Michelle Provides an Emotional Lift

A month has passed since Michelle was shot on the right arm by a deranged Corinna. Over the past several weeks, her wounded arm had been progressively improving through extensive rehabilitation, while at the same time she carefully taught herself how to shoot accurately with the left hand.

Every day before class, I watched Michelle struggle with team trainers as she worked her way back into shape. At the same time, my keen eyes oversaw Kyla's growth as a player and leader, supervising team practices in Michelle's absence.

I was more than proud to be friends and classmates with two extremely talented and devoted teammates. With each passing day of practice, it was clear that her team was formidable enough to win the championship this year.

On the seventh Monday of the school year, Michelle was cleared to return to practice by her doctors. Upon entering the court, she was joyfully applauded by her teammates and coach.

An overly emotional Kyla came out to embrace Michelle. With sentimental tears in her eyes, she humbly offered one short message to her captain.

"Michelle, I'm glad you're back," Kyla tearfully remarked. "We sorely missed you. It was never easy filling your void."

"Kyla don't cry," Michelle happily responded. "You performed an exceptionally brilliant job leading the team in my absence, and I'm proud of that."

Michelle gently held Kyla's plump cheeks and willingly offered one more piece of advice.

"Sooner or later, however, you will be the one spearheading the team," Michelle said passionately. "Well, here's an idea. Why don't you become the co-captain of the team? And when I leave, the team is all yours. What can you say?"

Kyla turned her back for a moment to carefully consider Michelle's offer. Soon after, she resolutely faced her with a smile and uttered these profound words.

"I'm ready when you are," Kyla said jovially.

"That's the spirit girl," Michelle commented on Kyla gratefully accepting her offer. "Now let's go to work, shall we?"

"Yes co-captain," Kyla nodded.

And so practice began in earnest while I watched from the bleacher seats. With only two weeks remaining before the beginning of the local college basketball tournaments, Michelle knew that she needed to work even harder for the grind ahead.

Luckily for her, the whole team's chemistry grew stronger, and the players became more motivated in her absence. They knew that it would be her last year, and gifting her with a championship would be a fitting send-off.

When practice ended, I hurriedly approached Michelle and commented on her first practice back.

"How does it feel?" I asked Michelle about practice.

"I never felt better," she replied heartily, sweat dripping from her face like rain. "Returning to the court was rejuvenating for me. All the pressure and worry suddenly extinguished in the blink of an eye. I can't wait to engage in a real game soon."

Kyla then came out to playfully rib on her fellow captain. Michelle promptly responded by gently pinching her cheeks, which naturally drew a few laughs from the team.

It was a perfect start to a glorious morning. But the festive mood then turned serious once we attended class.

For the past few weeks, school work had been piling up for me. Most of my time was spent inside the library, carefully researching and writing extremely difficult assignments for philosophy, media ethics and film production.

I was even assigned to write a news article for this month's issue of our campus newspaper. Talk about carrying a huge burden on your back.

For days, I rarely got some sleep, and even if my body decides to rest once in a while, it only lasted two or three hours at best. Working day and night, from the campus all the way home was taking its toll on my body.

One night, I was at the living room working on a media ethics assignment when Charissa went downstairs. She was extremely disturbed at the sight of my eye-bags and red eyes.

"Christine, I'm worried about you," Charissa commented on my condition. "Look at yourself in the mirror."

Charissa accompanied me to the tall mirror near her bedroom and upon viewing my reflection, it was obvious something was wrong. I was overexerting myself to the point that my face looked like a tomato.

"Christine, you need some sleep," Charissa advised me. "Go to bed, my dearest daughter. You can finish your work in school tomorrow."

At that moment I yawned loudly and realized that sleep was inevitable. But instead of going to my bedroom, I returned to the living room sofa and promptly laid down.

Charissa put on a sheet and then turned off the lights. The following morning, however, I woke up not realizing it was already 8:00 in the morning.

Having overslept the other night, I frantically screamed thinking I was late for class.

But then Charissa came out and informed me through Kyla that philosophy class was cancelled for the day. She added that Michelle's practice was cancelled for the day because her coach was sick and could not report for work.

It was a lucky break for me. Still, that experience made me realize that I must take care of my body and not overexert on such arduous tasks.

After finishing breakfast and taking a bath, I went down the lobby and waited for Michelle. Upon arrival, my first order of business was to take a nap.

An hour later, Michelle stopped her car and tried waking me up to no avail. Eventually, she resorted to dumping a bottle of water on my face just to arouse me.

"What did you do that for?" I shouted at Michelle.

"Don't you see?" Michelle responded emphatically. "We're already inside the school."

Upon carefully rubbing my eyes, I instantly noticed that Michelle had already parked her car at the gym. And so I dropped out of her car and after fixing myself for a moment, we immediately went straight to the campus.

After that terrible experience, Michelle vowed to work with me the next time a professor gave out such heavy assignments. She was absolutely determined to lighten my burden and I was more than relieved to join her in these endeavors.

Fast forward to Monday and Michelle was about to move to another class while Kyla and I proceeded to attend philosophy lectures. As my curious mind reflected on what happened the other week, it was clear that help from a faithful friend in these dire times is necessary to survive college life.