Just a Game

Niya woke up to her cell phone ringing loudly on her bed-side table. She sighed exasperatedly and looked to see what time it was: 9:00 am. Who in their right mind would be calling at 9:00 am on the dot on a Saturday morning? She looked at her phone 'Jalissa' flashed as the phone rang. Niya was in no mood to talk to her little cousin, especially at 9:00 am! She let the phone ring until the answering machine picked up and went back to sleep. It seemed as if as soon as she laid her head down that her phone rang again. She realized that if she ever expected to get any sleep this morning, she would have to answer.

"Hello," Niya grumbled darkly into the phone.

"Why the hell haven't you been answering your phone, Niya??? The Coaches rescheduled! We have practice in 15 minutes!" Jalissa said anxiously into the phone.

"Shit! Where at?" Niya said quickly.

"At Willowbrook! Hurry your ass up, I'm tired of lying for you!"

Niya jumped out of her bed and pulled her practice jersey out of her drawer and quickly got dressed. She ran to her bathroom and brushed her teeth. Without a second to spare, she ran outside and jumped into her '06 Cavalier. She was going to be late; there was no denying that, Willowbrook was a 10 minute drive all in itself. She wanted to make it there as quickly as possible. (The Coaches made them run one lap for every minute they are late.) She dipped and dodged through traffic, being inside the law by the skin of her teeth. As she pulled up to Willowbrook Gymnasium, she could see Jalissa's '05 Intrepid parked outside. Niya grabbed her bag and jetted up the stairs of the building and ran into the gym. Her team was doing warm-up drills and the other post players were shooting free throws.

"Niya Rae, get over here!" Coach Murie called over. Niya hopped-to, running over to and stopping just in front of her coach.

"Ma'am?" Niya asked, breathlessly.

"Niya, we started practice and 9:30 am....it's now 9:41 am, and you're late. What's your excuse?"

Niya looked down at her coach and said, "I apologize, but I overslept." Coach Murie looked her up and down.

"Well, Niya...you're 11 minutes late, I expect to see you making them up at the end of practice."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Niya said respectfully.

"Get out there with the posts!" Murie shouted as Niya ran to the team.

Practice was long and grueling. They ran and ran and ran because the Coaches thought that they weren't in good enough shape to even compete in Wednesday night's game against St. Jacobs. They shot free throws until their wrists ached and did sit-ups till their abs felt like they were screaming. Practice was over at Noon. Niya ran to the water fountain to get a drink, as she drank, she saw a shadow cast over her. Not many people could cast a shadow over Niya, for she stood at a solid 6'3 and weighed 225 pounds. She stood quickly and looked behind her. A tall white man stood behind her, about 6'5 and weighing about the same as she.

"Damn, do you gotta be so close?" she complained.

"Damn, do you gotta take so long?" he said mockingly.

Niya rolled her eyes and went back into the gym.

"Hey, Niya! Wanna go get something to eat?" Jalissa yelled at her.

"Na, I think I'ma stay here a bit and work on my shot," she called back. Niya walked back into the gym and picked up a ball, just as she was about to shoot, a voice yelled out:

"Yo, Girl! You up for a game of 21?" She looked behind her and there was that same white guy flagging her over.

"I have a name!" she yelled as she began walking over to him,

"and it's not Girl!"

He looked down at her, "Well, so-rry!" he said, realizing that this girl is hell on wheels.

She threw the ball at him and walked in front of him. "You get ball first," she said, knowing that she was gonna embarrass him.

"You sure about that, Lil Lady?" he teased.

"Don't call me Lil, my name is Niya and we're gonna keep it like that, got it?" She said, knowing that she was being a bitch. She didn't really care; she was here to play not make friends.

"Yeah, whatever you want, my name's Brian," he said politely.

The game was tight, he was more competition than she expected. He was taller than she was and could jump higher. He also blocked a couple of her shots. The game wasn't easy to him either; she had a good long distance shot and she made him jump and went around him plenty of times. The score stood 18 to 19, Brian in the lead.

"Well, Miss Niya, you played a good game, but what am I gonna get when I sink 2 free throws and win this game?" Niya didn't like to admit that he might beat her, but the possibility was looking her dead in her face.

"Well, you can call your prize if you win, but you won't, so there's really no point in it." She said smugly.

"Well, when I win, I take you to dinner on me. Call your prize." He replied, ignoring her false confidence.

"When, I win, my prize will be just not to go." She said.

"Fine," he said, sinking his first one. He set himself up for the second shot and missed it. Niya got the rebound and made an easy shot, tying the game at 20. She lined up her free throw and sank it.

"Well, I guess I win and you're without a date tonight, Brian," she said, knowing she was being an asshole.

"Yeah, I guess so...nice playing with you, Niya," he said and walked away with his head still high.

"That wasn't supposed to be like that," she said to herself.

"Hey Brian, wait up! How would you like to still go to dinner, on you?"