We all started to depart and it was only Aaron and I left in the room. We were quiet but I finally broke the ice.
“You know what this means?” Aaron asked. “It could be you or me.” He smiled
“Nah, I don’t even want to get like that.”
“Come on.” He sat next to me. “I’m not trying to say that the other players on the team ain’t good, but come on, even you have to admit that they are not as good as us.” He poked me with his elbow, “We are the best two. That is why that we are the only two freshmen in the starting five. We have earned this right and it only makes sense that one of us gets drafted.”
“You sound so confident.”
“Man, isn’t this your plan? Your plan was to come here, get drafted, and make the money. Listen if it’s not you getting drafted we know it’s going to be me. Who is it going to be? It’s not going to be Dwayne.” We both laughed.
Dwayne Gilbert was a pretty decent player. He was a junior and he played the center position. he would make his shot, but his biggest problem is that he didn’t know how to play under pressure. Every time the game got rough he would just miss most of his shots.
“Dwayne is alright, but I can’t have him making us look bad,” Aaron said out of nowhere.
“I agree with you on that, but what do we do?”
“We take him and help him out,” Aaron said.
“But he’s not going to listen to two freshmen.”
“He is if he wants to impress the scout.” He smiled and I just knew something bad was going through his head.
“Why am I afraid?” I asked out loud. “What are you coming up with? I thought you said that the scout was coming to draft us.”
“He is going to draft one of us or maybe both of us. We just can’t have Dwayne making the team look bad. If the team looks good, then we are going to look even better.”
Chapter 5
“Come on Dwayne, we are all trying to get drafted here,” Aaron told him after the last practice before the game. “You can’t just blow us off again. We’ve been trying to get you to play with us for days now.”
“Man, I’m tired and I want to go back to my dorm and sleep.” Dwayne was about to leave when I jumped in.
“Don’t you want to make it. Don’t you want to be in the NBA?” I asked him.
“Who doesn’t?” Dwayne turned around. “But I also want to rest. I got to keep my grades up and I have a big test coming up.” He schooled us.
“I have no problem with that. We all know that midterms are here and pretty soon finals will be right around the corner, but what we are talking about is just as important as your studies. We have this big game-”
“Look, I know that you two care about the NBA and truthfully we all do, but I know that there is more to college than basketball, I’m trying to become a doctor.”
Aaron and I exchanged looks. I didn’t want to say anything at all but Aaron wasn’t quite as silent as me. Aaron just busted out laughing.
“I ain’t never met a doctor that could change the light bulb in his own office without using a ladder.” He joked I laughed but stopped when I saw he wasn’t laughing.
“I’m serious.” He walked towards us. “I might dream about being in the NBA but I know that’s not going to happen no time soon. I need to be practical. I’m going to go to medical school and do what I have to do to secure my future. You guys can dream if you want, but I’m not going to waste my time here. I already know what you guys are going to say. You guys want to talk about the fact that I choke.” Aaron and I looked at each other again.
“You don’t think I know what people say about me? You know how the crowd gets. They scream that shit while you’re playing and then expect you to win. I don’t want to deal wit that shit for the rest of my life. Maybe you guys want to deal wit it because you are only thinking of the money and fame, but I’ll be fine being a doctor.”
He was on his way out when Aaron stopped him.
“You know what? You’re right. You’re absolutely right. We can’t rely all on basketball to get us out.” I looked at Aaron like he was crazy after he said those words. “But Dwayne, in those same respects, you can’t rely all on medicine either. You have to look your best because this could be your shot.” He smiled at him but because I know Aaron, I knew his smile wasn’t genuine. Dwayne looked like he was believing it and then he just gave in.
“Fine, what do we do?”
Then I jumped in. I went over tricks and exercises my father did with me when I use to get nervous. I told him how he had to block everything out and stop thinking about the importance and just play. Finally, he it looked like he was starting to get it. He was making his shot and he was playing with more confidence.
“Can I go now?” He whined as the basketball fell from the hoop. “I’m so over this.”
“Sure you can go.” I took the ball and Aaron and I watched him leave.
“Now that you have him playing better let’s hope those tricks you taught him work because the game is tomorrow.”
“I know.” I nodded.
“And we have to get drafted.”
I looked over at my friend and he looked at me.
“You know if you get drafted before me, I wouldn’t mind,” I told him truthfully because as much as Aaron partied, he took the game very seriously.
“That’s deep.” He patted my back. “I wish I could say the same as you, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that I wouldn’t be mad if you got drafted before me.” He joked.
“Oh God.”
“First of all. I’m prettier than you.” He joked and we went to the locker room.
It was game day and I was excited. I took a peek out into the court and I saw Simone sitting there. As always she looked great. She saw me looking at her and she smiled. She was wearing this white dress and sandals.
“You out here looking at her when we got a game to get ready for.” Aaron slapped me behind the head. I was about to say something but I couldn't deny that he was right just a little bit. I like Simone, but as much as I like her, I can’t let her distract me from the reason why I came to college; especially not tonight. I am here to get drafted and there is a scout tonight.
