Chapter 19

The Game Continues

I felt the yellow plastic in my hand, unsure what to do with it. The people around me were screaming at me: to toss it back in, to keep it, to hand it over so someone else could throw it in. I couldn’t hear anything with all of the noise. Eventually, I tossed it over to Olivia’s side, hoping we could just continue the game. I honestly wanted to go home as soon as I could.

Olivia swung at the birdie and missed. 19-21. The game was over.

“THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A RE-SERVE!” Dad shouted.

“YEAH! RE-SERVE THAT!!!” Jimmy added. That was the first time Jimmy had ever agreed with Dad on anything.

The judge didn’t hear them. Olivia and the boy from the other team were already shaking hands. Defeat had already found its way into Olivia’s heart as she slowly exited the gym. Kylie stayed there for a little longer, briefly glancing up at us, but she eventually followed Olivia.

“Let’s go find Olivia,” Mom said. She seemed disappointed, like Olivia hadn’t exceeded her expectations for once.

I was the one who spotted Olivia. She was slumped against a wall in the lobby, held-back tears starting to leak out of her eyes. Her hair was a mess and her forehead was drenched in sweat.

“Go away Isabelle,” she whined.

“We’re leaving, Olivia,” I told her.

We all walked out the door. Olivia was still crying, even though Mom and Dad were doing the best they could to calm her down.

“Olivia, we’re very proud of you,” Mom said in a loving voice.

Olivia didn’t respond. She simply hopped in the car next to me. “Turn on 95.1,” she ordered. 95.1 was probably the most annoying pop station on the planet.

“Should I request something else?” I asked the Magic 8 Ball.

You may rely on it.

“Olivia, at least say please,” Mom said.

“Fine. Turn on 95.1, please.”

“Actually, can you please play 103.8?” I asked.

“Sorry, Isabelle. Olivia worked hard today,” Dad said. He turned the radio to 95.1, which was playing some obnoxious bubblegum pop song. Olivia started singing along at the top of her lungs.

Jimmy put in his earbuds and started playing a video game. I was still stuck in reality with Olivia and her crappy music. After a while, it didn’t even seem like Olivia was listening to music. Instead, she had her phone out and was texting her friends.

Friends. I wished I had friends. I guess I could call Samina my friend, but she felt more like a partner in crime than a real friend. I had a couple of close friends the year before, but I always felt like the third wheel, or the fifth wheel in that case. I didn’t want to go through that again, so I suppose it was a good thing that the Magic 8 Ball made me sit with Samina on the first day of school.

The car ride from hell lasted for another hour. Boredom started to creep in and I wished I had brought something to do. I was stuck there twiddling my thumbs and staring out the window. After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived at home. Olivia ran into her room and the rest of the family dispersed throughout the house.

I knocked on Olivia’s door, hoping she was OK. She seemed really upset earlier. Even though I hate Olivia sometimes, she is my little sister.

“Hi Olivia,” I said.

“Go away Isabelle,” Olivia whined. “You made me lose.”

“How did I make you lose?” I asked.

“We would’ve won!” Olivia shouted. “If you hadn’t caught the stupid birdie, I would’ve hit it and we would’ve won!”

“You would have had to have gotten another point after that,” I reminded Olivia.

“That’s no problem. We were better than them! WE SHOULD’VE WON!!!” Olivia suddenly burst into tears. “WE SHOULD’VE WON!!!”

I slowly backed out of her room. Olivia clearly didn’t want me around. She had built a cage around herself and now she was like that caged bird from the poem Samina wrote on her arm. Olivia was singing for sure, but it wasn’t a song of freedom. It was a song of misery; of dying dreams and failure. And as I heard her song, I could feel my own walls building up.