The Misadventures of A New Kid, Jason, Chrissy, and the Hawkins Basketball Team

Chapter 1: Meet Buck Sanders

Buck Sanders brushes a strand of his wavy copper brown hair off his face as he steps off his motorbike and gets to school. Buck short for Buckley (which he does not go by) kept his hair fashionably long, wavy, and fluffy with the sides shaved off. Today,  was the first day of his senior year at Hawkins High, but unlike the teeming mass of students surrounding him, this was a brand new school surrounded by strangers. Why did he go to a completely different school? Well, it might be because he is 7 foot 3 with arms so long he could touch his toes without bending down and that Hawkins' coach Dale Greene vacationed at Memphis this summer and caught Buck playing amateur basketball and considered the boy the missing piece for Hawkin's.

Buck passes the statue of a bronze tiger and playfully smacks the back of it's head as he climbs the steps to the school. The young man wonders if leaving Memphis to come here was the best idea and the ethics. The school paid for his apartment and would also splurge to help him with some necessities such as his bikeband groceries. That ought to be a violation, at least in the NCAA it would be. Buck shrugs it off as he stops to mess with his backpack. The boy wears a Kevin McHale Celtics jersey, a blue long-sleeved collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up, black jeans, and Converse high tops, and is trying desperately to fit in. He waves shyly at a group of nerd type guys, including some dude with hair metal type hair and a devil t-shirt, but they just ignored him and looked at him with suspicion. Hair metal dude gives him what looks like a jeer, which leads Buck to ponder if the whole jock vs. nerd shit was going on here.

"So you must be Buck Sanders," A Boy said interrupting Buck's thoughts, "This 7 footer Coach won't stop talking about. With the movement and handles of a guard, the shot of a 2, and the defense of a center. He told me to show you around Hawkins, and to make sure you have fun. I'm Jason Carver, Captain of the basketball team."

"Yeah, that's me," Buck said with a shy smile, "I guess you can't mistake me for anyone else. Im sorry about that, I really don't want to step on your toes."

Buck briefly studies Jason. The blonde is probably 5'10 at most, with an average but athletic build. He's pretty muscular for a guard, must be a gym rat. Most likely he's the point guard, or the 2 guard.

"Oh you're good," Jason said with a sly smile, "I think we're going to have something special. Besides, it could be like Magic and Kareem or Cousy and Russell. I assume you prefer the latter reference given the Celtics jersey."

"I do prefer that one," Buck said with a friendly smile, "I bet we will be really good and I'll do my best to help the team out. You a 1 guard or a 2 guard?"

"The 1 guard," Jason said, "But I got a pretty nice jumper, and I can score as well as a 2 guard. I do want to stress that we play team basketball here at Hawkin's. None of that 1 on 1 playground shit, we pass the ball to the open man, and take good shots, use the backboard, I'm sure you know the drill."

"Understood," I said, "I'm excited to learn the plays you like to run, and I'm sure I can play a great role."

"For sure," Jason said casually, "And adding a 7 footer to the mix, we can definitely make some new plays that will mess up anyone who stands in our way. Can you dunk?"

"I can dunk," Buck said with a proud smile, "32.5 vertical. I could also shoot inside, outside, pass,  rebound the ball, play defense. Trust me they called me Spyda in Memphis, because nobody can get a shot off without me getting a finger on it."

"Well then," Jason said, "I gotta check that out at practice, my new goal is to score on you."

The 2 boys laugh before Jason said, "But we gotta go, class starts in 25 minutes and I still need to show you your locker. We have all the same classes except 10th period you got Advanced Biology. Damn, you smart and you play ball!?"