King of the Court [Chapter 5]

A/n: I FINALLY got this up. I actually have lots of the chapters down. The problem is my art speed is WAY slower than my writing speed, so this is mostly coming out slowly because of that. I'm aiming to put a drawing on EACH chapter! Wish me luck! Oh, and also I hope you enjoy this chapter! The game will start in the next one! :D

The breeze is chilly. Very chilly.

Chris shivers as another cold wind blasts against his face.

"I would rather play basketball with those fools then face this," he grumbles, miserably covering his ears with his mitten-warmed hands.

Earlier that day, at practice, Alex had said that their team needed a coach. What kind of basketball team doesn't have a coach? Chris laughs out loud.

On the other hand, Chris would never be able to show off to his brother if the basketball team didn't play any games, and having a coach would definitely help the basketball team to play games. Chris' brother was always too lazy to watch him play.

Suddenly, on that same thought, Chris has the most wonderful idea that would solve both the problem of the coach, and the problem of his brother not watching his games.

~~~~~

"I present to you!" Chris smiles, "My brother, Jacob!"

Of course, the first response is from the shorty. Dwayne scowls with suspicion, "What trick is this?"

Jacob, who is standing there, laughs, "Trick? Naw, fam. Chris said you little kiddos wanted a basketball coach!"

This time, it's Alex's turn to scowl with suspicion. He turns to Chris, "What did you tell him?"

Chris shrugs, still smiling. His smile, however, begins to crack, "He's pretty good at basketball. Why not have him as a coach?"

Chris decides that this will be the first and last time he will ever smile. It hurts. A lot.

Alex growls, "There is a difference between a coach and a player."

Jacob interjects, "Hey! I've coached a team of third-graders before!"

Alex stares at Jacob, and then at Chris. The daggers from his eyes are obvious. They're screaming- I am going to kill you later. Alex always seems depressed, but Chris knows better.

Alex finally speaks up, "We'll let you be coach, all right? We just need a coach to sit there during a game."

Jacob has this mysterious glint in his eye, and Chris knows that Jacob has something planned. Additionally, Alex's sizzling attitude quickly dissolves, which Chris can tell; Alex starts running a quick list of teams they can possibly play a practice match against.

"Forton Middle, Pennel Creek Academy, Jackson Wills School, Homeschooled, Saint Helena Catholic School, so many possiblities!" Alex's voice raises at the last part, and he finally realizes that everyone is staring at him as he's screaming the names of various middle schools.

"Wait!" Colin interrupts, "We haven't even had more than two to three practices! How could we be playing against teams in practice matches before we've gotten to know each other better and had more training?"

Alex looked at Colin, "We've got to start playing games immediately. If not, we won't be ready to play in the actual tournament."

"What's so important about this tournament?" Dwayne scratched his head and shrugged, "I mean, we've still got another year before we leave this school."

This time, Chris can see Alex's inner self wrestling with his emotions. What a weird guy.

"I-I'm an eighth grader," chokes out Alex.

"Well, you could stay a grade!" points out Spencer.

"Already have," says Alex, "I . . . I should be in ninth grade right now."

Chris is amazed. How could this kid dedicate himself so much! Alex impairs his education for a middle school basketball team!

"Is that against the rules?" wonders Colin out loud.

"That doesn't matter!" Chris is surprised at how much he explodes, "You shouldn't hinder your education for a basketball team!"

Alex glares, "You have no idea how important this team is to me."

Chris is speechless. No matter how important a team is to you, you can't just stay back in school purely because of the team! That's wrong!

"What do your parents have to say about this!?" roars Chris, pointing an accusing finger at Alex.

"I don't have parents," Alex finally returns to his impassive state. His face is neutral, just like the first day of school, when he asked Chris for interest in joining the basketball team. Alex may seem very indifferent, but he truly has a myriad of violent emotions tumbling around inside him, "I live in a foster home. The people there don't really care about me, so they let me stay a grade."

Jacob puts a hand on Chris' shoulder, and Chris can literally feel his brother telepathically telling him, Shut up now before you escalate the situation even further.

"Anyways, I do know a great team we can start playing against!" says Jacob, "Saint Helena Catholic School is a strong team that has a chance of going to the State Championships. If we play agaisnt Saint Helena and win, we could probably score really high in the Regionals!"

"I want to play a practice match against the best team," says Alex, "Which one is the best?"

"That . . . would be Forton Middle, but they're not accepting practice games. The strongest team that's accepting right now is Saint Helena," shrugs Jacob.

"Wait!" Colin interrupts again, "Sh-shouldn't we play against a . . . uh . . . generally weaker team first?"

"I agree," nods Spencer philosophically, "Before our talents can develop, we must train with vigor, and begin our strenuous trek from the bottom."

That would have been a very beautiful quote, except for the fact that Spencer pronounced 'vigor' wrong.

"No. We need to start playing strong teams immediately," says Alex adamantly, "Or we won't be prepared."

"Fine!" Colin groans in a resigned tone, "But please not Saint Helena!"

"We could do another team," says Jacob, "How about another strong one, Pennel Creek Academy?"

"Sounds great to me!" says Spencer cheerfully, "At least they have 'Creek' in their name, just like us!"

"We'll only know when the game starts," says Dwayne, grinning and doing jumping jacks.

"What are you doing?" Chris blinks at Dwayne, who then begins to stretch his arms, left and right.

"Warming up," Dwayne says it like it's the obvious thing to do.

"The game hasn't started yet, you buffoon!" shouts Chris, and everyone laughs.

"Actually, I scheduled it already and they're gonna get here in an hour," says Jacob, checking his watch.

"What?" Colin, Chris, and Spencer simultaneously shout out loud. Alex nods, and Dwayne just continues going through a warm-up routine, completely oblivious.

"We've got to prepare!" Colin frantically grabs some chairs and places them in the middle of the court.

"Idiot! That's not where the chairs go! You've got to put them out of bounds!" Chris shouts, "Hey! That's not out of bounds! That's still in the middle of the court!"

"I don't know where 'out of bounds' is!" screams Colin.

Spencer gulps and clutches his stomach, charging into the bathroom with energy like never seen before.

"Well speak of the devil, it looks like they're here!" Jacob smiles cheerfully. Chris whirls around and sees a team standing in front of the gym door. Every single one of them look like they've got a disease called 'permanent glare'.

Before Chris registers what is happening, he hears a scream, most likely from Colin, echo throughout the gym, and Chris can swear the entire world can hear it-- the nervousness and terror of facing a team for the first time all boiled up in one scream.

Chris' throat itches, and he begins to feel inclined to scream, too. He opens his mouth and prepares himself, but is interrupted. By Dwayne.

Dwayne roars at the top of his lungs, louder than Colin, louder than Chris ever could, "WE WILL CRUSH YOU!"