SATURDAY
"When will this tournament start, Katie?" Boreal asked.
"Such information has not been tagged for display."
"The hell does that mean? Everyone's been looking forward to it."
"It started as a rumour, spread like wildfire, and now some people are saying it's a lie."
"You do know you have laundry today, right?" Katie replied
"Your laundry," said Boreal sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.
"You should head down to the washroom".
"The WHAT!?" Puzzled Boreal
"The washroom. It's in one of the three doors down on the arcadet which of course, you failed to notice"
"I failed to notice," he paused. "Given it's only been a week"
Here let me direct you," Offered Katie
"Don't need your directions, Kaytleen. I know where the arcade is," said Boreal as he placed a pile of clothes in a small laundry basket as he exited the room.
...
The laundry room was indeed spacious. They were about a dozen machines arranged in columns numbering five.
The place was lively as students trotted in and out with their pile of clothes.
"Yah! So much for the management" complained a student as she bumped into Boreal.
"Watch it, you..." She paused when she realized who she had bumped into Brian Boreal!"
"Oh, hi" replied Boreal.
"You don't know me, I'm Angela Whitney. Let me help you with that," she added as she whisked the basket from his...
hand. "Brian stood flummoxed."
"Don't sweat it, that's how she makes friends," said a familiar voice
Boreal turned to see who it was. "Sasha" he called out
"Yep, that's my name," she replied as Boreal noticed that her T-shirt was soaked.
"Why are you soaked?"
"Is that my Good Morning?" She replied with her own question
"Good Morning Sasha…"
"You do know that Whitney would run off with your clothes" she interrupted
Boreal turned towards the direction of Angela and stood there puzzled, for truly Angela had run off with his clothes
"When did she?" enquired Boreal with his eyebrows raised
"Habit. It's second nature," said Sasha nodding her head in agreement "Let's go find her."
It took an entire hour before they found Angela with an empty basket
"Angela, you do know we almost missed breakfast because of you," scolded Sasha
"I'm sorrwwyy!!!" She replied with the most pitiful eyes Boreal had ever seen. Boreal glanced at her.
Angela was about 4'9" with brown wavy hair, blonde skin and freckles on a plump round face adorned with round glasses.
"That's alright. She did help with the laundry," beckoned Boreal.
"Don't spoil her, Brains," replied Sasha.
"Brains?! When did you?...."
"Hush, Brains, or we're going to be late for breakfast," she said Sasha with a chuckle.
"Brains," repeated Angela as she dashed off into the dining hall for breakfast.
They had pancakes, waffles and eggs for breakfast.
"So, you and Louis?" asked Boreal.
"Brains, don't!" She replied ,motioning to Angela whose attention was focused on her holoscreen.
"He knows about you and Louis?" questioned Angela as she dispersed her holoscreen and her eyes lit with excitement.
"No he doesn't," Sasha was quick to reply.
"Yes, I do," Boreal quickly chipped in."
"Let me guess this is payback for Brains."
Boreal nodded in agreement.
"So, what do you know?" Angela questioned further.
"If we're going to talk about Louis, then I might as well excuse myself," said sasha as she got up to leave, her tone indicating that she was furious.
"I'm sorry," said Boreal. Ignoring this, she stormed out of the dining hall.
"Mood swings, she'll get over it," said Angela as she got up to leave.
"You're leaving?" questioned Brian.
"Yeah, got to go attend to Baby Sasha," she said playfully.
"See you around," she added as she ran after Sasha.
Soon, Boreal was back in his room. "He held the door handle and pushed it open."
...GAME TASK UPLOADING
Welcome Game Player 057 to the biennial sports championship.
Please Choose Two Sports
1) BASKETBALL
2) TENNIS (LAWN)
3) SOCCER /FOOTBALL
4) VOLLEY BALL
5) TENNIS (TABLE)
6) HANDBALL
"Finally!!" screamed voices from all over the building.
Boreal walked into his room and heaved a sigh. Why did this take so long?"
"I'll pick Basketball and Football."
"Which would you choose as your first choice: Basketball or Football?"
"Basketball" he replied
You may select a Colour
[RED] [GREEN]
[BLACK] [ PURPLE]
[GOLDEN] [BROWN]
[ BLUE] [ YELLOW]
[GREEN]
"These colours mean something but I can't tell," After giving it much thought
"Golden," he said still not sure of himself
"You have been assigned to the
[GOLDEN CITY EMPERORS ]
Wow, chose well," thought Boreal to himself
Would you like to preview your teammates?
