was said from Carly the rest of the ride...
The last words from Sam for the rest of the five hour ride, was a quiet...
"Damn him..."
Authors Note: I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I wrote it. I have some ideas for the next chapter in my head and I hope you guys will enjoy the ride I have ready for everyone involved. So please read and review. I love any type of feedback to make me a better writer, so you guys will read a great story.
Stay reading my friends,
Harful13
P.S. Please read the works of iCabal, the great bunch of people are...
aussiemma, axel100, BaalRules, BoxOfTrinkets, Boxofpiglets, , Commander Lagasse, Coyote Laughs, Deviocity, hidden-in-the-pictures, ItalianBabexo8, iCabal, iCarlyangst, iLuvNathanKrEsS, JamesTheGreater, KingxLeon21, Myjumpingsocks, ober22, pairababes, Pigwiz, Tech-Man, The Earl of Sandwich, Waffels of Doom, xXACCEBXx.
Hope you enjoy those bunch of characters as much as I do.
Italian Translations
'Ciao piccola Italia' - Hello Little Italy
'Sì, l'ho fatto' - Yes, I did
'Fatto bene' - Did well
'Un modo per scoprire' - One way to find out
'Lasciaire di mangiare' - Lets eat
'Se mi conosci così bene?' - If you know me so well?
'sorriso' - smile
'Bastardo arrogante' - Arrogant Bastard.
Next time on IWBSM...
"Sam, I should deserve the right to be laughing at the fact of how karma just bit you so bad, I should deserve the right to joke at your anger FINALLY catching up to you, but I am not because you know why Sam?"
"Why?"
"Because Sam, Lowering Levels wont take away the fact that I failed. It won't take away the fact that at this point I am not there mentally yet, and it doesn't take away the fact that, unlike what you did with everything else in your life except some meaty conception, I won't give up on what I want. "
Interested in the next chapter? Reviewing will help me big time onto getting to it.
