261 Basketball

The five of us exited from our room one after the other through the doorway and reentered the living room. There were no signs of the girls in the living room as all that was present were the furniture as well as the beautiful view of the blue ocean and white sand beach beyond the sliding glass door. Nearby, there was a medium sized kitchen that leaned somewhat on the smaller side that was also equipped with all the necessary cooking amenities one could ask for.

"Should we tell them we'll be heading out?" Zevin asked us as we went to the front exit and began slipping on our shoes.

"Maybe," Noah nodded. "Hey!" he then shouted. "We're heading out. Zaksus wants to play basketball!"

As we continued to put on our shoes, there was the sound of footsteps approaching the stairway that led up to the second floor. There, Irina poked her head out from the side of the wall.

"Okay," she said to us with a smile on her face. "We'll be heading to the beach in a bit after this. You guys will be on the courts by the beach, right?"

"Yeah," Zaksus responded with an excited gleam in his eyes.

"Have fun."

We exited the house after hearing Irina's words, closing the door behind us and locking it just in case using the spare key that Loyd has. After that, the five of us walked down the beach-side sidewalk towards the basketball courts. In his hands, Zaksus twirled and played with the basketball, displaying great dexterity and proficiency with his large hands that I reckon grants him plenty of advantage in an actual game.

"You guys know how to play?" Zaksus asked us once we stepped foot on the court. As he waited for our response, he took a mid-range jumper, shooting the ball into the air with beautiful form and allowed the ball to make a perfect arc to the net.

"I think we all know how basketball works," Loyd looked around and responded to him.

"What're we gonna be playing then?" Noah asked. "Horse?"

"How bout we get a game," Zaksus suggested.

"Alright then," Noah nodded. "Us four versus you."

"H-hey!" Zaksus appeared rather surprised. "That's not fair!"

"Says the top high school prospect," Noah muttered back in a mocking manner. "This is the only way it's gonna be'fair'. How else are we suppose to beat you?"

"You guys wanna run?" a voice approached us.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw that the voice belonged to a young man probably around our age or a year or two older. This young man was also accompanied by four other boys around his age as well, and judging off of their clothing, I can tell that they're like us, tourists to the beach. However, why they would come to the basketball courts instead to the beach, I do not know. Only basketball fanatics like Zaksus would do something like this.

"Sure," Zaksus responded with a smile. "Five on five?"

"Of course," the young man smiled in a confident manner. "First to thirty?"

"Ones and twos, or twos and threes?" Zaksus continued.

"Let's make it last longer," his companion responded.

"Ones and twos it is then," Zaksus nodded and smiled as he held the ball.

"Let's begin then," the young man then said, gesturing towards the center of the court for a jump ball.

It would appear that our opinion does not matter as Zaksus had decided for all of us. Judging off of the fit physique this group of boys had, they are probably rather strong and athletic, what one would considered to be jocks. On their faces were looks of confidence, probably stemming from their belief that they would be able to steamroll us, as obviously, our physiques were rather lean compared to theirs with the only person comparable being Zaksus.

Although we all had slight looks of doubt on our faces, Zaksus appeared to be rather calm. On his face was a smile that only a true basketball fanatic can have. It was a dreamy look of excitement as he slapped the ball a few times, which was probably his pregame routine. Upon doing so, I can sense a change in aura from his end. No longer was he the Zaksus that gets into playful banters and gets mocked by Noah. Instead, he became the star player of the Nocsinis Imperial High's basketball team, the number one basketball prospect in the entire nation.

With the game in preparation, we chose our side of the court and went there in preparation for jump ball. It would appear that the team of jocks are discussing something, probably their game plan and assigning defensive assignments. We really don't have much thought on game plan and who's defending who, but I guess that's whatever.

I turned to my left and looked out at the clear blue sky and the almost mirror-like grand Oceanus Leshius that reflected underneath it. Waves crashed against the white sand beach and washed back down . There were the sound of seagulls as a soft breeze with the salty scent of the ocean blew by. Underneath the warm summer sun, the breeze was rather appreciated.

"Are you guys playing a game?" a familiar voice called out to us, causing us to direct our attention in that direction.

We all looked over, even the team of jocks, and I discovered that it was simply Irina, Muria, Erith, Luna, and Alvelyn. They were all dressed in swimsuits, and it would appear that they were intended on heading towards to the ocean. On Irina's and Luna's face, there were looks of excitement. On Muria's and Alvelyn's, there were simply bland looks of observation. As for Erith, she simply yawned as she scrolled on her phone and acted in a rather dispassionate manner.

"What is this, we got a cheerleader squad?" the lead jock smirked and commented.

"Hey," another one of them whispered to the other. "Isn't that Irina?"

"Woah," the one responded. "Is that really her?"

"I think it is! Should I ask for a signature?"

"Yeah," Zaksus responded, smiling. "We're playing a game."

"Hey, let's watch!" Irina suggested to the others. "There's bleachers over there as well."

"Aren't we going swimming?" Erith asked without taking her eyes off her phone.

"The ocean isn't going anywhere," Irina insisted. "Please?"

Upon the mention of the world "ocean", I saw a concealed look of concern on Alvelyn's face. I can understand why because I also suffer from the same problem. I don't know how to swim, so she doesn't know how to swim as well.

"It'll be fun," Luna joined in and tried to convince Erith.

"If Luna also wants to watch..." Erith frowned as her countenance softened. "Fine."

Irina and Luna appeared quite happy, while Muria simply kept her eyes trained on me for some reason and sat down quietly on the bleachers with the others.

"Are you guys doing a jump ball?" Irina then asked.

"Yeah," Zaksus nodded. "You want to toss it?"

"Sure," Irina nodded and made her way over to the center court where Zaksus handed her the basketball. "Good luck," she said as she looked in our direction.

Then, as Zaksus, the tallest and most athletic person of our team, readied himself to face off against the jock's team's tallest player, Jock A, Irina lowered the ball and heaved it upwards. She quickly scurried out of the action as Zaksus and the jock he was facing off against both jumped at the same time for the ball.

Zaksus tapped the ball towards our half of the court, and the ball headed in Loyd's direction. Upon catching the ball, Loyd looked up at me and simply smiled. Just as I began jogging towards the Jock team's basket, Loyd passed the ball to me, catching me by surprise. I was perplexed as to why he passed the ball to me but not Zaksus, but whatever the situation is, it would appear that he just made me the play-maker.

"Let's go, Alevian!" I heard Irina cheering me on from the bleachers, which was somewhat embarrassing and made it rather difficult for me to focus.

I dribbled the ball up the court, keeping my head up as I surveyed the court. Each player on my team was tagged by a jock from the other, and the jock guarding me, let's call him Jock B, had a rather smug smile on his face. In his eyes, I was probably the easiest assignment out of everyone. Almost everyone would think that the laziest looking boy would be the easiest to guard.

"Those girls are with you guys, right?" Jock B asked in a superior voice. "If we win, let us have some fun with them, huh?"

For some reason, his words made me feel rather irritated. No... rather mad. It's one thing to disrespect me, but don't drag other people into it. Especially them.

With an expression devoid of emotion, I gathered my dribble and pulled up for the three, taking the shot that I had so often shot in the past. As the ball made its arc through the air, it seemed to be in slow motion. However, I didn't even need to wait for the ball to go far to know that it will go in. This was a shot that I've taken so many times before when I would just shoot the ball in the basketball courts in the gym located in the underground floor of the building that I lived in.

"I want to see you try," I said as I looked into Jock B's eyes.