I was subbed into the game, Yes.... But was it my best?, No. This is my first game ever, I don't expect myself to play like a pro, but for the viewers, I don't know how my performance would be rated, I tried no strike at the opposite net, all I was doing was things I believe I can do best, passes the ball out cautiously. I wasn't showing any sign as a threat, David was subbed off while I went on, I knew that passing the ball back will show how bad my performance was, then I made up my mind to do something for the team, something I never knew whether it was beneficial or not. I was passing forward, I was making moves with the ball, making spaces so the team can get to create chances, I wasn't good with shooting, in fact, I was extremely poor, so I decided to do tricks instead.
We won the game with 9 points gap, no improvement since I was brought in, right now, I don't know whether I will ever be given the nod again, my poor performance wasn't the type that deserves a second chance. No one spoke about it, I also never brought it up, don't want to stir up the criticism.
“ Come Jones, you've got to see this, come quickly!....”, I followed Franklin to the dashboard of the school and saw something I was never expecting, I got an 8, an 8 out of 10 performance, equal rating to Francis and Drew who were the stars of the game, how come?.
I can see the compliments coming from all the students, they were impressed by my poor performance, I wasn't good enough in there, I'm sure of that, did someone manipulate the ratings or something?, I knew I really wasn't this good in there, not to talk of the opposing team gaining 11 points, closing the gap from my time inside the court, guess I have to watch the clip again when I get home to see how come I am being praised for doing absolutely nothing.
I have been avoiding Stella since the match was over, I never wanted her to see how displeased I was about my performance, I hid away and turned my phone off before I saw the dashboard before the dismissal, now all I want to do is just get a glimpse of her so I can comfortably approach her.
“ Hey.... I have been looking around for you, thought you just went invisible all of a sudden....”, she said from my back, I turned around to her and she placed her hands across my neck, standing on her toes, eyes looking into mine, I could feel the rising of my heartbeat, not that I haven't done this with her before, but because I don't believe that I kind of deserve it, maybe.
Because of the game, we were quite exhausted to go to the gym today, I have seen quite a lot of improvement from my time since hitting the gym, I never dreamt of seeing myself in good lean Physique with some added muscle like an athlete, David still weigh more than me, but right now, I have tons of muscles just like Francis and the others, except for David.
After watching my performance from the school website, I realized that I really did make a change, my movements created more space for the team, my passes created more chances for scoring and my defending was top class despite the gap margin closing down from 20 to 9.
Uncle Dale was quite impressed with my performance too, guess watching from the stand is more appropriative than playing inside the court, maybe the players also feel the same way I felt today when they step away from the court, not knowing that they really did a great job too in there.
Life in the school has been more exciting than I thought it would be, I was afraid of the environmental change at first, but now, I'm glad that I was brought out here by Mr Caleb, he did his deed thinking only about his own selfish interest, but now, he never realized that he has helped in creating a path for me. The story of Joseph in the Bible did similar thing, his brothers sold him out only for him to later end up as the King of Egypt after all the suffering, guess I have to continue being the good boy uncle Dale thinks of me to be, that way, I will push into becoming successful in my life.
The News of our victory was the talk of the school for the whole week, we were been praised, honored and respected for our performance, despite all the positivity, I can still always see David held back with his emotions, I can't tell whether he was being bothered by something or he wasn't happy about an internal or external issue.
“ You once spoke to me about your mother, I'm ready to listen to what you have to say now, can you tell me about her?...”. I requested from him, waiting to see what his reaction was going to be, “ I just realized that I made an error and I dont like my act of doing that, it looks like I am going to stand in the way of something that was supposed to happen....”, David said, eyes still looking away from mine.
“ Lemme tell you something that I learnt from Mother superior David.... There's only one person you can control, controlling that person would be controlling everything around that person, and that is yourself, if you're eligible to control only yourself, then you're also eligible to forgive yourself too, even if someone forgives you and you doesn't forgive yourself, then it's all for nothing because you will still live in the same guilt you have so long being forgiven of, let go of grudges and pain, don't stop giving yourself chance, that way, you will become the best friend you have ever had....”, I said to him, trying to boost his mood.
“ I would surely have agreed with you and your words, but that person I am bothered for is you, and my action would set you back if I don't read my moves well ”.
Now I'm lost in thought, what might it be that's bothering him about me?.