I reach for my notebook and open to a blank page.
At the top, I write:
What would help?
Then I sit there with my pen hovering, realizing I already know more than I thought.
Chapter 33 Javonte
“I’m telling you right now,” CJ says, stretching across the bench after doing the least amount of work possible. “This season is about to be it.”
Tank wipes his face with a towel and grunts. “It better be. I’m tired of getting clowned on the internet by people who can’t make a layup.”
“They’re not clowning me,” CJ says.
Jalen snorts. “They definitely clowning you.”
“For what?”
“For all them turnovers,” Tank says.
CJ sits up fast. “You’re always trying to make me the problem.”
“You had seven turnovers in one game,” I tell him.
“Why do you only y’all remember numbers when they’re negative?”
“Because they hurt us,” Jalen says.
I laugh and take a long drink of water. We’re all hanging around after training, talking about the season, talking trash, trying to act like none of us are already thinking about how badly we need to come back better. Last year was ugly. Not all ugly, but enough that I don’t want to feel that again.
Drummond has been on everybody about locking in. Team workouts. Family stuff. Chemistry. Morale. He’s on his “we are not just a franchise, we are a unit” mess again, and unfortunately for all of us, it might be working.
Tank tosses his towel over his shoulder and looks at me. “You seem better.”
“I am better.”
“Lily got him smiling again,” CJ says. “We might make the playoffs.”
I turn to him. “We’re making the playoffs because I’m good at basketball.”
“You were good at basketball last year too,” Tank says. “You were also sad as hell.”
Jalen points at him. “That part.”
“I wasn’t sad as hell.”
They all look at me.
I roll my eyes. “Fine. I wasn’t at my best.”
“You were walking around looking like somebody stole your dog and your jump shot,” CJ says.
“You don’t even know what heartbreak is,” I tell him. “You think heartbreak is a woman leaving your message on read for twenty minutes.”
“That’s violent behavior.”
Tank shakes his head. “See, this is why nobody takes you seriously.”
