This school year was already off to a fast start. Before I knew it basketball season had started. We were 19-1. Losing to our rivals the Cougars. We were now in the locker room and preparing to go out for our second play off game. If won it would bring us to the semi finals. We were playing the Jaguars. I felt pretty confident with this game.

"Lilly, are you coming?" Rebecca, a girl on my team asked.

"Yup." I said jumping up. I laced up my shoes and made my way to the court to line up with my team to do our traditional two laps before the game. We waited until Ms. Stewart put the warm-up CD on, then we began to run. She smiled at me as I passed her. I gave her a small smile back and looked towards the stands to see who came. They were pretty filled. As we came to the end of the second lap I couldn't believe what I saw. There was my mom at the door paying for a ticket.

She noticed me looking at her and waved at me. I smiled back. We began to do warm-ups taking lay-ups, jump shots, and passing drills. Our names were announced and the National Anthem was sung by some girl who went to our school. After that it was finally time for the game to start.

It didn't look too good at first when the Jaguars scored the first basket. But I was able to sink a three in thanks to a good screen. The first half ended well for us. We were up 30 to 20. At half time we went into the locker room. Coach seemed pretty happy for once, he was usually in a horrible mood. He spoke mostly positive and little negative. As he finished up we began to walk out of the locker room. I looked over at Ms. Stewart who motioned me to come over to her.

"Hey." I said happily.

"You're doing great tonight." She said smiling.

"Yeah, the whole team is doing great." I said proudly. Our team has grown closer than it ever had been. Last year we argued a lot and didn't get along too well. Our chemistry was a great part to our success.

"My mom is here too." I added. Ms. Stewart knew that my mom hadn't been to a basketball game since Timmy's death. Sometimes I do get mad, but I realize it's hard for her. The only reason I'm playing is because of my promise to Timmy. I lost my love for basketball the day that he was murdered. Even though my mom was an ass, I still loved her.

"Really? Lilly that's great. Maybe she'll finally get over Timmy's death." She said not realizing the last part of the sentence would upset me until she noticed that face I made at the mention of this.

"Oh, Lilly I'm sorry for bringing that up." She said frowning. "I should think before I speak, it just slipped out."

"Ms. Stewart it's fine, really." I said smiling a bit. "I should really get back out there, I'll see you later!"

The rest of the game went by in a flash. We were doing awesome. We were able to be up by 30 points going into the 4th and final period. I developed the habit of looking over at my mom when I scored. She would yell my name and clap. Sure I had other people cheering me on, but this was different. My mom had barely paid any attention to me since Timmy's death. But now she looked as though she actually cared. It only motivated me to do better. By the end of the game we won 65 to 32. I had 35 points, a career high for me.

Finally, we were going to the semi finals. We've made it to the semi finals almost every year, but usually lost. I was so close to completing my dream. Oddly enough our rivals the Cougars were still in it, they were playing the winners of another game. If we won the semi finals, and if they won their semi final game then we would verse them in the finals. Us and the Cougars always had a rivalry going on. Beating them in the finals would be even better than beating another team in the finals.

After my coach had another talk with us and told us what time to be there for the semi final game we were allowed to leave. For once I actually felt happy. All we had to do was beat some team we beat like four times, and then hopefully we'd be off to the finals. As I walked out of the locker room I saw my mom facing the wall. She was talking on her cell phone. As I grew closer I noticed her breathing was heavy and she seemed nervous. She shut her phone when I finally was with her. As she faced me her eyes were puffy.

"Lilly, your father is dead." She said shaking a bit.

I didn't know what to say. My dad was dead. I know he messed up in life, but he wasn't like that really. He wasn't mean and cruel. It was alcohol it made him that way. I never got to say goodbye to him, or tell him that I still love him. He made me feel like shit for so many years, some people wouldn't care if they had an alcoholic dad. But I cared, I cared a lot. I felt tears slowly coming down my face.

"How?" I managed out. He couldn't be dead, maybe this was a joke.

"He finally drank too much, and his liver stopped working. He was dead for a couple of days. People became suspicious when his mail began to pile up outside his apartment. The neighbors called the police, and they broke down his door. They found him lying on the ground. There were so many beer cans around him." She said also crying.

"I can't believe it." I said now crying even harder.

"It'll be okay hunny." My mom said hugging.

"Is it okay if I have some alone time?" I finally asked her. I just needed time to think.

"Of course." She said wiping a tear from her cheek. "Call me if you need me."

I didn't know where to go. But I had to leave here before people started to ask me too many questions. I decided to go out the back way. As I went outside I saw Ms. Stewart. She waved at me, I waved back. She seemed to have noticed I was crying and she began to walk over.

"Lilly, what's wrong?" She asked. I stood there a few minutes, it was hard to talk. I started to calm down and was able to tell her my father died of alcohol.

"Lilly, it'll be fine. "She said pulling me into a hug.

"I know, I just need time." I said hugging her back.

"Don't do anything foolish." She said letting go. The warmth of her body left mine as she let go. I frowned and nodded. I watched her leave. I decided to walk somewhere. But was disturbed by my cell phone. I decided to answer it.

"Lilly Truscott?" A man asked.

"Yes, that's me." I answered wondering who it was.

"We know who murdered your brother." He said.

I'm really sorry for not updating sooner, but I've been really busy. So sorry, I'll try to update sooner. Reviews are great:)

thanks to -note.book.paper-20 for reading this over for me and fixing whatever I did wrong:)