Chapter 14: Team play.

Charlie's POV:

Charlie looked up to see Humphrey coming towards them, dabbing at his forehead a bit with his shirt. She'd missed most of his warm up as she'd been explaining how the tryout would work to Hutch along with what would need to happen if he did join as he'd never played officially before. 'I didn't see much but what I did see didn't look all that promising.' Charlie couldn't help but think to herself as she resigned herself to the worst. She didn't let this show however, speaking as Humphrey got over to her.

"Are you ready?" She asked, to which he nodded and she gestured over to where Hutch was waiting at the beginning of the dribble test course.

"Watch what Hutch does and then try to copy him." She explained before blowing her whistle, signalling to Hutch that he could begin. Humphrey watched him intently before moving to the start himself and beginning. As they moved through the various drills Charlie felt her spirits rising a bit as Humphrey completed them one after the other, all with a reasonable degree of competency. Lay ups, dribbling, passing and defence all went by without a hitch. 'He's hardly perfect but there's definitely something to work with.' Charlie thought to herself as he completed the second to last drill. She had to admit that she'd perhaps judged him too soon as whoever his coach had been clearly knew what they were doing.

"Alright then, last drill." She said as Hutch and Humphrey both came over. Both were visibly sweating now, which was no surprise given that what they'd been doing was likely more strenuous than the team's usual training.

"Thanks Hutch, you can go join the others." She told him. He nodded and straightened up, taking a deep breath to control his breathing before giving Humphrey a light punch on the shoulder and wishing him good luck. As he left them Charlie considered what Humphrey had shown her so far, giving him a chance to catch his breath. 'His style is completely orthodox, surprising for someone who's only experience with basketball is on the streets. That being said he's got the basics locked down.' She thought to herself, realising she'd have to thank whoever his coach had been if she ever met him. She'd practically already decided that Humphrey had what it took to join the team but there was one last thing she wanted to see.

"You said you liked shooting threes right Humphrey?" She asked him. After another deep breath he straightened up slowly, nodding in response as he turned to look at the ring.

"It's what I was best at, at least back when I was playing regularly." He said. Charlie smiled to herself as she walked over to the ball bin, taking one out and tossing it to him. 'Time to see if that warm up paid off.' She thought to herself, now genuinely curious to see how he'd do since she'd seen his first attempted shot and it was terrible.

"Show me." She said, gesturing to the ring.

Humphrey's POV:

I caught the ball and gathered myself, giving myself a chance to breathe and control my rhythm before taking the shot. As the ball left my hand I smiled to myself, it had felt good which meant that it would either go in or be close to it. I landed and a split-second later the ball rattled in. I didn't have time to rest or celebrate however as Charlie had already thrown another ball my way, which I quickly caught, making sure I had it properly under control before putting up another shot. I didn't even have time to watch it go in as I ran for another ball which Charlie had lobbed to a different area of the court. We continued thus but I was in a good rhythm as I continued to make baskets, three, four, five. Once the sixth shot missed Charlie decided to stop. I was already halfway through my seventh shot however which I also managed to get in after it bounced high off the rim.

"I think that's a good enough sample." Charlie said as she began collecting the balls. I didn't respond other than to nod as I was breathing heavily but after a moment I moved to help pack up the cones. Everything done we headed back over to the main court, where Charlie told everyone to take a short break which I was grateful for as I grabbed a bottle from my bag, downing half of it in one go and letting out a satisfied sigh. As I stood there the rest of the team came over and introduced themselves as well as asking how the tryout went. I shrugged in response and was about to say something when Hutch came over and beat me to it.

"From what I saw he nailed it." He said to the others before turning to me and offering his hand.

"Name's Hutch Shirley. I'm captain of the team." He said as I shook his hand. He had a firm grip and it was clear why, he had three inches on me and was probably around 230 pounds, all muscle. Something about his tan skin and name was familiar and I frowned at him, trying to figure out what it was.

He smiled when he noticed my expression, "If you're wondering why that sounds familiar it's probably because the school principal is my father." He said, and I nodded realising that was indeed it. Once he said it I began to see more resemblance between the two.

After a moment he leaned in and said quietly, "If coach doesn't accept you then she must be crazy." It was only loud enough for me to hear but I appreciated the vote of confidence, nodding my thanks as he moved away to talk to one of the others.

"Alright listen up for a minute." Charlie said a minute or so later, grabbing everyone's attention. "I'll announce the teams for our practice match in a moment but first..." She paused and looked straight at me, an evil smile on her face as she held me in suspense. I gulped nervously as she held my gaze for a moment longer before continuing.

"I am pleased to announce the newest member of our team." She broke into a smile as the others cheered, patting my back and welcoming me. I dropped my head down for a moment and smiled with relief. Charlie let it go for a minute before regaining everyone's attention, reading out a list of five names that would be on one team meaning the rest would be on the other. I took one final drink before placing my bottle down, beginning to rise before a hand on my shoulder stopped me. I looked up to see Charlie standing there.

"Not you. For today I want you to just observe how the others play, on both offence and defence." She said, holding up a hand to stop me as I opened my mouth to protest.

"It's important to realise that basketball on the streets is not the same as the team based play we strive for here. Just watch and learn today and next time you can join in." As she finished talking I nodded, sitting back down.