Chapter Twenty-Two
Leah
After what felt like an eternity, the Point Brook game had finally arrived. This was the biggest basketball event every season on the Lakeside Green campus, and the crowd didn’t disappoint.
“I’m going to miss this,” I yelled over the roar of the music and the sounds of the arena. We were in position at the edge of the court, pom poms waving as we waited for tip-off.
Soph bumped her shoulder against mine. “Look at you enjoying things.”
I wanted to roll my eyes, but I couldn’t.
It was true—the less I had my parents in my ear, the easier it was for me to appreciate things for exactly what they were.
Maybe cheerleading wasn’t my professional pathway or my favorite thing in the world, but it had brought me some of my best friends and hopefully my post-graduation roommate. That meant something.
Speaking of my parents—I scanned the audience, looking to see if they’d already found their seats.
They’d texted that they were going to be coming into town to see us and would like to take us to dinner.
Thinking about seeing them made me feel legitimately nauseous, but I was pushing it to the back of my mind for now.
No use in getting stressed about it; I was tired of letting them get under my skin and impact my mood.
And besides, I had a front row seat to my girlfriend’s basketball game. I was busy.
The lights flashed, and the music blasted, telling us the teams were about to do their runout.
“Show time!” Soph giggled, her smile a mile wide.
In classic fashion, Point Brook ran out to a booing audience. Once their team was out of the tunnel, everyone began stomping their feet and cheering in preparation for Lakeside Green. The crowd was so loud that I could barely hear the announcer as he went through everyone’s names.
We waved and cheered as each player ran out.
When Mags was announced, fans unsurprisingly went nuts.
Everyone loved a potential draftee and a local celebrity—except maybe me.
But as annoyed as I still was with her, she was still my sister.
There was a chance our personalities would clash forever; it didn’t mean I didn’t want her to succeed in the sport she clearly loved.
Once Mags was standing courtside, my heart started racing, already knowing what was going to come next.
“And our captain—GJ Mitchell,” the announcer roared, drawing out her name. The crowd erupted, and I cheered as loud as I could. When she ran out, and her eyes found me, my heart soared. As much as I wanted to play it cool, my cheeks went hot. But in my defense, it was impossible not to swoon.
Soph grinned next to me, not needing to say a single word to express her approval.
I had to be the luckiest girl in the world.
Unsurprisingly, the game was intense. The only thing that had my stomach more in a knot than my parents being in town was watching GJ play, knowing how much this game meant to her.
She’d been talking to Dr. Licht and working on staying off social media in preparation, so she wouldn’t get so in her head; I just hoped it would be enough.
Scoring was tight the entire time, pretty much never more than a basket or two apart. The crowd yelled and cheered and argued with the refs. To my surprise, the players didn’t seem that stressed—if anything, the Coyotes looked like they were having the time of their lives.
GJ had told me that she and Anna were developing what sounded like a friendship, and it was obvious in the way they were playing.
It was also good to see Nia consistently back in the starting lineup after being out; she looked happy to be back, too, and was practically bursting with energy the entire time.
GJ had mentioned she was considering not announcing for the draft, but I hoped she’d change her mind—she was too good not to at least try.
Fully aware I was on the baseline and visible to anyone in the audience, I fought to keep my face as neutrally happy as possible. We were encouraged to get into the game as cheerleaders, but it didn’t seem fair to be very clearly biased in cheering extra hard for GJ.
As the game rounded to the last quarter, it was hard to keep my nerves in check. I was hopeful the Coyotes would win, but nothing about this game was a given—it was a complete toss-up who was actually going to bring it home.
I glanced over at the scoreboard. Point Brook was holding a very narrow lead, and the minutes were quickly going by.
“Come on,” I mumbled, redirecting my attention back to the court. Everyone was playing hard, making me a little nervous that there might be another injury, but I was sure I’d assume that of every game GJ played moving forward.
When Anna sent the ball to GJ, I inhaled sharply. This was the opportunity to tie it.
GJ’s shot was effortless, entirely cool under the pressure. The crowd erupted as the ball sank through the net.
“Oh my god!” Soph shouted and reached for me.
The Coyotes’ bench went to their feet, and the cheerleaders sitting near me screamed with excitement and offered me excited shoulder squeezes.
On the court, GJ took a moment to celebrate, mean-mugging a nearby camera before celebrating with her teammates.
I giggled, already looking forward to the photos and videos of her that would inevitably be circulating tonight after the game. One major pro to dating someone who played a nationally televised sport was that there were a million clips online of her looking ridiculously hot.
That was the exact push in energy the Coyotes needed to take it to the finish. They gained the lead and then scored again, firmly closing it out by the final buzzer.
No one wasted a second when it came to celebrating.
The fans immediately got on their feet, loudly singing the Lakeside Green fight song.
I watched GJ make the rounds with her teammates, even taking a moment to celebrate with Mags, before they got in line to shake hands with the Point Brook players.
After she was done, she directed her attention to me and immediately beelined. When she made it to me, she scooped me up in her arms and spun me around, making me laugh.
“That game was so stressful, I don’t think I breathed the entire time,” I admitted when she put me back down.
“You were more nervous than I was when I was actually playing—I think this means you’re officially initiated as a WAG.”
I snorted. “I can’t believe I’m going to have to keep doing this over and over again. Might need to spend just, like, so much time at the nail salon and spa working all that stress off.”
GJ pretended to nervously scratch at the back of her neck. “I gotta get on those brand deals.”
“GJ!”
We turned to look and saw Theo and Maya.
