Switched Up

7: You join too!

As part of the men's basketball team tradition, the coach would treat the team to dinner in the middle of their conditioning period. It was like their reward for not dropping out of the program.

After practice that Friday afternoon, Sam was waiting outside the locker room for the rest of her teammates. At that point, Sam had gotten used to changing abnormally fast in order to avoid the crowded sensation of naked men. Ricky popped out a few minutes later and waited for the others with Sam.

"Yo, I'm so excited for dinner," said Ricky.

"Me too! I'm dead after today's practice, so this meal is gonna hit the spot," replied Sam.

"We're having Korean Barbecue right? I'm so hyped!"

"I know. I'm gonna eat so much. Hey, wanna have a contest?"

Ricky gave Sam a confused look.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Like, wanna see who can eat more at dinner tonight?"

"Oh, you're so on dude!"

Sam and Ricky felt a sudden increase of weight on their shoulders.

"What're you two dorks talking about?"

They looked up and saw Zach dangling his long arms over them. He ruffled their hair and released them so they could turn around and face him.

"Sam and I are gonna have an eating contest at the restaurant," said Ricky.

"Hooooh? Sounds interesting. Let me get in on that too," said Zach.

"Dude, your stomach is probably twice the size of ours," joked Sam.

"Sam, I've seen you eat before. You're a bottomless pit. Anyone would have trouble competing against you when it comes to eating," said Zach with a chuckle.

"Aye, what's goin' on? Did I hear something about an eating contest?" asked Emerson as he approached them.

"We're gonna have a eating competition at the BBQ place," informed Zach.

"Oh, hell yeah! I'm joining this shindig."

Emerson turned around and called to Derek, Charlie, Matthew and Will behind him, "Hey guys! You wanna join?"

"Ooo, join what, join what!" cheered Charlie as he hopped over to the growing group.

"Apparently there's this eating contest that's gonna go down tonight," said Emerson.

"I'm hella down!" said Charlie.

"I'll join too," said Derek while he approached everyone.

"Sounds fun," added Matthew with a smile.

"Guys. You're all going to get sick if you do that," said Wil in a concerned tone.

"Wil, c'mon! You have to join too!" persisted Zach.

"Yeah, let's do it Wil! Even Matthew is in on it," pushed Emerson.

Wil glanced over at Matthew who gave a small shrug.

"Ugh, fine. I'm not responsible for your upset stomachs later," said Wil.

"Yo Coach! You join too!" called Zach as Ron appeared from around the corner.

"Join what?" he asked.

"They're gonna have an eating contest at the restaurant," said Wil.

"Oh you shits are on!" said Ron as he went around the circle and gave the boys soft punches in the stomach.

When he got to Derek, he wrapped his arm around his neck and put him in a soft headlock while he ruffled his hair.

"Why me," whined Derek.

While everybody started laughing, the rest of the team started to flow out of the locker room. Before long, the eating contest was soon known throughout the whole team. They headed over to the restaurant in the school bus they rented and got seated right away. The second the menus came out, the supposedly peaceful dinner turned into a battle of the hungriest.

After an hour of endless plates of meat, it came down to Sam and Zach. In the end, however, Sam ended up dropping out two bites before Zach, making him the winner of the contest. Zach shot up from his seat and pointed his finger at the whole team and laughed in their faces. They all groaned at his taunt, unable to move or talk from their bulging stomachs. Once the meal was paid for, they hobbled into the bus and headed back to the school.

Once they were back, they grabbed their things from the bus and headed to their dorm rooms. When Sam got into her room, she noticed that the boys weren't back yet; she assumed that they were still at practice. She felt a little nauseous from all the food she had eaten, so she crawled into bed to relax for a little bit. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

A little bit later, Sam woke up to the sensation of something cold against her forehead. She slowly opened her eyes to find Oliver hovering over her bed, and that the cold feeling had been from the back of his hand.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" asked Oliver in a hushed voice.

"Nah. Don't even worry," said Sam while sitting up.

"I was just wondering if you were feeling sick or something since you were in bed so early."

"Well, we had this eating contest at the basketball dinner and I felt kinda gross from all the food. I laid down just to see if it would settle my stomach, but I guess I felt asleep."'

"Want me to get you some cold water?"

"Yes please. If you don't mind."

"Not at all. I'll be right back."

Oliver exited the room leaving Sam by herself while Jack was showering in the bathroom. She flopped back down against her pillow and placed her hand where the chill lingered on her forehead, and couldn't help but notice a slight increase in her heart rate.

I wonder why his touch felt so soothing just now, thought Sam.

Oliver came back a minute later with cold water from the vending machine. After she drank some of the water, the night seemed to go on as always. Though, when Sam got herself ready for bed, she couldn't help but get distracted by the unfamiliar thoughts that circled her head after Oliver had woke her up earlier. Sam told herself to sleep on it and talk about it more with Opal when she got the chance. She couldn't tell what it was because she had never felt that way before.

To be continued...

Author Note: Hello precious readers! This was another quick chapter, but it's definitely important to pay attention to this one. I'm honestly having so much fun writing this and I'm so happy some people are reading it as well. Again, thank you to whoever is reading it! You guys are awesome and it makes my day. Now, a quick side note from me, but I love Emerson's name. I saw it online randomly and I was like, "Hey, I'm gonna name one of my characters that." At this point, I like it so much that I kind of want to name one of my future children that! I imagine that the Emerson in my story is a really outgoing guy who's kinda loud, but gets along with everyone. I've been meaning to write out all of the basketball member's names, appearances and personalities, so I think the next chapter is going to be just that! Stay tuned for their descriptions soon!

\(^_^)/

- Layna