Too Many Secrets

Chapter 24

I lay in my bed staring at my ceiling. I think about my day and my brain is swimming with new information. This morning started out kind of normal. In school today I told Zoey about the whole stupid fight with my brother. It feels weird that I can't tell her about what I know. Jake said I couldn't tell anyone. I hate lying and keeping secrets from people so the thought of not telling Zoey the truth if she ever asks me makes me sick to my stomach.

I turn over in my bed and fidget with my fingers. I grab my phone from the nightstand and decide to take my mind off of everything and just watch tv. I snuggle under my blanket and watch Netflix on my phone, even though I have a huge TV on the wall right in front of me. I lost the remote a few days ago so I've had to use my phone or computer in order to watch TV. Honestly, the remote is probably somewhere in my sheets, but I'm too lazy to look for it.

Before I know it I hear my alarm ringing. I try to find my phone without opening my eyes but it didn't work. I sit up in bed while the alarm continues to ring. I look down on my floor and see my phone laying face down on the hardwood. I reach down, grab the phone, and turn off the incessant beeping.

I take a deep breath and hop out of bed and get dressed for the day. I take my planner off my desk and see if there is anything I forgot to do. I look at the date and see that it's November 22nd, my second basketball game of the season. My face immediately morphs into a big goofy smile. Once I get my jersey out of my closet I'm all set. I go down the stairs to the kitchen and I see Ben, Zach, and Cole.

"Good morning," Cole smiles.

"Morning, Sky," Zach repeats after Cole.

"Good morning," I respond.

"Are you ready for the big games today?" Ben asks.

"Games? Plural?" I say, confused.

"It's a sports night." I give him a weird, unsure look so he continues. "It's the one night a

year where all the sports teams have a game. First it goes football, then girls basketball, then boys basketball, then a bunch of others."

"Does the whole school go?"

"Yeah, of course. Even the kids who are not on sports teams come to cheer on their friends. It's usually the most fun night of the year, when it comes to school events." He answers, winking at the last sentence.

I start to get nervous. The whole school is going to be watching our game, that's terrifying. And I missed one of our practices because of the whole fight thing.

"Hey, don't be nervous, you are going to do amazing, like you always do." Cole says, trying to calm me down.

"He's right, Skylar. At the last game you scored more than half the points. You were a starter as a sophomore. It doesn't get better than that."

I nod and smile at his kind words. Cole offers me a bowl of cereal and two slices of toast. I accept the cereal but tell him I'm too nervous to have a big meal. He sighs but accepts my request. Once I finish eating I put my dishes in the sink and head out with Ben. I wonder where Dylan is.

We get to school and it's the same as usual. I meet up with Zoey, Oliver, Xander, Vivian, and of course Summer has some kind of club that she needs to attend. That girl is in every club in the school.

"Are you excited for tonight? It's your first sports night!" Zoey says, shouting at the end.

"Yeah, from what I've heard it sounds like fun. I'm super nervous though. At the last game there were barely any people there and I almost had a panic attack from the pressure. Do people even come to girls basketball?"