"Yes, please" He replied as every part of his body filled with excitement
GOLD CITY EMPERORS
-> Brian Boreal .U
-> Longs Benaiah . L
-> Kingsley Fonessie . E
-> Solomon Eriksen . E
-> Michael T. Heaven
"The only familiar name here is Benaiah," said Boreal
"Your first match is against Miami Heatwaves"
Time left until match: 29:00:00
"That means the match is tomorrow"
"Yes" replied Katie
"Oh!, you're back, Katie"
"You should head down to the Sports Facility"
"I know, I know" said Boreal as he strapped the laces of his sneakers and knotted them together.
"See you later, Kathie" he said as he got up
"You do know that I'm with you everywhere relied Kathie
"Don't spoil the fun Kathie, you're my AI friend not partner" added Boreal as he dashes out of the room.
...
The basketball courts in the sports facility was unusually teaming with life, people slam dunked hoops, others lay up and some amazing three pointers. In one of the courts, hongs Benaiah stood with a ball. He took one look at the ball and another at the rim then threw an outstanding three point shot
"Damn, I hate to admit but you're good" said Kingsley as he picked up the rolling ball and flung it back to Benaiah.
Ennesse' 5'9 with black hair, brown skin and a pair of sports glasses on a face.
"Have you met Pius or Brian. I'm not you're ideal 3 point player" said Benaiah as he threw the ball the second time. It hit the rim and rebounded up. Still in mid air, Tobby leapt up and caught the ball slamming it into the rim.
"Oh Jesus, Tobby, is that the only thing you can do?"
"Says the guy who can only score layups and two- pointers," Tobby replied
Tobby is 6ft tall with a sturdy frame. He has black hair, black eyes and brown skin.
At least, I won't spend my entire game catching other people's balls"
"Solomon, that's enough said Benaiah as he motioned towards Brian who had just entered the facility
" Some thing is wrong with that boy" said Benaiah as he waved Boreal
"Nice to meet you all, I'm Brian"
"Kingsley "
"Solomon"
"Tobby"
"Longs"
"Who is Micheal?" asked Boreal as he
"This tall freak" replied Solomon
"At least. I'm tall. What have you got to show for your height "
"Brains," replied Solomon
"Damn!!!" everyone chorused
"Forget these two, let's start training," said.
Kingsley as he picked up the ball and passed it to Boreal
"Show us what you've got "
Boreal caught the ball and stared hard at it then averted his gaze towards the rim. He took a deep breath, a step back and threw. The ball launched like a projectile into a high arching shot and dropped into the net
A clean basket.
"Now that's a 3 point shot" said Benaiah
"I'll have to agree with you " added Kingsley
"What's the game going to be like?" asked Tobby
"Basketball's a game of five. Five players, five positions said Benaiah.
" The first and the most important position is the point guard, no team functions without one. He may not be the best player on the team but he's guaranteed to be the most intelligent.
The second's the shooting guards, they stay on the wings and score
The third is the small forward. They do everything, anything and like the Point guards, they are smart, all-rounders and are usually the best players on the team.
The fourth is the power forward, also called Finishers. Their work is to attack rebounds and make sure the rebounds go in.
Fifth place goes to the centre whose work as you already know is to protect the basket.
They are usually the tallest and biggest players in the team"
'So?" asked Solomon
"We should each take a position based on what we can do" replied Kingsley.
Tobby got up next and began assigning roles
"Benaiah, small forward. Kingsley, Centre. Brian, point guard. Solomon, shooting guard and Me, your power forward.
"Why did you put yourself as a Power forward? You're clearly the tallest? asked Brian
" With the smallest brain" chipped in Solomon
"Solomon!" retorted everyone simultaneously
"Sorry, Sorry" replied Solomon
" I somewhat agree with Tobby except the Centre. Benaiah should play it," said Kingsley
" That's impossible. Benaiah's the best player in our team,
Tobby's the tallest" argued Solomon
"I can't play centre but I can rebound" said Tobby
"We'll train you" said Brian.
Tobby motioned to protest but Benaiah stopped him and spoke up. "So, we are playing against Miami Heatwaves" while conjuring up his holoscreen
MIAMI'S HEATWAVES
-- Pius .A. Aughtred
-- Joseph .U. De Cava
-- Benjamin .B. Gaude
-- Pat - Rick . O.
