Pain

In the Eagle dormitories Dante is currently sitting on his bed within his dorm with the door and curtains closed, causing no sunlight to get in. He is staring at the wall with bags under his eyes and what appears to be stained tears on his face. His body looks famished, his lips are dry, and his hair looks all out of order. His shirt has pit stains and orange food stains all across the front. He is wearing boxers that look to also have food stains on them.

His room has candy wrappers, empty take-home plates, chewed-up chicken bones in a bucket, empty pizza boxes, and his clothes scattered all around the room.

As Dante stares at his wall with nothing but emptiness in his eyes, his head bops back and forth, almost like he's about to fall asleep. As he feels pains and aches in multiple parts of his body, words from Roxy circulate in his head.

"I'm not worried about his bitch-made ass!" keeps blaring in his head. The words get louder and louder, almost like police sirens. His head starts to feel a pounding sensation, almost like his brain is trying to tear away from his body.

Dante's eyes widen, and he grabs his stomach and mouth. He jumps out of his bed and runs through the trash all over the floor to get out of the room. He runs into the bathroom directly in front of his room and crouches right in front of the toilet that's in between the shower and sink. He puts his head right above the toilet bowl, and after he makes a gagging sound, he vomits. As he vomits, he feels tears fall from his eyes into the toilet.

After he stops vomiting, Dante slams his fist on the toilet seat and stumbles his way back onto his feet. Dante then walks back to his room. He sits back down on his bed and goes back to staring at the wall.

Twenty minutes later, Dante snaps back to reality when he hears a knock on his door.

"Come in," Dante says with an unenthusiastic tone.

The person at the door is Zane, who is in his Sunshine University uniform.

"Dude, there's so much trash on the floor I can barely open the door!"

Dante slowly turns his head toward Zane.

"I'm sorry"

Zane looks Dante in the eyes and scratches the back of his head.

"Dude, you're a fucking mess," Zane says with a calm tone.

"Yeah, I know."

Suddenly, Dante's phone starts to ring. Both Zane and him look at the caller ID. The person calling is Roxy. Dante turns back to stare at the wall.

"You're just going to let the phone ring?"

"She keeps calling for some reason."

Zane looks at Dante in confusion.

"If you don't want to talk to her, why don't you just block the phone number?"

"No, I'll just let it ring."

"Umm ok. So you're not going to class again?"

"No"

"Well, ok, but you realize that you have to go back to class eventually; it's been a week."

"I'm doing all the work online; just please leave me alone," Dante says while grabbing his head in anguish.

"Fine, but please take care of yourself. Take a shower or something; you're stinking the dorms up."

Zane closes the door and leaves the dorm to go to class. When Dante hears the door close, he goes back to staring at the wall. Dante continues staring at the wall for hours, and as he does, memories of his past start to flood his mind.

Dante starts to remember his first year in high school. In ninth grade, Dante, who lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the time, went to Greenford High School, where he continued his path as a basketball player. In Greenford's gym on 9-15-2020, the basketball team was having their first basketball game against Redwood High School.

The gym had its walls painted green, and the bleachers were filled. The clock for the time left in the game only had ten seconds left. Greenford High School has called a timeout and has huddled up on the left of the gym.

The white-skinned coach is 5'8 with gray hair and a huge stomach. Standing to the left of the coach is Zane, who is 6'3 at the time and is wearing a green basketball jersey that has the school's name on the front, a nicely drawn rhino, and his last name on the back. He is also wearing green shorts that have the school's name printed on them.

On his right is a 6'2 dark-skinned boy with flowing black hair and brown eyes. This boy is named Jalen. He is also wearing the Greenford High School jersey with green shorts. The coach starts drawing on his board.

"Ok, there are ten seconds left on that clock, and we're down by two. We need a three-pointer to end this game. Zane, you will inbound the ball since you're the tallest."

"Yeah, alright, I'll get the ball on the floor; just tell me who to pass to."

"OK, now I think our best bet to hit the shot will be to pass it to Jalen."

"Yes, sir, I won't let you down!"

"I'm sure you won't just be confident in your shot; you're amazing from three. Now for everyone else, clear the way for Jalen. That means blocking the opposing player from obstructing his shot as much as possible; do a screen if you have to. Any questions?"

Everyone stays silent after the coach's question until Dante, who is standing directly in front of the coach in the huddle, starts speaking.

"Coach, I think it would be better if Zane passed the ball to me and I took the shot.

Everyone looks at Dante the second he says these words.

"Come on, coach, everyone knows I'm a better three-pointer shooter than Jalen. I should take the shot; it's the only right thing to do."

"I understand how good you are, Dante, but you have had a crazy game today, and they will be expecting you to take the shot. That's why it will be better to give it to someone less guarded."

The buzzer rings, signaling the end of the timeout. Everyone in the huddle starts to separate and get into their positions. Dante, on the other hand, walks up to the coach.

"Come on, coach, you know I can hit the shot regardless of who's defending me!"

"Dante, it's ok. Jalen can shoot really well. You'll get your opportunity one day."

The coach continues walking, and Dante starts walking to the court with a frustrated expression. As he walks onto the court, Jalan and he make eye contact.

"You got a problem with me or something?" Jalen says with a passive, aggressive tone.

"No, I don't; I just know that I'm better for the shot."

All the players get into their positions on the court. Zane gets handed the ball by the referee, and then the referee blows the whistle. Zane puts the ball over his head, making the 5'6 player in front of him struggle to obstruct his view.

Dante is being guarded by someone who is also 5'6. As he watches Zane get in motion to pass Jalen the ball, he starts to watch his movements carefully.

