Full-Court Press by Elena Delle Donne

Author:Elena Delle Donne [Donne, Elena Delle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

7

Falling

Today in fall news, there is falling rain outside, and falling leaves,” Principal Lubin announced over the PA system the next morning. “Enjoy the fall, but please don’t fall asleep in class or fall behind on your work!”

The word “asleep” made me yawn—I couldn’t help it. I felt like no matter how long I slept these days, it wasn’t enough. In an eerie way, it felt like the principal’s warning was just for me.

I didn’t fall asleep in homeroom, although I did spend most of it staring out the window, watching the raindrops hit the red leaves of the maple tree outside. It was hypnotic, and I yawned again.

Next to me, Avery yawned. “Stop doing that, Elle!” she hissed. “Don’t you know that yawns are contagious? When you see somebody yawn, it makes you yawn too.”

“Really? Is that scientific?” I asked, and I yawned in the middle of the word. “Oh. Maybe you’re right!”

The bell rang, and Avery left for her class while I stayed behind for World History with Ms. Ebear.

“All right, everybody! Time to hand in your outlines!” she said. “I can’t wait to read all of your thoughtful and amazing ideas.”

My stomach flipped a little. Thoughtful and amazing? I would not use those words to describe my outline. But there was nothing I could do about it now, except do a better job on the other parts of the project.

It must have been the rain, because I dragged around all morning. I got my energy back during gym, when we played volleyball again. Mr. Patel told me that I had a “killer serve!” That felt pretty good.

But my stomach flipped again in English class.

“You should all have five entries in your journals by now,” Ms. Hamlin told the class. “On Wednesday I’ll be doing a journal check, so make sure you are up to date.”

Five entries? I hadn’t even done one! And since we were supposed to do a journal entry every weeknight, I’d have to do a total of seven journal entries before she checked us on Wednesday. I started to panic, but again, what could I do?

When school was over, I had basketball practice. The rain had ended, and my sneakers squished on the muddy field as I walked to the high school gym. When I walked to the locker room, I saw that Coach Ramirez had the TV set up again.

“Oh boy,” I said out loud, and Amanda heard me.

“I know, right?” she said. “Watching my mistakes makes me cringe.”

“Me too,” I said. “Especially since last time Coach showed, like, a hundred things I did wrong.”

“It wasn’t a hundred!” Amanda said. “And anyway, you played great yesterday. I’m sure she won’t have much to say about you at all.”

She smiled at me, and I noticed the cute way she crinkled her freckled nose when she did. I smiled back.

“Thanks, I hope so,” I said.

But fifteen minutes later, when we were all suited up and seated on the bleachers, I got a real surprise.

“You had a victory again on Sunday,” Coach Ramirez began.

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