Chapter 1

The basketball swished perfectly through the hoop as Mia Walker finished up her shooting drills. She ran to the basketball picked it up and started her dribbling drills. She weaved in and out of the little orange cones her coach had set up, dodging them and tapping the basketball to the floor repeatedly. The next set of cones was almost the same drill, only this time they had to spin as the dodged the cones. She sped through this drill since it was her favorite and was among the first to finish the drills.

Her best friend Holly finished moments after her. She came up to her as Mia shot her basketball into the bin. Holly followed and put her arm around Mia’s back. “You were crazy out there, Mia. I almost couldn’t keep up with you. I really think you’ll make captain.”

Mia laughed. “I’m not sure. Rylee is doing really good this year, and so is Jennifer. And I think coach is more likely to give it to a Junior or a Senior over a Sophomore.”

Mia pressed the bar on the drinking fountain and bent down to get a drink of cool, crisp water. She enjoyed the feeling of it running down her dry throat. Holly was dinking at the smaller fountain next to her. They finished and saw a long line forming behind them. The rest of the team must’ve been finishing up their drills.

“I guess that makes sense,” Holly said, continuing the conversation, “but I still think you’ll make Captain.”

Mia shook her head with a slight laugh. “Thanks for being in my corner, Holly.”

“I’m always in your corner.” She bumped her side making Mia stumble slightly.

“Great job today, everybody.” Coach Brown said as she held the clipboard tight to her chest. “I have decided who our Captain for this season is going to be, so gather around.”

A buzz of excitement went up among the girls. The Captain wasn’t usually chosen until the end of their first week of training. It was only Wednesday. She must’ve been very sure.

“Give me a drumroll please.” The whole team started stomping their feet or slapping their thighs. “And the Captain for the this season is… Jennifer Delancey! Congrats Jennifer!” Mia smiled for her teammate and applauded with the rest of the group. Jennifer would be a great Captain.

Jennifer walked up to the front and gave Coach Brown a hug. “Thanks, Coach! This is so exciting. I promise I won’t let you or the team down.”

“We know you will do amazing things.” Then she turned her attention back to the rest of the team. “Now! I’m going to do something a little different this year. Usually I pick the Captain and their Assistant. This year I want Jennifer to pick her assistant” Jennifer’s eyes widened.

“I get to choose?”

“Yes. Choose wisely.” Jennifer started looking around the group. “You don’t have to choose now but I would like a for sure by Friday”

“Actually, Coach, I think I know who I’m going to pick.”

Mia could feel the team tense up as they waited for the announcement. Mia was almost 100% sure that Jennifer would choose Rylee. They were best friends. Rylee was a great player she worked well with everyone on the team, and she didn’t think you couldn’t work as hard if you aren’t a senior like her.

“I want my assistant captain to be Mia Walker!”

Everyone started clapping, including Mia. She didn’t realize that it was her name that was called.

Holly pushed her. “Girl, that was you, get up there!”

“Oh! I’m Mia Walker. Whoa!” She walked through the laughing team and up to Jennifer who pulled her into a hug.

“We are going to do great things you and I.” Jennifer whispered in her ear. Mia could barely hear it with all the chatter from the rest of the team.

“Well here are your Captain and Assistant Captain for the new season!” more cheers went up. “Alright girls, get out of here, I’ll see you tomorrow for more drills.” They started to disperse. A couple of people came up to Jennifer and Mia to congratulate them. It was weird, but also so cool. Mia couldn’t stop smiling.

Holly finally got to Mia’s side and pulled her into a hug. “Congrats! This is so exciting”

“Thanks, I wasn’t expecting it.”

“That was obvious,” Jennifer interrupted, “I think you were the most shocked out of everyone. But I think that’s a good thing. It shows that you’re humble. You don’t know how good you are.”

Mia felt herself blush, “Thanks Jennifer that means a lot.”

“I’ve gotta get going, but I’ll see you tomorrow!” She gave Mia and Holly a high-five and ran off to the locker room.

“We have to party. Friday night. We’ll go bowling or something. On me.” Holly said.

“I’m down!”

Holly pulled her into a hug. “Congrats again I’ve gotta go though. I’m baby sitting in like and hour, so I’ve really got to shower. See you in English tomorrow!” Then she hurried out of the gym.

I think I’m going to go get a treat to celebrate. Mia said to herself as she marched to the vending, her backpack on her shoulder. She pulled out a dollar bill, and watched the vending machine eat it.

She stared at the vending machine trying to decide if she wanted chips or M&M’s. They were both delicious, but she only had the one dollar. She had to choose wisely. She sighed. “I’ll just let the vending machine choose for me.” She hit a couple of random buttons and watched as a candy bar fell. She pulled it out and to her dismay she realized she had never heard of it before.

“An Adventure Bar?” She looked back in the vending machine to see of it was popular. There wasn’t any more in there. “I wonder what it tastes like. I hope it’s good.” She thought to herself.

Just as she was about to rip open the wrapper her phone buzzed. She sighed, and replaced her phone in her pocket with the Adventure Bar.

“Hi, mom.” She answered.

“Dear, I need you to come home quickly today. No dilly-dallying at school, got it?”

Mia wanted to sigh once again, but knew that her mom would be angry and tell her off for having a bad attitude. “Okay mom. I will be home as soon as I can.”

Basketball practice had just finished, so she really should go home. The thing was, she usually stayed after longer to keep shooting hoops.

“I’ll see you soon then.” They hung up.

Mia shoved her phone in her pocket and was once again reminded of the weird Adventure Bar she had gotten. She might as well enjoy it while she walked home.

She unwrapped the candy bar as she stepped outside. The cold air bit at her face, but felt good after the hard workout she’d done in basketball practice.

She took a bite of the chocolate candy bar and a mix of flavors invaded her mouth. It was the best candy she had ever tasted.

“Deffs a new favorite.” She shoved the rest into her pocket and started running. She didn’t live to far from the high school. Just around the corner, so it wouldn’t be a long run.

As she was rounding the corner before her house she tripped. But instead of hitting the concrete, she fell right through and landed again on her feet.

“What the?”