"Now!"

Zane throws the ball over the defender and then starts running under the basketball rim. Dante runs over to where Jalen is on the other side of the court. Jalen goes to grab the ball over his defender, but then Dante shoves Jalen out of the way and grabs the ball. When he has the ball, he jumps up, and while he's in the air, he sees the timer is at three seconds. He looks around him and sees the defender he ran away from and Jalen's defender jumping up to contest his shot.

"This is game!"

Dante releases the ball from his right hand over both defenders, and the second the buzzer goes off, the ball goes into the hoop so perfectly that it makes a "swish" sound.

When the ball goes in, the entire crowd jumps up with excitement and starts cheering. With the game over, Dante starts to leave the court to get to the locker room.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Jalen screams from behind.

While he's still walking, Dante says, "I told you I was better for the shot, so I took it into my own hands since none of you would listen."

"Ok, now you're pissing me off!"

Jalen balls up his fist and starts rushing at Dante while his back is turned.

"That was my moment, you asshole!"

Before Jalen can get too close to Dante, Zane grabs Jalen and holds him back.

"Zane, let me fucking go!"

"I'm not letting you attack my friend, so I suggest you calm down and let it go!"

Jalen looks up at Zane and sees his expression.

"Tch!"

Jalen shrugs Zane off of him and watches Dante walk away.

"What's his fucking issue?" Jalen screams.

Zane puts his hand on Jalen's shoulder.

"I know he might seem like a complete asshole, but he's just not good with people. He doesn't mean to come off the way he does."

"You've been best friends with him since 6th grade, right? What's his deal? He seems so distant from any type of human life. After practice, he just disappears, and not to mention he has a bad attitude."

When Zane hears Jalen's question, he chuckles a little.

"That's how Dante has always been. I'm his best friend, and I barely know much about him. I would be lucky if he would pick up the phone, but what I do know is that he lives with his grandparents and that he's an only child."

"And he doesn't talk to anyone outside of school. I see where his problem is—he's stuck in his own lonesome reality! He's not taking my moment again!" Jalen exclams.

Jalen storms off to the locker room. About twenty minutes later, Dante returned to his small home, a little bit away from the school. The house is small, with only one floor. Dante enters the house, and the first thing he sees is the living room and then the kitchen further down.

"I'm home"

The second he enters the house, his face exhibits zero facial expressions. He looks at the couch and sees his 5'5 white-skinned grandpa with gray hair sleeping on the couch. As he walks to his room, his grandmother, who is 5'4, is light-skinned and bald. His grandma walks out of her room and smiles at him.

"Oh, hello, Dante. How was your game, Sonny?"

"It was great, Grandma," he says while looking at the floor.

"Oh, that's good! I'm sure you and your friends won."

When Dante hears the words friends, he trembles.

"Yeah, we won."

Dante starts walking past his grandma to get to his room.

"Do you have any plans for the rest of the night? Maybe you want to go hang out with your friends."

"No Grandma I don't have any plans. I'm just going to do homework in my room."

"There's microwavable burritos in the freezer."

"Ok, thank you, Grandma."

Dante closes his room door. When Dante enters his empty room, he throws his bag on the ground. Then he sits down on his bed and starts staring at the wall with an empty expression.

Dante does this for the entirety of the day, only leaving the room to eat and use the bathroom. When the clock hits 10:26, a single tear slides down Dante's face as he stares at the wall. Dante looks at his drawer and pulls it open.

Inside the drawer is a kitchen knife. Dante grabs the knife and grips it tightly. With the knife in his hand, Dante looks at his phone and, like usual, sees no notifications. Dante chuckles while tears go down his face, and he throws the knife back into the drawer.

"Not today."

The next day, Greenford High School had another basketball game at home against Phonix High School. There are twenty seconds left on the clock, and Greenford has used all of their timeouts. Dante has the ball and is dribbling it down the court.

"We're down by only one point; we need this layup to go in!"

Dante starts to run faster and faster. He rushes past two defenders and gets right under the rim. With eight seconds left on the clock, Dante sees Jalen open to receive the ball right behind him.

"No, not enough time!"

Dante jumps up to lay the ball up into the hoop but then gets blocked from behind by an opposing player. When he hits the ground, he hears the buzzer, signifying the game is over and Greenford High School has lost.

"Fuck!" Dante screams while slamming his fist on the floor.

Dante gets up and starts walking to the locker room. Before he gets too far, Jalen jumps up and grabs Dante by the shoulder.

"Are you an idiot? I was wide open! I could have gotten us the win!"

"Are you sure, or maybe you would have missed the shot? I can't trust you to make the final shot; you're too inconsistent."

Jalen smiles as Dante ridicules him.

"Are you forgetting what you just did? That motherfucker blocked your shot! Just because you got lucky last game with that shot doesn't mean you can keep doing what you're doing! This is a team sport!"

Dante removes Jalen's hand from his shoulder and starts walking to the locker room.

"There's no point in a team. At the end of the day, everyone is left on their own."

Dante left the gym as fast as possible, but before he got too far away from the school, he bumped into a girl on the sidewalk. The white-skinned girl is 5'4 with black hair and black eyes; she's wearing leggings, a skirt, and a baggy black shirt.

"Do you need something from me?" Dante asks with a suspicious tone.

"Hello! We go to the same school, and I saw your last two games. Tough loss you all just had, but I just wanted to see if I could get your number."

"I have no idea who you are; why would I give you my number?"

"Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself! Let me restart."

The girl stands up straight, smiles wide, and looks Dante directly in the eyes.

"Hello, my name is Roxy! Can I please get your number?"

Chapter 3 end