I got dressed and desperately wanted to get out of the locker room. Thanks to Jessica I was running late and before I knew it the team had made it out to the floor before me.

Tyler was hanging back for some reason and I hated thinking it had something to do with me. Once the locker room emptied out he stormed on over.

"What the hell did you do?"

"Look, if this is about Sierra?" I started to say but he held up a hand to gesture for me to stop.

"I don't know what your problem is but stay the hell out my life! We are no longer friends!"

He turned to walk away and I grabbed hold of his arm. "Look, I called her. I tried to set things right."

He looked pointedly down at his arm and I let him go. "All you done is made things worse. I was making lead way. She was considering seeing me this weekend so we could talk things over. Then she gets a call from you. She thought I put you up to it. Now she's blocked my calls and texts. I can't talk to her at all, now."

"Damn it! I'm sorry. I just wanted to set the record straight."

"Too late for that. Thanks for nothing," Tyler said and strode from the room.

I heard my mom's voice, speaking into a microphone. "Are you ready to have some fun?!"

I don't know about her but I'm all funned out.

I take my place at the end of the bench. Tyler sat at the other side. The team just kept looking at us both and seemed to become more nervous as time moved on.

The cheer squad did a number to "Light It Up" that was pretty amazing to watch. As much as I dislike Jessica, she really was good at what she does. Being the head of the squad meant she did most of the more dangerous gymnastic type moves.

My eyes wandered through the crowd. No Sierra, of course, and then I see a smiling face that winked at me from behind a camera, across the court. I couldn't help but smile back and I had seen the cameral flash. Well at least I won't look miserable which is exactly how I felt.

My Mom really does organize the best pep rallies even if the students aren't into sports, many of the them and faculty, still seem to attend just for the fun factor. Currently my Mom has drawn names of people from the crowd to participate in an impromptu talent show.

I sit and watch as two freshmen have a juggling contest and two sophomores have a hand stand standoff. The crowd is cheering them all on. Mike leaned over. "So what's up with you and Tyler?"

"It's personal dude, but no worries. It won't affect the game," I tell him.

"I hope not. See those three guys sitting by Mr. Nolen. They're the scouts coach promised would be here. I'm hoping to impress one of them."

"I'll be sure you look good out there, Mike. You can count on me."

"It's not you I'm worried about," Mike says looking down the bench at Tyler. "You leave your crap off the court. He keeps everything in his pocket. If we aren't a team..."

"We can't succeed. I know," I say finishing for him.

One of the juniors, and Mr. Kirtell are now participating in a poetry slam. Mr. Kirtell is a Junior English teacher, and in his fifties. He's totally gotten into the spirit of things saying his words to a made up hip hop beat. The Junior gets a beat down and Mr. Kirtell flips his baseball cap backwards and does a "WORD" stance before challenging the seniors next.

I normally would be enjoying all this but I am not use to being unable to fix things. I'm a fixer, it's what I do. I hate having Tyler mad at me. He's been mad before but never like this. I don't want to lose him as a friend.

Soon the rival team will show and the game will be on. How do I keep this team together and working on team plays when the two major players have a love/hate relationship going on?

Truthfully, I wish I could just fast forward to the game being over so I can be on my date with Brynn. I watch as she laughs at the antics Mr. Kirtell is employing to earn more applause than the Senior he is battling. I love watching her laugh, her whole face changes. She almost appears to light up from within.

My mom will soon be announcing our names and we will be expected to show off on court as a way of warming up. I look down at Tyler and he is staring straight ahead.

Okay, I get it. I don't exist.

I keep wondering if what I've done is really as wrong as it appears. How was I to reassure Sierra, when I know her job, my mom's and Tyler's academic careers were all at stake?

"Now, it is the time you've all been waiting for... Give it up for our Leaping Leopard!"

Our mascot comes out doing some pretty impressive back flips, the crowd goes wild and he waves in a fashion signifying he wants them to raise the volume. They of course comply which is good, I guess, as I can no longer hear myself think.

He's split the crowd in two. Running from one side, then the other, waving his paws to encourage them to up the volume, then holding his paw to his to his ear. My mom starts saying, "Lenape", he runs to the other side, "Leopards." "Lenape!" "Leopards!"

This starts going faster and faster, louder and louder, until the crowd brakes down to just screaming, yelling and clapping, being rewarded by our mascot doing a triple somersault, followed by a some kind of twist and flip.

I don't even know the name of that move. How does he keep his head on during all that?

"Now that you're revved up. Lets hear it for our team..."

Show time.

My mom runs through the Junior Varsity names and numbers each player jumps up from the bench and do some pretty impressive foot work out on the court. The layups and drills get them warmed up and then it was our time to impress the crowds.

The Seniors are the only ones on the team with nicknames. It's tradition here at Lenape High. There are only the five us, the Coach calls us the heart of the team, we are the ones that see the most court time. We've been playing together since Freshman year and most days we work around each other like a well oiled machine. Most days.

My Mom says, "Put your hands together now for our Senior Varsity Players. Give it up for..."