“You’re right,” I admitted.
“You’re ready to do this?” He held his hand out.
“I’m so ready.”
The game was going better than we ever planned. I always thought that Aaron and I made a great team, but now with Dwayne in the mix, we were even better. Not only were we in the lead but neither Dwayne, Aaron, or I ever missed a point. We were stealing passes, making shots, and the crowd was going crazy. I would glimpse in the stands and saw Simone smiling. She would wave and I would nod back as I made the shot. It was nice to have her there, but besides impressing her, I wanted to know if I was impressing the scout.
Half time came and the cheerleaders ran out to the floor. I guzzled down some Gatorade and I felt someone tapping me. I smelled her sweet perfume before I even turned around. Simone threw a towel in my face.
“Hey, how did you get down here?” I asked her. “No one is suppose to be this close to the players without buying floor seats.”
“You can take that up with your friend.” She nudged her head towards Aaron. I turned to see him smiling at me at the other end of the seats. For all that grief he gave me about looking at her, he didn’t hesitate to help me.
“That was nice to him.” I gave him a slick look. “I can’t talk for long though because the Coach is going to round us up for us to go over the plays.”
“How sporty.” She smiled. “But I just came down here to wish you good luck.”
“That’s sweet.” I stuck my tongue out. “Let me find out that you have a soft side.”
“It’s going to take you 90 days to get to my,” She leaned in and whispered in my ear, “soft side.” She winked and then got up.
The Coach called us all in together and we went over the plays. Half time was almost over. We were looking all ove
r the place trying to see if we could spot the scout.
“Is this boring to you guys?” The Coach asked out of nowhere. “Why aren’t you guys listening to me?” He sighed. “Let me guess, all of you are out there looking for the scout.” We nodded and he shook his head. “I suppose it’s my fault, I shouldn't have shared it with you guys. You are all playing well, but I need you guys to be focused on the game.”
“I’m not going to lie to you, if I don’t see the scout, I’m probably going to be looking for him all evening.”
“Fine, I’m going to tell you where he is.” All of us players leaned in. He’s sitting over there in the third row up. Right over there.” He pointed over and we saw this guy with a suit and clipboard. It was so obvious how much he stuck out, it was amazing we didn’t notice him before. “Now I don’t want you thinking about him, I want you all to be back in the game. I want you to get out there and win this.”
The game was going great. Aaron, Dwayne and I were dominating the whole game. We were a triple threat. Fans for both teams were yelling and pretty soon, it was crunch time. I looked over at Dwayne and he looked so nervous. I sensed that the game was getting to him and I was afraid that he was going to choke. The last thing I needed was for him to mess up. But like I jinxed the whole game, he started to play badly. He went up to the Coach and just told him to pull him out.
“Are you sure? You are just playing a little off, that’s no reason to get out of of the game.” The Coach could be heard across the court.
“No, I have to do this Coach. If I’m not my best, I’m not going to jeopardize the whole team for that.” He told him. “I need to be benched.” The Coach nodded and swapped him out. The replacement, Ronald, was okay, but he wasn’t as good as Dwayne.
“I can’t believe we have to deal with this right now,” I told Aaron as we waited for the game to start again.
“It’s not a problem if anything this works for us. Now the scout has seen how great we play and he will definitely knows it is us two that is the real deal in this team.” He pointed out and I hated to admit that he was right. I nodded my head.
“I hope you get drafted.” I nudged him with my shoulder as the bell rang.
“Yes, I hope so too.” He said and we laughed.
We were up by four and it was the last thirty seconds of the game. It was our ball but they had Aaron and I blocked. They didn’t want us to make another shot but it didn’t matter, we just couldn’t let them steal the ball.
“Cinderella!” I yelled out a play and it went into motion. The players that were on me eased up and when I was free, I went for the three point shot. It bounced up off the rim and I put my head down, but then the crowd cheered. I looked up and saw that I made the shot. I looked up and watch the replay on the screen. The ball bounced up on the rim, but then when it came down, it went through by some miracle. My teammates were cheering me on and picking me up. It felt great. We were a game away from making playoffs.
“You must have Jesus’ phone number because only God could have helped you pull that off.” Aaron joked and everyone still was cheering. The stands were going crazy and I saw Simone. She was caught up in the hype as well. It was nice to see someone that happy for me. I looked around for the scout but I couldn’t see him. I kept scanning the court and I finally spotted him. He was talking to the scout. The scout was smiling and then he shook his hand and walked away. The Coach turned and was smiling, so I guess it had to be good news.
“That game was phenomenal, but we should have never lost that lead,” he told us “We were blowing them away and again our endurance came back to bite us in the ass. I don’t think that we should do this if we cann’t give one thousand percent. If you think that you are giving enough, you have to go further. You have to give and give more.”
“So in other words, don’t volunteer for the bench,” Aaron laughed, looking at Dwayne and we all jumped in.
“Alright, enough of thatv” Coach said.
