Too Many Secrets

Chapter 25

I feel Liam's eyes glued to me as I walk towards the center of the gym.

"Shoot for it," I say to Xander.

"As you wish," he says, bowing to me, laughing.

I just shake my head. He thinks he is so funny. You know what won't be funny? When I beat him.

Xander lines up his shot and takes a quick breath like he always does before he shoots. I notice the little things, it keeps me a step ahead at all times. Recently I've noticed that my brothers tend to do that a lot too. Maybe it's a family trait. Or maybe it's because we all have been through some kind of trauma.

The ball glades through the air and lands perfectly in the basket, making a beautiful swish sound. I glare at him trying to look intimidating, but I probably fail drastically because of the laugh that Xander lets out. I look over to the bleachers and see Liam still hyper focused me, or me and Xander. I check Xander the ball and we start our little game.

The game moves fast. After around five minutes I'm already sweating. I feel my upper lip moisten and my breathing becomes more ragged. The ball is moving back and forth between Xander and. It's a tie game. At some point the knowledge that Liam is watching us slips my mind. It's just me, the ball, and the basket.

We keep going until I hear the loud beep of the bell, indicating that class is over. It is still a tie game.

"Call it a tie?" Xander asks, putting out his hand.

"Never. We'll have to do half court shots. If I make it I win if I don't you win."

"No way that's going to happen Sky. I've only ever made a half court shot once in my life."

"I guess we will have to see."

"Okay, bring it on."

I walk over to half court and Xander bounces me the ball. I make sure my stance is perfect. I dribble the ball a couple times until I am ready to line up my shot. I look directly at the basket, making sure my hand placement is perfect. I bend my knees as much as I can to give me more strength in my throw. Right as I'm about to let go of the ball I hear some shout "Miss!".

The ball falls out of my fingers and glides through the air, but the throw is slightly curved. It makes contact with the rim, circles it, but then bounces out.

"Are you kidding me?" I shout, frustrated.

"Hey, good game, Sky," Xander says coming over. "I could never have even gotten that close."

"It was all your fault," I say pointing my finger at Liam.

"Not my problem, you get distracted easily," he answers.

I roll my eyes at him. I hate losing, and I hate admitting I'm wrong, so right now I'm in a very terrible situation.

"Don't listen to him. He is just being an ass," Xander tries to comfort me.

"It's fine, I don't actually care."

"Of course you don't," Liam says, winking at me.

"Dude, why are you being so rude?" Xander walks over to Liam.

"Xander, it's fine I really don't care."

"Well I do," Xander answers.

"Looks like someone has a crush," Liam mocks. Xanders face immediately reddens.

"Shut up, Liam."

He picks his fingers up to his mouth and imitates locking his lips with a key. I, once