Student Book 3 || Weirdie Stars

Chapter 15: Friday & Saturday

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I walked to the 2nd gymnasium, skipping happily while carrying my school bag. Somewhere in the hallway I stopped a first-year I heard was in the basketball club, and asked him the location for today's club practice. I, in that moment, thought I talked to the wrong choice of junior.

"2nd gym." His answer was simple, but he looked so cold and distant that I hurriedly tried to end the conversation ASAP. His eyes were really sinister and tired. Is he really a first-year?

I had changed into the school's P.E. gear. When I reached the 2nd gym and stepped inside, I was greeted by pairs of wondering and surprised eyes. The gym only had the basketball club using it for the moment. It's very huge and clean like always.

"Gather 'round!" Someone who seemed like the captain of the team shouted, all the members in sync stopped what they were doing and all of them walked towards me. Professor Kenneth stood up from the bench, all of the club members now gathered at a place.

"Alright, so, starting from today, we have a club manager," the captain announced. The members look delighted. "I am Kirk Harlan Gallardo, the captain. Your name is?" He turned to me.

"Zhang Amaya, Class 3-2. Call me Amaya. I look forward to working with you," I bowed down politely, voice aloud so everyone could hear clearly.

"We will be in your care!" All the members responded. I smiled to all of them.

"There is also another annoucement." Professor Kenneth cleared his throat and got everyone's attention. "We have two practice match requests, one from Tehran Academy and one from St. Luke High School. Tehran requests the practice match to be held next week while St. Luke High leaves the date to us. Amaya, as the manager, I ask for you opinion."

You know what? Professor Kenneth is an alumnus of St. Luke High, his junior high school was St. Luke Middle School which shares the same foundation as the high school of the same name. Choosing that school could bring nostalgila to our advisor, that could make him happy.

"My choice would be St. Luke High School," I answered, "Tehran is an amazing opponent, that's exactly why I would want the first-years to practice harder before replacing the third-years' positions soon, and maintain our victory against that school. Our match against St. Luke High could be one efficient way to gain experience and lessons for our juniors."

"So you're saying that the match would be a 'tool' for our victory, like an obstacle we need to pass before fighting the last boss," Kirk concluded, exactly what I thought. He smirked. "A tool, eh? As much as I would say it's kind of humiliating, you decided to take the advantage of the situation for the sake of our victory. What a crafty manager we have here. How about it, professor?"

"I will call St. Luke High to inform them the practice match would be after the midterm exam," he said. "Amaya, for your task, list down the player biodata of all the members, we have 14 in total. Gather as many information as you can. Is that understood?"

"Yes, professor." I bet it'll be hard work...

"By the way, we have a guest today." Just as the professor said that, someone knocked on the door and instantly slid it open. The man who came inside was tall, very tall at that, looks muscular and athletic, black hair styled in an undercut, and has tanned skin. He looked in mid twenties and was wearing casual clothes suitable for sports practice. Everyone stared at him with confused looks on their faces, including me.

"Yo." His voice was deep but his face looked friendly. He tapped Professor Kenneth's shoulder and looked around with a wide smile.

"This is Mark Pester, my former teammate in middle school. He played center," Professor introduced. NOW I REMEMBER HIM! He was the strong center and one could not simply beat him under the hoop. The area inside the three-point line is always dominated and secured by him.