I bit back a smile. Theo had shown up a few times on the jumbotron throughout the game, so I had a feeling she’d make her way down here eventually.
GJ mentioned previously that Theo snuck in for a game earlier in the season, but Theo’s luck with laying low seemed to have run out.
“Dude!” GJ laughed and then jogged over to meet Theo for a hug.
When they broke apart, Theo turned to look at me. “This Leah?”
GJ looked over at me proudly, like he’d never been more excited to introduce anyone. “It is.”
“This would’ve gotten so weird so fast if I wasn’t,” I joked, feeling weirdly nervous.
Even though Theo was an alumnus and we’d bumped shoulders more than a few times at The 151, I was still a little starstruck to see her.
She had a certain air to her now that she was playing pro.
The difference of a year might as well have been a lifetime.
It was also the first time I was ever meeting a girlfriend’s friends—or friends of the person I was seeing at all, label or not—which definitely didn’t help my nerves.
Theo stuck her hand out to shake, making GJ and Maya almost start crying with laughter. “It’s great to finally meet you, and outside of the context of being Mags’s sister. GJ hasn’t shut up once about you since you met—”
“Alright, that’s enough. Cutting this conversation off right here, right now,” GJ interrupted.
Maya reached for a hug. “It’s good to see you again. I’m already looking forward to our double dates. We’ll have to do a night out in Cedar Creek.”
Despite the reluctance I felt toward Cedar Creek, the idea actually sounded really fun. I still would never want to live there, but having a double date offered to me so casually felt like checking off a bucket list item I never realized I had.
I smiled, genuinely touched by her warmth. “That sounds amazing.”
“We’ll see you guys out tonight, yeah?” Theo confirmed.
“Definitely.” GJ and Theo slapped their hands together in goodbye. “I’ll text you.”
Theo and Maya walked off hand-in-hand, leaving me and GJ. I looked over at her, almost overwhelmed by how elated I was. But the feeling didn’t last for long—across the court, I spotted my parents talking to Mags.
My stomach swooped. “Fuck,” I mumbled, knowing I just needed to do it. I wasn’t nervous about what I was going to say to them, but I was nervous about having to actually say it and facing whatever the fallout would be. GJ squeezed my hand supportively, and we finally walked over.
“Hey,” I greeted my family. We exchanged our usual hugs, but it felt different this time—at least for me.
I didn’t actively pay attention to whether my mom hugged Mags for longer, or how I felt after the fact.
Just because they were my parents didn’t mean I had to like them as people, or like how they treated me.
“Hello.” Mom offered a tight, practiced smile like she was greeting someone else’s kid at the country club. She turned her attention toward GJ. “Your playing has gotten stronger throughout the season. Very impressive work today.”
“Thank you,” GJ said in a weirdly level voice, almost like she was using her customer service tone. I fought off an urge to laugh.
My parents looked between us, and I glanced at Mags, curious if word had spread yet.
And then I realized I didn’t actually care—maybe Mags was airing all of my shit out to my parents, and maybe they thought this was stupid of me, just like Mags did.
But I was old enough to make this decision for myself.
“You already know her, but this is my girlfriend, GJ,” I said, making sure there’d be no room for misinterpretation. My parents had a way of spinning things, and this was one of those times where I didn’t want them downplaying what was going on in my life.
My parents mostly seemed unfazed, which was about what I’d expect of them.
It stung for just a second that they were meeting my first girlfriend, and there still wasn’t any kind of warm embrace or break in character.
GJ’s family had been nicer to me in the fifteen seconds I’d spent with them, and GJ and I weren’t even serious at that point.
But maybe that was just how things were going to be—my family was always going to suck. At least I’d have GJ to go through it with me now.
“Girlfriend,” Mags repeated. She squared her shoulders as she looked between us.
I could see the urge to fight in her face.
I braced myself for Mags to throw GJ under the bus to my parents and immediately set this up for failure.
It was one way that was left for Mags to earnestly sabotage me.
Navigating my parents’ neutrality toward my relationship was one thing, but it was something else entirely for Mags to paint an ugly picture to make my parents hate me and GJ together.
“Girlfriend.” I was just as direct, not backing down for even a second. There was no apology in my voice or willingness to discuss this. I’d made my choice, and Mags was just going to have to deal with it.
Mags took a long, deep breath. “Just don’t hurt her or I’ll have to go after you,” Mags warned, and I nearly rolled my eyes. But it was progress—I had to give her that.
GJ put her hand up in a salute. I fought off a smile. “Heard,” she said.
“Will you be joining us for dinner?” Dad asked, looking between the two of us. It seemed genuine enough, like he really did want us to go. But I wasn’t going to subject GJ—or myself—to that tonight.
“No, we have plans already. But it was great to see you. Enjoy your evening.”
GJ glanced in my direction, silently checking in.
She didn’t have to say anything for me to know that she was confirming that I really didn’t want to go.
I knew she could probably handle it, and we’d make the most of the situation, but I just didn’t want to.
Not right now. I’d much rather celebrate my girlfriend’s big win with her, surrounded by the people who made us happiest.
I took GJ’s hand and waved at my family with the other.
As I walked away, I knew without a shadow of a doubt I was making the right decision.
I wasn’t going to ice them completely out of my life—or my relationship with GJ—but I was going to do things on my terms from now on.
I didn’t know exactly what that looked like yet, but I had my whole life to figure it out.
“God, they are intense. I can’t tell if I’m still sweating from the game or if they were making me sweat that much,” GJ whispered, and I threw my head back with laughter, wrapping my arms around her arm and leaning into her as we walked away.