Somebody in a Small Town

 My Flash Fiction Friday a day late.

Somebody in a Small Town Part I

  Sweat drips down my back as I stand on the side of the court taking a break. My gaze follows our point guard dribbling the ball down the court defended by a previous player my coach recruited to be part of the scout team . He wants us prepared for finals this weekend.

  I wince at the unnecessary blow our guard takes from the scout. The punishment dished out is usually reversed. Being part of the scout team, I'm used to the beating my body takes as my coach and the rest of the team cheer against us. It's a blow mentally and physically but I justify it in my mind as taking one for the team. After all, my part helps to get the starters ready for tournaments and I love basketball.

  Our point guard slowly rises from the floor. She limps to the side of the court and holds her hands out for the ball ready to take it out. I don't miss the look of disappointment that crosses over my coach's face. You see, I know something that the rest of our team doesn't. And our coach doesn't know that I got wind of it. He ordered the two scouts he recruited to hurt this particular point guard. She turns the ball over too much and he doesn't want her playing this weekend.

  I look on as she takes a hard elbow in the ribs, but she keeps going. She's a somebody. Our coach can't just bench her like the rest of us nobodies. Her parents and grandparents actively support the sports in our town financially among other ways. I realized the difference between the somebodies and nobodies back in middle school when a couple of us would get benched after making one mistake in a game while somebodies made the same mistakes over and over again only to remain in the game.

   The guard hobbles to the bench while our other point guard takes over. She bends over and rubs her ankle. I'm not a fan of her, but it makes me sick to my stomach to know what's going on. It's not right. I take my place back on the court with this secret chewing at me .

Part II next Flash Fiction Friday.
 

Nobody in a Small Town

  

  Deep laughter rose above the voices of the other cheerleaders seated around me in the back of the old pick up truck. My heart stuck in my throat as I watched the senior varsity football players shove  the small freshman player back and forth between them. When I dreamed of being a cheerleader, I never visioned this. I always looked up to the older girls who got to ride in the parade with the football players on the night before our big rival game. Little did I know what happened in the middle of the truck, hidden from the view of those on the outside. But not hidden from my cheer-leading coach who acts like she doesn't see the weaker players being shoved, kicked, and punched.

  My stomach rolls with nausea while the football coaches talk among one another as the younger players who practice just as hard as the starters are their target of entertainment and cruelty.

  By the time the parade is over, one of the younger players is dazed. His pupils the size of  dimes. I would later find out that his mom took him to the emergency room with a concussion. Nothing will ever come of it though. It's just his mom and him. She doesn't have a lot of money or hold position in our town. He's not a spectacular player, just a boy who loves football and works hard. They are nobodies in a small town. I turned in my uniform the next day, ashamed to wear it. I'll never cheer for this team or town again.