Understudy

This is not how it was supposed to go, I thought as I laced up tennis shoes. My friends weren't supposed to abandon me. It was the last game before Christmas break began, and my mind was anywhere else but. As a matter of fact, it's been that way since the beginning of November. Before I get into that, however, let me fill you in on how it all began. On the last week of school, tryouts for the Assistant Captain of the Varsity girl's A basketball team had been held. Due to the fact that only seniors could be the captain of their teams, only juniors could try out for Asst. Captain. With this said, my best friends, Alyssa Lancaster and Dana Davis, tried out. In the end, it was our friend, Amy Alden who ended up becoming the Assistant Captain. However, Coach Penny declared me as the substitute Assistant Captain. This meant that if Amy could not fulfill her captain duties any longer, than I would take her place. In November, that is exactly what I had to do. Due to the fact that Amy had been drinking on school grounds, she had been expelled and kicked off the team. For a little while, my best friends had been happy for me. Much too soon, however, things began to change for the worse. Soon enough, Alyssa and Dana had randomly quit the team. They had also started ditching me and ignoring my phone calls, and ignoring me completely at school. Even my best guy friend, crush and Alyssa's twin brother, Aaron, started doing the same thing, too. However, all of those things hurt way less than when they told me that they didn't want to be friends with me anymore. This had happened over Thanksgiving break.Even to this day, I still don't know why Alyssa, Dana, and Aaron ditched me. After all, the fact that I had become Asst. Captain didn't change me. It didn't go to my head. On a different note, being the most popular girl in the junior class and having many friends definitely came in handy. I had many friends to keep me company. I even hung out with some friends from my church and did some volunteering. Pulling my long brown hair into a ponytail, I took a deep breath and followed the rest of the team onto the gym floor. After all, we had the Regional Championship to win.