"BYE!!!!!! See you later, Kale!" Lily waved at me as her sister pushed along towards school. "We might most likely be coming to your basketball game!" She gave one final wave before turning and skipping alongside her sister.
I sighed. That younger girl seemed to be quite the handful. And the older one, Sadie, seemed to distrust me a bit. But, I was a stranger, so it was only right that she'd be wary of me. It'd almost be weird otherwise, right? Not everyone was as friendly as I am.
Letting out a deep breath, I looked around, unsure of where the stadium would be for me to go and see if I couldn't get on the team. I didn't want Lily and Sadie to happen to show up and then I wasn't there. How hard could it be? Except, I had no idea how to get there. The streets all looked the same to me.
After several failed attempts, I finally got some good directions and found myself in the gymnasium, watching about twelve players doing different drills. Good. They were practicing. I wasn't sure what proper human etiquette would be in this situation, so I decided to just improvise as I went along.
I grabbed a basketball off one of the racks, walked a little passed half court and took a shot, swishing it. Everyone turned to look at me, all eyes curious. "Excuse me, sir, this is a closed practice, the opening game is tonight, and these boys have to practice for it." He didn't have the aura of the coach. Maybe an assistant?
"I'd like to join the team," I told him flatly.
"You can't just walk in here and demand to be put on the team," the guy told me. "If we allowed that to happen, we'd have a lot more than twelve guys on the team, and we'd win far fewer games."
I shook my head. "I'd like to try out for the team. I understand you couldn't just let me on on good faith. I need to prove to you I can handle myself here. I'd be more than happy to show you my skills."
Some other guy, this one bigger and taller, came walking up. He was the coach, I could tell. "What's your name, son?" he asked me.
I wasn't his son. What a peculiar fellow. Ignoring the statement, I answered, "Kale, sir."
"How long you been playing?" he asked me. "Played any college ball?"
I frowned, not fully understanding how to best answer. We didn't play basketball in heaven. At least, I didn't. But, I knew I was good at it. I don't know why, but my instincts told me so. So, I decided to say what I had heard other athletes say, "I've played all my life, sir. I never went to college, sir."
He looked me up and down. I wasn't as big as a lot of his other players, but I definitely wasn't the shortest, either. "I'll give you one chance to prove to me you belong on this team."
Turning to the rest of the team, he addressed them, "Kale is going to be blue team. Play him balls out. LEt's put him to the test."
I must have played well because while the others were panting and out of breath, I was barely breathing heavily. I had scored the majority of the points for my team, having been put on the wing. And, I had taken a lot of three pointers.
"Son, we'd be honored to have you play with us. Your first game's tonight. I'll worry about the paper work. You just play like that tonight, and we'll be all set," Coach told me with a grin on his face.
"Thank you, sir," I smiled. "You won't regret it."
I really hoped Sadie and Lily would show up now. I wanted to show them how good I was, kind of show off a bit. Sadie seemed weary of me. I wanted her to open up to me a bit, like Lily had. I wanted friends.
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