For the next few weeks the gang and I were hitting practice all day everyday non stop 24/7, all in preparation for our first match. It was only a few days away now, and Coach Ye did not hesitate to express his woes.
Even though we had an all star cast, we all highkey sucked jaboing boings, aside from Aj. As the resident hooper I thought I'd have the most potential of us all, but I hadn't been able to use my Hoopism since that fateful day 5 weeks ago. I was pretty useless without it, but there was still a glimmer of hope.
While we were getting ready for practice one day Coach Ye said he had a surprise for us.
"Everynyan, meet your new assistant coach."
Skitta chan popped out from behind Coach Ye and waved at us with a smile. Snail tard started panting.
"Hummmina hummina hummmina AWOOOOO- gyack !!"
I smacked the back of his head.
Skitta chan was one of the best hoopers back at her old school, but her problem was she would only ever score for the other team. She had pointers galore and having her around definitely upped our game.
After practice we would walk home together and chit chat, banter, yap, you name it. We also talked.
"Have you told any of em about the… ya know." asked Skitta chan.
"The jaboing boing ?"
"Eh?"
"Ehehe nervous face."
"The Hooper Society baka !!"
"Oh that. I didn't think they would believe me without proof so I've been waiting for my Hoopism to come back."
"Huno… maybe the adrenaline will get to you, just like on that day 5 weeks ago."
"Sighhhhhh… maybzz."
We stopped in front of Skitta chans house. It was your average looking home and only a few minutes away from mine.
"Well cya Haise kun. Tomorrows the big day so make sure you get plenty of rest. Don't forget your hoopdo."
We fist bumped.
"My hooper way"
-
NTMSHS would our opponent for the first game to kick off the season. It was a home game which I thought would make me less nervous, but then people started showing up to support us. The VFX club, Chrys sensei, Joma, and people from the Overthinking Hooper Fan Club started to fill the stands. Yeah I have a fan club. So what? At least I think they were. Why else would they be here? It made me nervous as hell dough.
The other team was made up of your average looking joe shmoes. Nothing to really be worried about. All of us got on the court and the ref stood in the middle, waiting to throw up the ball which would officially start the match. Snail tard stood in the middle to catch it since he was the tallest of us. I was sweating bullets, shivering in sheer anticipation. The ref blew his whistle and tossed the ball up. Game on.
Snail tard jumped up, grabbing the ball. As soon as we made eye contact he passed it to me. I ran up to the basket, dodging fellers left and right, and went for a layup.
pweep
It bounced off the backboard and onto the court. One of the players from the other team caught it and ran all the way to our side. Bandos' scrawny ahh tried to get in his way but the wind knocked him over. The guy slammed the ball in our basket.
0-2
Hahaha received the ball for us, and immediately passed it to Aj. He started running across the court, but then suddenly stopped.
"Crap. I've gyatt something in my eye."
One of the players snatched the ball from him and went for a half court shot.
swish
0-5
0-8
2-14
9-27
…
12-51
bermmmm
Half time.
Coach Ye looked pretty peeved off.
"Y'all can't be /srs rn. What happened to the rizzlers I saw during practice?"
He was right. We weren't playing anything like during practice. Though that didn't mean much considering how well that went.
"Gomen Ye sensei. I guess we're just not ready…"
What I really meant was I wasn't ready.
Skitta chan came up to us.
"Don't be ridonkulous. Maybe these will get you guys going."
She dug through her pocket and tossed up some small hard beans. They were kinda wet and smelled like toilet water.
"They're Skibidizu beans. They're super rare and can only be grown in Ohio. Just eating one can give you two weeks worth of energy."
"Where did you find them ?"
"Don't worry about it bleh :P"
After eating the beans we all got ready to go back on the court.
14-51
27-60
48-63
…
65-67
They actually worked. At least for everyone else they did. They all started hooping like crazy except me. There were only a few seconds left on the clock and we were just one shot away from winning the game. Or at least going into overtime.
6.3 s
Aj received the ball for us. Everyone was getting defended heavily except for me. I'll show them for underestimating the overthinking hooper. Aj passed it to me.
4.7 s
I ran up to the three point line. Screw overtime.
1.3 s
I shot.
0.2 s
The ball went flying through the air.
bzzzz
It swirled around the rim and popped back out. I missed.
"USODA !!"
The people on NTMSHS's side of the stands went crazy.
"SUGOI !!"
I walked to the side line with everyone else. The scent of disappointment lingered through the air.
"Gomen mina. Looks like it was all for nothing."
Aj patted my head.
"It's ight Haise. This was just one game. You can't win 'em all."
"Demo… demo… WE HAVE TO."
"Eh ?"
"NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ME !!"
I ran out of the gym as fast as I could. I wanted to go as far as my legs would take me. Why did this have to happen to me ? DAMN YOU SKITTLE. DAMN THE HOOPER SOCIETY. I CANT -
BLUNK
I ran into a brick wall and fell on my ass. Except it wasn't a wall.
"Nani ? Chrys sensei…"
"The narwhal bacons at midnight."
"Eh… I don't understand you."
"No one does. So you've got hoopers block huh?"
"Hoopers block ?"
"Come with me gaki."
He crouched down and put his hand on my shoulder. He closed his eyes. With his other hand he put two fingers on his temple.
bzrm
We were suddenly in the middle of a green grassy valley. The only building around was a small hut.
"Ermmmm what the freak. Where are we?"
"Oh ho ho. This is a special world I made just for us."
Chrys sensei rolled up his sleeves.
"Come on overthinking hooper. Your training begins now. "
"You've gotta be rizzing me."