November 11th, 2013

Kinsky, California, USA

Aaron

“You hear about the new kid? The one who beat Troy’s ass in basketball?”

Lukas was playing with a stick, drawing a continuous circle in the stand. He was a few months into his freshman year of high school now, and was sitting at the far end of the field during lunch with his best friend Cole.

“The one who’s in our math class, right?” Lukas responded. “The black kid?”

Cole nodded. “His name’s Aaron or something. Anyway, I thought of a good plan. We face him, 2v2. You go inside, I hit him with my famous jump shot. Get Kat and Rose to get a bunch of the cuties from gym class to watch. We beat him, and become ‘the guys who beat the guy who beat Troy Marker’. Sound like a good idea?”

Lukas smiled. “I think you’re forgetting the fact neither of us know anything about basketball. If he can beat Troy in a 1v1, I doubt we have any chance.”

“Come on, don’t think about it that way! You gotta have some confidence going into it.”

“Going…” Lukas stopped moving the stick. “Wait, this is a hypothetical, right?”

Cole said nothing. Lukas turned his head up to look at him. 

“You… you didn’t actually set this up, right?”

Cole put his hand on his chin, his expression watching out towards the field, observing some track runners practice. He was clearly enjoying himself.

“I set it up for after school today,” he muttered softly. 

Lukas stood up. “H-how? He only beat Troy two days ago. How would you- how did you get the new kid to agree to this? How did you get Kat and Rose to agree to bring their friends?!”

“Well, he was real receptive to the idea. Says he’ll challenge anyone, especially if it’s a scene. As for the other thing… well, a guy’s gotta have his secrets.”

Lukas put his hands on his hips, shaking his head vigorously. “Nuh uh. I did not consent. I don’t feel like embarrassing myself in front of the entire girls’ gym class.”

“It’s like five girls, don’t worry! I’m the one who set everything up, anyway. It’ll take some of the heat off you,” Cole looked up at Lukas with mocking puppy-dog eyes. “Now, will you be my partner… please?”

Lukas put his hand on his head and let out a pained sigh. “Ugh, okay, fine. Shouldn’t we go practice, then?”

Cole shot up. “Ah, that’s more like it! Now, let’s just hope the Greeks didn’t take over the court…”

…

That afternoon Lukas felt his heart pounding in his chest. He looked down at the basketball in his hands, spinning it around in his lap for comfort.

“It’ll be fine, Luke,” Kat said to him, trying to drum up some emotional support. “Just treat this as another one of Cole’s weird, stupid ideas. You don’t have to take it too seriously.”

“You really should stop agreeing to his plots so much,” Rose called out from the other side of Kat. At this point her accent was diminishing, though her word choice and grammar were still sometimes odd. 

Cole, who had been talking with some of the others in attendance, walked over to the three. “Hey, you ready?” 

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Lukas replied somewhat dejected.

Cole smirked. He turned his head and looked towards the gym’s entrance. “He should be here any minute now. Just remember the plan, you pass it to me anytime you feel- oh!”

The other three turned to see where Cole was looking. Sure enough, there was the young boy they knew as the newcomer – complete with his own basketball and a Magic Johnson jersey.

“You guys ready to play?” he called out to Cole, who he was already familiar with.

“Yeah, sure thing. Where’s uh… where’s your partner?” Cole called back.

“Partner?” Aaron turned around, but realized what Cole was talking about. “Oh, right! Nah, it’s good. I don’t think I need one.”

Cole squinted at him. “You want to do a 2v1?”

“Why not? I’ve never done one before. I think it’ll be good practice.”

The boy’s tone was excited, optimistic, naive – he meant what he said as he said it. Still, the casual confidence of Aaron irritated Cole to some degree. “Good practice…” he muttered quietly to himself, as he turned back towards the bleachers. “Alright Lukas, you’re up.”

“Let’s use my ball,” Aaron mentioned, pointing to the ball in Lukas’ hand. “It’s not a cheat, I promise. Just better than the ones they have at the gym.”

Lukas looked down at the ball and shrugged, leaving it down next to Kat. The three started the game after that.

…

From the bleachers, Kat and Rose did their best to support their friends while they watched on. However – as things would turn out – the match was not even close. All of the other girls began to cheer on Aaron as he scored point after point – leaving Kat with an awkward “Go Lukas! Go Cole!” interspersed throughout the match. Even Rose – who had stayed silent throughout the game – began to feel her eyes drawn more and more towards the new boy as time went on. And when Aaron broke away from Cole to score the winning three pointer, Rose couldn’t help but smile and give a polite clap in response.

Despite the lopsided match, the mood on the court was more than jovial. All three boys had been laughing and bantering amongst each other the entire time, and when the game finally ended they all high-fived one another for a job well done.

“Whew! That was a workout,” Cole spoke up, wiping his forehead. “You gotta admit, I threw you off with my jukes, eh?”

“Maybe the first time,” Aaron laughed. “To be honest I just didn’t think you had it in you.”

“We should do this more often,” Lukas interjected, now in high spirits. “Weekly on Wednesday works for me.”

The two other boys nodded in confirmation. As Cole handed the ball back to Aaron, the new boy realized something, evident by his change in expression.

“Oh! I almost forgot. We never formally introduced ourselves.” 

Aaron placed the basketball down near his legs. With vigor, he took his right fist and hit it across his chest, a confident smile stretched clearly across his face.

“Name’s Aaron, and I’m here to live up to the McNamara name!”

The other two looked at him, confused and perhaps a bit embarrassed. “Right, uh…” Cole let out awkwardly, then turned towards the others. “I’m Cole, of course. My right-hand here is Lukas. And our two other friends – Kat and Rose – are over at the bleachers. Right there and there.”

Aaron looked over at the audience, and waved at the two girls Cole had called out. Rose tried to hide a blush as she waved back.

“Alright then, we’ll keep in touch. Seeya guys in Math!” Aaron picked back up the basketball and made his way to the exit. As all the others began to get ready to leave, Rose lingered as she watched the boy head towards the door, only stopping when he finally went out of view.

Kat, who caught the girl staring, smiled at her. “Found something you like?”

The girl caught Rose off guard. “N-no! I was just… curious. I haven’t seen that boy before, you know?”

Kat put her arm on the girl’s shoulder, and winked. “Don’t worry, I think we’ll be seeing more of that boy very soon.”

Rose grabbed her backpack and jogged over to catch up to the others, her embarrassed face in her hands, as they walked out the other end of the basketball court.