So it's been about a month of me in Starling and my fame was taking a turn for rock bottom. Forget the top of the ladder, not sure if I was even on it anymore. But that wasn't gonna stop my plan, not one bit. Now I was getting decent at basketball, nahh scrap that. I was getting really good at it. I make the lineup from time to time and I've become a regular on the team sheet. But that's not what I'm here for, let's talk about our valentine's day.
Now valentine deals with love, boyfriend shit, girlfriend shit and all those things in general. From my tone I'm sure you can guess that i don't really know how to do love. The party committee announced that there was going to be a dance and gift exchange. Sounds fun I guess.
Now something crazy happened, Tephnine asked me to be her date. I honestly don't know what to do with that girl. She always takes the initiative, and right now that's not even the issue, I like her no doubt but I don't wanna minimize my view, if you catch my drift. So I tried to weasel my way out.
Me: Teph I don't think I can
Tephnine: I'm begining to doubt this love of ours
Me: come on, don't say that. You know I'm for you
Tephnine: then why do you make it a goal of yours to always disagree with me.
Me: it's cause you always take the initiative, you always do the asking.
Tephnine: I only do that cause you refuse to.
Me: it's not that I refuse to
Tephnine: it's exactly that kei. I'll be blunt with you. This is your last chance.
Me: uhh
Tephnine: if you refuse this then we might as well just forget about this whole love life of ours.
Me: fuck
Tephnine: what was that ?
Me: I said yes babe. Lemme go rent a suit.
Tephnine: now that's my good boy
Me: and she claims I suck at nicknames.
A COUPLE HOURS ON *****
Me: again we meet in a passageway
Cyndy: it's becoming more than a coincidence now
Me: I know right?. So where you up to ?
Cyndy: the library.
Me: To read ?.
Cyndy: no dear. To smoke and have a good time.
Me: (laughing) sorry, that was a dumb question
Cyndy: thank gracious you realised. So can I borrow a minute of your time?.
Me: (laughing) I'll give you two.
Cyndy: (smiling) don't expect anything.
Me: ouch what does she even take me for?.
Cyndy: a demon?.
ABOUT 15 MINUTES CHATTING IN THE LIBRARY****
Me: nahhh, you're just pulling my legs .
Cyndy: I'm not .
Me: sorry but there's no way I'll believe that you don't have a date for the dance .
Cyndy: except I genuinely don't
Me: have you seen yourself in the mirror?, you're what every man wants.
Cyndy: You're forgetting a very important detail.
Me: What's that?.
Cyndy: I'm surrounded by boys.
Me: true. But what about your guy?.
Cyndy: he'd rather ask me at the last moment cause according to him, I'll always be his date.
Me: that sounds so sweet and stupid at the same time.
Cyndy: I know right?. I just wanna make him so jealous, so mad. I want him to always ask first. I mean it's sweet he thinks I'm always his, but sometimes a girl needs that extra attention from her man.
Me: I just wish I could do something to help.
Cyndy: yeah me too.....wait, you actually can.
Me: uhhh
Cyndy: I can tell him I already have a date, you can be that date, I can tell him it'll be impossible to cancel on you.
Me: wait a minute girl
Cyndy: you would do it for me?.
Me: i----
Cyndy: (cutting in) thank you so much
Me: but-----
Cyndy: (cutting in again) thank you so much. I knew I could count on you
Me: just wait a damn mi----
Cyndy: (running out) I won't forget this favour
Me: (screaming) are you fucking kidding me?.
LATER ON****
Justin: oh you're so cooked.
Me: yeah I know
Kayode: but why get yourself in this mess
Me: well my dear book-worm friend. Incase you weren't paying attention. I don't even know how I got in it.
Barry: yeah Jay is right, you're cooked. What do you even tell Tephnine?.
Me: I don't know Barry, I honestly don't.
I just couldn't tell Tephnine any of this, she's already at the edge, any slight push and I'm sure she'll go to overload.
FOLLOWING DAY***
Me: she just asked that of me
Tephnine: and a spiritual force held your tounge from saying no?.
Me: I tried to, but she didn't give me the chance.
Tephnine: oh you tried to. Now I see why you turned down me asking you. You already had someone.
Me: and now you're just making castles outta nothing Teph
Tephnine: of course that's what it seems like to you.
Me: please don't do this.
Tephnine: (scoffs) oh now I'm doing something. Maybe I had too much of a hope for you, for us. Maybe, just maybe I was wrong in what your intentions were for me.
Me: Teph what are you even trying to say?.
Tephnine: I'm so done with this emotional crap. I don't think I can continue with us.
