Having been abandoned by Lila, he stood there awkwardly. He didn’t want to overhear who was pregnant with whom, nor did he want to interact with the lady outside of the house so he just smiled at her and went on his way. As he neared the gym, he saw what looked like Lila talking with another. He didn’t want to interrupt them so he decided to go the long way into the gym, avoiding the two of them all together. He hoped she was alright. It took a little longer but he had finally entered the gym. And he saw it. The hat he had was just laying on the ground. Jogging over, he grabbed it and placed it on his head. Looking around he realized he was once again alone with the thoughts he had wanted to run away from. Seems he’ll never truly get away from them.
With a sigh did he walk over to pick up the basketball from earlier. Tossed it up a few times before he began dribbling it back and forth on the court. In his mind he saw the game being played out against another person. He’d fake a toss to the right, and dribble pass the imaginary players left. Going up the court and attempting a slam dunk. But his ended up slipping on his lose shoelace. Causing him to faceplant into the ground. He laid there, feeling defeated. After a moment, he pushed himself up and to do it all over again. Dribble the ball down the other side of the court, as he neared the ring, he decided to toss the ball. In the air it went, completely missing the basket and bouncing off of the wall. He groaned. This wasn’t like him.
He jogged after the ball and attempted again. And again. And again. Missing each toss. He felt like a failure. He sat on the ground in the middle of the court, breathing heavily. Trying to calm his racing mind. He recalled the bad news his father had told him before he had left for this school. His father was diagnosed with cancer and he wasn’t going to be there to help his father on the farm. He felt heart broken and unable to really do anything.