REPOST due to the fact that there were a few errors that slightly ruined the ending of the story. :D

The whole gymnasium was enveloped into rounds of cheers, ‘boo’s, and screams from spectators shouting courtside to the cheerleaders jumping and waving their pompoms up in the air. It was just a normal basketball game, not a finals game, not a playoffs game - just a basketball game, but it caused so much emotion and tension, probably because it was a rivalry game. Suncoast High School versus Marina del Ray High School, and Sicily Carmichael was trapped in the middle, having to deal with the dilemma that she couldn’t cheer for her boyfriend whom she knew was counting on her.

“Zane! Shoot!” Sicily screamed at the top of her lungs as she lifted her right leg up repeatedly with kicks. “We can do it! I know we can!”

Zane smiled at her before he started moving his arm wildly telling his teammates to position themselves just like how their head coach had told them to. There were twenty seconds left on the clock and Marina was leading by a point. Some thought that the game was over, that Marina had surely won this one all because of Lucas Mercer and his unbelievable comeback - twenty-five points, eighteen rebounds and seven assists. It was a feat, but Sicily knew they were going to win tonight. They had to.

Zane started dribbling the ball, sometimes even ostentatiously passing it in between his legs. He went to the line, and when he was finally under the basket, two of his opponents sized him up. He couldn’t get through them or pass the ball to anyone. They hovered around him, blocking any leeway to score or pass. He sighed exasperatedly. Desperate times, desperate measures.

He jumped and pushed himself up against the two players as he tried to shoot the ball through the net, but before he was given a chance to score, a solid, strong arm hit his own. Exaggerating his fall, he landed on his back, and simultaneously, a whistle blew. He couldn’t help but grin. He was going to make the two free throws.

Swish.

One side of the gym went wild in exhilaration while the other half booed. Some of the more fanatic people, especially the girls, began to cry. Sicily saw Mallory tear up. Basketball games had never been this emotional.

Swish.

Whether in happiness or disappointment, the crowd went wild, and Sicily could hear her whole squad talking about how they were going to win this for sure thanks to Zane and his free throws. There were only eight seconds left, and Sicily thought it was already impossible to score with such minimal time left. Apparently, she hadn’t been watching or paying attention enough to the previous games she saw.

The moment the ball went though the hoop, Lucas grabbed it from one of the referees and determinedly started dribbling it to the other side of the court. Five seconds. He was faster than anyone on the floor, and Zane was too tired to catch up to him after having been put into a difficult position literally minutes ago.

For a second, Suncoast’s defense wavered, and it was to their expense. Lucas ran, not even taking long, heavy breaths as he did so. Already a mere foot away from the basket, he jumped up, his feet detaching from the floor, before he dunked the ball into the ring. The timer sounded, reverberating throughout the whole gym, as the crowd screamed louder, contributing to the already ear-splitting noise.

“What the hell just happened there?” Bailey shouted in irritation, waking up Sicily from her momentary shock.

Zane sighed and rolled his eyes in return, and Sicily knew he was beyond annoyed and mad at himself.

“Well, to replay what happened, we lost."

He walked over to where his coaches and teammates were, and the cheerleading squad followed suit. Unsurprisingly, their coach didn’t shout or get mad at them even if they lost because really, he had no reason to. During the time Lucas didn’t play for his school, Suncoast had been winning more games than Marina, and thus, they were one of the higher-ranked players in the league. Suncoast already had a sure spot in the playoffs while Marina was still on the brink; however, with the way Lucas had been playing ever since he got back and recovered from his injury, it was obvious they were going to go against each other again in the near future - the playoffs and then hopefully the finals.

“You guys played a great game,” Coach Mike said, his words continuing to be optimistic. “Our defense and offense improved and was much, much better as compared to before. You all deserve a break, so tonight, I’m not going to get mad. Give Marina a win after a month of losses.”

