Chapter 357: The Field House

Thursday, February 2nd, Afternoon (Eastern Standard Time)

Brett walked out of the locker room onto the parquet floor of the field house. She looked around and mentally got ready to stretch for practice. Brett noticed a tall dirty blonde-haired woman talking with the coaches on one of the sidelines.

Shaking her head, Brett did a double-take. She didn't believe this person would show up here. Brett walked over to the small group of people.

"Auntie Tall?" Brett asked.

Angela Scott turned and looked at Brett. "Brett, how are you doing?" she asked.

Brett went in and hugged Angela, they broke apart, and Brett nodded, "I'm doing well; what brings you here?" she asked.

"Coach Scott invited me to watch, and so I brought Jess to observe," Angela said.

"Jess is here?" Brett asked.

Angela nodded, "Yeah, she's in the bleachers," she said.

Brett looked into the bleachers to see Jess Scott, Angela's ten-year-old daughter. Brett smiled and walked up to Jess.

"Hey there, Little One," Brett said.

"Brett," Jess said.

"So, came to watch me?" Brett asked, smiling.

"Well, Mom wanted me to see the practice," Jess said.

"Well, you're about to see a show," Brett said and smiled a confident but joking smile.

A whistle blew, and Brett looked over to the coaches. "Ms. Pierce-Scott, I'd start stretching as Practice is about to start," Coach Scott said.

"Yes, Coach," Brett said, turned to Jess, "I'll see you after practice."

"Okay," Jess said.

Brett turned around and joined the team in stretching. When the clock ticked to zero, Coach Scott blew his whistle. The girls lined up and started to have them do conditioning drills. Once he was satisfied, Coach Scott blew his whistle.

The girls lined up again. Coach Scott looked over the girls. "Afternoon, Girls," Coach Scott said.

"Afternoon, Coach," The Team said.

"Tomorrow, we have our last regular-season home game; I'd like to end on a strong note," Coach Scott said.

"Yes, Coach," The team said.

"Today, we have a few guests. If you don't recognize her, Angela Scott, my sister and probably one of the best players to come out of this gym will be watching from the bleachers. Also, her daughter will be watching as well, so watch the language," Coach Scott said.

"Yes, Coach," The Team said.

"Pay them no mind," Coach Scott said.

"Yes, Coach," The Team Said.

Coach Scott blew his whistle, "Line up for scrimmage. Brett, Baylee, Abril, Jade, and Faye, on one side," Coach Scott said.

"I wonder who we're facing?" Baylee asked Avril as they started to line up.

"Eva, Flannery, Cory, and Grace, you're against the starters," Coach Sinclair said.

"Coach, that's five versus four," Gracelyn said.

"Good observation, Grace," Coach Sinclair said.

"Can we get Cam to even it out?" Gracelyn asked.

"There might be situations where you might face a five on four on the court," Coach Sinclair said.

"But it's five on four," Gracelyn said.

"Let's try this first," Coach Sinclair said.

"No," Coach Scott said, "I have something better."

"Okay, what, Coach?" Faye asked.

Coach Scott blew his whistle in a long blow. Someone came out of the other girl's locker room, not the varsity locker room the team used. A tall woman stood in the door, wearing black basketball shorts, black bike shorts underneath, a blue Tree Hill High School Athletics Department T-shirt, but a black balaclava covered her face.

"I'd like to introduce La Serpiente," Coach Scott said.

"La Serpiente?" Evalyn asked.

"Yes, La Serpiente," Coach Scott Said.

"The Snake?" Evalyn asked rhetorically.

"La Serpiente will play power forward on Eva's team," Coach Scott said.

"Yes, Coach," Evalyn said.

Brett shook her head and looked to Baylee and Avril. "This is going to be easy; I'm going to wreck The Snake," she said.

"Don't get overconfident, B," Baylee said.

"I won't," Brett said.

"Right," Avril said, and they lined up.