Me: don't do this please
Tephnine: fuck off
Cyndy: hey sleepy head
Me: woah, hey Cyndy
Cyndy: where the hell were you, I've been screaming your name for the past 10secs.
Me: imagining the worse case scenario.
Cyndy: share with me
Me: I don't wanna bore you
Cyndy: just spill dummy
Me: okay here goes. I don't really know how to explain our whole plan to my date for the dance.
Cyndy: uhhh, what plan?.
Me: you being my date to make your man jealous?.
Cyndy: oh that. I thought We already called it off.
Me: we did ?.
Cyndy: yeah, I asked Justin to tell you. He didn't ?.
Me: that fucking bastard.
Cyndy: I'm pretty sure I told him that yesterday, my man already asked me.
Me: and he had the guts to pity me. Even cry for me, I'm so gonna be setting his Tux on flames.
Cyndy: why do guys have this weird friendship?.
Me: beats me.
A DAY BEFORE THE DANCE****
Coach fuckface: now when you go out there I don't wanna see any laugh, not even a smile. We are playing starfield college. This bastard's have always been a pain in our butt for as long as I can remember. We have the same win percentage as those fucking idiots, so one thing's for certain, We need a win to secure an assured chance of lifting the league cup. Remember today should be nothing but war. No smile is gonna be permitted.
Us all: yes coach.
Coach fuckface: here's the starting line up. James you'll be sitting this one out, John you'll replace your brother, kei you'll be joining James on the bench. Timone you're on with John. The rest remains as is.
Us all: yes coach
Coach fuckface: now get your ass on the court, we are getting the win today..
Us all: ( screaming like lunatics locked in the zoo ).
BEGINING OF THE THIRD QUARTER****
Coach fuckface: DAN, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!. Kei, get prepped.
Now why was coach all worked up?. If you're familiar with football, Starfield and Starling are like Real Madrid and Barcelona. Except Starling have the 15 Champions League. But you get the point, they hate and can't stand each others guts.
We were leading by little to no gap, score was currently 67-59. Now this was my first big game and you won't blame me for feeling all sorts of nervousness. I wanted to keep things simple. Coach made me the point guard. Jace was our shooting guard, and Jensen was our small forward, the special one I guess. I was giving a very specific instruction by coach, 'compliment Jace and Jensen, become their mixing spark, become the one who makes 0 from 1'. I Guess you could say I took that personally. I was blessed with the vision of an eagle, so I see things from an angle normal people don't, therefore making accurate passes wasn't really that much of a deal to me. And before you knew it our trio became something of a Nuke to starfield. But I don't even wanna talk about that. I wanna talk about my two man dribble. Now imagine this:
While on the move I received the ball from Jensen, after taking two steps I pumped fake a shot, selling my marker, almost immediately putting the ball in between his legs, and when his teammate came to complete the mark. I swiftly made a 360 round him, jumped, aimed and shot for the three pointer and incase you were wondering, I made the shot. For a moment there I thought I was gonna be called back for travelling. But the cheers and screams from the students watching changed my mind. Every one went crazy. You really don't wanna know how I felt at that point, I'll be snatching this top dog by the neck.
Now around the fourth quarter the ball went out of bounds and I was tasked with making the throw. I must confess Starfield have the hottest cheerleading crew ever, don't ask me why a highschool basketball team would need that. But thank heavens they did. I made eye contact with one of those angels and even if it lasted for about a second, it genuinely felt like eternity to me. One thing was made a certainty at that point, if I wanted to stand out to her, I need to put on an all time masterclass and that I did, that I fucking did.
At the final whistle we got the dub with the score of 127-108, courtesy of Jensen, Jace and I. Fuck the rest of the team.
Now there's this thing we do after every match where players go to shake the rivals and same with the cheers, I don't know who also brought this rule but again, I thank heavens for them.
Me: (shaking the angel) hi, I'm k--
Angel: keima, I know
Me: uhh, how did you even know that?
Angel: it's boldly printed on your jersey genius, not that quick on the uptake are you?.
Me: ouch. Can't say it's a lie though. So you never introduced yourself.
Angel: it's Natasha.
Me: a name befiting of an angel.
Natasha: yeah, the usual one liners
Me: (smiling) wasn't trying to flirt , just stating the obvious.
Natasha: if only you knew the amount of times I heard this
Me: I'm guessing a lot. But not from me.
Natasha: trust me, you won't be any different.
Someone screaming from their stand: Alobi we're going now
Natasha: there, you heard right?. I'll be going now.
Me: how can I contact you?.
Natasha: sorry, but I can't give my contacts out to someone who looks like a player.
