Switched Up

4-I: Called it!

It was finally time for tryouts to start for the 1st years. Sam could barely contain her excitement as the school day went on. She was bouncing her foot and tapping her fingers throughout every class. Jack peeked over at her in sixth period and chuckled at her impatience.

When the day finally ended, Sam hopped over to Jack's desk and forced him to get up.

"Bye Opal!" called Sam as she started to leave.

"See ya guys! Good luck!" cheered Opal as she waved bye with a laugh once she saw Jack being dragged by the collar. Once Sam was out of their classroom, she and Jack sprinted over to Oliver's.

"Oliver! Hurry your ass up!" shouted Sam through the open door.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" said Oliver as he threw his track bag over his shoulder. The students that were still in the classroom laughed and wished him good luck as he left. As Oliver was coming out of the classroom, Ricky came galloping from his own classroom down the hall.

"I'm here!"

"RUN RICKY RUN!" yelled Sam.

Once Ricky got to the trio he looked at Sam and said with a chuckle, "Dude, you gotta calm down."

"I'm trying," she said running in place, "but tryouts start in 20 minutes and I can't wait to meet the upperclassmen, and play basketball with them, and dribble around them, and pass to them, and--" getting cut off by Oliver holding his hand over her mouth.

"Save your energy for the court or you won't make varsity," Oliver teased.

Sam swatted his hand away and replied, "Okay, okay. Fine! But c'mon! Let's sprint over to the locker room and get dressed before everyone comes in!"

Jack, Oliver and Ricky laughed at her impatience and chased after her to the locker room. Once they were changed and ready for their first day of tryouts, Sam and Ricky waved bye to Jack and Oliver, and then they both headed to their designated areas.

When Sam and Ricky got to the basketball courts they saw all the upperclassmen from JV and Varsity conversing with each other. Sam and Ricky were the first newcomers to arrive, so the upperclassmen immediately turned their attention to them.

"Yo, look at these precious little 1st years!" exclaimed the tallest member in the bunch.

A huge smile appeared on Sam's face as they approached her and Ricky. They surrounded them and loomed over Sam while Ricky stood at eye level with most of them.

"My name is Sam Springfield," said Sam offering a hand to the giant in front of her.

He smiled and shook her hand with a firm grip.

"Sam, huh. I'm Zach Owen." he replied.

"Say, how tall are you? You're huge dude."

"I'm 6'8" and a half."

"Damn."

Sam then stepped forward and nudged him backwards a little bit with her shoulder.

"Save some for the short people like me," she teased.

Zach laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and put her in a loose head lock. Ricky was glad to see that Sam was fitting in with basketball team and couldn't wait to join in with everyone. Zach released Sam and looked at Ricky next.

"What's your name bro?"

"I'm Ricky Smith, Sam's caretaker."

"Hey!" snapped Sam.

As Zach and the rest of the upperclassmen laughed at their bickering, more of the 1st years started to show up. Two steps from Zach's long legs brought him over to the other 1st years so he could start chatting it up with them.