Brett looked across at La Serpiente. Brett smiled as she looked at her opponent; two cold blue eyes looked back at Brett. Brett canted her head; there was something oddly familiar about these two eyes.

Coach Scott stood at Center Court and threw up the ball. The scrimmage started, Brett started to the paint and began to call for the ball. The snake was right there, Brett tried to body her out, but the snake bodied Brett right back.

Brett smiled and called for the ball again from Faye. After one last bounce, Faye pulled up and passed the ball to Brett. Brett smiled and took a step forward; this was too easy. Just the ball arrived; La Serpiente popped out from behind Brett and deflected the ball to Gracelynn.

Gracelynn took the ball and, in shock, started down the court. La Serpiente turned down the court and joined the push. Brett shrugged; the snake was a good name for her; she strikes like a snake. Brett shook her head and joined the scrimmage down the court.

Brett got up on La Serpiente in the paint. To her shock, La Serpiente called for the ball. The voice sounded like one Brett heard before. Brett shook her head and looked at La Serpiente, a confident one, this snake.

Corynn threw the ball in. Brett smelled the turnover and went to get the pass. Before the ball arrived, La Serpiente broke like the coiled snake she was. La Serpiente grabbed the ball, turned, and sky hooked the ball for a basket.

La Serpiente turned back down the court, getting ready for defense. Brett scratched her head; how did she do that? Nobody was that fast. Brett shook her head and jogged down the court.

"It's working," Coach Sinclair said to Coach Scott.

"Yeah, I knew it would," Coach Scott said.

"Where did you find her?" Coach Pierce-Scott asked.

"You don't recognize their play style?" Coach Scott asked.

"I've seen it before but can't put my finger on where," Coach Pierce-Scott said.

"We'll see soon enough," Coach Sinclair said.

Brett fought hard but couldn't seem to find a way to get a leg up on La Serpiente. They were in a tight physical confrontation in the paint. Brett called for the ball from Faye again. Both Brett and La Serpiente went after the ball, in a physical fight,

The ball was knocked away. Brett lost her balance and hit the parquet. As she hit the court, Coach Scott blew the whistle to end the scrimmage.

Brett had a hard landing; after getting her head knocked out of her, she shook her head to clear it and rolled over. Brett saw La Serpiente standing over her, holding out a hand, her blue eyes no longer cold.

Shaking her head, "Who are you? Wonder woman?" Brett asked.

"You're still telegraphing your right, and your left is still a bit weak; we've worked on that, and your footwork is getting sloppy again, stop doing what your dad did," La Serpiente said, "Stop falling into old habits."

Brett canted her head, "Not many people know that; how do you?" she asked.

La Serpiente removed the balaclava and let out a deep breath, able to freely breathe. She shook her head; her brown hair was braided against the back of her head.

"Candi?" Brett asked.

Candi smiled, "Yeah," she said.

Brett shook her head, "The snake, it makes sense now," Brett said and took Candi's hand.

"Who's that?" Faye asked.

"Doctor Candace Scott, MD, Ms. Ambrose, my oldest daughter," Coach Scott said, "and if you look on the banner, she's up there as Candace Strauss."

"What? Never heard of her," Faye said.

"She just walked away from the game after college," Baylee said.

Brett stood up and looked at Candi. "What was this all about?" Brett asked.

Candi nodded and smiled, "Remember, thou are mortal," she said.

Brett looked at Candi puzzled, then after a moment, nodded in understanding. Candi walked off the court but was stopped by Gracelyn. The two women talked a few moments, and Candi walked over to the locker to change.

"Grace, what was that about?" Brett asked.

"I wanted her to help me with something," Gracelyn said.

"What did she say?" Brett asked.

"She could because she didn't live here, but she was giving me a number to someone named Aveline Ooman to help me, whoever that is," Gracelyn said.

"Interesting," Brett said.

"Bring it in," Coach Scott yelled. The team nodded and walked over to where their coaches were standing.