Disclaimer: I do not own Slam Dunk, and as I said, it belongs to Inoue Takehiko.

Please read, enjoy, and review!

CHAPTER 3

While Jin was busy teasing Patricia, Virnalyn noticed someone at the other side of the store, watching them . . .

Who could that be, she thought, and who'd want to spy on us like that? She observed his features. He was tall, had spiky black hair, and had a lazy expression on his face. Yup, all signs pointed to the identity of this person . . .

"Hey, Virnalyn," he said.

Patricia and Jin recognized that voice and turned around to see who spoke. At once, Virnalyn and Patricia started to smile.

"SENDOH!" they shouted, and they rushed to greet him. "I can't believe it's really you, sempai!" said Patricia. "Or maybe I shouldn't say sempai anymore, as we go to different schools now."

Akira Sendoh smiled and said, "I always told you just to call me Sendoh. It always made me uncomfortable if anyone called me sempai. Anyway . . . What brings you two here? Did you two run out of malls to go to in Tokyo?"

"The both of us just moved here," said Virnalyn. "Can you believe it? It's been almost a year since we last met!"

"So, are the both of you going to spend senior high here?" asked Sendoh. "Yeah, Patricia-chan's going to Shoyo and I'm going to Shohoku!"

"Really?" asked Sendoh. Suddenly his expression turned mischievous. "You just went to Shohoku just to see Kaede Rukawa, huh? The "Super Rookie"? I heard he's an incoming freshman in Shohoku as well," he said to Virnalyn.

"Of course not! I don't even know who he is!" said Virnalyn, who started to pout at Sendoh.

"And I assume Patricia-chan went to Shoyo just because the uniforms are color green," said Sendoh, remembering Patricia's favorite color.

"No," Patricia answered, pouting as well. "It's just because it's nearer to my house and it has a music center."

"Really?" asked Sendoh. I thought you wanted to be a manga-ka."

Patricia flushed red and turned to her cousin. "JinJin! You didn't tell him anything, did you?"

Jin laughed and said "Of course not! Actually, this is the first time I've met Sendoh outside the basketball courts!" "Besides," said Sendoh. "You keep a notebook where you sketch on, so it's natural for me to assume you want to be a manga-ka."

While Sendoh was trying to fend of Patricia and Virnalyn's attacks (they were trying to tickle him, to make him 'pay' for his teasing. . .), Jin said "Hey, It's almost dark, and I have to get my cousin home. Wanna meet next Saturday, at the park?"

"Sure, Jin!" said Sendoh. "Yeah," said Patricia. "We'll be Saturday People!" she added, smiling joyfully and excitedly.

"Patricia, you've been reading Tuesdays With Morrie, haven't you? I think it's a great idea, Jin!" said Virnalyn.

And so, every Saturday after that, Jin, Patricia, Virnalyn and Sendoh met in the park to chat and to catch up on what happened to each of them since they last saw each other. Sometimes they even played basketball, with Sendoh and Virnalyn forming one team and Jin and Patricia forming the other. Sometimes, when the park got too crowded, they went fishing at the beach. Sendoh and Patricia were usually able to catch the most, and at the end, they cooked all the fish they caught (bonfire!) and they shared it with each other. Soon enough, they all became close friends.

(SHOHOKU HIGH)

The school year had just started and Virnalyn was a little nervous about her new school. Patricia and Sendoh aren't my schoolmates anymore, she thought.

Suddenly, without any warning, a guy riding a pink bicycle was heading straight for her! "Look out!" she screamed. The guy on the bicycle did not seem to notice, because . . . well, he was asleep. Just when the bicycle was about to hit Virnalyn, a pair of strong arms grabbed her and yanked her away.

Virnalyn was still shocked about the whole incident that she could not say a thing. After a while, she managed to stutter "Thank you." "It's nothing," the voice behind her said. She turned around and became face-to-face with a tall boy with short, bluish-black hair and dark-colored eyes.

