39 Moving On

After returning from the restaurant, I chatted with LeBron a little bit before we separated and said our goodbyes. I wish him luck in the upcoming season and told him to train hard, and maybe he would make it to the playoffs this year.

LeBron thanked me for his wishes and then left soon after. I had quite a day, and I was tired mentally after this and decided to hit the sack. We were doing training for football season upcoming games. Coach told us that we have a scrimmage in a week with a team close by.The main quarterback had made a comeback from his injury. Hence, I went back to being a kicker, even though coach wanted me to become the official quarterback I told him I couldn't I didn't want to stress myself too much with that, but I agree to be the backup quarterback in case anything ever happened to him.The coach was still happy with the outcome; we continue to train before the game finally came, and there wasn't much to it. We dominated by so many points that it wasn't even worth saying. After that game, Coach was ready to give us a schedule for this season.Our first game was in two weeks against one of our rival teams. Normally every year it's a big deal, and there's always fights after the game due to the number of people that come to see it. I didn't want Isabella to come just because of that and decided to let her see my second game where it was much safer.Isabella was also getting used to school and was doing quite well, Ivy, on the other hand, was starting to get bored and decided to start taking classes to start working on her dreams. Ivy wanted to learn about a business so that she could support my business in the future.Opal had also started High School, which she was excited about. I would see her once in a while in our school's hallways, and sometimes she would talk to me, and sometimes she would just stick out her tongue at me. Everybody knew her as the captain of the basketball team's sister, so some people were trying to become friends with her just because of that.She wasn't too happy about it and vowed to transfer schools after the semester ended. Rasta was also almost done with his classes, and Flo was just trying to take care of everything around the house and make sure everybody was good before starting her own business.It was my senior year, and I was still trying to decide what college I was going to get into. I got an offer from almost every school out there with a basketball program. They all wanted me to join their school, and I had a decision to make.It was between three teams that I wanted to join, which was the University of Maryland, North Carolina, or Duke. I know Duke and North Carolina had good teams. Still, the Maryland teams were just okay, but due to it being so close to home, that's the only reason why I wanted to go there, and I knew that if I went to Maryland University, I would be able to dominate and bring them a championship.I had even appeared on ESPN as an analyst who was trying to determine which college I would go to and which one I would fit in. I laughed at all this because they were saying I would fit in Dukes line up. After talking with my family about which college I wanted to go to, I decided I'm going to join the Maryland Terps.They were excited to see that I was still going to be in Maryland and didn't want me to go too far. Isabella was also happy it was her third birthday, so we threw a big party for her. I invited all my friends over, including Basketball, Track, Soccer, Baseball, and Football close friends.They were all surprised that I had a child when they received the invitation. This party was so big even though it was a children's party there were more grown-ups than children there. I had rented out a big space for this since I didn't want everybody to know where I lived, and with human nature, I knew some people would probably get jealous and try to harm my family through that.Even Isabella's so-called new godfather LeBron James himself had shown up for this party, which surprises everybody that was there. They didn't think I knew a star like LeBron and were starstruck after seeing him there. I told them that this was a celebration for Isabella, so they shouldn't disturb LeBron.As the party went on, we had a lot of performances and entertainers. We had clowns come and perform, and even a few And1 players came to do some tricks for everybody to see. LeBron was surprised to see so many people there, and even the And1 players were there doing tricks for the kids.They were quite expensive to hire, but it was worth it because I got to meet a couple of them, and they remembered me from the tournament last year; some of them wanted to play against me like The Professor. We had a huge Court nearby, so we quickly went to set up a quick game to 5.Everybody had stopped what they were doing to watch the game between The Professor and me. LeBron was the hype man on the mic as we got the game started. I told Professor he could have the ball first, so he checked up the ball, then he started trying to cross me over which he succeeded because he was swift and did all these tricks.He had the crowd cheering while getting them pumped up. He managed to score the first point with a layup after speeding right by me. We checked it up again, and as soon as I checked it out to him, he took the shot and made it. Isabella was getting sad that her daddy was losing, so she started cheering for me, saying, "Zaddy, please crush this guy (baby words).I had to get serious now and said sorry, Professor, it's time to put you down. I froze the ball and stole it from him. Everybody was surprised included the Professor and his teammates because hardly anybody can steal the ball from Professor, but a high school student just did it; as soon as I stole the ball, I went in and dunked the ball, causing the crowd to erupt, and Isabella was also happy.I checked it up again, and I shot the ball after doing a step back to the 3-point line. I made it and added two more points; after that, I finished him with a half-court shot winning the game. Professor had nothing but respect for me after beating him. He asked me if I wanted to join the And1 team, but I laughed and told him that I have bigger plans for basketball.I told him if he ever needs someone to sub in an important match he can call me, I'm willing to make a guest appearance in one of their episodes. We exchanged contact information, and the party went on. This party went on till late in the night. Isabella had gone to sleep around 9 p.m. due to being tired from the exciting day as the grown-ups got the party going.It became a huge party, and several stars were there to witness it and to enjoy it. LeBron ended up becoming the DJ and MC while the And1 team got on the dance floor and started making dance moves with basketballs after midnight. Flo came and shut down the party saying it was late. Everybody exited out, and I thank everybody as they left.I appreciated everybody that came through and made this party lit. The next day Flo made us get up to go to church so that we can thank God for adding another year to Isabella's life. I was beyond tired when I got there, but I decided to sit through it.