This is the story of a 15 year old who runs away from his family due to an argument that he got into with his parents.
The story first takes place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it’s a mild march morning. James wakes up at the normal time of 7:45am to get ready for school. As he walks down the stairs his mom already has breakfast made for him. James started to eat his favorite blueberry pancakes, bacon, and orange juice. His mom in the background yells out that her and dad are leaving for work. While he continues to eat he doesn’t know that his dad is getting a new job in San Francisco and they will eventually have to move, but you will find out more about that later in the  story. James finished his breakfast and went up to go take a shower before the bus came to take him to school. It was a normal Friday at school at Marquette, with the excitement of the weekend coming up but also the fact that the big basketball game was tonight. As a freshman James made the varsity basketball which is hard to do at Marquette high school, but James grew up just playing basketball so he’s good enough to be on varsity. Now let’s cut back to his dad who is at his job and finding out that he is gonna get transferred to San Francisco. James dad is a businessman for a big corporation and its headquarters is in San Francisco. For working there for 25 years his job was gonna give him a promotion, but it will have to move him. As the President of the company sat him down and started talking to him about the job promotion, James dad knew he had to call his wife before making a decision. The President told him that this deal will end today so this is his only chance that he has to take this job. The benefits of taking this job will be an increase in pay plus they will already have a house waiting for them in San Francisco due to the quick notice of moving. Now back to what James was doing back at school. It was about noon and James was on his way to the cafeteria with his best friends Michael and AJ, they were all talking about the big game tonight because this game will determine who will win and go onto the state tournament. Even though Michael and AJ aren’t on varsity they still support James as good friends and aren’t jealous that he’s on varsity. Two seniors approached James while he was waiting in line and slightly bumped into him as they both said, “you better not freeze up and cost us the game tonight superstar”. James knew that most people at the school didn’t like that a freshman made the varsity basketball team and starts, because he plays over people that are older than him and have been on the team longer. James knew that he had a lot of pressure on him, since he was kind of the star player and he was only a freshman, but at the same time James smiled to himself because he knows he plays better under pressure so he should be fine tonight. As he finished his lunch and started to head back to class, students and teachers in the hallways started to wish him good luck for tonight's game, that’s when the nerves started to kicking in on James and the day hasn’t even ended yet. Now James realizes that the second half of his day is gonna be hard because all he is gonna think about is the big game tonight. Now back to the big decision that James’s day has to make about the new job offer. After been on the phone with his wife and his family, James’s dad Robert finally went back to his boss and told him that he will accept the job offer, but his only issue is that he can’t leave until his son’s basketball season is over. Robert’s boss agreed upon on those terms since it will take time anyways until they will be able to move to San Francisco. Now that James’s dad has accepted the job, he now has to figure out on how he is gonna tell his son without upsetting him because he will have to move and basically start a new life. James back at school is just waiting for the bell to ring at 2:34pm so he can just go to shootaround and get ready for the big game tonight. James’s thinks that maybe once he starts shooting some hoops and starts focusing more on the big game tonight maybe the nerves he has right now will go away. At shootaround James starts dribbling around and talking to his teammates just like a usual shootaround, but this time for some reason he couldn’t make any shoots. His stomach still felt like it was still in a knot, and his legs felt like jello. He couldn’t believe that he was letting the pressure of this game get to him this much that he couldn’t even play the game he loved so much right now. It didn’t help when Coach Carter called him and sat him down on the bench. Coach looks at him, “James how are you feeling, did you have a good day at school today”? James looked to his left and said,” Yeah school went well today and I’m feeling good right now and excited for tonight's game”. As James said that he knew he was lying since he was feeling like crap at this moment and it was all because of the big game tonight. Coach then looked back at James after yelling that they should go onto the next drill, and said “I know I’ve said this plenty of times that tonight is a big game, but the team needs another big game from you, as you know we are going the top team with the best point guard in the state”. “You will be guarding him and it will be your toughest matchup this year.” James looked at Coach and said, “I understand coach but I know I will be ready for tonight’s game”. Coach said, “Okay good James now go finish shootaround.” As James got up and went back to shooting around, he knew that he a lot of pressure on him now that the school is hoping that he will lead the team to state, and now coach wants me to play my best game of the year. As shootaround ended coach tells the team to be back at the school at 5:45 to get on the bus, James already knew that since it hasn’t changed one bit. James is now back into his pre game mode, as he walked outside he saw his dad in his black Mercedes in the parking lot he started walking towards in it to go home. As James got in the car his dad asked, “How was your day son”? James looked at his dad, “It was good but I’m already starting to feel the pressure of tonight’s game.” James dad looked at him and said, “Don’t worry about it son, you’ll play great tonight just take a deep breath, when you get home go take a nap before dinner.” James’s dad knew that he couldn’t tell James yet that they were gonna be moving to San Francisco