"Are you ok?" he asked. "Yeah, I'm fine, thank you," answered Virnalyn.

The boy looked at the sleeping cyclist and said "Kaede Rukawa really should stop sleeping while riding his bicycle. He could hurt someone one day."

"That's Kaede Rukawa?"

"Yeah, you don't know? I thought practically everyone knows him, since he's one of the most popular rookies in the prefecture," he said, and started to smile. "Especially with the girls."

Virnalyn looked back at the still sleeping Rukawa and frowned. "Not with me, though. I wouldn't fancy anyone who'd try to run me down." She turned her gaze upon the boy who saved her, and said, "I didn't get your name yet. So I can thank you properly."

"It's Hisashi Mitsui. And you don't really have to thank me," he said, smiling weakly.

Virnalyn smiled as well. "Thank you, Mitsui," she said. "See you later, then." And she hurried towards her classroom.

Mitsui watched her go and muttered, "It was nice meeting you as well, Virnalyn."

When Virnalyn finally got to her classroom, she found it was already packed with students and the only seat left was beside a girl with black, shoulder-length hair. She seemed to be talking to two other girls, one of whom had short, brown hair and the other had long, red hair and kept it tied in pigtails.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" Virnalyn asked the girl and pointed to the empty chair. "Yes, it is," replied the girl. "My name's Haruko Akagi, by the way, and these are my two friends, Fujii," she motioned to the short-haired girl. "And Matsui," she motioned to the pigtailed girl.

"It's nice to meet you, Haruko, Fujii, Matsui," said Virnalyn. "It's nice to meet you too," they replied.

Nothing much happened on the first day of school. All their subject teachers simply visited their classrooms and introduced themselves, so no formal discussions started yet.

-after school-

"What a day," said Virnalyn. "I was so bored that I kinda slept through most of the day."

Haruko smiled and said, "Lucky you weren't sleeping in Mr. Koike's class. Remember what he said about students sleeping in his classes?"

"Yeah," said Fujii. "He just can't tolerate them! I wonder what he'll do to someone like. . . Rukawa? I saw him this morning, riding his bike. He looked like he was fast asleep!"

"I don't think I'll be able to stand him," said Virnalyn. "He nearly ran me over!"

Haruko blushed and said, "Aw, come on, he can't be all bad. . ."

Virnalyn noticed Haruko's expression and said, "Haruko, don't tell me you like that sleepyhead!"

Haruko's cheeks turned a shade pinker and she said, "He's good at basketball, though."

"Speaking of basketball," said Matsui, "Why don't we all watch basketball practice?"

"Sure!" everyone else replied.

When they got to the gym, Virnalyn was surprised to see it was packed with girls. "Let me guess," she said. "Rukawa fangirls?"

She immediately got her answer when all the girls chanted "RUKAWA! RUKAWA! L-O-V-E RUKAWA!"

Matsui frowned at them. "Those bimbos. . ."

"Come on, let me introduce you to my brother," said Haruko. "He's the team captain of the basketball team." Soon enough, they all came face to face with a REALLY tall guy who strangely resembled a gorilla, or so Virnalyn thought. "Meet my brother, Takenori Akagi," said Haruko. Fujii, Matsui and Virnalyn quickly said hi and then they turned their attention to the rest of the Shohoku Basketball Club.

Suddenly, another really tall boy, this time with red hair, went straight to Haruko and said, "Hi Haruko!" "Hey there, Sakuragi," replied Haruko. Virnalyn thought he looked like a hyperactive monkey and continued to look at the other side of the basketball court, where a practice game was going on. What caught her eye was one of the players, who made a beautiful three-pointer. Upon closer inspection, the boy turned out to be . . .

END OF CHAPTER 3

A/N: I do not own the book "Tuesdays With Morrie." I got the line "Saturday People" from the book, because there's this part where Morrie tells his student, "We're Tuesday People." I recommend the book, it's very touching and it nearly made me cry.

Anyhow, the next chapter's coming up and DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!