-- James .L. Bonplad
"I don't know how good the rest are but Pius and Joseph are a forced to be reckoned with. Joseph is very aggressive and Pius is as deadly as Brian when it comes to three pointers". " Damn, that smug look on his face" Kingsley whispered to Brian.
"I don't really have any strategy but I suggest, we use person to person marking while blocking Pius's shooting lanes while double marking Joseph" added Benaiah while remorphing his screen
┌─────────────────────────┐
│ SF (3) │
│ Small Forward │
│ │
│ SG (2) PF (4) │
│ Shooting G. Power F. │
│ │
│ PG (1) │
│ Point Guard │
│ │
│ C (5) │
│ Center │
│ [ 🟠 ] │
│ Basket │
└─────────────────────────┘
"That is what positions in the court look like. The only difference is that on defense, the centre stays in the bucket",
"Tobby, take position" ordered Kingsley
"Don't order me" retorted Tobby as he got into the bucket.
The rest of the team took formation.
"The work of the centre is to protect the basket. Never you forget that" said Benaiah as he passed the ball to Brian.
"Now you crouch your legs and spread your arms" said Boreal and Tobby obeyed.
"Now, I'm going to try to get past you. There are three conditions for you to win;
One , I pass the ball to a teammate,
Two, you get the ball out of my hand,
Three , you stop my shot."
"Okay!" said Tobby nervously.
Brian took a deep breath and began bouncing the ball simultaneously, he began a sprint towards Tobby.
Closing the distance halfway between himself and Tobby, he stopped. "I need you to observe closely " added Brian.
Tobby proceeded to anticipate his next move, Boreal moved left while using a quick crossover to center space. Tobby reacted quickly but Boreal followed up with a behind the back dribble leaving Tobby perplexed and stumbling to keep up. With Tobby off balance , Brian accelerated past him and pulled up a smooth jump shot.
"How did you?...." puzzled Tobby
" You weren't observing " replied Boreal "Let's go again" added Boreal as he returned back to the free throw spot. Tobby took guard again as Brian sprinted forward. He proceeded as if going left and when Tobby followed suite, he moved right. An extraordinary Hesi-delay then a swift two point shot.
The training continued and gradually, Tobby began to keep up. He blocked some of Boreal's shots, stopped Benaiah's dribbles forced Kingsley to pass and didn't even let Solomon take a shot.
The team practiced chest passes, bounce pass, lay ups and dunks. Although Brian and Solomon had to sit out of the dunks.
By noon, the entire facility had cleared out and everyone chatted their way to the Dinning for lunch.
"Hey Brian" called Angela as they entered the dinning hall
"Have you seen Sasha?"
"No, is she still glum?"
"Nope, She was out thwarting my efforts this morning"
" What efforts?" asked Boreal a puzzled expression on his face
"Didn't Sasha tell you that we are playing duo wimbledon?"
"Duo?..... Wimbledon?. What is that?"
" It's Lawn tennis, silly" she replied "How about you?"
"Basketball"
"Ugh" She sighed. "Why not soccer?"
"I'm not really good at soccer and my passion is basketball" replied Brian as they sat on a table
" So, tell me more about yourself"
"Why are you asking me that?" quizzed Boreal.
Angela's face flushed red and she quickly hid it from Brian.
" She had tried to take the relationship one step further but it wasn't turning out well.
Lunch was pasta, steamed lettuce, slices of tomato and sauce. A brief but awkward silence ensued between the two, then Boreal spoke up.
"I don't have favourites but I like brown" he said while staring at her hair.
Angela put up a quizzed expression and immediately her cheeks burned bright red.
"You're referring to my hair" she said playfully.
"What?, no I wasn't referring to your hair" replied Brian
"Yes ,you were," added Angela.
"I also like blondes"
"Now , you're referring to my skin. Wait , are you flirting with me?" gasped Angela
"You said to tell you more about myslef"
" I did, but I didnt...." she paused.
"You know what, forget it".
When Lunch was over, Brian escorted Angela to her room
"See you by eight or later" said Angela, and Brian waved at her.
"And don't you dare lose your match!!" She added as Brian smiled at her "Sure. I'll do my best," he replied and walked away to his room.