Hanging with the boys

It had been a couple of weeks and Faith did not know how to go about joining a club. She had adjusted to being alone all the time. Things had become less awkward between she and Gwen. This was only because they treated each other like another object in the room. Gwen and Faith got comfortable with ignoring each other like the two were strangers sharing a side walk on the street. Trisha stopped coming to the room. Faith believed she owed that to Gwen. Faith coped well with having no friends. She read a lot of books. She spent most of her free time in the library and most of her sleep time reading under her sheets with a flash light so as to not wake Gwen up. She was still interested in joining a club. She just did not know which one to join and how to join it. She was too shy to ask someone for help. She decided to put off joining a club until after the midterms. The midterms were close and she was busy studying to keep her grades up. She wanted to do well in school. Even though she knew she was dying at age 36, she wanted to have a life worth living until then. She wanted to be rich and she wanted to be happy.

Faith was walking past the George Leech centre on her way back to her dorm room after spending some time in the library. She paused. The George Leech centre was the sports building of Birchmount University. It was very spacious. It housed a basketball court and a tennis court on the ground floor. Upstairs were the gym and locker rooms. Outside the building was a pitch used to play football (what some referred to as soccer). Faith went in to the GLC. There were a group of boys playing basketball on the court. She watched. She wanted to play so bad.

As the boys were taking a break after about 10 minutes since Faith came to watch, one of them was approaching her. Faith was not so sure if he was in fact approaching her. That was impossible. In 2020, she was popular in her high school but she was a loser on campus. Nobody knew her. Maybe he was heading to the water fountain behind her. It became apparent to Faith that he was in fact approaching her when he flashed a smile at her. No way this eye candy was smiling at her. He was no average boy!

He had a gorgeous mullet. Faith recalled that most 80s boybands had mullets. In 2020, she thought mullets were too extra but maybe it was because she was living in an era of mullets, but she was loving it. The sweat on his face glistened like transparent diamonds in the light. He raised his shirt to wipe it off. She wished he didn't. She looked down to see his undershirt, slapping herself mentally feeling guilty for what she expected to see.

" Hi, I am Josh. Wasn't expecting to see a girl here today. Most girls come on Wednesdays and Fridays for JJ. Nice to meet you. You're in my psychology class right? Faith! "

Faith was shocked. He knew her name. No one knew her, no one talked to her. She did not even realize they shared a class. The only time she responded to her name in any class was when she was responding to attendance. Attendance was only done for classes with less than 50 students and her Psychology class was definitely a big class. Faith realized she was thinking too much and left him waiting when she noticed the anxiety in his face awaiting a response.

"Yes I am Faith. Nice to meet you. It is my first time on the court. I came to watch because I love the game. I used to play."

Josh laughed too loudly that Faith thought he was mocking the idea of a girl being good at basketball.

"Sorry, I am not laughing at you but at myself. It was silly of me to assume that every girl that came to the court was here to watch the boys play. It is because we do not have a girl's team and that is rather unfortunate. Would you like to shoot some hoops? I can talk to the boys."

"Okay I'd love to." Faith was shy and nervous but she feigned confidence.

"Hey boys...," Josh called to his team mates as he walked back to them.

The boys were ready to let Faith have some fun. They were not expecting much but her skill almost knocked them out with shock. They thought she was cool. The rest of practice time was spent swooning and flirting with this new girl. Faith was overwhelmed by the swarm of boys surrounding her and the questions that were posed. Josh came to the rescue. He guided her away from the players and dispersed the team. He handed her a water bottle.

"Thought you might need it. Your skills are pretty rad. You're welcome to join us here for practice any day. Obviously you cannot play official matches but you can play with us while we practice. I promise I will tell the boys not to push you or treat you roughly on the court." Josh said, his eyes eager for a positive response.

"I would love to. You can treat me like any other player. I don't mind being pushed, I am strong enough to handle it." Faith answered.

"Well...uh... I know you're strong enough. We have seen your skill. I just don't want anyone to mistakingly touch you inappropriately on the court."

Faith could feel her blood in her cheeks. She should've blushed physically but melanin hides our secrets well.

"We come for practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm. We sometimes come casually on Saturdays too. Feel free to come." Josh said as he grabbed his water bottle from her grip. He dashed upstairs towards the boys' locker room.

Faith was happy she found a community. She was not comfortable with them yet but she trusted time would do the magic. She did not know if she could consider the basketball team a club but she scrapped joining a club off her mental to-do list.