Me: ouch. Moment of silence to we basketball players.
Natasha: we both know what I'm talking about.
Me: yeah (smiling). I wouldn't want you to mistake me for a football player hence the specification.
Natasha: (smiling) you say silly things.
Me: I did tell you I'll be different.
Natasha: (walking away) it's Natasha Alobi.
Me: what?.
Natasha: Facebook ID. Natasha Alobi.
Me: okay thanks.
"Thanks?", that was fucking weird. I shouldn't have said that.
Kayode: (jumping on me) bro that was crazy.
Me: what was?.
Kayode: that two man dribble.
Barry: It won the moment of the match.
Me: fuck, really?.
Justin: yeah. I think this is when you start making your stump on the first team.
Barry: so fucking proud of you right now.
James: kei, dressing room, right now.
Me: gotta go guys
WALKING INTO THE DRESSING ROOM*****
Coach fuckface: there he is, my boy. Give him a fucking standing ovation.
The team: (clapping so loud)
Coach fuckface: I gave a simple instruction before the match, play like you're in a battlefield for a better chance to win the league. But no, our own center in the name of Dan choosed to be all caring, all soft, all angelic. So slow, so dull. But one man brought the game back to life, won the MVP, even the moment of the match. Again a round of applause for keima.
The team: (whooping and clapping)
You will never understand the amount of pride I felt at this point, slowly but surely. My dream is coming true. Just you wait Jensen.
Jensen: congrats keima. Feels good doesn't it?.
Me: yeah it does. And thanks, means a lot coming from my rival.
Jensen: rival?. You see me as that?.
Me: duhhh, yeah of course.
Jensen: why though?. I see you as a friend.
Me: this fucking hot bastard. Just agree, no need for all this.
Jensen: I can't do that without a reason.
Me: just call it my personal greed, I need you to be my rival cause you can propel me to be better. At least that's what I feel.
Jensen: I mean, that's good and all but I can do more better as a friend I believe.
Me: I just hate you so much. You have to be perfect at everything. At this point you're gonna become the fan favourite.
Jensen: should I just pretend like I know what you're on about?.
Me: don't worry anymore, I wanna hit the showers. I'll just make this a one sided rivalry.
Jensen: knock yourself out my dear brother.
A COUPLE HOURS LATER****
Me: Natasha, Natasha Abila. Fuck, why can't I recall her name anymore. Should have written this down.
Barry: what are you doing?.
Me: scratching every part of my brain.
Barry: for ?.
Me: the angel's name
Barry: and how're you coming up with that.
Me: bad. Was it Aliba?. Alibo?. Fuck that. Natasha Alaba. Gosh I can't believe I don't remember.
Kayode: (walking in) guys guess what i just got?.
Barry: yo, I know these.
Me: wait..... Alobi. Yes Natasha Alobi. I fucking love you Barry.
Kayode: What's happening?.
Barry: beats me
THE PARTY DAY*****
Me: it's been 20 minutes, what's taking you guys so long?.
Kayode: almost done
Barry: good to go
Justin: just my shoes.
Me: you guys dress like turtles
Barry: dude, I said I was done
Me: I heard you the first time
Justin: I'm done with the shoes
Kayode: let's go pick our dates.
Me: oh yeah.
Every one took their various turns to pick up their date, and now this is why I don't do love or relationship or things of that whole way. It's been over fifteen minutes of me knocking my ass out, while screaming the name of Tephnine, all to no avail. She wasn't even picking my call.
Old looking janitor: are you looking for miss West?.
Me: yes ma'am, I'm meant to pick her up for our dance.
Old looking janitor: ohh I'm sorry dear, but she's not around. She hasn't been since yesterday.
Me: do you have any idea on where she went to?.
Old looking janitor: if my memory serves me right. She went to a party.
Me: ohh party. Okay thank you so much ma'am .
Was I hurt?, Hell yeah I was. Was I dissapointed, yeah I was. Trust me I was looking forward to this. It was supposed to be my first ever dance, ever. And to finally knows what it feels like to be stood up on. It's a feeling I don't want my worse enemy to feel. Maybe just Jensen.
I genuinely just wanted to go back to my room and sleep my eyes out, but then a thought struck , it's a party, a dance party, I'll gladly just go dance , even if I do it alone. That wasn't my best decision though cause the moment I stepped in there, I broke apart. Boys and girls, hands in hands, all lovey dovey. Fuck them all.
Well there's no need sulking over broken eggs, swiftly hitting the dance floor I made my dance capabilities known to the world and after a few bizarre movements.