“B-Wood!” He called out to me.
“You were top notch form.
“Thanks, Coach.”
“But you can’t carry this whole team by yourself. Ease up on the ball.”
“I pass the ball.” I was confused because I made sure that I didn’t have the basketball all the time.
“You pass it to Aaron and for this game you pass it to Dwayne too, but you have other basketball players on this team. I keep telling you that it’s a team sport.”
Just then the scout walked in.
“Am I interrupting something?” he asked.
“No, come on in. You can wait for me in the office. I’ll bring the player to you,” the Coach told him and we all watched him walk to the office. The door slammed and we all looked to the Coach for him to tell us who was going to be drafted or at least who the scout was obviously interested in.
“Okay, you guys hit the showers,” he told us but we didn’t move. We didn’t understand what was going on. “Move it!”
“But Coach—” One of the teammates started but he cut them off.
“I said hit the showers!” His yell echoed and we slowly but surely got up.
Just when we were all about to leave we heard the Coach say… “Dwayne!” Aaron and I looked at each other as Dwayne ran to the Coach’s side.
“Yes, Coach?”
“There’s someone that wants to meet you.”
Dwayne and the Coach walked away to his office. I was so shocked. Dwayne would not have even been in that game if it wasn’t for Aaron and I. I looked at Aaron again and all he could say was,
“Ain’t that bout a bitch?”
Part II
Description
B-Wood is trying to get over the fact that that the teammate that he trained is being drafted instead of him. He tries his best to get back into the game but it is hard at first. After some tips and pointers from his best friend Aaron, and his girlfriend Simone, he manages to do that. With the game against their big rival coming up soon, he knows that needs to be doing his best.
This game will get the team into the playoffs. If the team goes all the way into the playoffs, that means that more potential scouts. Meanwhile, he and Simone have gotten much closer. From just casually hanging out, things are starting to get heavy. He's being patient with her rule to wait, but maybe he might have to work his way around it.
With everything going great, something at the end may tear it all apart. Will B-Wood keep his cool or will he lose it all over a dumb decision?
Chapter 6
The crowd was still cheering in the gym, but for me, there was no reason to celebrate. Even though we just won a big game in front of an NBA scout, Aaron and I weren’t the ones that he chose. The NBA scout instead chose the basketball player that we helped make a success. Life isn’t fair.
“I cannot fucking believe it,” Aaron cursed, kicking a towel clear to the other side of that room. “Me and you helped that motherfucker and they think that… that... that fucking choke artist is a better player than me!” I gave him a look. “And you? Shit, if it wasn’t for you, he wouldn’t know how to drown out all those people in the stands. That man is not built for the fucking NBA – at least he wasn’t until we got to him. Isn’t this some bullshit!” He yelled.
“Come on let’s quiet down,” I sighed.
“Why?’ Aaron spun around. “You worried about that traitor hearing us?” He rolled his eyes. “I don’t give a fuck.”
I was disappointed and pissed off but I couldn’t explode. I guess it was from my father teaching me about not being a sore loser. There was always a time and a place to express this disappointment and this wasn’t it.
“What’s up?” Aaron was next to me. “You look like you were gone. You were staring off into the distance.”
“My bad,” I apologized. “I guess I was just…” I drifted off. “I was just thinking about what you said.”
“What?”
“You called him a traitor.”
“Dwayne is a fucking traitor,�
� he said through his teeth. “After all that we did for him.”
“Aaron!” I told him. “Are you really surprised? He’s getting an offer from the fucking NBA. Of course he went. I wouldn’t have done anything different and neither would have you.” He started to nod. “And keep it down and be cool. I see it for us in some different ways. One, we have someone that we know and helped get in the NBA. Maybe he invites us to parties and we meet the right person.”
“True.”
“Two, we have the credit of turning someone into NBA material.”
“Also true.”
“And now, if you continue to throw this temper tantrum, that’s all the NBA scout in there is going to remember and he is going to talk. We don’t need any type of bad press.”
Aaron just nodded his head again. His shoulders slumped and he walked slowly to the showers. I looked back at the office and saw Coach, Dwayne, and the NBA scout still talking. Dwayne was smiling so I knew it was good news. I just couldn’t believe it but I had to deal with it.
“It is what it is.”
After the shower, I took my sad self outside. There I saw Simone standing waving some pompoms.
“Can you believe that this school pays for this merchandise?” She smiled and usually I would smile back but I was too down. “Come on, what’s up?” She poked me. “You just won this game, you would think you would be here cheering.”
I thought about telling her, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t know her all that well and the last thing I needed was to let her in on why I was down. So I did what my father taught me to do after I lost a game. I planted a fake smile and just acted like everything was okay.
“Do you know how tired I am?” I fake complained with a smile. “It might just look like a game to you but this is work for me.”
“Yeah, but you make it look so easy,” she said, and poked me.
“I try,” I bragged. She smiled again and suddenly it got easier to smile. She didn’t take away all the pain but she made it much easier. “Come on let’s go.”
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