A Different Descendant: Freshman Year 1

Chapter 6

Chapter 6
The next day at basketball practice;
    Loads of students came to watch those that would be chosen as the starting five for this season. It was an opportunity for girls to know the jock to keep an eye on, some just came for the sake of entertainment and some others showed up to be up to date on MFHS sports details
     "Fweeeeep!" went coach's whistle.
    "Alright boys, listen up--" he began.
He was much more energetic than he was the previous day.
    "Looks like coach is back," the person behind me said as those who heard laughed quietly.
     "Laugh now. You sure won't be laughing when you don't make the team. Look around you. Loads of spectators. There's a chance here. You make the team, you get popular, your girlfriend loves ya', you get to hang out with the cool set and so many good things. Make the team, high school becomes cream cheese.”
    He guaranteed them all an average high school kid would ever want. He wasn’t all wrong though.
“Now if I call your name, you go to the hoop right behind me".
      ‘Looks like Tanji's serious face yesterday was for real.’ I said to myself.
     "Rodriguez!" Coach called as Rico jogged to the other side of the court.
"Cohart!"
    ‘Oh? So he’s related to Clyde,’ I said to myself.
   Well, coach called three more people who I don't really care about. But I couldn't help but notice something.
     ‘These guys he called. Coach just basically made a team.  It's one of two options. Two teams against each other which I highly doubt, or one player against all of them’, I thought to myself.
    "Alright now single file the rest of you", he said as he blew his whistle. As he blew his whistle, everyone formed a straight line. Jackson was in front, followed by another student also in the senior year or twelfth grade, then me then the others behind me.
       "Alright. By now if you don't know what we're going to do, you might as well just leave now," said coach.
     "Collins!" He called.
      "Yes coach," I replied.
      "What do you think we're going to do?" coach asked.
      "One against five. A test to see our individual abilities ," I replied.
     "Tha- That's correct," he stuttered.
    Everyone stared at me including coach. I could tell they were astonished. Since I was little, my old man constantly tested my concentration and my analytical abilities. It was annoying when he gave me brain teasing question from nowhere, but they sort of paid off. So when he passed, I grew on it.
    ‘I guess your tests paid off huh dad,’ I said to myself.
     "Wow. Good job Collins. You're captain material. Jackson, looks like you've got yourself some competition.”
When coach said that, Jackson gave me a long aggressive look which earned him an expressionless look from me.
     "Alright, that's enough talk. Let's ball."
     "YEAHHH!!!"
    Coach threw the ball to Jackson.
     "Show me what you got," said coach.
    "Watch and learn," he said and he charged towards the team on the other side of the court.
    He dribbled past the first two players that tackled him successfully.
‘He’s good,’ I admitted to myself.
     "Hey coach, can I go last?" I asked.
     "Sure whatever. Just go to the back of the line," he responded non-chalantly, not taking his eyes off Jackson.
I left my spot and walked to the back of the line.
     "Well done Jackson," said coach as Jackson raised up both his hand to show off. Many of the girls and boys in the crowd cheered him on.
     "Dylan, you're up, "coach said as he threw Dylan a ball.
Little by little my turn drew nearer. Some people made their baskets, some did not.
     My old man before he passed always tested my analytical abilities. So it was only natural that I decided to go to the back of the line to analyze the players I would go up against.
     "Collins!" coach called and blew his whistle.
Daniel threw me a ball; I caught it and charged forward.
Moving with grace, I dribbled every player with some of the skills I had practiced since I started playing basketball. None could get the ball away from me. After dribbling all five, I threw the ball at the board, leapt and made a simple lay-up.
      Immediately I made the shot, there was a deafening noise from the crowd. I couldn't help but smile to myself.
"Collins!" coach yelled as he walked briskly towards me.
     "What in God's name was that? Are you trying to embarrass my team? Look at the sorry state you put them in," he yelled.
Everyone went quiet. No one knew if coach wanted to compliment me or condemn me. He was so unpredictable sometimes.
     Grabbing my two shoulders firmly, he said;
"Congrats kid, you make first line!"
    The spectators and some members of the team went wild again. This time, the noise was louder than before.
    ‘Only naturally.’ I said to myself with a smirk on my face.
    After practice, coach called out the names of the starting five.
     "Jackson Yale, Daniel Virgo, Henry Collins, Rico Rodriguez, Tanji Cohart. Congrats, you five are our starting five for this season.”
“Don't let it get to your heads, enough screw-ups and you'll be a sub till Yokai knows when. First game is next Friday. We're playing Trojan. It's the first game of this season. So don't fail me."
                ***********
The day of my first game with The Hurricanes of Mystery Falls High arrived. First game jitters and I were meters away from one another as I had been in tons of games. Hell, I was even captain of a team.
Few minutes to the start of the game, coach revised the game plan with us one last time. When he was done, we all went about our pre-game rituals.
I sat on a bench next to a sub to make sure my shoes were tied properly and if I was totally ready for my first game. They were a new pair of Nike kicks mom got me for my games.
    "Good luck out there Henry," a voice behind me said. I turned immediately to see who it was. It was Freya.
    ‘Why does this girl and her friends bother with me?’ I thought to myself. They never let me be. They would always talk to me, Freya always made me sit next to her at lunch and they were always asking so many questions. It was somewhat frustrating
She was with Elizabeth, Daphne, Erica, Clyde and someone else. A guy. Someone I knew
   ‘He’s grown quite a bit,’ I said to myself.
    "Thank you.’
    "Henry, come on, the game is starting,” Tanji called out.
I stood up, took a deep breath and jogged onto the court.
"Good luck out there Henry"
I paused for a while then spoke.
     "Thanks Blake.”
    Blake Holsten and I went to middle school together in Central City. He left before we resumed into the eighth grade. He was also on the basketball team.
    He was a small forward while I was a power forward. We were quite the team back then. We had me as captain and power forward, Blake as small forward, some guy named Theo as our center. Our shooting guard was a girl named Kira. And our point guard was someone named Jake. We were a very powerful