Game Day

November started out wonderfully. We had our big senior basketball game against our cross town rivals; on our home court. Posters, balloons and a pep rally prepared us for the big game. Needless to say, I was super excited. These are the things that make school a little worthwhile. It was near the end of our season and we were ready to go out with a bang. 

Our cross town rivals are, needless to say, a little competitive. Well, so are we. We lost to them in an exhibition game but beat them the last two games we played them. Could we do it three times in a row? It was time to prove to them that we deserved to win. Apparently they said they were prepared to draw blood. I said, we were prepared to break bones. It was uncharacteristically competitive of me, but I was ready. This was our game.

...... I just didn't intend to break my own bones. 

It was the 3rd quarter and things were getting intense. I was playing pretty well… according to me. We were up, but we kept pushing. The entire school was there, my parents, and even some of the other school made their way over. It was like a "High School Musical" moment. It was in their end and it happened quickly. One of their players and I both went up for a rebound. She ended up getting it, but as I said, it was ‘our game’. I ripped it from her and she apparently fell because of it. She wasn't hurt but I wasn't paying attention because I went up and got a basket. Yeah, it was only one, but that was good enough for me. Right away we were back on defense. I was playing a hard man to man. Ready to pounce. One look at my purple and scraped knees would tell anyone I wasn't afraid to dive for a ball.

Then, one of their players fumbled the ball. She got away with it and got it under control. A bad pass caused another fumble. I spotted an opportunity of a loose ball and wasn't going to let it go. At the same time, another girl spotted the same opportunity and intended to redeem herself. We both dove for the ball and a micro-second before, I realized we were going to collide. I closed my eyes preparing myself for the impact and BAM! 

I felt my nose shift. 

I was on the ground sitting with the legs straight and holding my nose, crying. It hurt so bad but it was also the shock of it. I actually felt thee bone move. No snap, thank goodness, but the feeling of it moving was still enough to shock me. I sat there in my darkness afraid to open my eyes. Afraid of what it might look like. I touched it gently and felt a bump on the side. My coach came over and bent down. He asked me where I was hurt.

"It's broken, it's broken, it's broken!" was all I could say. 

"What is?" 

"My nose!" I said through my tears.

"Let me see." He replied calmly.

I revealed my injury. Apparently it looked worse then I thought because the only thing he asked was if I would walk. He never commented on it.

Of course I can walk, I thought. I kind of became embarrassed but my mind was more concentrated on the burning sensation. 

Head bent back, I walked the length of the gym to my bench. It started to bleed. I tuned in and I heard everyone clapping and cheering, the common practice when someone gets up after an injury. I tuned in and then tuned out, barely hearing it. The funny thing was, was that before this game day, I was imagining how the day would play out. We would dominate and I would get a basket. The people would cheer and I'd feel good about myself. And if I got hurt, then people would cheer and clap for me as I made my way to the bench. Stupid, I know. But we've all done that. Don't deny it. But at that moment the cheering didn't matter. I could hardly hear it. The pain and shock of it all was overwhelming. 

I sat down and was immediately handed an ice pack. It was hard to stop crying because my eyes kept watering. Teachers and my principal each took turns examining me. I could tell by some of the faces that it didn't look too pretty. But no one was telling me that it was broken. My teammates said it looked fine, just a tad bit swollen. I stayed on the bench trying to keep calm. Still standing up with my teammates at timeouts. The ice pack never left my nose. My coach gave my parents a look saying I was all right but... it would definitely need to be checked out. I stayed for the entire game. I don't know why, I mainly stared at the ceiling.

We conquered a victory of 40-23. It would have been grander if my nose didn't hurt and look the size of a pear. 

Leaving the school I got the strangest/sympathetic looks. Of course I would injure myself in front of the entire school.  

It, indeed, was broken. I almost threw up when I saw the X-ray results. It was a "compressed" break and the bump I felt was part of the fracture, I later found out. I stayed home from school a total of 6 days. Got black eyes and looked like I could be related to an Avatar, my nose was so swollen. I needed surgery to fix the bone and wore a nose cast (yes, they exist) for 10 days and am technically "off sports" for about 6 weeks. With the exception of volleyball! 

More later but that has been my month so far.