Hidden Behind the Veil (Complete)

Chapter 19

-The much awaited finals.

With a boom from the crowd, both teams entered the court. Jogging, and highfiving their way. The whole crowd was on it's feat. Alex took in the environment. Excitement and anticipation was in the air. The whole aura of the match was thrilling.

On the other side, were the Northern Region team. They seemed to be completely at ease wearing shorts in this chilly environment, they were from the North after all. Center, on the other hand, seemed to struggling with the weather. They seemed stiff, and half of them were still wearing their jackets.

Alex was highly surprised to see a table labelled as "Commentary Desk" close to the official's table. They hadn't had any commentary in the last matches. After their warm ups, both teams stood in a straight horizontal line in the middle of their halves. The principal and chief guest came up to meet the players and finally both captains shook hands.

The Northern Region captain was unusually thin and tall with freckles on his face. A warm grin held his lips in place. He somewhat had an aura of a spokesman rather than a sportsman; unusually welcoming for the sport.

Before the match, both teams formed a circle and made their last minute speeches.

"It all comes down to this," Alex began. "I won't ask you guys to win or just get lost. All I want from you guys is to give every bit of energy and strength that you have to this match. I won't feel bad if we lose, what'll break my heart is if we go down without a fight. OH FOR GOD'S SAKE BRED TAKE THAT DAMN THING OFF!"

Alex was starting to feel irritated of the jackets. They couldn't play in that attire. But the players seemed reluctant to take them off. It really was cold, an advantage for North. But seeing the seriousness in Alex's tone, they took their jackets off, hiding their shivering hands behind them.

The referee blew the whistle and asked the players to take their position. It became inaudible. Chaos, was what it really was. Everybody took their position and Alex looked around. Where was Edward and Violet? He had almost given up before he heard a familiar voice boom in the speakers.

"Ladies an' Gentlemen, Dudes an' dudettes, boys an' girls, people ov' all kind. Hello an' welcome to the finals ov' the intra-regional basketball championship."

"It's the INTER-regional, Edward." A small distant voice sounded in the speakers. It was their economics teacher who had done the rectification.

"Yes, that too." Edward continued.

Who would have thought that Edward would be the commentator for this match. And right beside her was a girl in a white t shirt. Her hazel hair were left open and her eyes were simply demanding for attention after the application of eye liner. Violet had, after all, found the best seats in house.

Alex was going to perform his signature move, but he thought it was highly unprofessional to be interacting with the commentators while you were playing the match yourself. So he smiled instead, and Violet waved.

"O'my right is the MIGHTY CENTERRRRRRR!!!!!" The crowed screamed and applauded like insane.

"And ov'course the North happen to be on the left." Edward's voice had dipped so low that you could barely hear him.

"Well quickly going through the playing 5 on both sides. We have the team captain, Alex leading Central region," He paused and waited for the applause to die down, which didn't seem ready to stop at all. "Max Forelong, Eddie Bailes, Bred Thomson and James Patrick." The crowd gave another huge cheer.

"Oh well, we don' have time to name the Northern Region players coz' the ref has called for the jump ball. Max from Center and that number 9 guy from North will come up to the center line. HAHA get it? GET IT? CENTER LINE? IT'S OUR LINE YOU DUMB-" Edward was pulled from the mike by the headmistress. An old, bored-looking woman with curly blonde hair.