A round of laughter and snickers erupted from the group and even the cheerleaders joined in. Sicily hugged all the players, congratulating them for a great game played. She then decided to start a conversation with a few of them and was too into the jokes the guys told her that she didn’t notice who had come up to her from behind until he circled her waist and rested a hand on her hip. She felt his chest against her back, his drenched shirt causing her to jump up in surprise, and because of that, he let go of her.

“Oh, Luke!” she squealed. “God, you scared me! You could’ve at least told me something before hugging me! Don’t do that again!” She chuckled when she realized she was ranting.

“Congratulations by the way for tonight’s win,” she then beamed at him, although her insides fell. Her school just lost. “You played great tonight!” And then she stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss.

“You don’t look to happy, babe,” was his reply, and then, he stuck his tongue out at her.

Sicily simply smiled at him, knowing he was right, as she placed her hands on his hips and tugged him closer to her. He looked tired.

“Well, obviously,” she teased. “We just lost.”

They both laughed silently together, in each other’s arms amongst the crowd of cheerleaders, jocks, coaches and fans, not even Mallory’s death glare could pull them apart.

Lucas sighed, his breath tickling her head, as he ran a hand through her hair. She was also sweaty from cheering.

“You know how much we need this win.” His answer was serious, but his eyes gleamed when they stared at hers, and because of that, Sicily knew how much important basketball was to him. It was his life, probably meaning more than she did to him.

“I know,” she returned, a side of her face resting against the material of his shirt. “Even our coach knows. He didn’t shout at the guys.” That caused the two of them to share another laugh.

“That’s good to know.” He smiled at her, his left arm, the one that used to be injured, going around her small torso. “That’s good to know,” he repeated, and for a split second, his face fell. Sicily was fast to catch it.

“What’s wrong?”

She looked worried and sounded worried. She knew something was bothering him, and she was going to find out. Her hands graced his face, the pads of her thumbs brushing against his cheeks. He smiled at her touch. She always did things to him - happy things, things that he would always remember.

“You’re happy for me right?” Sicily grinned at his innocence. “Even though you guys lost.”

He looked so cute and she couldn’t help but blush. That was the only reason he frowned for a second back there, just because he thought she wasn’t enjoying his win just as much as he was. She thought it was something bad, but this…this was cute.

“Of course I’m happy, babe,” she said, placing a kiss on his lips. “We still have more wins than you anyway.”

Lucas grunted but quickly broke into a smile again. He was worried and she had the guts to tease his team and him.

“Well, we saw who the better team was today,” Lucas replied in mock-haughtiness. “Thanks to moi.”

“The last one was just a lucky shot.”

Lucas shook his head in defiance. “Nuh-uh. It’s what you call skills.”

“Shut up. I’m willing to break your arm again, you know!” Sicily taunted and her eyes glimmered in mischief. Lucas rolled his eyes, yet he was smirking. Trust her to always ruin a proud moment.

“And then you’ll end up falling in love with me all over again?”

Her mouth opened and her eyes widened, and with that, Lucas’ smirk grew bigger. He caught her with that.

“N-no! I’m going to h-hate you all over, uh…again!”

She was definitely at a loss of words, and because it made her look so cute, he couldn’t help but pull her closer to him as he ran his hand continuously through her mop of hair.

“And then after you hate me, you’ll love me, right?”

He winked at her, and she looked down, away from him, as she bit her bottom lip. What could she say to that? She couldn’t say anything to that, and Lucas took her silence as a cue to continue.

“Well, if that’s the case, then baby, break my arm all over again,” he whispered those words to her and she shivered against him.

“I already love you.” Finally, she spoke up again. “Don’t you risk that.”

He nodded. “I won’t.” And then he kissed her. “I got you something by the way.”

Before she could ask what his gift to her was, she pulled him to his team’s side of the court and kneeled in front of his duffel bag. He got something out - a striped magenta and candy-cotton pink paper bag with the same colors of Japanese paper shooting out of the bag.