Stranger: some crazy moves you've got there
Me: don't get so shocked yet dear, the best is yet to come.
Stranger: it's a dance off then
Me: oh it's on.
Now, can I dance?. Fuck no I can't. Were we just misbehaving?, hell yeah we were. Was it fun?, yes it was. We were deadass the worse dancers there and I loved the fact that everyone tagged along with our misbehaviour.
MINUTES ON*****
Me: I'm keima
Stranger: (almost immediately) and I'm Cassandra
Me: I wasn't looking forward to seeing a single girl at this party
Cassandra: honestly neither was I
Me: date stood me up at the dying moments
Cassandra: that makes two of us
Me: you reply way faster than I say anything.
Cassandra: sorry
Me: no don't get me wrong, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad
Cassandra: okay, sorry again.
Me: okay okay, lets cheer you up, wanna hit the dancefloor?.
Cassandra: I'm not really a good dancer
Me: (sarcastically) oh wow I'm shocked. Thought you were MJ.
Cassandra: (laughing). But seriously, this heels hurts. I'd rather just sit.
Me: okay, lets just find a place to sit.
The party was going perfect for everyone, but it wasn't really fun for either Cas or me. So we just found a pretty beautiful bench with the best view of the moon. This was probably where people go to confess their feelings and things like that. After a lot of minutes passed in laughing and chatting away.
Me: sometimes I wish I could become a star.
Cassandra: What's motivating that strange wish?.
Me: the freedom they have, I want that. They choose to shine their lights when they feel like and dim it when they desire.
Cassandra: I'll be stopping you there, they don't choose to do anything. In fact the light you see now were probably shone for hundreds of years ago and it's just taking now to meet us.
Me: and how do you know?
Cassandra: well it's been scientifically proven
Me: yeah, I can defo tell you belong to the streak department.
Cassandra: was it that obvious
Me: it was...scientifically of course.
Cassandra: (smiling) you're crazy.
Me: at this point that's a compliment, but on a serious note. Don't you wish for that freedom?.
Cassandra: why should I?.
Me: isn't that obvious?. You get to be wherever you wanna be, doing what ever you wanna do, with whomever you wanna be with. Not restricted to one point. Shouldn't that be our goal in life.
Cassandra: you sound like my last boyfriend
Me: last?.
Cassandra: long distance
Me: oh, sorry for bringing up bad memories.
Cassandra: it's okay. Don't worry about that
Me: but.... I can be him, only this time a lot more closer to you.
Cassandra: that's gonna be a pass
Me: why though?.
Cassandra: let's see. He's a really good athlete.
Me: uhmmm didn't you watch me play yesterday?. I ran the whole show.
Cassandra: we had classes, so no.
Me: streaks I tell you. Next criteria.
Cassandra: muscularly built up
Me: (feeling my stomach) yeah I'm up to the task.
Cassandra: (laughing) okay, he's also a good kisser
Me: well, what can I say?. You haven't seen me in action yet.
Cassandra: I don't thin----
Well I know you can take a wild guess on what happened, yeah I kissed her outta the blue. I tell you this, I thought those criterias of hers were invitations and clear signs to me, they weren't . How I knew?, She wasn't kissing me back and she had a confused look on her face. Now there's something I call the 'stare ching', it's another one of my move like the 'mello', but for different occasions. I used it here. After pullling out, I stared deep into her eyes.
Me: do you believe in the concept of love at first sight?.
Cassandra: uhh
Me: do you think it's possible for one to love someone on the first seeing?.
Cassandra: what are you talking about?.
Me: I know rushing the kiss was a wrong from my part, but I just couldn't help it. I'm sorry, but I believe I've fallen in love with you.
Cassandra: I'm sorry I can't do this right now.
With that she stood up and took away. Now that's the 'stare ching', you wanna make deep eye contact, make a serious face, you really just need to make her feel uncomfortable while feeling comfortable. I don't know if that makes any sense. After that you need to throw a question at her, something to shake her foundation. Trust me, they'll forget why they were mad at you and just feel confused.
Well to me the party was as good as dead, Jensen was over there with the school number 2 female top dog having the time of his life, fucking perfect idiot.
Cyndy: that was honestly so painful to watch
Me: just go away
Cyndy: (laughing) this pain of yours feeds me so much
Me: are you here to mock me
Cyndy: where's the fun in that?. would you give me a minute of ya time?.
Me: yeah I guess, the day can't get any more terrible
Cyndy: don't jinx it.
Me: I don't wanna. where we up to?
Cyndy: somewhere we won't get distracted.
Me: sounds fun.
TO BE CONTINUED*********