Jasper, Seth, and I cheered loudly, despite the dirty looks from everyone around us. Noelle grinned over at us and reached up to tighten her ponytail.

At this point, I wasn’t even actively watching the game anymore. My eyes stayed glued on her the entire time, watching as she sprinted across the court and shouted commands, a smirk on her face as she stole the ball from Westbridge’s players and scored point after point.

I only looked up at the scoreboard when the buzzer went off again, this time for Westbridge.

“And Westbridge catches up! Come on, guys, one more point and we—”

Even before he could finish his sentence, the crowd suddenly went wild. Noelle had snatched the ball from one of Westbridge’s players who had been in the middle of attempting another attack on Seven Hills and had somehow made him stumble over his own two feet.

Now she was charging towards their half of the court until she reached the defense line. I still had no clue how basketball worked, but it looked like she was in a good position to score; a little far away but I was sure that she could’ve done it.

However, instead of doing it herself, she suddenly passed to a guy a few feet ahead of her. He looked a little startled at suddenly getting the ball because, like me, he had probably expected her to try to score on her own. Finally, a grin spread on his face and he threw the ball.

The buzzer got completely drowned out by the outrage that broke out around us as he scored. A few seconds later, the buzzer sounded another time, this time signaling the end of the game.

“They did it!” Jasper yelled over the noise.

Seth answered, but I was barely listening to them. Down on the court, the basketball team was tangled in a victorious huddle; they were jumping and cheering, arm in arm, one of the cheerleaders running towards her boyfriend, who met her in a victorious kiss.

I tore my eyes away from them and searched for Noelle instead, only to find her already looking up at me, jerking her head towards the door while holding up ten fingers.

A moment later, the basketball team and the cheerleaders left the court and headed for the locker rooms. I waited for exactly ten minutes, then I got up.

“Where are you going?” Seth asked, looking up at me with a puzzled look on his face.

“I, uh . . . have to use the restroom,” I lied. “I’ll meet you at the bus.”

Jasper raised a brow at me, clearly knowing what was going on, but didn’t say anything.

Finding the locker rooms wasn’t as hard as I had feared; there were some signs pointing me in the right direction and the heavy stench of sweat and deodorant in the air was unmistakable.

Peeking my head through the door labeled Guests: Girls, I was met with the sight of an empty changing room, misty with the humidity from the showers around the corner, and then Noelle, now wearing sweatpants and a hoodie that her wet hair was dripping onto.