“You got me something from Victoria’s Secret?” She raised one of her eyebrows as she looked at him warily. “Luke, are you still thinking about that Vegas wedding we talked about back at the bonfire months ago? I thought you didn’t date prostitutes.”

He chuckled.

“I don’t. And before you jump to conclusions look at what I got you, first.”

Sicily loved Victoria’s Secret all the way, but even she, the bitchiest of the bitches, would never even expect any one of her boyfriends to get her skimpy, but totally cute undergarments. She dug her hand inside the bag and felt cotton. She sighed in relief.

“Thank God it’s not lace.” That made Lucas laugh silently.

A jacket. He got her a jacket.

“Uh, thanks Luke,” she said, smiling and then giving him a small peck. “This is…unexpected.”

He grinned. He knew it. “You don’t remember, don’t you?”

“Remember what?”

Sicily completely had no idea about what he was talking about, but apparently, it had something to do with Victoria’s Secret, and thus, the gift.

“You broke my arm because you were too busy hurrying to that shop that you didn’t notice me walking towards you.”

She tried to remember what happened on the day she injured him...

Not needing an answer to that, Sicily turned her heel, her back facing her friends, as she headed over to the cashier to pay for the dress. She got out her Gucci wallet and removed a hundred and ten dollars from it before she handed the money over to the salesperson whom she smiled at. Running in their heels due to the fact that the Victoria’s Secret shop was a mere eight feet away from them, Sicily, Bailey and Vanessa left the store when Sicily unconsciously knocked someone over.

Sending the person sprawling onto the floor, she accidentally jabbed her elbow onto the person’s chest, and tossing a handful of shopping bags into the air, she unintentionally stepped on the guys Nike’s with her shoes. Her three-and-a-half inched heel probably caught the guy off guard that before he could land on his butt with his hands on the floor to protect him from a harder fall, he fell, back first, as his elbows hit the marble flooring of the mall hard. Sicily and the others around her flinched when they heard a bone crack.

“You really want me to break your arm again, don’t you?” She jabbed his chest with a finger. “You always remind me.”

“Like I told you,” he said breathily. “If it will make you love me all over again, then do it for all I care.”

She placed a hand on his upper back, and pushed herself closer against him if it was even possible.

“As long as we’re having a beach wedding, hun,” she teased.

He decided to play along.

“And instead of a wedding gown, you can wear a simple white bikini.”

They looked at each other, and as if reading the other’s thoughts, both said at the same time, “The bikini has to be from Victoria’s Secret.”

“Beach wedding it is,” he affirmed, smiling at her before leaning down once again to capture her lips with his own as she carelessly threw the pink-striped paper bag onto the floor.

Sicily grinned against his lips. This was bliss. This was happiness. This was love. And for him, the best thing that ever happened to him was the result of the worst experience he encountered. Good things can come from difficulties and hardships. That was one of the things they learned, and the other was that hate could easily turn into love. They were living proof of that.

Author's Note:

This story is officially over! :( It brings me happiness and sadness to end this journey, this story, but I'm glad that this is finished. I can finally start a new one with new characters that hopefully will be as lovable as Sicily and Lucas. Thank you so, so, so much for the support! I'm really glad that you guys stayed until the end! You don't know how much that means to me! And I hope, all of you will continue to support my new project. It's another teen romance, but with a twist! :p Haha!

Anyway, thank you, thank you, thank you once again, especially to my Beta Essevera! She's going to be my Beta (again) for my new story which I will be posting today also! I hope you guys give it a try! Lol. Anyway, I'm very happy with Breaking the Arm, Healing the Heart. It really helped me grow as a writer. :D

So I guess this is it with Sicily and Lucas. Maybe...just maybe...I can write a one-shot with Bailey as the main character. Someone suggested the idea, and it's an interesting one, so I might just do it! Lol. :D

Thank you again! :D

mlean - Zane is a player, so he definitely had a girl to kiss. I just didn't give any name, and I want to keep it that way. Hehe. :D