because that would devastate him before his game tonight. As his dad said when James got home he went straight to his room and decided to take a nap, surprising for not being that tired James fell asleep and woke up around 4:30 when he heard his mom yell that dinner was ready. When James got up he could smell dinner from his room, he knew that it was his favorite meal alfredo pasta with shrimp. James ate his dinner and got back in his dad’s car on the drive back to the high school, for some reason this time it was silent car which was strange for him. James could tell that something was wrong with his dad because he was acting differently, but he didn’t ask him about it. As they pulled up to Marquette high school, James grabbed his stuff looked at his dad and said, “I’ll cya at the game”. James dad responded saying, “Good luck James I know you will play great tonight.” James walked into the school and sat down by the rest of his teammates, as they waited for the coach to say it was time to get on the bus. After 10 minutes which felt way longer than that, they boarded the bus and they were off to play Milwaukee Riverside to become the sectional champs and go to state. James sat in the front of the bus in his usual spot, and decided to put his headphones in. He knew he had to listen to his favorite artist Kanye West and his new album The Life of Pablo to get him ready for the big game tonight. The bus pulled up to the high school and James and his teammate grabbed their bags and started walking to the locker room to get ready for the game. It was nearly close to game time, you could hear the crowd outside of the locker room getting rowdy, as the coach walked into the locker everyone sat down and was ready to hear the game plan. Once they were done the coach told them to go have a good warm up and be back in here with 6 minutes to go. As they ran out the locker room, all you could hear was the boo’s that were coming from the student section. James could tell that this was gonna be a tough game and he would need to forget about being nervous and all the surrounding factors around him to play his best game tonight. James knew he was still nervous, it was almost like the crowd was already getting to him since he still couldn’t make a shot during warm ups and he knew this was not a good sign. As warm ups came to an end, both teams walked to their benches and got ready for the national anthem, then the introduction of the starting lineups. Introductions were done, and James started to walk onto the court, he looked up into the crowd and he saw his parents and his best friends which was a good sign for James, but as he turned around and got ready for jump ball he knew he was ready. The game started and the tip when to Milwaukee Riverside and just like that the game started and it got out of control right out the gate. Riverside started the game on a 12-0 run, James tried to get his team going but early he missed his first three shots and had two turnovers. James during the first timeout after getting yelled at by the coach, he knew he had to figure out how to get rid of his neves and start playing like he is the best player on the team. Out of the timeout James started to heat up, he made his next five shots including making four free throws. With five minutes left in the half Marquette was still losing 42-36 but was slowing making a comeback. With 25 seconds left in the half James was bringing the ball up with the sweat dripping from his forehead, he knew he needed to get a buzzer beater to continue the moment into half. With seven seconds left James made his move and drove to lane, stopped and pulled up from the free throw line to hit a buzzer beater, to make the score 42-38 at halftime. James now knew he was in the zone and nothing was gonna stop him and that was true once the second half started. Marquette went on a 10-0 run to start the half and James scored eight of the points. James continued to be strong and extended the lead to 12 points with five minutes to go in the game.  The score was 82-70, and when things seemed to be going well, the tides have turned against Marquette. Milwaukee Riverside went on a 14-2 against Marquette to make it a tie game with only 30 seconds to go. It was Marquette’s ball coming out of the timeout, James got the inbound pass, and started to dribble the ball up court, knowing that this was his moment. As the clock was running down, James a screen and split the double team to pull up for a two. James was watching the ball as the crowd was silent, the ball hit the back of the rim and went through the hoop with 2.3 seconds left on the clock. The crowd was in shock as Marquette started to celebrate around James during the timeout. Riverside still had a chance to tie or win the game. Riverside had the best player in the state and he can win the game with one shot. Riverside set two screen and the point guard came off them and caught the ball on the top of the key, fading to his left he shot which could be the game winning, as James watched the ball it felt like it was the longest moment in his life as the ball swished through the hoop, winning Riverside the game. James was devastated and couldn’t believe that it happened, as they shaked eachothers hands, the look on the Marquette’s players as they were holding back tears, knowing this was their last game of the season. The locker room was silent with some players crying, the coach was trying to tell the players to keep their heads up, but nothing could of helped after a game like that. Things didn’t get better for James, when he got home. After a big lose like that, he was sat down by his parents to be told that his dad got a job in San Francisco at the end of the school year. James was in shock and didn’t know what to say, since his life was about to start over.        End of Part 1
Beginning of Part 2
