Being Armani

Chapter 13 - Marcell

"What the fuck is he doing?" India asks me. We were just one row from the benches the team was sitting one. "Why the hell are you yelling at my son?" I yell at the couch. The couch turns around and faces me, "Because your son sucks ass at basketball, he should just stop playing, his defense is shit and he plays offense like he's retarted!" he say. I look at Davine, he looks like was about to cry, "What the fuck did you just say?" I yell, this nigga must be playing. "India go get Davine!" I say. She stands up and goes down to the bleachers. "You heard me!" the coach says. "I stand up, nigga, you blind as fuck if you think that's true! Marc Anthony's ball game is SHIT!" I yell back at him.

"HE PLAYS BETTER THAN YOUR SON!" the coach yells. "That's why Davine scored all the shots huh?"

The coach squeezes his lips together, and the other team scores a point. "This team's success is not because of Davine," he says. A couple people in the audience nod there head, "Yes it is," someone says. "We would be fine without Davine, even if he changed to the other team right now, we would still win, we're up by 19 points!" he says. I laugh, "Okay! Come on Davine, we're changing teams, right now," I laugh. "Be careful what you wish for!" India gives him a fake smile. We walk down the bleachers, Khalil flips the couch off and Davine says, "Fuck you," as we pass their bench. "Dumbass, you don't really know what you're in for!" India says.

I walk to the other team's bench, India and Khalil take a seat and Davine and I walk to the couch. "Hey, I'm Marcell Cook and this is Davine!" I say holding out my hand. "Hello, I'm Coach Sean Davis, can I help you guys?" I nod my head, "Got any extra jerseys?" I ask him. He immediately realized what I meant, he nods his head and tosses Davine a jersey, "Welcome to the Palo Alto Ballers, Davine, we really need someone like you on our team," he shakes Davine's hand. I take Davine to the bathroom and he quickly gets changed.

We walk back to the bench, there's only eight minutes left in the third quarter, "Davine, I want you to play harder than you were playing before," I tell him. "Okay!" he smiles. His coach makes a quick substitution and adds Davine to the game. I sit on the bleachers behind the bench. It's the Shooting Stars' ball and as soon as Marc Anthony tries making shot, Davine swats it. His other teammate grabs and dribbles it to the other side of the court. His old team doesn't know how to play defense and they all just stand under the hoop. Davine looks at them and shakes his head. The boy that has the ball passes it to a short light skinned boy and he makes an easy three, making the score 6-21.

Reggie passes the ball to Marc Anthony and he dribbles the ball down the court. Nobody on his team was open so he tried shooting it, but he air balled it. Davine got the rebound and ran towards the other hoop making a lay up

By the end of the third quarter, the score was 20-21.

Armani was sitting next to me, she was acting very irritable. "Hey, Armani, are you okay?" I ask her. She nods her head, "Yes, I'm fine," she gives me a smile that I knew was fake, "Armani, you're a horrible liar, tell me what's wrong," I lace our fingers together, "Can we just talk about this later?" she says shaking her hand out of mine. I sighed, "Okay," I looked at her one more time. She was looking around constantly, I don't know who or what she was looking for. I was getting a little worried, she hasn't been telling much lately. I just shake it off and continue watching Davine's game.

It's the middle of the fourth quarter and the game is 45-21. I see Mandrel, Davine's previous coach, getting really frustrated. I just smile and continue watching the game.

Davine hits another three pointer. "YEAH DAVINE, SHOW 'EM WHAT THE SHOOTING STARS LOST!" Khalil yells.

Another kid on the Shooting Stars had received the pass from their point guard. He passed it to Davine forgetting he wasn't on his team anymore.

Davine received the pass and looked at the clock. They had 20 seconds left, so he slowed the game down. They didn't have a time limit to stay on the backcourt so he stood at the three point line at the other teams hoop dribbling the ball. I could tell he was smiling at Marc Anthony, who was yelling, "Just come down the court and stop wasting everyone's time!" Davine shook his head, and with two seconds on the clock, he shot the ball. Everyone was one their feet, waiting to see what would happen. The ball swished and everyone cheers.

All his new teammates run to him and give him high fives.

India, Khalil, Armani, and I run down the bleachers and I pick him up and spin him around. "I can't believe I made that shot!" Davine says. "Well, I knew you could, I was just waiting for it to happen," Armani says smiling. "Aye, dad, we got to get to practice, remember?" Khalil says tapping my shoulder. I nod my head and we walk towards the door.

"Hey, Mr. Cook," someone says behind me, I turn around and see that it's Sean, Davine's new coach. "Call me Marcell!" I say.

Sean smiles, "Okay, we here's our practice and game schedule with my email and phone number, and here is a registration form, fill this out and bring it to the next practice and Davine can officially be added to our roster!"

"Thank you!" I said taking the papers.

"I'll see you at practice!" he says to Davine. Davine nods his head, "Okay!"

We stop in front of the entrance and I check the time on my watch, 11:24, "Okay, Davine do you want to go with your mom or do you want to come with me?"

He points to Armani, "Mom," Armani holds his hand. "Okay, see you guys later."

Armani nods her head, "Good luck at tryouts," she says to India and Khalil. "Thanks!" they both say. I hand my car key to India, "Wait for me in the car,"

I step closer too Armani, "Promise me you'll tell me what's going on when we get home?" I say holding the hand that Davine isn't holding. She doesn't look at me and nods her head, "Sure."

I examine her face, "Please, we got to be open with each other," I say. She looks at me in the eyes, her face was expressionless, "Fine."

"I love you," I said. A small smiles forms on her face, "I love you too."

I smile back at her and give her a kiss, "Ewww," Davine says sticking his tongue out and putting his finger in his mouth like he was about to gag.

"Bye, kid," I say patting his head.

"Bye baby," I say walking out of the entrance.

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