A Different Descendant: Freshman Year 1

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

     Jackson was with the ball this time. As he did before he scored his six points, he was focused on dribbling and taunting me. He seemed to be having a good time. Not for long though.
    He dribbled back and forth, left and right. But just as he was about to take another step, I easily slapped the ball out of his hand. Without wasting a second, I hurried for the ball and made my first basket.
     Mouths fell open and eyes went wide on sight of what had just occurred. Obviously not because I made the basket, but because of how the person who had been dribbled easily repeatedly just slapped the ball away from the captain of the basketball team's hand like it was nothing.
     As I landed from my lay-up, I looked over my shoulders at Jackson.
     "It was fun watching you dribble. But I do not feel like losing today."
On Jackson’s face was a mixture astonishment and anger. Pissing him off was a success. All that was left was to put him in his place.
    ****************
    Ever since that point, the game changed. Before Jackson would get the ball, I would let him.
     The game dragged on for quite a while, the scores; nineteen to twelve. One more basket from me, and I win.
Jackson was almost out of steam due to him running around a lot, trying to keep up with me and get the ball. It felt good having him chase me around the court.
     ‘Okay, time to end this game,’ I said to myself.
Swiftly, I dashed towards the hoop and he took a defensive stance in front of me in an attempt to stop me. His eyes were bloodshot red. What could I expect? The game took a surprising turn.
   "I'm not going to lose to you beansprout! You're nothing to me!" he growled.
     "If I'm nothing to you, why are you losing?" I said with a crooked smile.
    "Now, get lost."
     I kicked into gear and dribbled left and right. Left and right, I danced with the ball, making it extremely difficult for him to keep up. And just as I pictured the end result, it worked. Jackson hit his butt hard on the court with his face in shock.
While he was still dumbfounded on the ground, I stopped by him and said;
     "Do not be mistaken Jackson. You and I are not on the same level."
    After my words, I casually went towards the basket for an easy lay-up.
    "That settles it. Henry wins!!!"
The court went crazy with roars of applauds and cheers. Jackson got off is butt, but stood still, still petrified by what happened.
    As I stood watching the crowds clap and cheer, Jackson, with disappointed spelled on his face handed me his captain's jacket.
I had won the bet so it was only natural. With the jacket in my hand, I looked into the crowd and luckily, I spotted Alexis' face. She didn't seem happy.
    ‘Should I really take this from him?’ I asked myself.
    ‘I already passed my message across. Is taking it from him really necessary?’
    After about a minute of contemplating and brainstorming, I finally made my decision.
      "Here," I said and him back his jacket.
     "But you won," he said with the jacket in his clutches and a confused look on his face.
     "Look, I'm not really interested in taking anything for you. You crossed a line earlier today. I didn't want a fight. Also, if you want people to believe in you actually bringing back the team title, give us a reason to. Not try to put people down, so you can be on top. The top is not for the weak. It’s for the ones who can put in the work.”
     I left him in his speechless state and went to get my bag and shirt at the other end of the court.
    “This was fun though.”
              ************
     Alexis caught up to me as I walked home. She kept complimenting me on giving Jackson back his jacket. She was always like that whenever I did what seemed to be the right thing.
As we walked home, a man, probably in his thirties ran up to me and Alexis.
     "Oh hello Mr. Benson,” Alexis greeted.
Mr. Benson, according to my sister taught Economics and he was the coach of the basketball team. On our way home, Alexis told me that he would be informed of what went down between me and Jackson sooner or later.
     "Yeah, hello,” he said in a rush.
He seemed to be in a rush. He was sweating as well. From the look of things, he ran to catch up to us.
    ‘He must have been running for a while,’ I said to myself, noticing his T-shirt drenched by sweat.
    "I received word that you beat Jackson. You’ve got skills kid,” he said, panting after each sentence.
    “Thank you sir,” I replied.
“You want to join the team? We could use someone like you,” he offered.
‘I just told Jackson I want interested in joining the team. And now, the coach wants me to join the team and seems really interested.’
“Well?”
‘It won’t be too bad being on the team,’ I said to myself.
‘Plus, all I practiced for years would be a waste if…’
He didn’t let me finish thinking when he said:
    “Team members get extra credit,” he said hurriedly.
    ‘Great. A bribe.’
    ‘This is obviously not true. He hopes to influence my decisions with such an offer. He doesn’t know I’m not easily persuaded just like that. Looks like joining will be a little interesting.’
After some thinking, I finally decided.
    "I’m in,” I said, wearing a small smile on my face.
"Excellent. I'll give you what you need tomorrow in school. Oh and it’s coach from now on. Call me Mr. Benson and you can kiss extra credit goodbye," he said.
     "Yes Coach,” I replied.
     "See you tomorrow at practice.”
        ****************
     As expected of my sister, she narrated everything to my mother and Mr. Gudjohnsen. Mom was really pleased to hear that I had already become quite popular on my first day. Even though I didn't want the popularity, I would just have to put up with it.
                 **************************
     The next day at school was exactly what I knew it would be like.
When I got to school, there was loud screams from girls from upstairs. As I walked the school hallways, I received "Hey Henry’s" from all over. I wasn't a big fan of popularity, but growing up; I’ve always been the center of attention.
‘If this is going to be my life from now, I might just as well go with it’.
   I walked down the halls to my locker. Just as I was about to enter my locker combination, someone called my name.
      "Mr. Collins,” a man called.
I turned my head to see who it was. It was MR Roberts, the school counselor.
     "Oh. Good morning Mr. Roberts," I greeted.
     "Good morning. Um- that's no longer your locker. Some things came up and I had to move your locker down there,” he said pointing towards the part of the hallway where I saw many of my classmates I recognized.
    "Let's go," he said, leading the way.
  He walked me down the hall to my new locker. 
After I dropped by book into my new locker, he asked for my combination.
    "Okay, write your combination here for record keeping. You know, in case you forget your combination and stuff like that,” he said.
     I said nothing. Just collected the book from him and wrote my locker combination.
     "Huh. Same as your sister," he said as he collected the book and looked at what I wrote.
     "Forgive me if I'm being nosy, but um - is it something important to you two?" He asked.
My mind immediately went back to when I came up with that code. It was also my phone password.
     "Yes. It is.”
    "Alright then, have a good day," he said as he left.
   That code was something I made when I was younger. The code was 3907. It was a combination of the time my dad would be back from work. If he wasn't back by three, he would be back by nine. If he wasn't back by nine, he would be back by midnight. And if he wasn't back by then, I would see him on the couch sleeping when I woke up by seven.