Number 15 - Mike "Got the Rock" Brock

Number 27 – Koby "Sir Pass A lot" Trager

Number 8 - Terrance "Dunk Master" Jones

Number 24 – Tyler "Make it Even" Stevens

Number 32 - the Big Man himself - Finn "the Dash" Nash

The crowd goes crazy and we go into one of our drill routines. Passing the ball and each taking our turn to do some of our signature moves. There is trouble in paradise already when Tyler passes the ball to Terrance instead of me. This throws Terrance off and he nearly drops the ball, and is looking around wondering what he is supposed to do with it. This isn't what he practiced.

I wave my hands for him to pass it to me. I dribble the ball down court to the 3 point line. I shoot. The ball toilet bowls for a while before swishing through the net. I love that sound. There is nothing to compare it to. It's a pure adrenaline rush.

The crowd cheers and it's ringing in my ears. We take 3 or 4 rounds just enough to warm up without breaking a sweat. We don't want to tire ourselves out before the game starts.

Each time Tyler was to pass me the ball, he instead chose a different player by the third time this happened the team caught on and just threw me the ball. It was pretty much the school yard equivalent of Tyler sending a message via someone else because 'He's not talking to me.'

Real Mature.

We take ourselves back to the lockers, to wait for game time. The rally continues, we hear "Roar" and know the cheer squad is back in action. Once we sit down, Coach Dennon arrives and he doesn't look happy.

"What the hell was that out there?" he looks pointedly at Tyler.

"Nothing," Tyler said.

"You got a problem with Nash?" Coach Dennon asked.

Tyler looks over at me and shrugs.

"Well, stow it, Stevens. This may not be the State Finals but I'll be damned if you're going to screw up this game over some stupid high school crap. I got scouts out there and it isn't just an opportunity for you guys to look good. If I don't look good, none of you do, and there goes my leverage for getting the big boys here to even consider giving one of you a scholarship. I'm giving you 5 minutes in my office to work out whatever this is, or one or both of you will be benched, so help me God," Coach Dennon said opening his office door and pointing for us to enter.

I stand up and go into the office. Hoping that Tyler follows or the coach will bench him. He's pretty no nonsense about stuff like that. Tyler delays just long enough to make me nervous but then shows up. Coach looks directly at me saying, "Deal with this," before locking us in.

"Tyler, I understand..."

"Shut it, Nash. You don't understand anything. If you even had a clue I wouldn't be in this mess."

I don't know what exactly it was that caused me to snap. The look on his face, the attitude that just got under my skin or the tone of his voice, maybe it was all three combined, but put a fork in me because I was done.

"That's right, cry baby. It all about you! It's always about YOU!"

Tyler looked momentarily surprised by my outburst and even more so when it continued.

"I am so tired of your shit. Man up, dude. Take some responsibility. You know what I'm guilty of Ty?"

"Sucking as a friend," he says without hesitation.

"No, allowing you to play me. Always with the freaking mind games. You knew my weakness and you exploited it with without batting an eye?"

"What are YOU talking about?" Tyler said throwing his hands up in the air.

"All I'm guilty of is wanting to protect my MOM. My MOM, Tyler! Not some chick I just met like you and want to get into the pants of. If someone's actions, that you knew of, threatened your mom... what would you do?"

Tyler looked at me. I knew what he was thinking. I knew he was thinking, "I'd flatten whoever it was. No one messes with my mom."

"Yeah, exactly," I say seeing the look upon his face.

"I feel exactly the way you do. Despite that, I didn't warn her. I chose to stand by YOU. You tell me you still have a problem and I BREAK into my Mom's office, to get Sierra's number. BEGGING her to come to the game so we can all talk."

I could almost laugh at the shear shock that plays across Tyler's features.

"I wanted to reassure her as I did you that I wouldn't say a thing. And to ask if you could both keep things on the down low until graduation. Not saying STOP... just no more school grounds, or places it would be obvious that you could get caught as a couple."

"You knew just how to play me, make me second guess myself. Make me believe I'm the wrong one, when you damn well know I'm right."

"It dawned on me when you said, 'Sierra blocked you and it was all my fault.' She told me she had asked you to stop calling and you wouldn't listen. She asked me, to ask you to delete her numbers and texts from your phone and I told her you weren't talking to me right now. So she would know you didn't put me up to anything. You lied to me because you don't want to admit, YOU screwed up, NOT me."

Tyler looked away.

"If you got problem with me you leave it here. You can't leave it here then you can sit your ass all night on that bench, because I won't have you eff the rest of team. Mike is counting on those scouts. Unlike you, he wants the opportunity to be college bound and if you can't keep whatever this is to yourself and be a team player then I don't want you on MY team."

"YOUR team," Tyler's head shot up.

"Did I stutter? Coach said for me to deal with this. I'm team captain. Which means when we leave here, he's going to ask me what the next move is. Are you going to play or not?"

I could tell he was still mad. I made some points but it would take time for them to sink in. Time we didn't have.

The door opens, and Coach steps in. "So what's the verdict?" He's looking at me.

I look back at Tyler who still looks mad as hell. "Bench him for the first quarter and then we'll see," I say storming out of the office not bothering to look at either of them as I pass by.