Hate to Love You novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: Courtside

With four seconds left and the score tied, Shay got the ball at the top of the key.

Nobody moved to stop him.

The Eastlake guard on him leaned in, and Shay faked right, rose on the left, and let it go.

It dropped through the net without touching the rim.

The buzzer sounded while the ball was still shaking the cords.

The gym went off.

Half of it was joy, and I screamed with that half, and Jess was hitting me on the arm and shouting something I couldn't hear.

The other half was not joy.

Under the cheering, booing rolled in from the Eastlake side.

To my shock, it came from a few rows behind me too.

Shay stood alone at the top of the key with the ball in his hands.

His teammates had run to center court, but none of them had run to him.

The tall boy with the gold chain hovered a few feet away, looking at his shoes.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer said over the speakers.

He was a booster dad with a red tie and a voice.

"What a finish! Let's hear it for your Garnet Falls Badgers!"

The crowd roared again.

"And a special hand tonight for our captain, Mason Hollowell, who sat this one out with the knee he injured last March."

He paused, and I could hear the little smile in it.

"At the hands of tonight's hero, number eleven."

"Funny how things turn around, folks."

The booing doubled.

Shay's head dropped.

He stood in the middle of the gym with every face turned on him, and he did not move.

On the bench, Mason sat bolt upright.

His face was the color of paper.

I stood up.

"Kennedy?" Jess said. "What are you..."

I had the Gazette page in my coat pocket.

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