It was the morning of June 12, I could feel the warm air warm up my body, the sun hurting my eyes, as I walked off the plane in San Francisco. It was the first day we landed in San Francisco since my dad got the new job. It was just me and my mom since my dad went earlier to start his new job and get our new house together. I still didn’t like the idea that we had to move to San Francisco but I couldn’t stop my parents. James hated the fact that he had to move, now he basically has to start his life all over. He is going to a new school, has to get new friends, and he doesn’t know if he will make the basketball team. He also doesn’t like the fact that he has to learn everything about a this city since he is new here. As James and his mom were walking out the airport with their luggage, they saw his dad waiting for them at the terminal exit. James hasn’t seen his dad since he left for San Francisco three months ago, it was a sort of a happy thing for James, but at the same time he was mad that his dad took this job without asking him about it. James was still mad and didn’t really talk to his dad, and just sat in the back of the car silently until they got to their new home. When they arrived James look out the window at his new house, it was on a busy street and it was house by house. He knew it was gonna be a small one story house with no backyard, with he won’t like at all. This frustrated James more since it wasn’t actually a house that he had back in Milwaukee. James knew he was about to spend his summer doing nothing but setting up his new home and getting used to the new city. At dinner he sat there and didn’t say anything and ate his chinese food in silence, as his dad just kept rambling on about how great San Francisco is. This really upset James and he snapped, “How can you like this city so much, how do you not miss Milwaukee!! This city sucks!!” James got up and walked straight to his room. He grabbed his headphones and layed in bed listening to music. He wanted to text his friends, but he knew it was going to upset him so he just tried and go to bed. Their was a knock on the door, James looked up to see his mom walking into his room. His mom sat down on the end of the bed and looked at him and asked, “What’s wrong, why did you storm off at dinner like that?” James didn’t even look at his mom and said, “I don’t wanna talk about it, can you please leave me alone.” James mom said, “Come on James, I know it’s a hard transition to moving to a new city, but it will get better you just gotta give it some time, don’t worry about it.” James knew his mom was right but he kind of ignored it and went to bed. It was two weeks later and he still hated this city, it was the beginning of July and he still hasn’t done anything but sit in his house all summer since he doesn’t know anybody. James was thinking what are some ways that he could make this summer. He came up with idea that what if he bought a bus ticket without telling his parents, and go back to Milwaukee and stay with his friends and maybe his life would be normal again. To most people they would think that this was a bad idea, but to James he just wanted to leave this city and his parents make him mad, so he might as well just run away. He decided to go get his phone and make a group chat with his friends Michael and AJ and ask if he could stay at their house’s the rest of the summer. It took some time and a lot of convincing, but Michael agreed to let James come and stay at his house for the rest of the summer. Now James had to think of to plan on leaving without his parents know he left. It came to him, he has the money, all he needs is to find the right time and a taxi to take him to the bus station. James went to bed with some hope that maybe his life can turn around. The next morning he woke up and his parents were at work, he started to pack some clothes in a dufflebag, and looked up a taxi service and called them to come pick him up. James only had 100 dollars and it was 60 dollars for the taxi trip since the bus station is pretty far, and 25 dollars for the bus ticket. He won’t have that much money if he makes it to Milwaukee but he assumed he would be fine. It was around 1pm and the taxi arrived, James slowly walked out his house butterflies in his stomach as he was almost gonna second guess this decision but he opened the taxi door and go inside. James had his head on the window and all he could think about is what his parents would think when they found out he ran away. After the 45 minute drive to the bus station, he finally arrived, gave the taxi driver the money and walked into the bus station. He saw that the next bus leaving for Milwaukee was 6pm, so he knew he had a lot time to sit around. Well James didn’t wanna miss out on getting a ticket so he went in line got his ticket and went to go sit down and wait. By that time he looked at his phone and he had missed calls and texts from both his mom and dad. James’s first reaction was to just ignore them and he put his phone back into his pocket. James slowly started to fall asleep, he was later startled by the announcements as he heard that you are now allowed to board the next bus to Milwaukee. James got up grabbed his bag, and headed to the the bus. He got to the bus and the driver approached him and asked, “May I see your ticket sir.” James pulled his ticket out his pocket and handed it to him. The driver looked at the ticket and then him and asked, “aren’t you a little young to be traveling alone?” James looked at the driver and said, “no I’m actually going to go visit family, so they are okay with it.” Bus driver looked at him and said, “okay” and James walked onto the bus and sat down by a window and put his head on it. The bus was just about to leave and James checked his phone one last time and saw that his mom texted him saying, “James honey where are you, can you please come home we’re worried about you.” As James was reading this text something about that text made him get up and told the bus driver to wait because he was getting off the bus. He knew he couldn’t run away back to Milwaukee that would devastate his parents. He got his phone out and called his mom, and she picked up saying “James where are you?” James replied saying, “I’m sorry mom I shouldn’t of tried and leave, I was still upset about the fact that we moved but it’s not your guys fault and I should accept that and get used to living in San Francisco.” James mom said it was okay, and James told her she was at the San Jose Bus Station. James mom said that they were on their way to get him. James now understood that he shouldn’t of run away because it wasn’t his parents fault that they moved, his dad got a better job, and he will have to accept living in San Francisco and making a new life.
1 year later and James life was all back to normal, he found new friends in San Francisco plus he helped his new basketball team win the state title for basketball which was a big accomplishment for him, so maybe after all moving to San Francisco wasn’t a bad idea.